Feature Presentation #5 Alien: Romulus

The newest Alien movie facehugged my heart!

Aug 20, 2024

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I saw Alien: Romulus twice this weekend and thought I’d write about it here. It’s the latest in the Alien film franchise that has seen nine films total in its 45-year history. That’s nine films if you count the Alien vs. Predator films that some count. I’ll let you decide, dear reader. Anyway, after it’s first weekend, Alien: Romulus is holding at 81% on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $41.5 million at the US domestic box office ($108.2 million total worldwide). Once again, another Alien movie makes its budget back, and then some, and I enjoyed it.

Okay, here’s how we’ll do this: first, some spoiler-free thoughts. Then, some spoiler-filled thoughts. Finally, some spoiler-ish theological thoughts on this movie and the Alien franchise overall. Each section is clearly marked, but if you haven’t seen Alien: Romulus yet, don’t scroll too fast!

Before we get into Alien: Romulus, you can check out my latest essay at Movie Memories, which I write on the Pika blogging platform. This weekend, I wrote about taking my kid to see Alien in the theater for its 45th anniversary this spring.

Up front: there is NO mid- or post-credit scene for Alien: Romulus. Hopefully I spared you scrolling through some ad-riddle clickbait garbage article that makes you skim 426 paragraph to learn that. Look at me - third paragraph, baby!

Here’s the teaser trailer. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I would not watch the “official trailer” or “final trailer,” if I were you, because wow, are they spoiler-heavy. I tend to have a very good memory for what I see and hear in trailers, and I wish I hadn’t seen the official trailer two months before release and I’m glad I skipped the final trailer last month.

Here’s the teaser, and it’s more than enough:

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

Overall, I really enjoyed Alien: Romulus. When I walked out of the theater on Friday, I had a “good, not great” attitude. Thinking about it over the weekend, my attitude leaned into “great” territory. After seeing it again on Sunday, I’m fully there: this is a great Alien movie. It broadened the overall story while being its own story, it was tense in the right ways and always interesting, and it leaned on the lore while giving it all a bit of its own unique twist.

Here’s what I liked:

The atmosphere was excellent. Scary in the right places, gross in the right places, thoughtful in the right places, and a true Alien story.
The action set pieces and chases were a lot of fun.
There’s a good mix of both CG special effects and practical effects. We get to see a xenomorph animated in the computer as well as “man in suit” style, and it works. It’s fun to see a movie made in 2024 use both 2024 and 1979 SFX tactics.
It is a well-placed bridge between the movies that come before and after it chronologically. Alien has sequels and prequels, and Alien: Romulus is the first “interquel,” set 20 years after Alien and 37 year before Aliens.
The two standout performances are Cailee Spaeny (she’s an up and comer for good reason, see her in Civil War this year, too) and David Jonsson as Andy. He especially is given a bit of heavy lifting to do and he nails it each time.
I loved the connections with the other films. It’s there in the production design and sound design. It’s obvious in the title credits and music cues. And of course, in the story, hidden Easter eggs, and overall themes. They were intentional without being intrusive. Though the characters only learn as they go, the story is informed by what came before it and what will come after.
I loved the world building. We get a greater glimpse into the sadistic evil that is the Weyland-Yutani Corporation as they tout prosperity on the backs of the poor. That mining colony is a desperate, awful place, even compared to the deleted scenes depicting Hadley’s Hope on LV426 in Aliens. And when we take that glimpse into consideration of what we know of “The Company” from other movies, we now know the even greater expanse that is a dismal future all thanks to intergalactic corporate greed (shocking, right?!).
Finally, I just enjoyed that this is truly an Alien movie. Fede Alvarez is known as a modern horror movie director and while this leans heavily into the horror genre, as Alien movies can do at times, it is not just a horror flick where the slasher happens to have a xenomorph-shaped head instead of a hockey mask.

Here’s what could’ve been better:

Honestly, not a lot. I concede, I don’t feel as connected to most of these characters the way I felt connected to the likes of Parker and Lambert, Hudson, Hicks, and Vasquez, or even Morse or Johner, to expand to later films. I can live with it, but I noticed it while watching the movie both times.
Yes, I did role my eyes at that scene, too. I thought, okay I’ve never been in zero-gravity, but um, have the writers never been near a baby who spilled?! There are little driblets everywhere! Oh well, at least it was an inventive twist on a staple of Alien lore (more in the spoiler section below).

My Rating:

Overall, I really enjoyed Alien: Romulus. It was the first movie this year that compelled me to see it twice in the theater since Dune Part 2. If I have a free night this fall and it’s still around in September, yeah, I’d go a third time.

Alien: Romulus gets 4 out of 5 Facehuggers!

What did you think? Let me know in the comments. Okay, a bit more, with spoilers…

Sunday Matinee #61 Alien³

Nate Melcher

February 25, 2024

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SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW AND RATING:

Time to go to Spoiler Town. I’ll extrapolate from what I wrote above.

Here’s what I liked:

The connections with Alien were just great. I thought it was really creative for The Company to seek out and find the original cocooned xenomorph from Alien. Cool way to keep the story going in a way that made sense. The production value that kept the movie close to Alien worked, too, such as computer readouts and sound effects were icing on the cake. And the big connection is Rook, who is the same type of artificial person as Ash. The first 20 seconds of CG work were a bit shaky, but I bought it after that. Look, I grew up in the 80s watching tons of beloved movies filled with black matte lines and obvious blue screen work. I can take a bit of wonky CG and be just fine.
The characters learn and experience the xenomorphs in natural ways that didn’t feel tacked on. Many of us have seen the other films so we know the basics: facehuggers, chestbursters, acid blood, etc. They learn as they go and it makes sense and that makes a difference to me.
I loved the creature at the end. That appears to be the most-polarizing part of the movie, but it worked for me. The genetic spiral of creation in this movie series is fascinating and here it comes full circle. An Engineer uses (Invents?! Prometheus doesn’t really answer that!) black goo to make humans, as well a the capacity for xenomorphs to be birthed from humans. Then humans make an android who pulls the black goo back out of the xenomorph and that goo gets injected into a human. Since the black good is from a xenomorph, it mixes with a human baby and goes back to the image of the Engineer with an alien body. Wow. That’s a lot. But I really liked that. Totally clicked for me.

Here’s what could’ve been better:

Okay, the zero-gravity acid blood scene is the scene that made me roll my eyes. There truly weren’t any little droplets?! I watched several of the Alien movies lately and yeah, the blood congeals quite a bit, but eh, sometimes movies get to have a bit of dumb logic. I’ll roll with it, if only because the tension was well-played.

Those are my spoiler zone thoughts. Let’s talk about the movie’s themes.

Sunday Matinee #18 Aliens

Nate Melcher

April 30, 2023

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COMMENTARY:

The Alien movies have intriguing overarching themes. Creation and the consequences of trying to play God. The search for meaning in the universe. Sacrifice, redemption, and the circle of life. One could write a whole book on those themes and more. Here’s a few thoughts on how Alien: Romulus contributes to some of those themes:

Creation and the Consequences of Playing God

These movies are all about creation. What makes them stand out is the sickening and bloody way destruction must occur to lead to creation. After all, you can’t make a xenomorph omelet unless you break open a couple eggs and launch facehuggers onto nearby humans to lay eggs in their chest. I think that’s an old saying.

The Genesis creation narrative speaks of God saying let us create humans in our image and give them stewardship over our creation (Genesis 1:26-27) and how we were formed from the dust and God breathed new life into us (Genesis 2:7). It’s a beautiful, poetic way to consider creation. The prequel films Prometheus and Alien: Covenant attempt to answer who created humans. Turns out to be a race known in the movies as the Engineers. They use a substance colloquially known as “black goo” to bring life (humans) and take life (xenomorphs spawn from it).

Romulus Science Officer Rook somehow extracts this black goo from the xenomorph, essentially prepared to play God. It’s a full-circle irony, in that Rook is an android created by humans who were created by Engineers who may or may not have wanted to create xenomorphs by destroying humankind. While Rain and Andy keep the black goo out of The Company’s hands, they do end up keeping the samples for their own journey. They have seen the power to create and destroy, and rather than destroy that power, they steward it. Will this human and android try to play God when they’ve seen the terrible consequences? Not likely, but it does beg the question: what is it about harnessing the power of God that is so tempting that it’s hard to let go?

Sacrifice and Redemption

I know revenge stories always seem to be in vogue, and as satisfying as they can be, I am most compelled by stories where characters sacrifice for others and/or find a way to redemption. Alien: Romulus adds to this franchise theme when Rain goes back to rescue Andy. She could just leave, but she can’t just leave him. She had been prepared to before, even if she didn’t have the heart to tell him he couldn’t go to the new planet with her, but ultimately she was okay with him being programmed to do what was right for her and her alone.

In his farewell discourse to the disciples in the Gospel of John chapters 14-17, Jesus offers many teachings, often involving humble leadership. One teaching that stands out here is John 15:13-15, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” This sense of duty to one’s friends is what compels Rain to rescue her friend, Andy. It’s similar to Ripley going back to rescue Newt. Both of these women go back at great risk to themselves to rescue someone more vulnerable. Can any love be greater?

The search for God and meaning

Many people recognize Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, the litany of a time for this and a time for that (just go listen to the Pete Seeger song, if that’s what you need today). But go a bit further and you find Ecclesiastes 3:9-11, “What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” The writer offers a tiny moment of wonder from humans. They toil in work, they seek in wonder, and ultimately they may never find what God is doing.

Can we be okay with this? Are we okay with not knowing everything God is up to? Honestly, I think some people get upset about that. But we don’t know it all. In fact, we can’t. And we may never know it all.

Dark Matter is an unseen, yet definitely there, form of matter that makes up around 85% of the mass of the universe. We can’t measure it with our tech instruments because it doesn’t interact with light (hence, the name). But we know it’s there. Humans have sought knowledge since we knew there was knowledge to seek. The apostle Paul names this as understanding only in part, as if looking in a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12). What will it take to see Dark Matter, let alone understand it? I don’t know.

The Dark Matter of our universe reminds me of the “black goo” of the Alien movies. The characters don’t understand it all, no matter how hard they try to harness it.

The Engineers create (or discovered and use) the black goo, the building block of life. It creates humans and the capacity for other creatures to hatch from humans. These hatchlings, the xenomorphs, then get the black goo extracted once again by a synthetic humanoid, created by humans. Engineers make humans as host for creatures who are reverse engineered by the androids made by humans made by Engineers.

Did you get all that?

Enter Aliens: Romulus. All of this crossbreeding reaches a new pinnacle when an android, Rook, finds the goo made by the Engineers from the xenomorph from Alien who hatches from a human, Kane. Then Kay, a human created by the Engineers from the black goo, injects her pregnant body with black goo extracted from a xenomorph. She gives birth to a creature that is human and xenomorph and bears a striking resemblance to the Engineers.

Did you get all THAT?!

Alien: Romulus sees the creation made in the image of the creator then end up creating a creation in the image of the creator. It’s full circle! It’s disgusting and scary and an abomination (and it seems to be self-aware in that regard), but it’s full circle nonetheless.

If there’s one thing all of the Alien movies try to make clear, it’s this: leave the creation up to someone else. While our attempts to co-create or steward can enrich creation, our attempts to take over the role of creator ends only in destruction.

Destruction and that thing at the end of this movie!

Your turn!

I’ve love to know what you think of Alien: Romulus. Leave a comment with your thoughts on the movie, it’s themes, and the overall franchise. I’ve decided this movie is not just “good” but “great.” Not every Alien movie is great, so it’s great to add another one. My rankings? This is how I’m feeling today: