Director: Fede Alvarez

Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabelle Merced

Primary genre: Science fiction

Secondary genre: Horror

READ ALSO

Since the release of “Alien: Covenant” in 2017, the “Alien” (1979-2024) franchise was put into cryosleep. Just like the elusive Gigerian creation though, a new entry was spawned from the mind of “Evil Dead” (2013) and “Don’t Breathe” (2016) director Fede Alvarez bearing the blessing of Ridley Scott. Boasting a catchy title, “Romulus” pays a heavy, almost “The Force Awakens” (2015) type of homage to all previous films employing a greatest hits compilation approach under updated special effects without pandering to ham-fisted social messaging. Taking cues from every single “Alien” film - the small cast and the tough but vulnerable heroine of “Alien” (1979), the pulse rifles and motion tracking sensors of “Aliens” (1986), the bleakness and off-screen deaths of “Alien 3” (1992), the scale and gooey effect emphasis of “Alien: Resurrection” (1997), and so on - Alvarez re-enacts for the fans famous moments with superb technical panache. Problem is that there is not much soul in it.

Fede is trying to spice things up by expanding a bit the mythology by introducing a nicely fitted prologue which demonstrates how big corpos like Weyland-Yutani operate in the future. Things however, enter downhill territory once the Xenomorph starts running lose on our six-man group. Following formulaic and predictable outcomes, they might as have a bullseye at their back to let the audience know who will be next. “Romulus” lacks atmosphere despite this derelict space station being an appropriate Lovecraftian nightmare setting and the random delivery of famous franchise lines feels too meta for its own sake. Taking about being on the nose.

Things further disappoint when Alvarez shoehorns Scott’s “Prometheus” (2012) and “Alien: Covenant” (2017) timeline further diluting the mystery of this aggressive, perfect organism and causing the movie to be torn apart between a heavy nostalgia trip on retro futurism and the philosophical (and unsolved) ideas laid out in the prequels. Frankly though, the xenomorph does not require to answer any questions regarding humanity’s origin; its sense of mystery is what made it such an effective and appealing “villain” to begin with. Its unique design remains exceptional; its anthropomorphic and accentuated characteristics are the stuff of nightmares, an ideal candidate who can roam free on man-made metal space objects. As if this was not enough, Alvarez brings on the big screen a particularly distasteful and unethical cameo which already has caused lots of stir among cinephiles and academics. This distracting use of technology reminds us exactly how Disney can serve as a powerful metaphor for Weyland-Yutani’s corpo greed.

Cailee Spaney and the rest do their best but the material is not strong enough to make these characters compelling besides each one having a minor trait. Considering how small the cast is, you would naively assume much to your disappointment similar characterization to Scott’s “Alien” and Cameron’s “Aliens”. With the exception of Spaney who has to fit the traditional Ripley template (shoes, rifle and sneakers starting pack) and David Jonsson who brings his A-game as the series’ new android, no one else registers.

“Romulus” is entertaining enough mainly because Alvarez keeps the pace up despite incorporating all the typical elements of an “Alien” movie (e.g., ticking clock time, extended climax, malfunctioning equipment). The excellent and practical production design and the visually stunning cinematography gives the scenery a sense of the ominousness and occasionally Alvarez does manage to activate mildly the adrenaline glens even if the film is in desperate need of more space induced dread and despair. Wallfisch’s score is adequate but lacks the symphonic pathos of the previous composers’ work sounding more like a cacophony of congested sound than an unnerving piece of music, something that even “Covenant” managed to do right.

“Romulus” does not come close to the quality of the initial four entries. It frequently tries too hard to please the fans by copy-pasting ideas that we have seen before and avoid breaking any new ground. Yet it is does not reach the levels of plagiarism the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy and it is a definite improvement over the last two outputs feeling tonally cohesive and self-contained even if it is a scare free ride. Maybe in a sequel titled “Remus”?

+Excellent technical aspects

+Practical xenomorphs

+Great cinematography

+Respect to the quadrilogy

+Spaeny is ok but Jonsson though excels

-Formulaic, scare and atmosphere free

-Unregistered characters

-Extended typical climax