Alien: Romulus

 Alien: Romulus

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Listen! Listen, listen, listen to me! Go see this movie. I realize I am late on seeing Alien: Romulus as it came out in theaters two weeks ago, but I have arrived. I was on the edge of my seat for most of this film. They went with a younger crew this time, portraying a group of green young adults who were just in search of a better life. There was an affinity towards them succeeding built in early on. Considering, I had recently rewatched the first Alien movie, this one felt almost full circle to me. This of course was the intention considering it is somewhat of a sequel to Alien and a prequel to Aliens, taking place 20 years after the events of Alien. 

Alien: Romulus follows Rain, played by Cailee Spaeny, and her “brother,” Andy played by David Jonsson, as they decide to help scavenge a ship so they can realize their ultimate dream of going to another planet where they can see the sun. They join a group of four others to steal some well-needed supplies from an abandoned ship that has orbited into the range of their planet. 

Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson did a great job of acting out all the ups and downs that occurred in this film. Overall the acting from all of the cast members was on point. I thought it took a little bit to pick up steam but the initial “boring” parts were crucial to build a back story with Rain that created some investment from the audience. However, once they got on that ship, I was biting my nails the entire time. This was an adrenaline-pumping ride. The set design and cinematography were well done. I would say the set design and ship were additional characters in this film. Of course, there were some aspects of the writing and obvious plot points that were solely done to advance the movie but all in all, it provided a high entertainment value for me and the kiddos. 

Alien: Romulus 9.5/10

Spoilers Ahead

So the movie starts with us meeting Rain and her brother, Andy, who we later learn is actually an android. He is an older, outdated model that her father programmed to always do what’s best for her. We learn that Rain has lost both her parent and all she wants to do is get off this mining planet and go to Yvaga where she can see the sun. She goes to get her travel papers after she believes to have satisfied her contract, but they tell her that they raised the required hours and she has not satisfied it and has to “work” for a few more years. 

Her ex, Tyler, propositions her to join him on a scavenger to an abandoned ship. In truth, they need Andy to go along because he would be able to open the doors of this ship. Rain hesitantly agrees because they will get stasis pods that would allow them the opportunity to go to Yvaga and Andy is okay with it. During this time we meet the rest of the team.

Kay, Tyler’s sister, and pregnant. We also meet Navarro and Bjorn. Bjorn is a complete jerk and to Andy in particular. This is because a droid made a decision that killed his mother for the sake of the greater good. This becomes important because on several occasions in the craziness we see Andy making similar decisions. One thing about the Alien moves is that they will have an android causing havoc. 

They all embark on their smaller ship to get to the bigger abandoned spaceship. Once there, Tyler, Bjorn, and Andy get on the ship to find the cryo pods. Basically, they wanted the cryo pods so they could then abandon their contracts and fly to Yvaga themselves since they figured the mining company never had any real intention of letting them out of their contracts. The issue is that it’s 9 years away and they need those pods to get there. 

The ship is scary but they get the pods fairly quickly. Unfortunately, Tyler realizes there’s only enough fuel for about 3 years of sleep instead of the nine they need. So he decides to go further into the ship to find some fuel and this is when the fun takes begins. Tyler finds the fuel but then the temperature increase gets triggered and the 36 Alien face eaters (that’s what I call them lol) thaw out and decide to get to implanting their available hosts. Mayhem ensues and Navarro is the first victim. After this, it’s one heart-racing event after another. 

Tyler, played by Archi Renaux- bless his heart. He was a good guy and only trying to do right by his family. He died sacrificing himself to save Rain from getting impaled by an alien. 

Bjorn- was such a jerk but had a heart. He was the father of Kay’s baby even though they explicitly said that he was Tyler’s cousin. So I just assume it’s not real cousins like we used to do back in the day as kids. He died trying to save Kay. His was a brutal death too. Death by acid which may have been a way to low-key punish him for being such a jerk.

Kay, played by Isabela Merced, is Tyler’s sister and she survives only to be killed by her foolish choices. She decided to inject herself with a serum formulated from the alien’s DNA with fatal consequences. 

At one point Rook convinces an altered Andy to do what’s in the best interest of the company by delivering a serum that he worked on from altering and manipulating the alien’s DNA. He tells Andy that the serum will save humanity with its healing and rejuvenating properties. Rook still thinks the aliens are the perfect species and regardless of the dire consequences of the serum wants to continue research even though the serum only has rejuvenating properties up until it continues to mutate and grows the host into a monstrous thing and it eventually dies. Of course, he does not disclose that to Andy. So they think it will promote healing. Fast forward to Kay. She is on the verge of death after being captured and impaled by the alien. She injects herself. The baby inside her grows super fast, she birthed it and it comes back to kill her. 

Navarro played by Aileen Wu was just a victim of circumstance. I was indifferent toward her death though. She was a sad casualty that needed to happen to advance the story. 

Andy played by David Jonsson had me going through all types of emotions. First, he was this cute, underwhelming android and then due to a chip upgrade that was taken from another android on the ship, he became this strong super smart badass. Aside from his messed up directive to protect the interests of the company instead of Rain’s, he was pretty dope. He saved them so many times but again he was corrupted so Rain eventually removed the chip that gave him the impressive upgrades and he was back to being inefficient and awkward. It pains me but he was basically Rain’s emotional support droid. However, he did save Rain a couple of times when he was basic Andy so he does get some points. 

Rain played by Cailee Spaeny was pretty badass. Was it realistic? Heck nah. The number of times I would have died in the movie were I her! Aside from some times when she wanted to open doors that had no business being open, she made some smart survival choices. At the end of the day, like Ripley, she was the only survivor. 

Now when I say I felt like things came full circle, I mean, some small things reminded me of the original, and the only reason I noticed is because I had just watched it the night before. Now again, technically, this was a sequel to Alien and a prequel to Aliens which makes those connections completely sensible. However, the actual movie was still completed over 40 years later with many Alien moves in between. Of course, Rook was a big giveaway. He was the same droid that betrayed the Alien crew at least he had the same face and the same directive. The fact that the alien they were testing on was the same one that Ripley blew out of her ship was not lost on me because I for sure thought that sucker had dead. Rain, essently being the last woman standing was definitely significant but mostly when she slid into that suit like Riply did in Alien, I was getting homage vibes. 

Again if you want a heart-pumping experience and you are a fan of the Alien movies, go watch this. It is worth seeing in the theaters. Lastly, I so want another Alien vs Predator movie so the Predator can kick the Alien’s ass because they are heinous creatures.