"Alien: Romulus" a freaky, fun addition to the franchise
The newest Aliens series movie, Alien: Romulus, released Aug. 16, 2024, a film Produced by Scott Free and directed by Fede Álvarez, grossed $350.9 million worldwide with an 80% on rotten tomatoes. The film follows five humans, and one android onto an abandoned ship, trying against odds to find the needed technology to escape and make it to a new home.
The main character Raiin Carradine, played by Cailee Spaeny has an initial hesitancy to join in on this mission, which gives the plot an almost stressful beginning to the story. She is joined by her android “brother”, Andy, played by David Jonsson, who gives us a fresh perspective of lightheartedness unlike any of the previous movies, which showed androids as tactful and cold. Together they, with 4 other colleagues, explore what they think to be a completely desolate ship.
Yet it wouldn't be an Alien movie if there wasn't an absolutely nerve wracking beginning, followed by gruesome death after death. Separated by the two sided ship, we follow two different groups as they slowly realize just what is in the ship with them. Each character brings their own contribution to the story, each one closely related to another, refusing to give eachother up until it's too late. As like all the other Alien movies, we watch grizzly scenes that show just how horrifying the idea of this creature can be as it picks off each character in true Alien fashion.
Previous Alien movies introduced variations of the iconic Xenomorph, but this movie takes it a step further with the ending. I'd like to think I'm well versed in this franchine, having seen every movie and every anomaly of our Alien antagonist, but the introduction to the creature at the end brought a whole new type of dread to the series. Robert Bobroczkyi played a mutation I can only describe as a complete uncanny valley, looking too insane to be human, but too human to be alien. He truly does a wonderful job of stalking the surviving crew and lurking in background shots that make you want to turn your lights on or leave the theater.
This to say that there were negatives to this film, plot holes left me confused and at times wondering where we were. The pacing was also distressing as something just didn't fit in, and the inclusion of Ian Holm from the very first Alien felt only forced. 20th century could have been more creative, straying from their iconic formula but over all, it works for a reason. Generally the film was a new horror that still makes me cringe, deserving of the ratings gained by fans.