ALIEN: ROMULUS Brings Back The Horror

ALIEN: ROMULUS (Digital)

2024 / 119 min

FROM 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Alien: Romulus is now available on Digital and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD December 3.

Maybe the shot-in-the-arm this franchise needed was for director Ridley Scott to step away once again (though he remains one of the producers). With all due respect to his legacy, both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were interesting - especially the former - but strayed too far from what made the original 1979 classic a lean, mean masterpiece. I could be in the minority on this, but I never needed a xenomorph origin story. They were scarier when we knew less about them. 

Alien: Romulus, the seventh film in the series (sorry, I’ll never include those AvP poo-poo platters), is directed and co-written by Fede Alvarez, the same guy behind Don’t Breathe and the remake of Evil Dead (which was better than it ever had a right to be). Even his most maligned film, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, was a wild, stylish thrill ride. Alvarez is definitely the right choice to breathe new life into the franchise. More than any entry since Alien, this one feels like a horror movie.

Whether one considers Alien: Romulus a sequel, prequel or spin-off, it fits nicely within the franchise timeline, taking place between the first and second films. Five young people seek to escape the slave-like conditions of a mining colony run by the Weyland-Yutani corporation. For the nine-year journey to another planet, they need the cryo-tubes onboard an abandoned space station orbiting above. However, they discover the hard way the station wasn’t actually abandoned, and restoring the systems unleashes a whole lot of facehuggers. As if that weren’t bad enough, it turns there is also a new batch of xenomorphs on-board, the result of the company experiments that didn’t end well. Does it ever?

When you sneeze in zero gravity.

But it wouldn’t be an Alien film without the usual Weyland-Yutani shenanigans, would it? Speaking of which, Romulus is chock full of references to previous movies, sometimes as exposition, other times mere fan service, the latter of which is occasionally an unnecessary distraction. Sure, some fans might get a kick out of a new character uttering the immortal line, “Get away from her, you bitch,” but there’s absolutely no reason to use the late Ian Holm’s likeness (and a voice actor who sounds just like him) for another evil android. That's a worse decision than bringing Peter Cushing back from the dead for Rogue One.

Besides, Romulus introduces a pretty neat droid of its own. Andy (David Jonsson) is a discarded Weyland-Yutani product reprogrammed to be a companion/protector of main protagonist Rain (Cailee Spaeny). Their relationship makes them the movie’s most engaging characters, while the rest are comparatively bland (though Spike Fearn as android-hating Bjorn is fun to despise). 

Elsewhere, Romulus follows a similar narrative pattern to the first two films. taking time to establish the setting, scenario and characters before ramping up the tension. Not only are there xenomorphs & facehuggers to worry about, but the aforementioned nefarious android and another relentless countdown before the entire station is destroyed (voiced by MU/TH/UR!). And sure, there are the bloody alien kills and chest bursting scenes we’re all familiar with, but Alavarez manages to thrown-in a few nasty surprises of his own. It’s all deftly directed, with a couple of thrilling sequences as good as anything Ridley Scott or James Cameron came up with.

Did we need another Alien film? Probably not. This one doesn’t introduce new elements or concepts…just a fun, scary spin-off that, despite numerous shout-outs to the rest of the franchise, still tells a good stand-alone story. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

RETURN TO HORROR: CRAFTING ALIEN: ROMULUS - This is a pretty good four-part making-of documentary totalling 25 minutes.

FEATURETTES - Inside the Xenomorph Showdown features director/co-writer Fede Alvarez and others discussing zero-gravity elevator sequence; Alien: A Conversation features Alvarez and talking with original Alien director Ridley Scott (Alvarez’ idol worship is endearing).

4 ALTERNATE/EXTENDED SCENES

KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: Sequel, Spin-Off, or Both?

KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (Digital)

2024 / 145 min

FROM 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Baboon😺

What was especially cool about the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise is it could be viewed two ways. First, as a reimagining of the concepts and ideas from the original series…OR…as spiritual sequels existing within the same established timeline. With the previous film, War for the Planet of the Apes, providing a plausible explanation for humankind’s decent into mute savages, the entire story arc had more-or-less come full circle.

Either way, the reboot trilogy brought Caesar’s rise as the leader of the ape uprising (and humankind’s downfall) to a logical, satisfying conclusion. All the I’s were dotted and the T’s were crossed, so there was no real need to continue the saga any further. But when has that ever stopped Hollywood?

Like the reboot trilogy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes can be viewed two ways. First, as a continuation of the same saga, albeit generations later with all new characters (save for a somber prologue featuring Caesar’s funeral)...OR…as a spin-off taking place in the same world that works as a stand-alone film. And with its somewhat ominous, open-ended conclusion, the intention to continue this particular story is obvious.

A little birdie told him...

Contextually, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes isn't particularly necessary, but at least it doesn't feel superfluous. It also appears to be attempting to take the franchise in a slightly different direction, with apes having long since separated into individual clans, relatively isolated from each other until megalomaniac monkey Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) raids and enslaves others to establish his own kingdom. He’s also searching for Mae (Freya Allan), one of the few speaking humans left who he thinks has access to a sealed bunker stocked with ancient human weaponry.

The film’s protagonist is Noa (Owen Teague), a young chimpanzee whose Eagle Clan is raided and his father killed. When the rest of the clan - including his mother and best friends Soona & Anaya - are captured and enslaved, Noa is determined to find and free them. Along the way, he finds allies in Raka (Peter Macon), an orangutan whose own village fell to Proximus, and Mae, who has a personal agenda she’s reluctant to reveal (and why Noa doesn’t entirely trust her).

From a narrative standpoint, Kingdom isn’t as compelling as the previous three films, but it’s still very enjoyable and ends on a surprisingly inauspicious note. With the exception of the pointless & cheap Battle for the Planet of the Apes, the original films were known for their bleak conclusions. While Kingdom’s ending isn’t necessarily a downer, it does suggest things are gonna get worse.

Elsewhere, Kingdom arguably the best looking of all the reboot films, with creative production design, stunning imagery of nature (and apes) claiming the ruins of the old world, and some of the most convincing motion-capture effects I’ve seen to date. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

INSIDE THE FORBIDDEN ZONE: MAKING KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - Very interesting making-of doc with plenty of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with various cast & crew.

14 DELETED/EXTENDED SCENES - There’s also an audio commentary option.