Alien: Romulus

Let me just say that I have been with this franchise since day one. I can remember seeing the original in the cinema before I was a teenager. I have seen and enjoyed all the films many times over and appreciated the less popular ones in the series. Seeing Romulus was a disappointment. Its dark visuals, particularly the opening sequence, had me confused at times. The relevance of the opener became obvious later on. And the dialogue was muffled in spots, and I missed chunks trying to figure out what was said, thus missing the follow up. The story was uninspiring and the Xenomorphs were identical to previous incarnations (for the most part) and close ups of the mouth parts no longer cause fear or dread, just boredom. This is one in the franchise that I may not watch again.

A few hours after coming out of the theater and I'm not sure what to make of this. It was... okay, I guess?

It felt like Fedy Alvarez examined the production of each of the previous films, and every left-over idea from them was thrown finally to the screen, along with rehashing the core components of the franchise. You have pieces from Alien, Aliens, Resurrection, and Prometheus/Covenant. For a fan of the series, there are subtle and not-so-subtle easter eggs every few minutes, from sound effects to reused dialogue.

The plot is really simple, as it should be. A group of people exploring a space station. Been there, done that. However, I really liked the use of temperature and gravity in this film, those were something not seen much in this universe. And there were plenty of jump scares. I'm not usually a fan of those, but this time they worked well.

The two lead actors were pretty good, the rest rather forgettable. And not sure what to make of the beyond-the-grave role of one actor...

The world is great. Forget the sleek and clean world of Prometheus, this is back to the ugly 70s retro futuristic stuff. Simply lovely. Aesthetically pleasing, if you like this kind of look.

Finally, however, it does feel like there is really nowhere for this franchise to go in terms of story. I wouldn't call it artistically bankrupt, but it is close. While this film tied neatly together the "proper" Alien films and the new Prometheus sidestep, it is hard to think what more to make of this creature. Nearly all the mystery has been stripped from the Xenomorph. I do wonder, is there anything left to do with this creature? More stand-alone films?

This may be a stupid point to argue, but why do those aliens grow so crazy fast?

I accept, that not every species has to grow similarly. But how can a baby alien grow into an adult in the space of 15 minutes in the film?

They are not fed, and yet, they can grow large bodies within minutes? It just bothers me. How hard would it be to give them, say, a day to reach adulthood. But minutes?

It makes - and this is gonna sound stupid - the alien species unbelievable.

I love the way they reproduce: A queen lays eggs, face-huggers infest people and then aliens burst from their chests... classic. But can we give them a little time to grow? They are not inflatable rubber dolls! I'm done. Watch the movie. It's decent.

Sure to be a crowdpleaser and produced to perfection this greatest hits album catering to generation Z, doesn't really tread new ground. Don't you dare to be original like 'Prometheus' or bold, like 'Alien: Covenant'. Just give the audience familiarity and play it somewhat safe.

In a world where most new movies coming out from Hollywood are either reboots, remakes or sequels and where new ideas being greenlit are things of the past (unless it can be made on a small budget), we are being flooded with try-to-check-all-boxes movies with several screenwriters and focusgroups attached.

Consider me worried.

Positives first - Good action, great practical special effects, and nice visuals.

Director Fede Alvarez and his production team have captured the gloomy atmosphere of Alien, and the thrilling action of Aliens almost perfectly. The action was thrilling with some scary moments.

The use of practical effects and realistic miniatures was so refreshing to see in this age of CGI overkill. Seeing a fully realised Xenomorph in the flesh blew me away, and the Space scenes were beautiful. This camera work, visual presentation, and use of quality albeit limited CGI when necessary was excellent.

Negatives - Average acting, nostalgia bait story, copy & pasted dialogue from better Alien movies, and the inclusion of lore elements from the inferior prequels which I wish did not exist in official canon. Plus the reveal of the villain was an "oh, get out of here " moment, I will say no more.

Apart from the great lead actress Spaeny playing up her role, the other cast of actors/characters was just okay. I thought the nostalgia bait story was boring, eye-rolling, and almost 4th wall breaking, it ruined the immersion for me. I'm getting bored of sequels/prequels heavily relying on lazy "remember-berries" to get a kick out of the casual audience while making the Alien fans embarrassed almost angry. To be honest it's just lazy script writing, and disrespectful to the other Alien movies that did it first!. Unnecessary.

Also the overuse of copy & pasted dialogue from the better Sigourney Weaver Alien movies was very cringe. 20th Century Studios should've called it Alien: Remember because of the over-reliance on oh you remember this bit from.. Lastly, trying to inject all the controversial and franchise damaging Prometheus nonsense into the film was frustrating, I hated all that origin of the Space Jockey and creation of the Xenomorph rubbish. And don't get me started on the villain, I don't want to spoil anything, but it was laughably lazy.

I think setting the movie between the first 2 films was a mistake because you have to make your movie fit into the established continuity of the franchise with all the tie ins and plot beats required to make it fit. They should've done a sequel set years after Alien: Resurrection, and setup the start of a brand new Alien saga long after Weavers adventures (and with better writers onboard).

This had the potential to be right up there with Aliens, but due to disappointing characters, a lacklustre "remember-berry" story, and poor script, it was a let down. Alien: Romulus, an above average Alien greatest hits movie, 4th best film in the franchise.