Alien: Romulus (2024)
Directed by Fede Álvarez
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
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What critics compared Alien: Romulus to
Yet the callbacks and references start to stack up, to Alien, Cameron’s Aliens, to Scott’s 2012 prequel Prometheus, and even to the 2014 game Alien: Isolation.
While Scott originated the space-thriller saga back in 1979, then returned to it with 2012's Prometheus and 2017's Alien: Covenant, now Evil Dead, Don't Breathe and The Girl in the Spider's Web filmmaker Fede Álvarez is on helming duties — clearly taking his cues from Scott's work, though, right down to specific mirrored shots.
Created, shepherded and (mostly) directed by Ridley Scott, the “Alien” films have lately gotten artful and brooding (2012’s “Prometheus” and 2017’s “Alien: Covenant”), with portentous themes and stone-faced performances.
Gone are any pretences regarding attempts to take the concepts further, or to try to ask deeper questions regarding the meaning of creation and life, as Prometheus and Alien: Covenant did.
The closes this comes to doing anything to build out this universe is to include a solitary plot point that attempts to shore up the position of Prometheus (and by extension Alien: Covenant) in the series' lore. Not even to expand on those movies, just to confirm that despite being divisive, they haven't been written out of continuity. Which makes sense, given that those films' director Ridley Scott is still here as a producer.
Scott himself seemed to abandon the sense of awe and meditations on mortality of Prometheus when he served up more conventional xenomorph action in the subsequent Alien: Covenant, which felt less like an artistic decision and more an obligatory one.
Fede Álvarez is no stranger to an extreme finale, after the chainsaw massacre of Evil Dead and “turkey baster” in Don't Breathe, and this one is right up there for making audiences squirm and grimace.
In that regard, director Fede Álvarez is right at home having piloted a similar concept with 2016’s Don’t Breathe. No surprise, he penned both scripts with the help of Rodo Sayagues. But Alien: Romulus isn’t a cluster of recycled concepts.
The director also crafts some suspenseful set-pieces around the straightforward narrative, including one that all but directly recalls Álvarez and Sayagues’s previous horror hit Don’t Breathe, which are brought to life by some impeccable production and sound design, along with practical effects that look genuinely great, especially in today’s CG-heavy blockbuster environment.
Two scenes stand out: the first features everyone’s favourite weaponized vaginas as our protagonists attempt to navigate a room full of Facehuggers (in what has got to be a cheeky nod to Álvarez’ very own home invasion thriller Don’t Breathe); the second being a creatively mounted zero-gravity acid blood dodging sequence.
Having been conflicted about director/co-writer Fede Álvarez’s previous films (the messy 2014 Evil Dead remake, the utterly vile Don’t Breathe), I must extend respect for how strong this beast kicks off.
The director, Fede Álvarez (“Don’t Breathe,” the “Evil Dead” remake), is a visually brash, dramatically pedestrian showman who stages the alien encounters with a welter of practical effects, which in this retro era tends to get some viewers as excited as a Gen-X hipster cooing over his vinyl collection.
It reminds me, in that way, of a curious summer blockbuster from last year — Alien: Romulus…
They’re more a combination of everything from Sandworms in Dune to the multi-opening orifices in Alien:Romulus…
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Un ejemplo reciente con bastantes puntos en común con este film es «Alien: Romulus», con escenarios que no podrían ser tratados más como nuevos niveles para la acción de sus personajes.
The character possesses ethos and logos as the voice of reason, not unlike Jonsson’s prior role as Andy in Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus…
…and Jonsson stealing the show in Alien: Romulus (2024)…
David Jonsson from Alien: Romulus…
Ray quickly befriends Pete McVries (David Jonsson, Alien: Romulus).
…and David Jonsson (yet again showing A-lister potential after Rye Lane and Alien: Romulus)…
Among the many characters, the most affecting is Pete, played with quiet depth by rising star David Jonsson (“Rye Lane,” “Alien: Romulus”).