Alien: Romulus

Alien: Romulus delivers a gritty experience reminiscent of the original film, with impressive world-building and familiar tech that longtime fans of the franchise will appreciate. The movie captures the essence of the Alien universe, offering a standalone story that fits well within the established timeline and cleverly nods to Prometheus.

However, the film's reliance on callbacks to previous entries in the franchise detracts from its originality. While some references are clever, others are forced and cringeworthy.

The introduction of the main character Rain, played by Cailee Spaeny, feels uninspired. We've seen this before - another Ripley. It's actually David Jonsson's character, Andy, who ends up being the most interesting by a long shot. If there is one franchise that would benefit from exploring new characters rather than rehashing old ones, this is it.

Despite these negatives, Romulus is technically impressive. It's beautifully shot, the effects are good, it has some genuine scares, and manages to deliver solid thrills and action scenes that are sure to please. I just wish it were brave enough to carve out its own identity.

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.

The movie had good direction, set, design, etc. Seeing the movie was a good experience in the cinema. But the story was unoriginal and full of fan service. All the material was borrowed from other Alien movies. It was as if someone watched the entire Alien series and noted all the good and memorable parts, and then made a movie. The CGI of a certain character was also horrible, and looked as if someone did on their phone. The iconic Ripley line from one character was cringeworthy. I liked "Prey" and I admire the story for the fact that they did something original. I liked Fede's "Don't Breathe" and went to see it without any prior knowledge about the movie. I wish they had done something original with Romulus, and I feel very disappointed with the lack of originality of the movie. I'll give it 6/10.

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.