ALIEN: ROMULUS - Movie Review

[eyespy]

On the topic of the prequels' sleekness (or lack of scruffiness), Ridley Scott has mentioned that Prometheus looks the way it does because that mission was being funded by the wealthiest man alive, putting all of his resources into all of the top-of-the-line gear, whereas in Alien they're the bottom-class citizens flying an old, rusty truck with cheap, outdated gear.

Knowing this, the production design of Romulus becomes less nostalgia-bait and more thematic. In fact, viewed through this thematic lens, the production design of all the Alien movies becomes very intentional.

[thedudeabides]

Tyvm Maggie, a satisfying review as always.

I do love your ability to just tell it like it is, no faffing, sugarcoating or pulled punches.

[CountEstradivarius]

This movie's biggest sin is not making the xenomorph the real villain, a relentless nightmare. Instead of that we get too many distractions even certain forced comeback. It was a missed opportunity to bring back the monster and make it a real force of nature again, since the movie claimed it was a return to its roots

[Nostromo]

The original Alien, the Terminator, the Predator, etc; what’s so hard to figure out? You nailed it, a malevolent, mysterious force stalking the characters with unrelenting resolve. Along the way, were treated to the gradual revelation of all their terrible abilities. At first we know nothing, then the terror and tension ramps up with each encounter. Formulaic for a reason. Now I understand why the original captivates me so much while the later entries fail to hit so deep. Add the existential dread of something from outside our normal frame of reference that we can’t fully understand in a hostile environment, and you have the real recipe for cosmic terror.
It’s also why sequels(prequels) tend to fail. The fear of what we don’t know is gone. We just watch the latest characters deal with it for his/her first time without experiencing it as deeply as we did originally.
For me, the best of Romulus is seeing a new phase of the Alien’s morphology. The cocoon phase fills a hole in the original creature’s development. This is amplified by the Alien dragging 2 corpses into the new hive after hunting. It’s clear the bodies aren’t being used for implantation but for something we haven’t seen before-namely nutrition. Now we can understand how they can gain size between the chestburster phase and the fully grown zeno. That part of the original film has bothered me for years.

[entrthedragon]

The sets in the Alien world are so bleak and dark. You feel like you’d need a flashlight to get anywhere. The lighting is like an Italian Restaurant, low and unobtrusive.

[TherdGunman]

Maggie your vocabulary is impressive. Nobody on YT is this articulate and film knowledgable.

[Sualk]

I love Fede’s film and I take my hat off with what he did with this one. The atmosphere and practical effects were awesome to see on the big screen.

[bitcoinethereum]

Biggest flaw with this new alien, and many movies coming out are just NO MEMORABLE CHARACTERS. Movie is fresh in my head from viewing 12 hours ago and I can't remember a single character's name or anything LOL.

Even Prometheus had David the android and Shaw the main character that you really remember, shit even those knucklehead science idiots who got killed by that snake thing were memorable, this aliens romulus had zero, the black android was memorable somewhat but zero personality and I don't even remember his name. Thing back to Aliens, Vasquez was a minor character with maybe 5 lines total and 30 years later anyone who ever watched the movie probably remembers her.

Alien Romulus was very impressive visually, not totally predictable but the story was meh, I'd give it a 6.8/10 score.

[SzymonAdamus]

I feel like I was watching a laurel for the series in the form of a mashup of themes from each film. From all of Aliens to, surprisingly, even Prometheus.

Which can be charming. Alvarez pays homage to his predecessors, the filmmakers on whose work he grew up. Just like in Evil Dead, where he did something similar, But here the threats between these quotes and nods are terribly apparent.

There's EVERYTHING here that we know from the series, at the same time there's not much new, and what's added is often... well, unfortunately, a bit silly 😅.

Still, I hope it sells and Alvarez makes another film. Maybe then, after paying homage to his predecessors, he will tell something truly his own, because his technical skills and understanding of horror clearly fits here.

[rayjackson]

Considering where it fits in the time line, it was the perfect sequile to the 1st one. It also left the door open for the prequills to be finished. I. really love the prequills.

[RogueAlien]

i haven't been so excited to go to the cinema for a movie since LOTR return of the king and more recently Rogue One. I think this movie offers the opportunity of exploring a parallel adventures series regarding the struggle to survive when dealing with an Alien. Parallel to the originals featuring Ripley and somehow in the same approximate timeline. Also, it highlights the main idea, no matter what you do don't try to mess with Alien, its just pure primal evil by its very essence and cannot be tamed or bent or augmented or whatever, just destroy it and survive. No other way. Ripley had it right from the beginning. I hope to see more of the adventures of our main characters.

[mlbreel]

The problem with the Alien sequels, including Aliens, is that they demystify the creature more and more. The solution would have been to make it less understandable. It’s “alien” after all. It has acid for blood! That’s impossible! It’s the personification of the Grim Reaper…. You simply can’t understand that it is death itself! Should have made it more insane… guns should have never been able to kill it! Ok, maybe slow it down a bit so you could run like hell, but basically if you encounter this creature, you are dead! The films should have been about how the help you escape death itself! … oh, you don’t!

[varunchandrasekaran]

I liked Romulus. Its a rehash, but it works. The guy who played the android was amazing. It could have had better pacing to build tension and so we could slowly know the characters more.

[CARTOONIVERSE]

We are now deep into the Era of the Corporate-Cosplay Cash-Grab.

[KareemHarper]

Subscribed. Great review. Andy truly stole the show and felt like the true heart of the movie to me. The two distinct versions of Andy (1.0 and the upgrade) were played masterfully.

[turnnburn]

saw this last night, 2 friends that had not seen any alien film they really liked it. I really like it being an Alien fan. Great Movie that hit every element.

[jimpark]

I haven’t seen it yet, but I find that these movies, other than the first and second, and “Alien Resurrection, ” which I found promising and forward looking; to be quite repetitive. Prometheus, was also very promising, and although it kinda devolved into another slasher near the end, there was the hope of going to the genesis of this whole alien universe. But no, more regurgitation, in fact, Covenant, was a rip off of Prometheus, promising beginning, and quick devolution into foolishness. I think Ridley has a deeper mind than this and the franchise needs to realize its potential by confronting the origin(s), rather than doing mindless repetitions or reimagining. Yup, you’re right, StarWars did that too. That’s Hollywood, if it makes a buck, until someone sticks their neck out and makes that rare break through movie, that blockbuster, they just won’t risk originality for cash! I’ll probably catch this one when it comes to TV.

[Sanderus]

Esthetic a music was there. I fully agree with you that Andy was by far the best character, beautifully played. The rest of the cast is all right. Overall the I was entertained, though I had a feeling that I was watching reworked "the best of" Alien - Alien IV with re-used dialogue.

[TheDudes]

What's crazy is Ridley Scott gave notes to reduce the films runtime and amount of themes and goals the movie had. So perhaps the original script and cut is about the themes they brought to light but didn't fully explore.

[waynefung]

I just wish the filmmaker didn't have a fanboy mindset who wanted to cram as many arbitrary fan service moments into the film as possible. Because the film was well-made, the acting was good.