Sci-Fi Alien: Romulus (2024)

[Arnold Rimmer]

It's probably what I was referring to above.

 

[Kane52630]

bruh.

 

[Drizzle]

It's also only worth playing on the hardest difficulty. One of the very rare games where changes in difficulty are actually meaningful and make the alien AI smarter, it's not just health/damage modifiers.

Alien Isolation is the scariest game I've ever played. Shocked I even completed it.

After a while it got a bit too intense for me and I may or may not have had to turn the difficulty setting down a few notches.

 

[Pennywise]

Watched Alien for the first time in years in preparation for this. Haven’t seen Aliens, or most of the other films, aside from the AVP films, so now is a good time to start.

Can’t wait to watch everything!

 

[Pittman4Two]

Pennywise, you are in for a treat with Aliens. Just stop after you see that one though.

Maybe play the Alien: Isolation game as others have mentioned.

 

[DyeLorean]

Watched Alien for the first time in years in preparation for this. Haven’t seen Aliens, or most of the other films, aside from the AVP films, so now is a good time to start.

Can’t wait to watch everything!

What did you think of Alien?
I'd say watch the other ones too, although don't expect greatness from everything. I think they are all, in various degrees, worthy of checking them out on a Saturday night. It's fun horror stuff.

 

[Pennywise]

What did you think of Alien?
I'd say watch the other ones too, although don't expect greatness from everything. I think they are all, in various degrees, worthy of checking them out on a Saturday night. It's fun horror stuff.

I thought Alien was pretty awesome to watch. The cast, direction, VFX, score, writing, sound, tension were all top-notch. Also admit I was watching late at night with the volume up, so I got jumpy a few times!

Had a big crush on Sigourney Weaver watching this multiple times as a kid.

 

[Kane52630]

@Pennywise
If you're watching Alien 3, make sure it's the assembly cut/special edition.

 

[Pennywise]

@Pennywise
If you're watching Alien 3, make sure it's the assembly cut/special edition.

Will do, I’ve always been curious about Alien 3, as I LOVE Fincher!

Have to get to Aliens first, though.

 

[Gothamsknight]

97% on RT right now!

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Kane52630]

David Ehrlich called it a huge letdown...which only means this movie is a banger.

 

[Gee]

Sounds like it's just... fine?

Still looking forward to seeing it in LieMAX this weekend.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[emielaen]

Sounds like it's just... fine?

And that's good and tame and likely the most realistic thing to say. The whole "it's the best thing since this thing" or "it's the worst thing since this other thing" always feels disingenuous and solely said for the blurb.

I also think critics should retire the "it's not perfect, but..." paragraph starter. We know it's not perfect. Not many films, if any, are.

 

[Link]

I liked Romulus. The audiovisual presentation is mostly impeccable. It was such a treat in Dolby Atmos. The large vistas of space, the gloriously detailed sets, painstakingly crafted creatures, etc. all look better than I could've ever imagined. I do have to agree with a common criticism. When they do use CGI to bring a character to life, there's a big creative mistake made that cheapens the movie. It looks bad now, but it's going to age like unrefrigerated milk.

The movie also has a bit of a nostalgia problem. The last two Alien films were largely considered unsatisfying modern installments, and this is the obvious, almost cynically plotted course correction... to a point. It's not nearly as bad as something like Ghostbusters: Afterlife; the nostalgia is peppered throughout the movie, and for the third act, the film decides to take a bold swing instead, which I personally loved.

The story sets out to expand the universe a little bit, which was a welcome surprise for a movie that I was expecting to almost exclusively stick to what's popular and safe about this franchise. Romulus is clearly mostly inspired by Alien and Aliens (and Alien: Isolation by a surprising margin), but there's palpable influence from every single installment of this film series. I like that.

The set of characters seems to mostly exist as meat for the grinder, but Andy stole my heart. He's very well written, and David Jonsson plays the part to absolute perfection. The lead, played by Cailee Spaeny, isn't bad either, but she's a fairly familiar archetype this franchise can't get enough of. Maybe it should, to be honest.

This movie does have some gnarly kills and flawlessly executed moments of gore, as is to be expected from director Fede Álvarez. Still, I can't help but feel that beyond a few key moments, the movie slightly holds back. This, I imagine, will be rectified in a director's cut. As of now, Alien: Covenant still holds the crown for the goriest installment of Alien.

Alien: Romulus is almost like a best-off record with a new song or two in the mix, remastered sound, and beautiful artwork. It's not life-changing, but it's satisfying and familiar.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

For those that have seen it, do any other movies in the franchise get referenced or just Alien and Aliens?

No spoilers please a simple yes or no will do.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

For some reason I want at least 50 million opening weekend.

 

[Sithborg]

81% and a 6.5 average, yeah, seems ok.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

The reviews all over the place.

 

[Arnold Rimmer]

The reviews all over the place.

The people complaining seem to be the ones who liked the last 2 movies.

 

[Sithborg]

For those that have seen it, do any other movies in the franchise get referenced or just Alien and Aliens?

No spoilers please a simple yes or no will do.

I got spoiled on a bit, but yes.

 

[Another_Fool]

Looking forward to this one. Big fan of Alien and Aliens. And I actually really like Prometheus and enjoy Covenant. So I'm hoping it's at least on the level of quality as Prometheus or better than Covenant.

 

[TheVileOne]

Here are some of my general thoughts:

* Very reverent of the franchise, but it gets to a point where it becomes a detriment. I think it rehashes things we've seen before and not always in a good way.
* I like Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson's performances and their dynamic. The other characters are basically little more than Xenomorph meat.
* There's one thing that was one of the cooler Xenomorph scenes in recent memory and I found it to be the high point of the film, but it goes downhill after that.
* There are some very cool sequences that are well-constructed and look great. On their own, there are some great scenes here that look great and are well-shot, but the story around them is weak.
* It reinforces the things from the prequels that don't really work. These elements are very forced.
* There are multiple callbacks and nostalgia-bait things that don't work or make any sense in context. They are only pure fan service. I'm not against fan service if it's done well. Not done well in multiple instances here.
* I like that they try to stick to the aesthetic and retro-future style of the 1979 movie. Yet it pays homage to the prequels where everything is super modern and high-tech, and it doesn't really align very well.
* Over reliance on CG for a specific character that doesn't look very good, especially considering all the practical effects and visual effects that they do use here look very good.
* The Xenomorph at one point does something kind of goofy that was sort of stupid to me. Mileage may vary on that.
* I do like how oppressive and evil Weyland-Yutani comes off here. They are basically the true villains of the story.
* The movie doesn't really have anything new or unique to say? It's just kind of repeating things that came before. It reveres the films, but it basically rehashes things that have come before even something that audiences generally hated decades ago, and yet it does them again. Why?
* I feel like Ridley Scott needs to have the franchise taken away from him at some point. I don't get why he has so much say on it now. He left it behind for decades, and now it's like he's the Godfather now?