"Alien: Romulus": Back to the roots
The seventh film in the "Alien" series sees the franchise return to its roots. Surprisingly, the fact that the alien now belongs to Disney is not a problem.
"In Space No One Can Hear You Scream".
(Image: 20th Century Studios)
Alien, baby! The nameless terror of the universe is up to mischief once again, with "Alien: Romulus" opening in German cinemas on Thursday. Fans of the legendary SF horror classic will have been horrified to hear this - after all, Disney has earned a certain reputation for "modernizing" franchises that are religiously revered by their respective fanbases regardless of the consequences.
The "Mickey Mouse" company took over 20th Century Fox, the home of the Alien franchise since 1979, in 2019 and renamed it 20th Century Studio. "Alien" thus joins the colorful general store that Disney is today - alongside "Star Wars", the Marvel universe, Pixar and the animated classics.
New life for the franchise
Was this the death knell for the Alien that Ridley Scott, Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, with the significant help of artist H.R. Giger, first unleashed on the public in 1979? In any case, there seemed to be hardly any extraterrestrial life left in the franchise after Scott, of all people, had killed off the myth with "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant".
Worried fans can breathe a sigh of relief: "Alien: Romulus" breathes new life into the series. This is largely down to director Fede Alvarez and his co-writer Rodo Sayagues. They prefer to work with images rather than letting their characters tell stories. With his remake of "Evil Dead", Alvarez has already proven that he has mastered the genre - and how to modernize a cult classic with respect.
According to legend, Alvarez first suggested his idea for another Alien film to Ridley Scott, who eventually brought the project to 20th Century Studios in 2021 with his production company Scott Free. During the development of the material, James Cameron ("Aliens") also advised Scott. Walter Hill, a producer from the very beginning, is even back on board.
The story of Alvarez and Sayagues begins around 20 years after the crew of the space tug USCSS Nostromo had a fatal encounter with the xenomorph – and thus 37 years before Ellen Ripley returns with a horde of marines on LV-426. It begins in a colony of the all-powerful Weyland-Yutani Corporation - and, like so many horror films, with a stupid idea.
In the colony of "Jackson's Star", the children of the first settlers have now grown up. Like their parents, they are exploited by Weyland-Yutani, the work in the mines is hard and not without health risks. "Jackson's Star" is a dark place, under the dense cloud cover no one ever sees the sun of this system.
Android with malfunctions
Young Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her "brother", a reprogrammed android with slight malfunctions (David Jonsson), accompany their friends on a risky mission: they have discovered a space station abandoned by Weyland-Yutani in the planet's orbit. They want to steal the station's deep-sleep capsules and set off on a month-long journey to a better life in their small space transporter "Corbelan".
Because "Alien: Romulus" is also a horror film, it should come as no surprise to anyone that things don't go quite as smoothly as Rain's ex-boyfriend Tyler (Archie Renaux) thought they would. Because up there in orbit, it soon turns out that the abandoned twin space station "Romulus" and "Remus" harbors a deadly secret: our alien friend is alive and kicking.
You want to love "Alien: Romulus" immediately. In the title sequence, the viewer witnesses a salvage ship retrieving something from the wreckage of the Nostromo. With these first images, the filmmakers prove how much they respect their material. With Alvarez, everything still looks exactly as Ridley Scott created it in 1979: Space is a dangerous place to work, not an opera.
The special effects play a major part in this good impression. Alvarez and numerous effects teams, including Studio Gillis and Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop, rely heavily on real tricks, animatronic puppets and constructed sets in which the actors and crew were able to move freely. This looks very convincing on the screen. However, Alvarez can't do without digital effects altogether - unfortunately, CGI causes quite a break in one important scene.
"Romulus" plunders the canon
If Alvarez is to be criticized for anything, it's that he overdoes it a little with the fanservice. "Alien: Romulus" cheerfully plunders its way through the Alien canon, picking up on musical motifs from the legendary soundtracks by Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner and quoting a few iconic scenes. This much can already be revealed: Fans of "Alien Resurrection" will also get their money's worth.
At times, the whole thing feels like a colorful collection of quotes that sheds the metaphysical ballast of its more recent predecessors and is held together by a fluffy script for just under two hours. Until Alvarez enters David Cronenberg territory towards the end – and at this point at the latest, everyone realizes that this is a horror film that rightly carries its "16+" rating.
However, Disneyfication does not leave "Alien: Romulus" completely unscathed. The fact that the protagonists barely pass as adults is probably due to Hollywood's obsession with young target groups and the ongoing trend of "young adult fiction". At least the characters are believable - after years of working in the mines, the kids are already alright. The alien doesn't care about the age of its hosts anyway.
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"Alien: Romulus". USA 2024, directed by Fede Alvarez. Screenplay: Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues. Cinematography: Galo Olivares. Music: Benjamin Wallfisch. Editing: Jake Rogers. Production: Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss, Walter Hill. Running time: 119 minutes. FSK: From 16. in cinemas from August 15, 2024.
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