Alien: Romulus - Review

Rating: 4 out of 5

IT'S rare to find a film that succeeds so ferociously well in spite of its flaws: but Alien: Romulus does just that in mostly emphatic fashion. A standalone movie that is still very much informed by the franchise entries surrounding it, this is both - like Deadpool & Wolverine before it - a love letter to the fans, as well as a film capable of taking some bold swings of its own.

It is perhaps disheartening, then, to note that it's during those swings that the film comes unstuck the most. But given the overall hit rate of things that do succeed, this just about gets away with things.

Set between the events of Ridley Scott's original (and still definitive) Alien and James Cameron's superb sequel Aliens, Romulus places a young cast front and centre (for the first time time in the franchise's history), which in itself gives the series a fresh burst of energy.

A prologue finds the wreckage of the original Nostromo spaceship being recovered, along with its Xenomorph remnants, before heading to a colonised planet controlled by the Weyland-Yutani corporation - and where its young cast are exploited as key workers, seldom being allowed to fulfil their quotas and pursue a better life without being stitched up and given more to do (a pathway that invariably leads to the types of early deaths that befell most of their parents).

The world in which they inhabit is also sunlight free and has the dystopian feel of a rundown Blade Runner environment - one of many satisfying looks the film delivers.

Attempting to survive and escape this dead-end life is, primarily, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her android 'brother' Andy (David Jonsson), who dream of better days.

When Rain is contacted by former friend Tyler (Archie Renaux) to join a team of like-minded misfits on a space mission to retrieve cryopods from a deserted ship in the hope of using them to escape to a different planet (9 years away), she reluctantly agrees - unaware that her brother holds the key to the success of the mission, thanks to his Weyland-Yutani credentials.

Once at the ship, however, they quickly realise it's actually a deserted space station, which has been used for experiments on the Xenomorphs, which - in turn - unleashed hell.

It isn't long, therefore, before the young miners find themselves up against face-huggers, Xenomorphs and a race against time to retrieve their bounty or also risk being incinerated by an asteroid belt that the space station is also helplessly drifting towards.

The ensuing mayhem is, for the most part, a robust, often thrilling, survival thriller meets race-against-time scenario that offers pulse-pounding action, gross-out chills and a neat blend of social and corporate observation, that also questions humanity itself.

And for two thirds of the action, this is belting stuff - one that succeeds in spite of the innumerable ways in which it finds to pay tribute to what has come before.

Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez has already proven himself a dab hand at honouring franchise legacies with his full blown remake of The Evil Dead, while also displaying impressive chops with original horror fare such as Don't Breathe, to which Romulus owes more than a passing debt.

Here, he acquits himself brilliantly, putting novel spins on existing ideas while honouring both the claustrophobic tension of Scott's original vision, as well as the pumped-up athleticism of Cameron's sequel. He even nods to lesser entries in the franchise, such as Scott's own Prometheus and the much maligned Alien: Resurrection - although we'll get to those later.

It's when pulling from the best entries that Alvarez finds the most success, even if his decision to revisit one key player from Alien (in the form of the now deceased Ian Holm) seems ill-advised in the current environment surrounding the use of AI in cinema. For his part, Alvarez maintains the decision was made out of respect, and only with the consent of Holm's family, which - if true - feels better and also works to the film's advantage in the way that he is deployed.

But in other nods, the references are either super-charged or given a novel spin, so as to make them still seem fresh and genuinely exciting.

The use of face-huggers is particularly effective, given how much of the horror of this franchise is derived from their presence. Here, they contribute to at least two memorable set pieces - one of which really allows Alvarez to ramp up the use of silence in cinema to nerve-shredding effect.

While there's another scene, involving the Xenomorph's acidic blood, that really puts a virtuoso spin on things, given the way the director throws in a zero gravity element into the mix.

The decision to use practical effects over CGI also plays a huge factor in the film's success, as this feels like a natural successor to the Alien film - as gritty, dark and grungy as the original and all the more realistic and lived-in for it.

The effects also help to ensure the ick factor is kept massively high on this one - even though the 15 certificate may make it seem tame by comparison (it isn't).

Alvarez fully stretches the boundaries of where body horror can go, even threatening to leave a nasty taste in the mouth with some of the fates that befall his female cast.

Of that cast, all deliver in some way - although it's Jonsson and Spaeny that emerge with most of the plaudits. Spaeny, in the Ripley role, delivers the required mix of vulnerability and bravery, gradually stepping in the role of warrior and protector.

While Jonsson is superb in the somewhat dual role of Andy - a tragic, highly sympathetic figure for long periods, before different programming renders him more dangerous and possibly duplicitous.

There's a satisfying chemistry between the pair that also allows the film itself to explore the nature of human dynamics and what it means to be humane.

With so much going for it, it's perhaps even more of a shame that Romulus can't maintain its momentum for a completely five-star experience.

But, alas, Alvarez seems to want to have his cake and eat it - almost choking on being allowed to do so.

The third act, in particular, opts for a turn into semi new territory but takes the worst elements of Prometheus and Resurrection and delivers a ghastly, ill-advised and completely unnecessary denouement.

This is where the film exhibits all the worst traits of the Weyland-Yutani corporation, discarding credibility completely and not learning from the mistakes of Alien entries gone bad in the past.

By venturing into such territory, it also makes you ponder other shortcomings - such as the lapses in logic that inform some of the earlier plot contrivances, such as the revised speed of growth of the aliens, from gestation to full-blown killing machine, or the credibility of the prologue in setting things up and its effect on subsequent timelines.

The third act also does a disservice to most of the characters (and one, in particular), while also adding an extra layer of nasty in its use of body horror that veers in the exploitative.

If the first two thirds of the film hadn't been so strong, then this might drag Romulus into ignominity and placed into question its existence in the first place.

But then there is so much to admire in the adrenaline-rush nature of what has come before that it's easier to forgive the last act aberration (especially since so many Hollywood films have trouble sticking the landing).

Overall, Romulus is a film to experience on the big screen - and one that looks set to revitalise the franchise.