Fede Alvarez’ Alien: Romulus is part of the Alien franchise and takes place chronologically between the first movie entry, Ridley Scott’s Alien, and the second entry, James Cameron’s Aliens. In the opening of Romulus, the mysterious, definitely corrupt MEGA-corporation Weyland-Yutani use a probe to extract a cocoon from the wreckage of the ship Nostromo from Alien. A short time later, on the always dark planet LV-410, Rain Carradine (Caelly Spaeny) discovers Weyland-Yutani has, without consulting her on the matter, extended her work contract. Rain decides to escape to a planet out of Weyland-Yutani’s control, the idyllic Yvaga III. With her, Rain takes her “adopted” brother, Andy (David Jonsson) – a malfunctioning android who has been programmed to take care of Rain at all costs.
Buy Alien: Romulus Blu-rayThe rest of the team, for purposes of horror, are simply there to be alien food. There is Rain’s ex-boyfriend, Tyler (Archie Renaux); his pregnant sister, Kay (Isabella Merced); and their cousins, Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and Navarro (Aileen Wu). To begin their escape to Yvaga III, their first stop is the Renaissance, an abandoned Weyland-Yutani space station split into two main sections – the unusable Remus, and the still functioning Romulus. Their goal is to steal enough cryostasis equipment for the nine-year trip to Yvaga III. While trying to get to the cryostasis equipment, they accidentally release a large amount of facehuggers – a parasitic form of the aliens that attaches to its victim’s face and lays eggs down its throat. These facehugger babies grow inside the victim, burst out of their chests, and quickly grow into full-sized aliens.
In Alien: Romulus all the characters are interchangeable and no time is given to get to know anybody, moving in the opposite direction of the first two movies which spent much time helping you to get used to the characters and their various roles within a ship or a Marine unit. It is hard to feel scared for people you don’t know. But there is nobody in the cast with the sheer gravitas of a Sigourney Weaver, the comedic timing of a Bill Paxton, or the screen-grabbing power of Tom Skerritt or John Hurt. However, Ian Holm’s character (an android – the actor died in 2020) is brought back through movie magic, and, luckily, plays a major role. So, the most interesting character in Alien: Romulus is a construct created from a past performance, a smattering of new dialogue, and CGI.
The only aspect that is new to Alien: Romulus is an alien-human hybrid that might be scary if it didn’t just resemble a gooey, wet, bald man. If you like jump scares with little plot or characterization, then Alien: Romulus is right up your alley.
