Alien: Romulus | 2024
Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson in ALIEN: ROMULUS.
Taken on its own, Alien: Romulus is a solid film. It is difficult, however, to analyze franchise films like this in a vacuum, especially when this is the seventh film in the venerable Alien series (ninth if you count the Alien vs. Predator films). To paraphrase Kamala Harris, Alien: Romulus exists within the context of all that came before it.
That is, perhaps, its biggest weakness; it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. For good or ill, each Alien film before it seemed to bring its own unique personality and contribution to the world first conceived in Ridley Scott's Alien back in 1979. Since then, filmmakers like James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet had their crack at it, with Scott himself returning for two prequels - Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, that sought to broaden and reframe the series as something more philosophical.
In that regard, Romulus is a return to form for the series. While it doesn't feel like a typical nostalgia-fueled legacy sequel, it's clear that Disney, as the new owner of the property via 20th Century Studios, isn't interested in taking any chances either. The film is set about 20 years after the events of the original Alien. A group of young miners living on a remote mining colony are seeking their ticket out of their indentured servitude with Weyland Yutani, the sinister corporation behind the entire series' alien woes. Having located a derelict space station orbiting above, the group decides to raid it and remove its cryogenic life support pods in hopes of reaching a nearby sanctuary. What they encounter instead a deathtrap, as a deadly alien menace stands between them and freedom.
Stylistically, Alien: Romulus feels like an amalgam of all the previous Alien films combined, taking liberally from Alien and Aliens and peppering in bits of Alien3 and Alien Resurrection while also incorporating plot points from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. To its credit, the film never buckles under the pressure, and Cailee Spaeny is a strong lead. The issue is that it feels like an Alien greatest hits reel. It may not be particularly nostalgic, but the lack of vision and forward thinking leaves it spinning its wheels in the past. There are a few moments of obvious fan service, but incorporating a CGI Ian Holm to provide plot information to the audience feels like unnecessary fan service at best and ghoulish at worst. It's perfectly fine - director Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead) offers up some solid suspense and an occasionally unsettling atmosphere. Still, it all feels like something we've seen before, hewing close to familiar territory in a universe that is seemingly begging to be expanded. Scott himself tried in his most recent two entries - and Romulus' insistence on coloring inside the lines left me yearning for something willing to take a chance.
