Good or bad taste is difficult to define, but easy to point out, and Alien: Romulus<\/em>, from Uruguayan director Fede \u00c1lvarez (who famously delivered a fantastic Evil Dead<\/em> flick over a decade ago), offers a bizarre mix of both. It\u2019s clear that \u00c1lvarez wants to hearken back to the analog, tactile sci-fi vibes of the original Alien<\/em> flicks, with plenty of satisfyingly twisty knobs and low-fi computer screens that will delight any old-school fan. And with a great, young cast that includes Civil War<\/em>\u2019s Cailee Spaeny and The Last of Us\u2019 <\/em>Isabela Merced, Romulus<\/em> feels like it\u2019s courting both the original Alien<\/em> lovers and a younger, fresher group of potential fans. And it\u2019s fast, too\u2014the two-hour run-time flies by without any filler, and a perfectly paced build-up results in a third act that will have your heart pumping almost the entire time. <\/p>\n But the massive weak point in Romulus<\/em>\u2019 hull is its reliance on winks, nods, and nostalgia\u2014including one poor-taste cameo that made me cringe every time the character was on-screen. Though I think any casual Alien<\/em> fan will enjoy the film and miss many of the Easter eggs, there are some egregious references throughout that had my eyes rolling around in my head. Nostalgia is a helluva drug.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/figure>\n \u00c1lvarez reportedly told<\/a><\/span> the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con crowd that seeing Romulus<\/em> didn\u2019t require prior knowledge of other Alien<\/em> films, and that \u201cmember berries cannot be the full meal\u201d (a reference to a South Park<\/em> joke about nostalgia), but I\u2019m not so sure that\u2019s true. From the moment Romulus<\/em> opens, there are references aplenty\u2014the opening shot shows the wreckage of the Nostromo, the ship from the first film, floating in the empty vacuum of space, for Engineer\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n Though after that, \u00c1lvarez swiftly (and smartly) turns the attention to Alien: Romulus<\/em>\u2019 cast of young adults, who live and work in a dreary, depressing mining colony called Jackson\u2019s Star where it\u2019s always raining and everyone is always sick. Rain Carradine (Spaeny) and her \u201cbrother\u201d Andy (David Jonsson), a damaged Weyland-Yutani synthetic reprogrammed by Rain\u2019s late father to protect her at all costs, live a life of indentured servitude\u2014Rain is forced to work in the hopes that she\u2019ll earn enough hours to leave Jackson\u2019s Star and head to Yvaga II, a terraformed planet that\u2019s less miserable.<\/p>\n After a Weyland-Yutani employee denies Rain\u2019s request to go off-planet, she jumps at the chance to change her fate: A ragtag bunch of teenagers (and her friends) discover a \u201cWeyu\u201d ship drifting in the planet\u2019s atmosphere, and they want to fly up and steal its crypods so they can venture out to Yvaga themselves. The problem? They need Andy, who can access all of the ship\u2019s systems, even though his strange gait and stammer indicate that he isn\u2019t in perfect working condition.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/figure>\n Andy and Rain\u2019s relationship is the beating heart of Romulus<\/em>, played to perfection by Spaeny and Jonsson\u2014from the moment his big, sad eyes appear on screen, I know Andy is going to break my heart. Andy\u2019s affinity for puns, which he struggles to get out due to his stammer, endears you to him within moments, and Rain\u2019s good-natured annoyance at his bad jokes further defines their lovely relationship. Romulus<\/em> tries to fill out the rest of its character tropes like previous Alien<\/em> films, with a crass and rude British guy, his grim, no-nonsense partner, a kind-hearted heartthrob, and a sweet (and newly pregnant) best friend, and the young actors all play them well, even if their characters aren\u2019t fully fleshed out. But Rain and Andy? I\u2019d die for them.<\/p>\n Visually, Romulus<\/em> is as close to perfect as a sci-fi horror flick can get. When the shuttle carrying the teens up to the derelict Weyu ship (which is actually a decommissioned outpost, and, as you might suspect, full of facehuggers) soars upward into the planet\u2019s upper atmosphere, the visual effects dazzle: rain pelts the hull, lightning flashes all around it, and strange, red-orange veins of light run through the clouds. When it bursts through the cloud cover, Rain sees the planet\u2019s sun for the first time ever, and I feel a similar stirring of awe in my gut.<\/p>\n Romulus<\/em> truly is beautiful, from the cinematography to the set design to the way the iconic xenomorphs look. \u00c1lvarez impressively and effectively plays with color, light, and texture (wispy gray smoke, white-hot steam, tar-black blood), and the pitch-perfect mix of practical and digital effects blends iconic Alien<\/em> iconography with impressive, modern tech. And then there\u2019s the digitally recreated elephant in the room.<\/p>\n As I mentioned, there are a lot<\/em> of Easter eggs in Alien: Romulus<\/em>. The decommissioned outpost (split into two massive sections called Remus and Romulus) is powered by a computer called MU\/TH\/UR 9000, a newer version of the one running the Nostromo in 1979\u2019s Alien<\/em>. When one of the motley crew members bullies and denigrates Andy, he stammers back a quote from Aliens<\/em>, saying he prefers the term \u201cartificial human\u201d just like Bishop told Ripley back then. The outpost\u2019s door mechanisms are the same ones from 2014 survival horror game Alien: Isolation<\/em>. Hell, even the original xenomorph, the one Ripley blows out of the Nostromo airlock, haunts Romulus<\/em>\u2014its corpse is suspended from the ceiling in the derelict ship, its acid blood having burnt through several floors and destroyed the place.<\/p>\n But the most egregious Easter egg is a rotten one: a digitally recreated Ian Holm, who played a secret synthetic in the original film that was placed on the Nostromo by Weyland-Yutani to help further the company\u2019s attempts to secure humanity\u2019s fate in the stars by any means necessary. The digital avatar of Holm, who passed away in 2020, looks bad and uncanny almost every time it\u2019s on screen, and the fact that the damaged robot (who goes by Rook in Romulus<\/em>) is just a torso perpetually leaking the synthetic\u2019s iconic white diagnostic fluid makes it even worse. His appearance is so bizarre and unnecessary (and so prevalent, as Rook has a ton of screen time), that it sours so much of what makes Romulus<\/em> enjoyable. <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/figure>\n From the moment Rook is introduced, I watch the rest of Romulus<\/em> with my eyes narrowed suspiciously, waiting for another Easter egg to (perhaps unintentionally, perhaps not) puncture the fourth wall and boop me on the nose with a \u201csee what I did there?\u201d Thankfully, the cast\u2019s incredible acting and the film\u2019s perfectly paced action effectively distract me from my fear of another reference lurking down a dark corridor. There are several truly gruesome scenes\u2014acid burning off fingers, a facehugger artificially pumping someone\u2019s lungs while attached to them, the gnarly cracking of ribs and spines, and a few brand-new takes on the iconic chest bursting scene<\/a><\/span>\u2014that will delight body horror fans. And all of this action is propelled forward by Spaeny and Jonsson, the latter of whom does such an impressive 180 with his character that it leaves me speechless. Romulus<\/em> also adds a bit more lore to the franchise, specifically around a certain stage in the xenomorph\u2019s evolution, that gives \u00c1lvarez an excuse to put a giant, wet, undulating vagina in the film, just as H.R. Giger intended<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n But just when I\u2019ve forgotten about the torso of Holm lurking in a dimly lit corner, when I\u2019ve just been delighted by a zero-G action sequence that involves floating, spiraling acid blood Rain and Andy must avoid while suspended in mid-air, when I realize that \u00c1lvarez almost perfectly times the outpost\u2019s countdown timer until it will collide with the planet\u2019s icy ring to the runtime of the film, Romulus<\/em> comes back around to the references. The proto pulse rifles from Aliens<\/em>, Rook spouting an exact quote Holm uttered in Alien<\/em>, Spaeny in her cryo-undies wielding a gun just like Ripley, Andy stammering \u201cget away from her you bitch,\u201d a human\/xeno hybrid that makes your skin crawl, a face-to-face moment just like the meme<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Romulus<\/em> ends strong, with an emotionally powerful, deliciously disgusting final scene with a jump-scare that almost made me pee myself. I just wish that it had the confidence to stand on its own a bit more, rather than deliver nods and recycled lines on a silver platter with a wry smile. Though, whether you\u2019re a fan of the franchise or not, I believe Alien: Romulus <\/em>is worth a watch\u2014maybe some fans will adore the references, and those who know nothing about Ridley Scott\u2019s legendary sci-fi universe can remain blissfully unaware and just enjoy a well-paced, well-shot, well-acted romp. It\u2019s a win-win in that regard. <\/p>\n .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/image\/upload\/c_fit,q_60,w_645\/afpvuwnfoibrncd6upmy.jpg\"\/)
<\/picture><\/div>\nAlien: Romulus<\/em> looks damn good<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/image\/upload\/c_fit,q_60,w_645\/7bfaa1dd49cd0d757cdb63b3b50b1ef9.jpg\"\/)
<\/picture><\/div>\nRomulus <\/em>and references<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Rain](\"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/image\/upload\/c_fit,q_60,w_645\/81dbb5f1f8d36969854d0b7a49c74030.jpg\"\/)
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