Alien Romulus (Guest) review
Director: Fede Alvarez
Stars: Isabela Merced, Cailee Spaeny & David Jonsson
Runtime: 1hr 59 mins
Genre: Sci-Fi Horror
Movie review by Sunil
I was 6 years old when the first Alien movie was released and 13 when Aliens was released. Two things I loved was food and film!! I still do.. although as you age, other less appealing factors like health and time come into it.. oh and technology, social media and other people's opinions!!
My Saturday nights were a combination of my favourite meal from our chippy along with being mesmerised by the latest VHS rental. I love my food!! And yet, in 1986 when I rented Aliens from my local video store, I could not take my eyes away from the screen and sat there open mouthed with a full plate of southern fried chicken, chips and curry sauce, which by the end of the movie went stone cold... because I hadn't touched it!!
Aliens is not only the best Alien movie in the franchise, despite being a sequel, but simply one of the best movies of all time!! I have seen it dozens of times!! It would be in my Top 10!! Since these two classics, fans of the franchise have sat in hope.. waiting for a sequel to be made to match the brilliance of the originals!! All subsequent follow ups have tried and failed to do so. They have had their moments but none of them have come close. Expectation is, after all, what can diminish that!! Maybe we shouldn't have any. Maybe we shouldn't watch trailers!! Maybe we shouldn't watch other people's reviews!! Self-constraint can be a good thing.. can't it!! So, after all that... is Alien: Romulus finally that movie to bring the franchise full circle and re-live the glory days of 1979 and 1986 all over again? ....
Fitting in between Alien and Aliens, specifically 20 years after the end of Alien, Alien: Romulus tells the story of Rain Cassidy, played by brilliant actor, Cailee Spaeny who, along with her one-dimensional character, Android protector/brother, Andy played by David Jonsson, live on a colonised mining planet of limited population that experiences zero daylight.. at any time of day. Having had enough of their environment, a group of their fellow workers come up with a plan to secretly leave the planet to raid an abandoned space station, named Romulus, of fuel cells so they can escape to a better life!! On arriving however, things are not what they seem, as it has been abandoned or more appropriately, become devoid of life for a reason. And being a science and research vessel, we can all guess as to what that reason could be.
What follows are eerie walks through dark hallways, very reminiscent of the set of the Nostromo (the ship from the first Alien movie) and disturbing findings of incubators with certain life forms being developed inside them!!
What starts as a fast in and out mission quickly becomes a race for survival with the infamous face huggers announcing their presence and wreaking havoc on the group!!
This follows up with an interaction with a surprising and familiar character from the first Alien movie, where they are educated on what is know as the Xenomorph, with a very clever connection to the first movie.
The storyline involves 'a mission', one that is very cleverly integrated into the series again. This movie is intelligent and clever!! It fits beautifully into the franchise and re-introduces us to all the sights and sounds of what we remember about the first movie.. those revolving spiral airlocks and humming computer drives of CRT tube monitors. I love science... and when they introduce us to new knowledge about these creatures, I found it fascinating. There is obviously again, from those who have seen it, the infamous chest bursting scene. This time however, these 'perfect organisms' seem more menacing and aggressive than ever before. People call them Face Huggers.. but in reality.. I call them Face F*kers!! (excuse my language) ... I'm sorry.. but a creature that attaches itself to your head, while sticking it's massive appendage down your throat to impregnate you is not hugging you... it's F*king you!!
The movie takes you through survival, rescues, a battle against time which involves not as much Alien as you may think. We are introduced to further scenes of the metamorphosis, showing the cocoon or sac before emergence of the Alien.. again parts I found fascinating... with the Aliens, surprisingly, in more of a ... supporting role... but still used to great effect. The design combines clever use of CGI and animatronics.
There is another part that involves being quiet, in a horror scene that is pure Fede Alvarez and was like the movie Sting on steroids!! The suspense, the spider like movement and the use of dark spaces and mist was all utilised to perfect affect to create a scene that even though we have seen before in other movies, was still very involving and intense.
One such scene involving the Aliens and.. shall we say.. a lack of gravity and use of their concentrated acid for blood was so intelligently conceived and brilliantly constructed that it has to be one of the best parts of the entire Alien franchise!! Very Console Alien: Isolation in feel.. gamers will love it.. and will hope for a version to play soon!! .. I know I do.. and I'm not a gamer!!
And herein lies the controversial twist, or what we like to call these days.. the pivot point!! Giving people a concept and then knowing you need to bring something new always falls into two categories.. will it work and will people enjoy it. .. Well the ending will definitely be controversial and mixed in opinion. On the one hand you have to admire the originality of a certain take on what these so called elitests in the movie are trying to do with the world.. and another on how it is depicted. For me.. I found the constant correlations to other movies in the franchise not necessary (I'm guessing producer, Ridley Scott may have had his hand in this.. or maybe not). I still admired what they did, but the ending will be mind blowing to some and a little farfetched to others!! The movie also felt in parts that it had several endings with the way it was edited!! In my opinion, I liked it, admiring the originality.. but at the same time thought it could have been even better and even a bit longer. A good effort all the same.
The actors, in particular the performances of Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson were particularly brilliant with excellent brother/sister chemistry. A special mention must go to Isabel Merced, who seems to have become less of a lead and more a supporting actor these days.. but still played the damsel in distress to great effect. The story was a little confusing in parts and you sometimes thought, 'what's going on here?' But it all pieced together in the end.
All in all, you have to ask yourself, after all this.. does it finally meet your expectations and match the brilliance of Alien and Aliens.. to which the answer is unfortunately, no. However, what it does do is become the best sequel to the first two, along with bringing some of the best scenes to hit the franchise. You have to commend writer and director, Fede Alvarez for that.
The release date can definitely affect how well a movie does. And filmmakers don't always get it right. Coming in hot on the tracks of two Billion dollar plus blockbusters in Inside Out 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine will leave people in a certain mindset with expectation levels high!! Age is also a certain factor... with a sequel that was released 45 years after the original, the younger me would definitely have had different feelings and mindset to what I have now, especially with four and half decades of other movies, reviews, CGI etc etc to add to it all. If this movie was released in the early 80s, it would have had an entirely different reception. After all the hype dies down, time will tell where it truly ranks, but at this moment I would personally say that I would love to watch it again, in IMAX this time and would not hesitate to recommend it to others. At this stage, I think it is a movie that will grow on you.. but in two years from now though, who knows.
Verdict: Matched Expectations
