It’s been too long. Not too long since the last entry in the Alien franchise, as “Alien: Covenant” hit theaters seven years ago. Instead, it’s been too long since we were offered a good and true-to-itself Alien movie.
There is no mistaking the fact, I am a big nerd. The list of franchises I’d happily geek out over is extensive. If asked to list my top five all time movie-franchises, Alien is easily in the mix. Not because so many of its movies are great, far from it. However, amongst all the chaff strewn throughout the various cinematic universes, the best Alien films are benchmarks to measure the rest of science fiction and horror by. True to the franchise, “Alien: Romulus” is special, and best of all, it is gritty, dark, and scary.
Synopsis
There’s no reason to rehash all the lore and history behind the series, because looking at the eight previous movies, the lore and history isn’t what makes some of them worth watching. At least not until now. “Alien: Romulus” takes fans back to its roots. On a dark, crowded and filthy mining colony, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her brother, Andy (David Jonsson) find themselves scraping by under the heel of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Andy is brother in name only, as he is an android left to her by her father. They are desperate to get offworld, away from the disease, crime and oppression that surrounds them.Rain and Andy are trapped in a bleak dystopian cycle of indentured servitude, but there seems to be a glimmer of hope as old friends offer a way out to a distant colony. The colony is light years away and if they don’t want to die of old age during the journey, they need cryopods. A derelict Weyland-Yutani space station has everything they need and her brother Andy is literally the key. If you have a sinking feeling in your gut about what’s waiting for them, you’re not wrong.
Old friends
As a fan, I delight in seeing callbacks and well-placed references in movies. It’s like seeing an old friend, and sharing the understanding nod and chuckle for the shared inside joke. This is all thanks to the world building undertaken by director Fede Alvarez. Brimming with bold and smart choices, “Alien: Romulus” makes a meal of every opportunity. The tech, the characters, throwaway lines and even major plot points fill us up. Everything from the costume design, hair and make-up, set design, effects, audio and lighting screams “Alien.” Don’t think the entire movie is just a nostalgia fest. Alvarez is known for his films, “Don’t Breathe,” and “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” but how I was introduced to his works was with his 2013 remake of “Evil Dead.” Anyone who watched that film knows what this guy is about, and he doesn’t disappoint here.
What we’ve waited for
Alvarez plunges us back into horror and back to Ridley Scott’s original vision. “Alien” came out in 1979, and I wholeheartedly believe it is still one of the very best in the genre. It was such a departure from science fiction and horror of the time. It’s not like there was a dearth of good films. In the 70’s, we had horror greats like “The Exorcist,” “Halloween,” “Carrie,” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” In science fiction, we had “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Star Wars: A New Hope,” “Planet of the Apes,” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Scott made something wholly different.
It was grungy and dark. It was in space, but nothing was new, or perfect. Things were broken and people weren’t perfect. The tech wasn’t unbelievable. No one was safe. James Cameron followed up with less horror and more action in 1986 with “Aliens” and it did not disappoint. If you were a fan, you were spoiled rotten, which is why the less action packed and less horrific and more noir-esque suspense thriller “Alien III” was a bit of a let down in 1992. I feel it was still good in its own right, but may not have been the best script for the franchise. Despite that, it was true to the spirit of the first two movies and the same can’t be said for the goofy “Alien: Resurrection” or the fan service flicks “Alien vs. Predator” and “Alien vs Predator: Requiem.”
After 20 years of uninspired cash grabs, Ridley Scott wrestled the reins back and directed “Prometheus,” and “Alien: Covenant.” Like a lot of fans, I was excited. The man himself was going to bring it all back. Instead of horror, we got loads of retconned lore, contrived origin stories, and basically human (but more perfect?) forefathers with god-complexes and not the fun kind. The magic was long dead.
So there I was in the theater, again, with high hopes. The trailers and the hype had me excited. Every scene, every scare and all the twists had me. Just like that, I was all in and hooked. I’m so impressed, I am stumbling to find a reason not to hand out a 10/10. I just wrote an entire review where I stated emphatically that movies can’t get perfect scores. At this point, the only reason I would have to knock off a single point is my own pride and I can’t. Pride be damned. I’m going to spend my hard earned cash and watch it again in the theater and maybe more than once. It is that good.