It is quite dark on the planet that Rain, Tyler, Kay, Bjorn, and Navarro intend to leave as quickly as possible. And this is not just due to the zero hours of sunlight per year. The last solid ground that the soon-to-be crew (including Rain’s friend Andy, a synthetic person) will stand on is a dystopian place. Its inhabitants move like a penal colony over dimly lit streets, where a little amusement in the form of bars and street prostitution may tempt them here and there. An authoritarian corporation binds its workers in mines indefinitely. It is all the more remarkable that director Fede Alvarez has discovered a group of young people amidst this exhibited hostility to life, who could also have appeared in “Gasoline Rainbow” (2023) by Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross: hip and self-destructive, diverse and daring, comradely and sometimes a bit limited. “Alien: Romulus” stands by the youth.
Alvarez dedicates quite a bit of attention to them from the very beginning. While Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979), of which “Romulus” considers itself a narrative successor, indulged for a very long time in galactic worlds, focusing on the crew of the spaceship “Nostromo” and portraying them almost meditatively while they worked, 2024 centers on relationship dramas. One gets the sense of a spark between Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Tyler (Archie Renaux); Rain’s and Andy’s (David Jonsson Fray) relationship status seems ambivalent, deceased parents (Bjorn) are in the mix, and overall, everyone seems a bit abandoned. Oh yes, none of them have seen sunlight either. If one wishes to remain in the generational image that Alvarez depicts, one could elaborate: Rain, Tyler, Kay, Bjorn, Navarro, and in a way, Andy were left with nothing good by their predecessors.
Thus begins the surprisingly fortunate escape without sadness, but with joints and swag. One wishes everyone an amazing time and would love to congratulate them. That would have truly been the “Gasoline Rainbow” version of “Alien.” Unfortunately, the “Nostromo,” abandoned and damaged, still drifts through space. Along with alien stowaways. The legacy does not end with the nasty, acid-spraying creatures with piranha-like teeth. Ian Holm, who appeared in 1979 as Science Officer Ash, is reactivated in “Romulus” and awakens to a kind of second life: as an animated version of Holm, he seeks to finally complete the poisoned mission of the “Nostromo” crew from back then. Ash is the only adult in this film, just like Andy is a humanoid, and is of no great help. “We simply cannot wait for evolution anymore” is one of his last, megalomaniacal remarks that can serve as a harbinger of the next debacle.
Meanwhile, Rain and company have other concerns: Kay (Isabela Merced) is pregnant and should give birth safely. Overall, the cohesion of the group plays an important role; humanity, one might say. An attribute that is occasionally denied to Andy, as utilitarian and rational decisions by other Artificial Persons (whom Bjorn derogatorily calls “Fake People”) have already led to human deaths in the past. “Romulus” is also a confrontation of artificial intelligence with itself. Andy, perhaps the most interesting character in the film, experiences himself in several versions – first as Rain’s loyal protector, then as a cool executor under Ash’s influence, and ultimately as a transcending individual, because a loving (!) person.
This is touching and beautifully portrayed in the key scene. However, it is a long and perilous journey filled with effects, dangers, and skirmishes. “Alien: Romulus” sometimes feels like a rollercoaster ride, whose maneuvers and loops one eventually becomes familiar with, yet it never seems to end. Alvarez “delivers,” as they say. A countdown is constantly ticking, a battery is damned empty, aliens break through doors and slaughter, corrode, and annoy. This is indeed exhausting. Also for an epigone who must draw to a certain extent from the material of its predecessors. What remains is the horror trip of a Gen-Z crew – upon whom, at least for a tiny moment, sunlight falls.
Carolin Weidner
Alien: Romulus – USA 2024 – Directed by: Fede Alvarez – Cast: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu, Rosie Ede – Runtime: 119 minutes.