Alien: Romulus demonstrates the joys of a perfect product. I have a lot of issues with the film, but even I can’t deny that it’s a masterpiece from a technical perspective. The tremendous legacy of its predecessors has it in an inescapable trap. The first two films provided every trick the script has, but Romulus refuses to capture any similar depth. Unsurprisingly, most audiences do not care about that gap in quality.
The latest Alien reboot comes from director Fede Alvarez of Don’t Breathe fame. He previously got his hands on Evil Dead, where he did pretty much the same thing he did with Alien. Alvarez understands what makes these franchises work aesthetically, but his ability to capture their nuanced qualities can’t reach the screen. We wind up with a stellar horror experience that feels more at home in a theme park than a movie theater.
Alien: Romulus Invades Homes Through Disney Plus’s Top Ten List
Alien: Romulus is a forced return to form for the Alien franchise. Like a lot of horror movie dynasties these days, Ridley Scott’s baby had to retreat back to the first couple of entries to attract fans. Fair enough, since everything after Aliens could never live up to the classics, but there have been more graceful reboots. The plot follows a crew of young adults struggling to escape a Weyland-Yutani mining colony. They snag a spaceship and take off for a distant paradise, but the only way to get there is to enter cryostasis. A nearby space station, the titular Romulus, has their prize but hides a familiar terror. In short order, facehuggers escape containment, people suffer grisly fates, and the survivors must face impossible odds. It’s a fine premise with several stellar set pieces, but the finished product lacks the impact of its predecessors.
Alien: Romulus will allegedly become the start of another new arm of the franchise. The first four films make up most of the new project’s DNA, but there’s still room to explore this universe. I felt disappointed coming out of Alien: Romulus, but Alvarez seems confident that the voyage is far from over. Maybe the 2024 film was an appeal to the fans, promising to dispense with all the stuff they hated. Perhaps they had to fill the plot with pandering callbacks to win people over. We’ve seen franchise media try stunts like this before. Doctor Who recently brought David Tennant back for three episodes to briefly assure fans that things were back to normal after a run of questionable showrunners. If Alvarez could combine the technical brilliance he brought to Romulus with any thematic depth, we’d have a genre classic on our hands.
People generally loved Alien: Romulus, even as critics brought down mixed opinions. It earned over $350 million on a stunning $80 million budget. It showed no sign of stopping on streaming, where it currently holds #1 on Disney+’s worldwide top ten. Fans lined up to celebrate this film despite its complete lack of depth. I might even argue that they support the film because of its lack of depth. I have hope for the future of this franchise, but it would be so much easier to keep quoting lines. If the Xenomorphs can evolve on-screen, their story should keep developing, too.
