It is quite dark on the planet that Rain, Tyler, Kay, Bjorn and Navarro intend to leave as quickly as possible. And that is not just because of the zero hours of sunshine per year. The last solid ground that the soon-to-be crew (including Rain’s friend Andy, a synthetic human) has under their feet is a dystopian place. Its inhabitants move like a penal colony over dim streets, with a little entertainment here and there in the form of bars and street prostitution. An authoritarian company ties its workforce to mines for an indefinite period of time. It is all the more astonishing that director Fede Alvarez has tracked down a group of young people in the midst of this hostility to life that could also have been encountered in “Gasoline Rainbow” (2023) by Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross: hip and self-destructive, diverse and brave, comradely and sometimes a little limited. “Alien: Romulus” stands on the side of the youth.
Alvarez devotes quite a bit of attention to it right from the start. While Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979), whose narrative successor “Romulus” sees itself as, reveled in galactic worlds for a long time, took a look at the crew of the space freighter “Nostromo” and showed them almost meditatively doing their work, 2024 is all about relationships. One can sense a spark between Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Tyler (Archie Renaux), Rain and Andy’s (David Jonsson Fray) relationship status seems ambivalent, murdered parents (Bjorn) are involved and overall all leave somethingOh yes, none of them have ever seen sunlight either. If you want to stick to the generational picture that Alvarez draws up, you can explain: Rain, Tyler, Kay, Bjorn, Navarro and, to a certain extent, Andy were not left anything good by their predecessors.
So the surprisingly smooth escape begins, without sadness, but with joints and swag. We wish everyone a great time and would like to congratulate them. That would really have been the “Gasoline Rainbow” version of “Alien”. Unfortunately, the “Nostromo” is still hanging around in space, abandoned and battered. Complete with aliens that have been brought in. The legacy ends with the nasty, acid-squirting creatures with piranha teeth. Ian Holm, who appeared in 1979 as Science Officer Ash, is plugged in again in “Romulus” and awakens to a kind of second life: as an animated version of Holm, he strives to finally complete the “Nostromo” crew’s mission, which was already doomed back then. Ash is the only adult in this film, a humanoid like Andy, and not much help. “We simply cannot wait for evolution anymore” is one of his last, megalomaniac sentences, which may serve as a harbinger of the next debacle.
Rain and Co., on the other hand, are concerned with other things: Kay (Isabela Merced), for example, is pregnant and should give birth safely. Overall, the cohesion of the group plays an important role; humanity, you could say. An attribute that Andy is occasionally denied, utilitarian and rational decisions of other artificial persons (called “fake people” by Bjorn) have already led to the death of people in the past. “Romulus” is also a Artificial intelligence confronting itself. Andy, perhaps the most interesting character in the film, experiences himself in several versions – first as Rain’s loyal protector, then as a cool executor under Ash’s influence, and finally as a person who grows beyond himself because he is loving (!).
It’s touching and, in the key scene, beautiful to watch. But it’s a long road to get there, lined with effects, dangers and skirmishes. “Alien: Romulus” sometimes feels like a rollercoaster ride, whose maneuvers and loops you eventually get used to, but which never seems to end. Alvarez “delivers,” as they say. A countdown is constantly tickingIf the battery is completely empty, aliens break through doors and slaughter, corrode and annoy. It’s quite tiring. Even for an epigone who has to draw on the material of his predecessors to a certain extent. What remains is the horror trip of a Gen Z crew – on whom at least, for a tiny moment, the sunlight falls.
Carolin Weidner
Alien: Romulus – USA 2024 – Director: Fede Alvarez – Cast: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu, Rosie Ede – Running time: 119 minutes.
