Weekend Watch: Alien: Romulus
In space, everyone should watch this lot scream
Image Credit: 20th Century Studios
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, a new batch of potential victims meets the perfect organism. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite
First off: apologies for the few weeks’ radio silence on the column’s front. A family matter required my attention, a trip back to England and with little time to write my usual reviews. By way of a catch-up? I really loved Deadpool & Wolverine, and, on the indie front, Didi. And now, on with the show…
Making a movie set within the Alien universe established by director Ridley Scott, writers Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, twisted creature genius HR Giger and franchise acting stalwart Sigourney Weaver is no easy task. Even Scott himself has stumbled with his prequel films. James Cameron knocked it out of the park with Aliens, but other entries have ranged from intriguing missteps to flat-out disasters (looking at you, Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem).
Into the fray steps Uruguayan master of suspense Fede Alvarez, a filmmaker who has proved his mettle with movies such as the Evil Dead reboot and his own original franchise, Don’t Breathe. With Alien: Romulus, he delivers one of the best examples of how to make the xenomorph formula work.
I won’t get to specific about the plot, but suffice to say it features a group itching to break free of the harsh life on a Weyland-Yutani mining colony in a sunshine-free corner of deep space. When her friends approach Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) with a request for help accessing a derelict Weyland-Yutani station they’ve discovered drifting nearby, she’s hesitant, but grasps the chance to finally achieve her dream of getting off the barren rock that is Jackson’s Star and to somewhere she might actually enjoy a sunset.
And since they need the help of Andy (David Jonsson), a synthetic programmed by Rain’s father to protect her, he’s also along for the ride.
Alvarez, working with regular collaborator Rodo Sayagues as co-writer has come up with something that truly channels the tension and anxiety that Scott and Cameron in particular managed with the first two movies in this sprawling franchise. They’ve created a cluster of characters who actually have personalities and who you properly get to meet before the inevitable happens and people start dying horribly at the claws and maws of Xenomorphs and Facehuggers (with a refreshingly heavy use of practical effects and CG additions). The pair also successfully adds to the mythology, crafting compelling reasons for the creatures’ presence on the station and adding layers to the human plans weaved into it all.
Spaeny in particular offers another excellent performance as Rain, who is both the Ripley (Weaver’s character) substitute and something more all at once, showing strength and vulnerability in equal measure. On her level is Jonsson, superbly bringing Andy to artificial life and fully honouring the work that actors such as Ian Holm (in Alien) did.
Though the rest of the ensemble are a little more disposable they are, as mentioned above, well-realized characters in their own right, and you care what happens to them (spoiler alert: bad things!)
On the negative side, there are perhaps one or two too many easter eggs (no, not the slimy, leathery ovoids that come bearing terrifying gifts) as references to the earlier films, and the lift of one particularly famous line doesn’t land the way the filmmakers likely hoped. But those are small quibbles for a movie this effective.
I’m pleased to be able to report that in my opinion, this can sit proudly with the likes of Alien, Aliens and, of course, the greatest scene the franchise has ever spawned…
Alien: Romulus is out now in UK and US cinemas.