In space no one will hear you scream. This catchphrase, everyone knows it. In 1979, Ridley Scott created a monument of science fiction and horror with Alien. The sequel – at least on the big screen – is no secret either: three films followed in continuity with Sigourney Weaver at the forefront, the studios then completely let go of the good taste ramp with two parts Alien vs Predator and, finally, Ridley Scott himself reinvented his myth with Prometheus and Alien : Covenant. Decades where the Xenomorph imagined by HR Giger has experienced ups, downs and debates on whether each work belongs to one or the other category.
Today, while the Alien Queen is a Disney princess since the acquisition of Fox and a series is being developed, the ugly creature will also return to theaters next August with Alien : Romuluswritten and directed by Fede Alvarez, to whom we owe the excellent Don’t Breathe and the no less remarkable reboot ofEvil Dead. We had the chance to see fifteen minutes of it in the presence of the gentleman, based on carefully chosen extracts which will reveal nothing of the main plot, but which nevertheless allow us to begin to glimpse everything he is preparing for us. And believe us, for the moment there is nothing to suggest that the guy is making empty promises.
Subscribe to Journal du Geek
New story, but no mystery
In terms of history, we will not learn more than what the synopsis and the latest information did not already reveal to us. The events of the film take place between those ofAlien and D’Aliens and we follow a group of young colonists exploring an abandoned orbital station without knowing that it is home to the most evolved form of organic life in existence, and above all the most deadly.
The sequences that we were given to see were obviously edited so as not to reveal too much to us, and we cannot say if what we saw will reflect the entire film, but the feeling that emerges is particularly intended. reassuring. We have the strong impression that Alien: Romulus is going to be a fan film which understood where the success of its models came from while adding its own little touch. Fede Alvarez says it himself, the challenge was to put his ego aside to do his part without having the pride of thinking he could reinvent the saga.
Which is confirmed in the image since we quickly feel the inspiration of Scott (producer of Romulus moreover) with this claustrophobic feeling of being stuck in space with a creature that is hunting us. It’s also hard not to see Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla, Civil War), a young Ripley in power. Whether in an artistic direction mixing digital effects and practical effects – the return to the use of models gives character to the general aesthetic – or in the construction of its characters, Alien : Romulus seems to summon the first four films of the franchise, while mixing mediums. Indeed, the players present during the screening immediately made the connection with Alien : Isolationa video game of which Alvarez was a great fan and which allowed him to say that there were still things to tell about the saga and why not him.
Was the director content to take what he appreciated in his models to make a soulless fan-service film several years later? We could have feared it, but Fede Alvarez has already proven to us in the past that if he knew how to pay homage to his predecessors, he was not afraid to bring his own ideas to the project. And this is felt here first and foremost in the rhythm.
Perhaps this is his desire to surround himself with a younger generation on each of his films, but the new blood seems to give energy to Romulus with a camera that moves to the rhythm of its characters, as if it were the driving force behind the staging and not the objects, as was the case in 79. All you have to do is see the attack of the facehuggers, seen in the trailer, to convince yourself that Alvarez has more than one trick up his sleeve in terms of tension in movement, particularly with the use of the subjective point of view or the underwater camera.
A second wind
It would seem that thus, Alien : Romulus manages to breathe new life into the saga by combining the inspirations of the first four films while giving it a more modern aspect. It is, and because we have seen too little to make a definitive decision on the subject, perceptible in small touches, as when the director uses an X-ray detector to see the Alien develop inside a body.
Speaking of the latter, here again, we really want to get excited about what Romulus announces as the footage surprises us in its treatment of the beast. As if to underline its status among the monsters of the seventh art, Alvarez returns to a form of iconization of the latter, exposing it not to make it a simple engine of death (hello Covenant), but to restore its letters of nobility. The camera takes the time to study its anatomy, to create fascination as well as fear around each of its evolutions, perfectly paying homage to Giger’s work.
And the fear and blood in all this? The extracts shown are still too limited to really form an opinion on one or the other. However, the tension is very present around a young cast who has a little something very likeable, which is already a lot for cannon fodder.
If all this is to be taken with a grain of salt and the film can still disappoint us with the final result, particularly concerning its still very secret scenario, these first images ofAlien : Romulus have finally convinced us of its capacity to be one of the events of the summer and, if we must go further, of its potential to be the true fifth film in the Alien saga. To make sure, go to the cinema on August 14, 2024.
-
-
