Alien: Romulus has received praise for embracing the horror roots of the franchise, delivering a lean, mean slasher in space that is packed with bloody, gruesome imagery. The film certainly delivers on that end, but its characterizations and setting also offer new insights into the harsh brutality of the corporate dystopia of Ridley Scott‘s original Alien. Director Fede Á lvarez made an Alien movie that matches the bleak quality of some of the sequels, which take an especially cold, cynical perspective on the state of the world, and the consequences of human ambition. The movie examines how terrifying and bleak it would be to grow up in the world as portrayed in the Alien franchise even if you never encounter a xenomorph. It is a gnarly sci-fi horror movie that continues the series’ critique of how unchecked capitalism forces the working class into hostile, deadly circumstances.

The Real Villain of ‘Alien: Romulus’ Is Weyland-Yutani

The Xenomorphs are the horrifying, tangible threats that lurk around every corner of Alien: Romulus, but the real villains are the largely unseen, looming Weyland-Yutani corporation. Alien is ultimately a movie about labor exploitation, a critique of corporations that treat their workers as expendable, nothing more than a means to an end. The entire franchise unfurls to reveal itself as a richly textured examination of corporate negligence.

In one of the creepiest moments of the original film, Ash (Ian Holm) expresses admiration for the xenomorph, commending how the creature is “unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.” It makes sense that Ash would consider those admirable traits, as Ash is a mere puppet of the Weyland-Yutani corporation, and those labels can easily be attributed to the company itself. The crew of the original film are essentially space truckers. They’re working-class people brought into a terrifying situation because of the potential for profit offered by weaponizing extraterrestrial life. They had no idea what horrors awaited them, and this is also the case in Alien: Romulus, another movie where the Weyland-Yutani corporation’s practices directly or indirectly lead to deadly consequences for our unsuspecting victims.

The Young Age of the ‘Alien: Romulus’ Characters Makes the Movie Even More Tragic

In Alien: Romulus, Cailee Spaeny plays Rain Carradine, an orphan raised in a harsh mining colony, who joins her android brother, Andy (David Jonsson), and a group of friends from Rain’s past on what they hope will be an escape to a more habitable planet. The characters of Alien: Romulus being young adults allows for the film to fit into the “slasher in space” archetype nicely, as many of the most beloved slashers follow an ensemble of characters around this age. But the younger age of the cast also emphasizes the brutality of life in the world of the Alien franchise.

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These are kids who should be entering a pivotal point in their lives, exploring their own educational, creative, social, and professional interests. However, they are instead stuck in a hostile, dark environment where they will be forced to work until they’re too old or weak to enjoy their lives. In this sense, Alien: Romulus could feel especially resonant for younger viewers who are growing up in a world that is being ravaged by poverty, climate issues, gun violence, war, and other social or political issues. The generations that are coming of age in the modern world feel as though they’re increasingly forced to grow up faster, only to be ground down by the weight of all the problems that the world has left for them to clean up.

Alien: Romulus is especially tragic, with characters brutally killed and forced to face unimaginable horrors before they even get a chance to truly live their lives. Even Rain, who survives the deadly encounters onboard the Romulus, is left with a bleak ending. Her friends are dead, and she is trying to hold onto any semblance of hope for a better life despite suffering an incomprehensible trauma. We don’t even get to see her fulfill her lifelong dream of reaching the much more habitable planet Yvaga. These characters have their youth stolen and find themselves facing death no matter what they do, either in the mines or at the hands (or claws) of the xenomorphs.

The Alien Franchise Has Always Been About Humanity’s Reach Exceeding Its Grasp

Ridley Scott’s mythological, expansive prequels to the original Alien, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, depict an Earth that is centuries ahead of our own, technologically speaking. Yet these movies, and Alien: Romulus, emphasize the disastrous results of humanity’s excessive ambition. Prometheus is all about the consequences of man trying to play God and the blind faith that we put in our own species to understand things far beyond our point of view. Humans desire things they cannot comprehend, and they will devour themselves to attain them. Alien: Romulus communicates man’s failure in this regard by giving us a closer, more in-depth look at life on a Weyland-Yutani colonized planet than ever before.

Most of the Alien films are primarily set in spaceships or desolate environments. The beginning of Alien: Romulus plants us squarely in the middle of what Weyland-Yutani might consider a “thriving colony.” It looks like an even more bleak version of Blade Runner‘s dystopian, grimy setting. The status of the mining colony that Rain wants to escape speaks to how ill-prepared humans actually are for space colonization. They had the technology to get there, but not the political or social structures in place to make a fulfilling life on planets like the one Rain and David are stuck on. There is no consideration put into the effect of placing working-class colonists in a world that is permanently without sunlight, where they will work until they die. It is not incarceration, but it looks and feels as doomed as the prison setting of Alien 3.

Alien: Romulus continues the franchise’s cynical worldview that humanity’s attempts at technological marvels and scientific discoveries will really only stand to make life harder for people who aren’t exceptionally wealthy. The aliens are a threat, but the greatest horror of this series is the thought of life in this oppressive system. Alien: Romulus makes its point clearly: under Weyland-Yutani’s rule, those kids never had a chance.

Alien: Romulus | Teaser Trailer 👇👇👇