Alien: Romulus has the darkness and tension of the alien and its spawn crawling around the station that is the last hope for an orphan crew! It is the bridge between the first two Alien films, Alien (1979) which established the haunted house spaceship horror, and the sci fi military action of Aliens (1986). The movies are most beloved by fans, but the series continued with Alien 3 (1992), Alien Resurrection (1997), and crossover with Alien vs. Predator. Director Ridley Scott who launched the fanchise with Alien brought two prequels, Prometheus (2012) that dealt with the ancient Engineers and Alien: Covenant (2017).
What may have unraveled the Alien films is that it isn’t the Alien itself or the world, but the trapped, innocent survivors. The writer and director, Fede Alvarez, is able to accomplish that feat, develop the Alien story, and give respectful nods to the entire series! Alvarez is also the director and writer of the thriller, Don’t Breathe (2016). The film’s co-writer is Rodo Sayagues who also worked with Alvarez on the horror “re-imagining”, Evil Dead (2013). The beginning has the darkness of space with stars and a ship comes out of it. We peer Io the window of the ship, Echo Probe, in the Zeta Reticuli system. This is the location of the first Alien and we have wreckage which appears to be the remains of the Nostromo. A large fragment is taken into the bay of the ship.
The crew with face-shielded helmets watch as lasers cut into the fragment and it is raised by chains. A strange Frankenstein-like discovery. Underneath the mass is an almost familiar bio-mechanical shape! The last we saw of the Xenomorph, spoiler!, was that it was sent off into space by Ripley. Next, we get the setting sun, a woman, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) sits with her eyes closed. This year, Spaeny was also brillant as the war time photographer, Jessie, in the dystopia drama, Civil War. She awakens from her dream in a bunk with the constant rain falling outside the window blinds. Rain joins her childhood companion, Andy (David Jonsson), who is simple like a child. Jonsson was in the financial dramatic series, Industry. They join the crowd of miners moving through the rain-soaked, night streets of the colony. The visuals are incredible. The cinematographer is Galo Olivares who also worked on the horror movie, Gretel & Hansel (2020).
Andy sees Rain is troubled so he shares some jokes and he says she laughed at them when she was 12. We see from a building that they are on the Jackson’s Star Mining Colony. Rain has Andy stay outside as she enters the Office of Colony Affairs. She tells the Wayland Yutani Officer (Rosie Ede) that her parents had did and she only has her brother. Her request to transfer to the planet Yvaga is denied and Rain’s mining contract is extended five to six years! She returns outside and finds that a group of 10-year old punks are beating up Andy! Rain checks the memory slot on the Andy’s neck. He drips milk-like fluid from his battered mouth, an android like the Synthetic, Ash in Alien! Then, Rain gts a message on her wrist device, a meeting with her ex-boyfriend Tyler (Archie Renaux). Malyen Oretsv was played by Renaux in the fantasy show, Shadow and Bone.
They meet Tyler who has his group of young orphans including his sister Kay (Isabela Merced). Also this year, Merced was Anya Corazon, in one of my favorites, the supernatural thriller, Madame Web. Bjorn (Spike Fearn) is their cousin. Fearn starred in the teen drama, Tell Me Everything, as Louis. Lastly, is Bjorn’s girlfriend, Navarro (Aileen Wu). This is Wu’s first film. They have found a beacon from an abandoned ship. The plan is to find the cryo pods that will enable them to travel to Yvaga. Since Andy is made by Weyland Yutani, they can get access to the cryo units. Rain admits that her father found Andy in the trash. Andy’s directive programmed by her father is to keep her safe. I like the group of young people like the Lost Boys of Peter Pan, but also the teens entering the haunted house. The contrast of the innocent boy like Pinocchio is great with Andy in comparison with Ash from the first movie and the selfless Bishop in Aliens.
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