The review was prepared by Gazeta.pl journalist Justyna Bryczkowska.
I watched the new "Alien" and didn’t die of a heart attack. Although I watched it with interest and even some admiration, I have mixed feelings after the screening. On one hand, this film honestly serves up a macabre, twist-filled slaughter in nostalgic settings reminiscent of the early installments of the iconic series. Since the action is set between the events of "Alien" (1979) and "Aliens" (1986), this is a fairly obvious choice: the visual layer and set design are rooted in the same raw aesthetic of glowing diodes, angular computers, and a very large space tank. It has charm and brings a slight smile, and watching it on the big screen makes you think about the impact the first installments of the series must have had on audiences.
"Alien: Romulus": Blood, Toxic Guts, and a Nostalgic Trip into Space [REVIEW]
A controversial idea was [spoiler alert] using artificial intelligence to generate a character played by an actor who passed away a few years ago. It’s supposed to be a nice nod to the franchise's founding films, but at the beginning, the visual effects are so sluggish that it feels a bit artificial. Later, it doesn’t clash as much. I should add that viewers unfamiliar with previous installments of the famous series can watch "Romulus" without worry. They won’t get lost in the plot, although they might miss some easter eggs.
Speaking of which, the plot. Director Fede Alvarez thought it would be a good and fresh idea to make a slasher movie about teenagers in space. Yes, the group of protagonists here is a band of young slaves working for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, who will stop at nothing to escape from the grim colony. They are forced to work in dangerous mines, they’ve seen their entire families die there, and there’s not even a glimmer of hope that they will ever legally break free and see the sunlight. A dystopia squared with existential depression. That’s why they don’t hesitate much before deciding to plunder the abandoned space station’s deck to take cryo-chambers that will enable them to travel to a distant system. It just so happens that this station was abandoned for a reason. Our innocent lambs unknowingly enter the station, and the bloody harvest begins.
I appreciate the creators' creativity and commitment to showing the most terrifying images, with Freud-like unsettling and unavoidably phallic xenomorphs as mindless killers. Alvarez is, after all, specialized in horror themes—he directed such well-received films as "Evil Dead," "Don't Breathe," and "The Girl in the Spider's Web." He can stage an impressive massacre in space as well. He co-wrote the screenplay for the new "Alien," produced by Ridley Scott, with Rodo Sayagues, and it’s clear they put a lot of effort into creating atmosphere and making sure the action keeps moving.
"Alien: Romulus": In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
We get to see xenomorphs in practically every growth stage, and in each one, they’re slimy, macabre, vulgarly ugly, and downright nightmarish. The trailer already showed how terrifyingly suggestive it is when the stingray-like parasites attack humans and shove their tentacles down their throats. On the big screen, it looked so gruesome that I almost felt nauseous. When our Aliens grow up, chills run down your spine just from looking at their metallic teeth and the spiked appendages emerging from their throats. But in the case of "Alien," this is a mandatory and obvious element. Making the xenomorph even uglier than before is an art in itself. Alvarez also allowed himself some experiments, the effects of which will probably haunt many people’s dreams for a long time. The last time I felt such disgust was when I tried to watch "Pan’s Labyrinth" and the monster with eyes in his hands appeared. It’s good that I watched some John Carpenter and "Hellraiser" movies in the meantime, which softened the shock.
Alvarez also very skillfully used sound to build the atmosphere of horror—elegantly playing with the absolute silence of space, so that at times, you can actually hold your breath with the film’s characters. I have an irresistible feeling that in such situations, any normal person would simply be paralyzed with fear, and that would be the end of the adventure. Here, however, the protagonists are determined to survive, so we’re watching something that resembles a combination of "Final Destination" and "Predator" in extreme conditions.
On the other hand, this time, I was a bit bothered that I knew how it would all end from the very beginning. The carnage starts about 15 minutes in, and then it’s predictable: this one will die, that one will perish, this one’s agony will be prolonged, and she will make such stupid decisions that it’s a wonder how she survives for so long. Another thing is that I only really liked one character—David Jonsson as the android Andy was great. He was the most interesting and well-written character, while the rest were obviously cannon fodder. In fact, one character is so unlikeable that I was actually glad when they met a very deserved and painful death. The only sympathetic teenager who had more to say had to die, according to the laws of slasher logic. Unfortunately, I was entirely indifferent to the fate of the main character, because although Cailee Spaeny is probably not a bad actress, she doesn’t have the charisma of Sigourney Weaver.
"Alien: Romulus" is a solid but highly predictable production. I feel like more effort was put into the technical aspects and designing the most macabre death scenes than into the nuances of the script and character psychology, which would make this slaughter seem like a genuine drama of teenagers hunted by a phallic monster who so desperately wanted a better life. Nevertheless, everything that should appear in an "Alien" movie is here, and it’s executed at the highest technical level. That may not be enough to make "Romulus" something more than a highly efficient and competent part of a larger franchise, but it’s definitely a much better film than, say, "Prometheus." Is it worth spending time going to the cinema? I think it definitely is because "Romulus" makes the best impression on the big screen.
