Published 8/23/2024
Rating : 9/10 Highly Recommend
Spoiler Free!
Fede Alvarez doesn't crank out a lot of feature films. Alien: Romulus stands as his sixth film in 11 years. Three of them bombed, the others did well (and counting). So why, for a director who has a spotty feature film track record is he regarded so highly? Other than Don't Breathe (2016) Fede Alvarez signs up for existing IP's with established fan bases.: Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Girl in the Spider's Web. His films also follow similar patterns: young adults suffering from a total lack of common sense find themselves in frightening, hopeless situations. The films follow a girl, and the girl survives. Always.
You know have the basis for Fede Alvarez's stories.
So what is it about Fede Alvarez that gets horror fans so excited? Is it a lack of skilled competition? We here on the Grim and Bloody podcast have spoken to at least thirty directors with the chops to produce big-budget high quality work. But Hollywood is a finicky animal. Despite the plethora of available filmmakers, big-budget films are saddled with a short list of capable directors. Fede Alvarez gets the nod on properties demanding serious ROI. Truth be told, the man largely delivers.
Allow me to explain.
Fede Alvarez has a penchant for world building, tension building, character development, tension and seriously legit practical effects. The films that were successfully and later memorable (Evil Dead, Don't Breathe) those skill sets are evident in Alien: Romulus. Fede Alvarez is a skilled manipulator as well. His story will provide lulls to ease your fears until the character you thought was in the clear shockingly is not.
I am pleased to report Alien:Romulus is worth the price of admission. And I mean premium theater, evening show, middle of the row viewing. Alien:Romulus is the third best Alien film in the franchise. No, that's not a knock on the film, but a well-earned place among Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986) , two masterpieces in their own right. Alien:Romulus was never going to overtake James Cameron's space marine opus and it didn't try. In fact the story weaves nicely into the timeline between Alien and Aliens.
This is the best part of Romulus. We get to enjoy a largely original story with a slew of easter eggs and elements from previous works without succumbing to Ridley Scott's overbearing and cankerous Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). Two films that turned the Alien franchise into a laughing stock. I was surprised ( and a little disappointed) to learn Ridley was involved with Romulus early on. While he will always be regarded as a master filmmaker his work for the last ten years has been mediocre at best, and Disney would have been wise to steer clear of him.
To share a excerpt from a Collider interview:
"I remember what his first reaction was: he walked in, and he said, “What can I say? It’s fucking great.” And then he said, “You have a big movie here.” He really believed that the movie would do great. He told me, “I think it just can do as well as Prometheus did.” I hope he’s right. And he said it at the time when I thought this was gonna be smaller and more for the horror community. All horror audience shows up and no more. I didn’t see it as an event movie like I think is becoming right now.”
Prometheus was not a smash hit. His science was a joke. His scientists were a joke. His ending was a joke. If not for the international audience this film would have flopped. For Ridley to say that Fede's effort would match his 2017 film was a low blow in my opinion. Alien:Romulus surpasses Ridley's efforts (outside of Alien) in every way, shape and form. It's not even close, folks.
Before leaving you I will say Fede Alvarez benefitted greatly from Creative Assembly's masterpiece of a video game Alien Isolation (2014) which at the time was this franchise's best Alien effort since 1986. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he was inspired by this and wanted a shot at creating a cinematic version of it. Alien Isolation proved to many how you can craft an original story with key elements from the existing franchise that doesn't come off as simple fan service. Sound familiar?
Lastly, the score by Benjamin Wallfisch is spectacular. While also invoking Christian Henson's work on Alien Isolation Benjamin adds his own take to amazing effect.
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