The first Alien movie scared audiences and changed sci-fi horror 45 years ago. Now, a new film in the series is coming out. It's called Alien: Romulus. Fans of the Alien franchise will be pleased; we have a new strong contender for the title of "best since the original."
Now, to do this review, I am going to discuss something that is exceedingly scientific. I know it can sometimes be hard to discuss scientific things and hard to follow, but stick with me. That extremely scientific term is - goo. More on that in a bit.
The Story of Alien: Romulus
The movie starts with a fast scene of a salvage ship moving through the wreckage of the Nostromo, the ship from the first film. They grab something from space, bring into a space station, remove it and then vanish. Uh oh, this can't be good.
We get to see more of the world in which Alien is set. A world dominated by the Weyland Corporation and the beginning is set on a mining colony. We meet our main character, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her android "brother" Andy.
The mines are a bad place where infections and disease run rampant, so the life expectancy of the miners is not long. Rain wants to get off world, to visit a world where she can see the sun and not have to worry about disease.
Of course Weyland is never going to let that happen.
She and a group of rebellious colonists decide to launch into space. They plan to enter a space station orbiting their planet. Their goal is to steal cryo-tubes and go into stasis. They want to travel to planet Yvaga.
Well, you can probably guess which space station this. You can probably guess what's hidden away in it. Finally, you can probably guess what these people accidentally do while on it.
The Scares are Back
Romulus is truly terrifying. Fortunately, director Fede Alvarez is obviously a fan of the first movie and remembers what made that so scary. It was about a small group of people trapped in a small place trying to survive an unstoppable enemy. As such, this is what he gives us.
There are no bones about it. There is none of the world-building and myth building Ridley Scott tried to do with Prometheus (thank God). Monsters bad, monsters kills, run from monsters. That is the plot.
And it's fantastic.
Most of the effects are practical, which is great. The facehuggers have never been more terrifying and there have never been quite so many of them. The grown up xenomorphs are all teeth and spines and tails and goop and they are scary, too.
This movie is scarier and more exciting than James Cameron's Aliens. It combines action and horror to create a thrilling experience. It is the second best in the series, after the first Alien movie.
The Goo Factor
One thing about these movies has always been the good. You know what I mean. The eggs the aliens are in, are filled with goo.
When they pop out and stick to someone's face, they drip goo. When they burst of out the host's chest or use their teeth to kill, well, we humans are FILLED with goo. Even the xenomorphs themselves are constantly dripping goo all over the place and, finally, the androids in this universe are full of white goo.
Well, the goo Factor is very strong in this movie. For you horror fans who like your gore very wet, then this movie will not let you down.
New Things All Around
Alvarez does pay fan service a lot. I have heard some people mention this as a negative, but it didn't bug me too much. There was a re-use of a famous line near the end that didn't work for me and I did kind of roll my eyes, but the rest I actually welcomed. I am a fan, and I wish to be serviced.
However, Alvarez also manages to do things in here I haven't seen before. For example, a cocoon for the alien creatures to occupy before becoming the big giant xenomorph we all know and love.
In Conclusion: it's a Terrific Film
The movie had me on the edge of my seat. There was a chest-bursting scene, the blood was acidic, someone gets impaled by the creature's tail and the teeth shoot out of the xenomorph's mouth. What else do you want in one of these movies?
Alvarez balances the things we want to see, but new things we love to see. He puts down the gas, never lets up, and still manages to create thrills and chills that will keep you gripping to seat until the end. Alien: Romulus delivers the goods.
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