Alien: Romulus (2024)

It's been a while since an Alien movie has left me feeling anything other than slightly disappointed. I did enjoy the trailer for this, but trailers have been known to mislead us movie fans before. And the fact that Cailee Spaeny had a main role in this made me even more nervous. I have REALLY enjoyed the performances from Spaeny in everything I have seen her in so far, but I have rarely enjoyed any movie that she's starred in. And yet . . . it was time to do the dance that we always do.

Spaeny plays Rain, a young woman hoping to find a way out of her hard life of health-afflicting indentured servitude that feels like a daily batting with a big stick while the carrot of life on a new planet continues to be dangled in front of her. An opportunity arises when a group of like-minded youngsters figure out that there’s a seemingly-abandoned Weyland Yutani vehicle floating in orbit above them. They have a plan to get to a much better place, but they need Rain and her half-brother (full android) Andy (David Jonsson). The obvious problem is that the vehicle isn’t as abandoned as it first appears to be.

Taking place in between the events of Alien and Aliens, apparently, this is a love letter to the whole franchise from director Fede Alvarez. Having co-written the script with Rodo Sayagues, Alvarez does well to use the main creatures in a premise that is once again a pure and unabashed horror movie experience. It moves away from, but doesn’t ignore, the aspects of the backstory that Ridley Scott seemed to become more and more obsessed with, and makes good use of the xenomorph lore while adding some nice details throughout.

Things go wrong when Alvarez feels the need to lift some things from the last movies that didn’t need to be here, whether it is a line of dialogue or a disappointingly lazy “cameo” from someone recreated in the usual painful CGI style that we’re all supposed to pretend is life-like and realistic. And one of the set-pieces feeling a bit too much in line with Don’t Breathe (despite an apparent plot hole at the start of the sequence) is both a positive and negative, depending on how much you enjoy Alvarez and Sayagues revisiting some of their own past glories.

Although I have seen others strongly disagree, I think the cast and characters are a fantastic group, more of less, to start worrying about when faces look ready for hugs. Spaeny is a superb lead, and it’s always toughest for anyone playing a female lead in these movies after the series spent so much time on the shoulders of Sigourney Weaver’s iconic performance. She is strong, smart, but also as vulnerable as anyone else when it comes to facing off against a monster that has acid for blood. Jonsson is equally good, and benefits from being able to deliver more than one persona (thanks to a mod to upgrade him as everyone prepares to get into the thick of any action). Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, and Aileen Wu are appealing enough, and given just enough moments to stand out as individuals from the group, and Spike Fearn is saddled with being the annoying dickhead, which he plays so well that I spent some time hoping for his demise. Let’s not evaluate the performance of the computer-generated cast member, because the film would have been much better without their presence.

It’s imperfect, and I know some will be more annoyed than I was by the multitude of memberberries, but it’s also worth considering just how well this manages to deal with the weight of every other main movie that preceded it while also appealing to those who might be relative newcomers to this universe. The score, cinematography, production design, costuming, etc. are ALL pretty top notch. It’s only the script being a bit too precious about the legacy that drags things down, but it never comes close to other low points in some of the more recent entries in the series. Okay, Jonsson being made to utter a very famous line is bad, but I will put up with it to move a step away from another story of Michael Fassbender creating deadly black liquid while playing some jazz flute.

7/10

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Don't Breathe 2 (2021)

Stephen Lang returns in the role of “The Blind Man” in what may be, despite strong competition, one of the most unnecessary and unpalatable sequels in recent years. Because the last time we saw The Blind Man, he had been up to all kinds of nastiness.

Lang’s character is now the guardian of a little girl, Phoenix (Madelyn Grace). He saved her from the burnt shell of a house some time ago, and has been raising her ever since. He has also been teaching her some survival skills. Those skills come in handy when Raylan (Brendan Sexton III) and his gang break in to kidnap Phoenix. Raylan claims to be her real father, and he is offering to correct the lies that she has been told by her blind parental figure. Does Raylan have his own agenda though?

Director Rodo Sayagues makes his debut here, moving up from his successful producer role, but keeping himself safely in the company of Fede Alvarez, who helmed/co-wrote the first film and helped co-write this one. Sayagues tries to keep things in line with the first film, but he cannot overcome the major hurdle that most people thought about when this was first announced. How do you get people rooting for such a bad guy? Okay, you make his potential enemies worse, but that’s not enough to erase the memory of just how depraved our new “anti-hero” is, or once was. 

Lang is as good as he usually is here, and his performance is on par with his performance in the first film, but he is fighting against weaker material here. Taking the character out of his own home, as it does just before the halfway point, makes it harder to just accept his apparent super-powers. The fact that it is Lang manages to just about keep it believable though, as I know he could still kick my ass without needing to have full use of his eyes. Grace is good as the plucky young girl in jeopardy, and Sexton III is a decent baddie, supported by Adam Young (in a role that may as well be named “main henchman”). There’s also a small role for Fiona O’Shaugnessy, who makes a strong impression with the limited screentime given to her sinister and cruel character.

There are a number of individual moments here that work well, most of them involving Lang delivering some serious pain to people who sorely underestimate him, but this never feels like it has enough going for it to work for an entire film. Even the visual style, although cool and fitting at times, becomes stale and repetitive before the end credits roll.

Some people still managed to enjoy this. Personally, I don’t see the appeal.

5/10

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