Fede Alvarez is a skilled observer. After watching Alien: Romulus, I have no doubt about it. The film reflects my best memories of the classic series, namely Awakening. Its success is based primarily on nostalgia. It is like a monster that devoured my time and will not allow me to consider these less than two hours wasted. Romulus is very specific. The script is stripped of its civilized avant-garde. Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were looking for a separate means of expression. They tried at all costs to create a huge universe. It was only partially successful. For Aliens, there are enough narrow corridors, fans, aurora and black cosmic space. Alvarez has not forgotten that.
Rain (Caileen Spaeny) wants to escape her harsh life. She wakes up every morning as a worker, one of many on the Weyland-Yutani colony. With a group of friends, she discovers the opportunity for a better life, deprived of daily briefings and routine. And routine can extinguish any motivation. The trail leads to a research station that the company has forgotten about. Already at the beginning of Romulus, inspiration appears from the work of the Creative Assembly group, Alien: Isolation.. Alvarez does not hide his fascination with the darkness of Sevastopol, the cemetery of ancient technological progress, which has been reduced to ashes. What is futuristic in our eyes is a technological marvel in the alien universe. Monochrome displays, beeps, flashes of lights, and steam escaping from pipes every few seconds. Well, it is nice to be on board the Romulus.
Ridley Scott tried to force originality into a classic and very reliable formula. Because of Prometheus and Covenant, I have unfortunately stopped looking at the Xenomorph as a higher being. The “perfect, pure organism” that Ash, the villain of the Nostromo’s eighth passenger, in Scott’s latest work seems to have been just an unwanted effect of evolution, or even the result of a mistake. Since 1979, the alien has taken on different forms of interpretation. It has been an unwanted passenger, a terrifying type of hunter, a hard-working unit in the decisive battle, with an entire swarm brewing in the depths of the Hadley Hope colony’s reactor, impossible to touch due to the extreme temperature fluctuations. Eventually, it became the apocalyptic dragon of the worst kind in the Fiorina Prison Complex 161, and in Awakening, it became one with man. What is it like in Romulus? Ghost of the past.
Nostromo fossil
Alien: Romulus is by no means a blockbuster for fans of the universe. The director carefully presents carefully prepared scenes from the past on a platter. Romulus is stuffed with classic footage. So I will repeat myself: nostalgia is a real monster in Alvarez’s film. I can’t blame the creators. They eschewed style at the expense of the essence of the era in the name of classics. So it would have been enough to direct Nostromo, The Final Engagement, Fincher, and The Awakening to create another story in the vacuum of space where no scream will be heard.Romulus uses the achievements of ancient pioneers, although I am troubled by the impression that the director overused familiar elements. A trained eye will pick up every reference the film has to the alien heritage.
“I knew this movie needed a classic tone. I was interested in retro-futurism. I didn’t want 3D giants.“After making Don’t Breathe — a horror film with themes of fear and isolation — Alvarez offered to direct the next alien film. Ridley Scott was finally tightening the screws on Covenant. In 2019, Disney became the owner of the brand and received prioritySteve Aspel, the 21st Century President, where he came out The eighth passenger on the Nostromo Then Alvarez asked:Is it true that you wanted to make an Alien movie?“Then he listened to the director’s idea and quickly proposed a collaboration. Before reaching a momentous agreement, Fede Álvarez personally encountered horror three years ago in an abandoned space station where a mythical monster was roaming. It’s funny, because he was two years old. Years too late, because the horror film Alien: Izolacja has been on the market since 2014.The game made me realize that aliens can terrify viewers today. I played it a few years after the premiere, when I was waiting for the debut of the song “Don’t Breathe” (2016 release).“- Fede says on the Inside Total Film podcast.
Just as the Creative Assembly relied on the remains of Nostromo as the tomb of the alien and its first victims, Álvarez will follow a similar analogy in Romulus. The opening of the film is a tribute to the first monster, in the literal sense of the word. Without going into details, I will write that the Renaissance Station, divided into two parts: Romulus and Remus, is the cosmic altar of the first xenomorph, played by Bolaji Badiou (1953-1992). Alien: Romulus bridges the gap between Nostromo and J. Cameron’s decisive battle. Alvarez clearly admired the narrative approach to creative assembly. Their brilliant play did the same. It put Amanda Ripley in the decades-long gap between films, and like the last Romulus, it’s a story that might not have existed. Thankfully, it did. Can I write the same about Fede Alvarez’s work?
Junior Guard
After the script was approved, Ridley Scott claimed that Alien: Romulus needed to appeal to a younger audience. As the author of a classic of the genre, he had every right to say so. Alvarez hid the subject of the characters’ relationship in all the promotional material. Okay, now I have to do that too, because I don’t want to spoil it for you. Romulus first reveals the emptiness of space (you can’t really hear anything in the first scene!) so that the camera lens looks at the dystopian vision of corporate exploitation on the side of Weyland-Yutani. It’s an interesting commentary by the creators and a metaphor for a life deprived of broader perspectives by the hardships of everyday life resulting from hard and almost fruitless labor. This is how we meet all the characters who dream of escaping to another world, untainted by the jurisdiction of Weyland-Yutani. Alvarez allowed the young actors to board Romulus.. And guess what? I remember almost no one except Ryan and Andy. Their relationship was “fake” until the end of the movie. The director was supposed to focus on that, too. The rest of the cast is lined up as alien victims. They’re there because they are.
The flawed emotion of the younger characters is skillfully blended into the visual realm of Romulus. The scenography was up to the challenge. Darkness dominates, ancient screens glow in the depths, lights flicker, and snot drips into the extra frame to let the viewer know the monster is near.The alien gallery is a visual asset that evens out the disparity created by the characters’ blandness and the station’s dead silence. At times there’s a lack of seriousness, but fortunately the return of an old friend changes the course of events. The pursuit of a dream becomes an escape, and the formerly persecuted dictate the narrative with a new direction. The controversial issue in the film is the role of synthetic materials. The potential was there, but Alvarez spent little time developing it. Instead, he devotes some very interesting parts that involve face-hugging. He has done what no other director has done before him. He has reduced these creatures to the role of predators, not just carriers.
And that’s how I can sum up the latest Alien. Like a face hug, it draws the viewer in, suffocates him, and at the same time provides everything necessary to reach the end with curiosity – like a face hug that, despite the pressure on the victim’s neck, supplies him with oxygen.. Romulus can be suffocating at times. Is it scary? It’s hard to scare a fan of the series who is attuned to the anxiety triggers the film sends. The alien’s appearance in Romulus is very fake, and there’s no surprise, although Alvarez focuses more on the presentation of the monster. This is especially evident in the horror scenes, although there aren’t many. Don’t expect the carnage of Alien 3. I’ll leave the conclusion to your judgment. For me, it was a copy. Is Romulus a copy? Alvarez gave this story an identity, but maybe it didn’t happen. We come to an intersection. Prometheus and Covenant tried to change the perception of the alien in cinema, build new content, describe history, and change the viewer’s retina to see the alien differently. It succeeded halfway. Romulus looks to memories, lurks in classics, and attacks in a completely predictable way. It’s a safe movie about a dangerous creature. And we certainly prefer safety, so it’s a successful celebration of the series.
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