The Alien films are the rare blockbuster main stay which traditionally provides more meta-textual substance than the sum of its parts. The original Ridley Scott classic “Alien” is deceptively simple, a haunted house movie aboard the spaceship Nostromo, but one which offers a wide, flawed universe where mankind tends to make the same deadly mistakes again and again. Not unlike the titular alien in question, this franchise’s many permutations and evolutions often grow more layered and dense, demanding ever more introspection from us on the nature of Motherhood and Corporate Greed (“Aliens”), Death and Corporate Greed (“Alien 3”), before finally God and Corporate Greed (“Prometheus”/“Alien: Covenant”). The latest entry, however, seems to be going for something more retrospective. While the recent prequel films, re-helmed by Scott, have spanned the universe searching for creation; this one stays small, intimate, and bleak, searching for hope in a place devoid of light and smothered by the unrelenting brutalities of a heartless existence where the only sliver of respite is in the love we have for our family.
Sound like fun?
This is “Alien: Romulus”.
Directed by Fede Alvarez, a cinematic blood spewer of the highest order who brought us classics such as “Evil Dead” (2014) and “Don’t Breathe” (2016), “Alien: Romulus” chooses to retract the narrative to a simple haunted house story once again that calls the franchise back to its roots. When a Weyland-Yutani Corporation Ship is found hovering dead stick above the sunless mining planet Jackson’s Star; the orphaned Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her “brother”/android Andy (David Jonsson) are recruited to help hijack the ship and use it to escape their hellish existence. There’s just one problem. The ship is lifeless because the scientists aboard found something floating among the wreckage of the Nostromo; the Xenomorph thought to have been destroyed by Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Now the beast is loose on the ship, and our young heroes are walking straight into its double-mouthed maw.
Throughout the film, Alvarez uses his patented flair for the ooky, gooky in ways even Scott never imagined, i.e. acid Alien blood in zero gravity. Oddly enough though, fans of his work, this writer included, might spend most of the film wondering if he forgot how to make us truly squirm. Did the strong arm of Disney’s corporate interest stifle his instincts to go gorier? Rest assured, once the third act rolls around, Alvarez is let off the leash; unfurling a sequence of bloody good body horror that more than makes up for the stillborn nature of several stilted scenes previous and reminded me of a similar sequence in 2016’s underseen, gonzo “Antibirth”. For the first time in the movie, I was leaning forward in my seat with a huge grin on my face and left the theater buzzing. Well worth the price of admission I’d say.
Also worth the ticket price is the staggering performance of David Jonsson (“Industry”) as the android Andy. The “synthetic” role in any Alien film is a veritable showcase for a great actor to shine; just look back at the work of Ian Holm, Lance Hendrickson, and Michael Fassbender. Jonsson stands among those peers with aplomb and, to this writer’s temperament, nearly outshines them all. Jonsson’s Andy, broken yet dedicated to his “sister” Spaeny (“Civil War”, “Priscilla”), is a pitiful creation; endlessly empathetic in a universe that does not consider his existence of any substance at all. As one character says, “It’s not like he’s even real”. Jonsson crafts a character who says more with his eyes than most can with a monologue; the mark of a true star in the making. In a movie that largely riffs on the Titans that came before, Jonsson is doing something bold, and beautiful; finding new corners to interrogate upon a well-trod cinematic canvas. It is truly a sight to see.
While tragically indebted to its predecessors in ways both subtle (a hint of the “Prometheus” score during a particular reveal) and unforgivable (a cameo appearance that should have died on the vine) that feel nearly as corporately tyrannical as the long, dark shadow of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, “Alien: Romulus” is able to deliver the Xenomorphic goods alongside a central brother/sister performance that dares to do its own thing and does it well. So grab a friend and venture back into the darkest reaches of space ‘where no one can hear you scream’.
You’ll be glad you did.
“Alien: Romulus” is playing at The Broad Theater and Prytania Theatres at Canal Place.
