Okay, we decided to give Alien: Romulus a go in the cinema and boy are we glad we did! We appreciate the film is divisive, but we enjoyed it a great deal as a popcorn fodder action space romp.
Fede Alvarez directed this with series stalwart Ridley Scott acting as producer. There are several fantastic young actors involved, some intriguing new ideas for the franchise to grapple with, but the philosophical pontificating from Prometheus (2012) is out. All in favour of a James Cameron’s 1986 take on the franchise. Mega!
Scary Space Beasts Abound in Alien Romulus
Although we enjoyed Ridley Scott’s Alien Covenant (2017), we didn’t have high hopes for Romulus. There’s been something of an online backlash against the film—at least from a certain voluble sect of movie buffs.
Some people think Romulus is an unmitigated disaster.
Others, such as us here at Professional Moron, enjoyed its take on the Alien universe and some of the ideas it threw in there. It isn’t a scary film, it’s more in line with James Cameron’s Aliens (1986) and the action movie approach there.
But for the record, Romulus takes place between the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and Aliens.
In the series lore, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) spends 50 years in statis after the events of the first film when her escape pod gets lost in space. Romulus is set in 2142 and that’s 20 years after the first Alien.
We join Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) who works on a colony planet called LV-410. She works for the oppressive Weyland-Yutani company. She’s close with her android friend (essentially sibling) Andy (David Jonsson on magnificent form here), who was built for Rain by her father. This means she has a very close attachment to him.
Andy is subservient and tells awful puns and is almost childlike in his qualities.
Rain teams up with some fellow Weyland-Yutani workers fed up with the bleak life the company offers. They hatch a plan to steal cryostasis chambers off a nearby space mine to flee for a better life.
This is an Alien film so, as you may expect, the crap hits the fan and their great idea turns into a bad idea.
Where Alien: Romulus surprised us is with the clever, intriguing new ideas it threw into the mix. There’s no pontificating stuff, it’s just action. Lots of it. And some of the set pieces are just great.
Sure there’s nothing original with the face hugger/chest bursting/Xenomorph stuff but the film does have a terrible sense of dread. Barely anyone comes out of this alive, it doesn’t hold back!
For us, it’s full marks to David Jonsson and his duel role as Android Andy. At one point he has an android update and turns into an aggressive, corporate monster—it’s one of the clever additions the film handles very well. And Jonsson is superb in the role.
And then there’s the usual stuff like this.
After we’ve watched a film, we do always like to see the critical responses.
Just not the ones from the hysterical, clickbait brigade making out it’s the greatest abomination since time began and proof modern cinema isn’t as good as it was in “the good old blah blah blah feminists”. These people need to revisit Alien 3 (1992) to see a terrible Alien film. That one was down to corporate interference—not feminism.
Some of the “it’s shit” arguments are just lazy and pathetic. Others are well justified and we can understand the legitimate complaints, such as with the well-respect Red Letter Media. They thought it had a very promising opening, then trailed off disastrously.
Elsewhere, our favourite critic was moderately impressed.
We don’t really see that. There’s some “fan service” with the return of a series opening character that’s fine, but not the movie ruining experience some have made out.
Overall, we were pleased Romulus added something a tad new to the franchise. We’d say it’s the best Alien film since James Cameron’s 1986 masterpiece. But there’s a limit here—the film heavily implies a new set of sequels.
If they’re as good as this, and eager to try new things, okay.
But why not, Hollywood, take a risk? Fund some new ideas! Shift away from the endless superhero stuff and franchises to take those capitalist risks right-wing ideology is supposed to be all about? As lazy corporate complacency is blocking the full potential of blockbusters.
Even if we did find Romulus a pleasing distraction. 4 onions out of 5 onions. 🧅🧅🧅🧅
The Making of Alien: Romulus
You can go and watch this film right now! It’s out in all major cinemas. The budget was only $80 million, a marked step down on when Ridley Scott directed the Prometheus set. Kind of ironic we think the film is much better.
So far, it’s taken a modest $288.5 million return. These days, that’s seen as something of a low return. Romulus sets up a serious sequel hint, so it’ll be interesting to see if that’s cleared.
For corporate reminders, The Walt Disney Company now owns the franchise.
They’ve not exactly drenched themselves in love over the last decade with their focus on extreme corporate greed. Kind of ironic given the corporation in the Alien franchise notorious for being vile.
However, as a first effort from a Disney backed romp this one is damn good.
Director Fede Alvarez focussed on practical effects a great deal, even hiring crew members from the legendary Aliens 1986 shoot. Jolly good show!
