“Alien: Romulus,” released by 20th Century Studios, is the seventh installment in the “Alien” franchise. A franchise that started back in 1979, with a general theme of a crew aboard a space station (or other celestial bodies), being trapped with some terrible creature trying to hunt them. “Alien: Romulus,” is one of the best movies within the franchise and an absolute must-watch for people who love this license.
The movie is somewhat of an interquel, taking place between “Alien (1979)” and “Aliens (1986).” With the last “Alien” movie coming out seven years ago, “Alien: Romulus” has been much anticipated, and has been a breath of fresh air compared to some of the more recent “Alien” movies to come out. The movie contains many twists and turns that amazingly build suspense within the film and keep you guessing if the movie is about to end, or go on further.
The movie brings in elements of family with the characters, Rain and Andy. Andy is an android that Rain’s father repurposed to protect her and almost act as a brother to her. The movie has some elements of racism, as shown when they try to escape the planet they are on, others beat Andy for being an android, and even Rain’s friends ostracize Andy for being an android. Most of the movie takes place on a decommissioned space station split into two parts, Romulus, and Remus. The name of the station is named after a pair of twins from Roman mythology, Romulus, and Remus. One would think that the station was just named that due to it being two separate parts, but it can be used to symbolize the Xenomorphs, the main aliens in the “Alien” films. The story of Romulus and Remus is a story of two twins who would go on to find the city of Rome. The twins would end up getting into an argument and Romulus would kill, or cast out, Remus. This relates to the aliens and the story of “Alien” more than most think. It represents the main Xenomorph of “Alien: Romulus,” because this is the same Xenomorph known as “Big Chap” in the original “Alien” movie. In the original “Alien,” Big Chap was cast out from the ship and ended up landing on the station, fittingly named after Romulus and Remus.
The journey on the way to the space station shows some of the best-looking, and most beautiful scenes of space ever seen in the “Alien” movies, which leave viewers completely awestruck. The film features some amazing effects that completely immerse the viewer within the scenes, whether they are more disturbing, or more action-related. The film does a great job of building suspense by not showing the Xenomorph until the end, and focusing more on the Facehuggers. The film amazingly showcases the anatomy of the Facehuggers and their process, especially in one or two disturbing scenes that contain a struggle with the Facehuggers. It shows scratch marks on the face of the victim where the Facehugger once was, and you can see an almost phallic appendage from the Facehugger as it tries to lay its eggs down the victim’s throat.
The effects within this movie are absolutely incredible for a film with an 80 million dollar budget (which is fairly low nowadays) and are better than many high-budget films. One wouldn’t even be able to tell that many of the scenes were fake if they didn’t know they were watching a movie. Even the gore within the film is incredibly done and has just the right amount to be disturbing without making viewers throw up. Without getting into spoilers, the film also takes logic into account, with scenes involving gravity, zero gravity, and acid. Towards the end of the movie, there are some impressive effects and scenes again, with a gruesome birth scene that brings a horrifying organism known as the “offspring” into the movie. Despite the size and lankiness of the creature, it is (impressively) made almost completely of practical effects The twist throws the audience for a loop and gives another thirty minutes of action and horror.
While the effects and thrills were great within the movie, the characters (besides Rain, and Andy) can appear kind of shallow and frankly a little boring. The movie doesn’t make one care for the characters that don’t add anything important to the story, and it ends up making viewers feel like they’re just waiting for them to die. While this doesn’t apply to all characters, it does have a bit of a negative effect on the film.
The casting for this movie was great. The producers are good at making the audience either love or hate their character. One of the best casting decisions for this movie is the actor they chose for Andy, David Jonsson. Jonsson is a very non-threatening and sad-looking person. For a good amount of the movie, it seems he is a nice, but almost pathetic guy. When a twist happens that causes a conflict between the group and leaves the characters questioning his motives, it makes it difficult to let go of him and accept that Andy has changed.
“Alien: Romulus” is a very fun watch that captivates and sucks viewers in for the entire runtime of the movie. It’s a movie for both horror and non-horror lovers alike, that doesn’t require watching any of the other movies to really enjoy this one.
Stink-finger • Oct 24, 2024 at 6:43 pm
It was a good insightful view into the film