Sci-Fi Alien: Romulus (2024)

[Luigi]

 

[Hobgoblin]

100% not the case. This is a reductive argument when someone is just salty people didn't like something they did but lacks merit. I am all for new and different, but execution matters. Just doing something "new" doesn't make it good or work.

Plus, that ending was anything but “new.”

 

[Nardz937]

I thought it was just alright. A bit underwhelmed as I'm a huge fan of Fede's Evil Dead and this felt watered down in comparison. Though that should have been expected as this is still a Disney production at the end of the day.

Having said that there's still a lot to enjoy here. I'm only familiar in the two entries so I was happy with the approach here. Just a basic space slasher with great atmosphere, production design and effects. The young cast is wonderful too.

Just wished it packed more of a punch in terms of gore and shock value as that's what Fede's reputation as a filmmaker has been prided on. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the Disney machine.

 

[Sithborg]

I know that the show is on earth, but this movie did brush up on some aspects of this universe I expect the show to go more into depth with.

 

[samsnee]

I watched Alien Covenant for the first time to prep for this (even though I know it’s not related)

I can see why they rebooted. Promotheus had its faults but this one was just terrible. And the ending was absolutely sh*t.

 

[blueharvest]

 

[Lily Adler]

I watched Alien Covenant for the first time to prep for this (even though I know it’s not related)

I can see why they rebooted. Promotheus had its faults but this one was just terrible. And the ending was absolutely sh*t.

You didn't like Michael Fassbender creating the Xenomorph and abandoning all the major plot threads from Prometheus?

 

[Filmfan93]

This was the 3rd best film in the franchise after Alien & Aliens and I do love Prometheus and Covenant as well.

It maintains the horror and claustrophobic vibe of the first film while adding in the action of the second one. Something that none of the films after the 2nd succeeded in.

Amazing visuals/cinematography, excellent sound design and escalating tension from the beginning to end. Cailee Spaeny was great in the lead role. The Isolation call-backs were cool (one of my favourite games ever, have re-played it 4 times).

Highly disturbing in the final act, just like Don't Breathe was. Fede did great.

8/10

 

[Zantera]

Setting aside the ending which has people split, on a personal level I think most of my frustrations were smaller things. The typical "characters act dumb so that bad things can happen". It always bothers me because I don't think you need to write characters to be annoying or stupid to make a good Alien movie work. I mean the original still holds up with most characters acting in a logical way and still ending up killed.

I thought Bjorn was a really poorly written character where you don't see the actor or a character you just see a plot contrivance who is only there to make things go from bad to worse. I also thought Navarro was written badly for similar reasons because of her reaction to what happens to her and that whole sequence was maybe my least favorite part of the movie. Some of the best moments of this franchise for me are scenes from the first 3 Alien movies where you have characters in a room talking about the Xenomorph problem and problem solving trying to figure out a game plan for how to deal with the situation. That was kinda missing in Romulus for me and I think if you remove some of the "bad things only happen because characters act insanely stupid" stuff and put more "good characters problem solving and trying to outclever the Xenomorph" your movie instantly gets a lot better.

If we are going to talk about the Xeno as "the perfect organism" it would feel more satisfying to see it kill off characters we like who are actually making the smart decisions, they just end up punished because the Xeno is one step ahead.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I plan on rewatching this very soon, but am waiting on my brother to tell me when he wants to go. I'm itching for a second viewing haha.

 

[samsnee]

You didn't like Michael Fassbender creating the Xenomorph and abandoning all the major plot threads from Prometheus?

I have no idea what “created” the xeno anymore. Black goo? Engineers? Black goo mixed with engineers? None of it makes sense

 

[BlackFox]

Really enjoyed 3/4 of this, there was just some iffy CGI and just a few too many call backs and annoying design decisions in the final act that dragged it down a touch to the end, why the need for a random new horrible weird Alien design that just gets blown out an airlock every time is getting a touch repetitive when all the practical stuff with the usual Aliens was really great.

There was some really nice set piece moments and fresh ideas that elevated this above other recent Alien attempts and while some of the cast were clearly teen fodder from the start they were all decent enough, Rainn and Andi though were the standouts.

Overall though highly enjoyable and while I wouldnt quite put on the level of what Prey did for the Predator franchise its certainly a big step in getting the Alien franchise somewhat going in the right direction again and far far better than the last two attempts.

 

[Zantera]

I have no idea what “created” the xeno anymore. Black goo? Engineers? Black goo mixed with engineers? None of it makes sense

Do we need to know that though? That was my biggest complaint with Prometheus and Covenant in general, answering a question we didn't want answered. I think it's fine leaving it as it is, the black goo alters the DNA of the host and you get something Xeno-esque. I don't mind the idea that the facehugger inplants you with some sort of black goo and thats what creates the chestburster.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I was entertained.

Props, design and electronic sounds like Alien/Aliens.
The crew : dumb save for the lead but the worst offendered

Spoiler

(Bjorn) get alienazed quickly.

The accents were too much, I could barely understand what they said.
Fan service was heavy, then again I liked it.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Captain Tired]

I thought the Asian girl with the shaved head was pretty cute.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

I got my tickets for tomorrow afternoon so I’ll be the judge if it sucks or not.

But seriously, looking at some of your rankings, it warms my heart to see so many of you recognizing Alien as the superior movie.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I got my tickets for tomorrow afternoon so I’ll be the judge if it sucks or not.

But seriously, looking at some of your rankings, it warms my heart to see so many of you recognizing Alien as the superior movie.

What about us that like them equally?

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

What about us that like them equally?

Meh, that’s okay too.

 

[Kane52630]

Can't wait for tomorrow to see what Dora went through.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I thought the Asian girl with the shaved head was pretty cute.

So did the Face Hugger

 

[Drizzle]

I saw it today.

Overall, I liked it. Was it fan-servicey? Absolutely. But so was Covenant to an extent, and this is a far better movie IMO. I also think part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was because it draws a lot of inspiration from Alien: Isolation.

Spaeny and David Jonsson were pretty great in this and I liked Merced a lot too.

I actually dug the ending with the Engineer/Xenomorph hybrid. That was nowhere near as controversial to me as resurrecting Ian Holm. The likeness is one thing because we've seen that before plenty of times but to me it sounded too much like him to be anything but AI voice re-creation. That said, from a story perspective I do like that particular brand of android causing more trouble but it doesn't excuse it. Either way, if his family and estate consented and agreed, nothing we can do about it.

Overall, I'd rank it as third in the franchise, giving it a slight edge over Prometheus.

 

[Daywalker89]

Man, what a pleasure that was to watch. Fede Alvarez, you worked your magic on this mate. Wow. Im not even that much of a alien fan but in its own right its a highly competently made SciFi film, that tick many of my personal boxes. There was some truly beautiful shots in this film (Can't wait for Kane's Gifs to come through) The set design is brutally fantastic (Just read Fede Alvarez hired the crew behind Aliens) The sound design, **** yes. I love that weird mechanical heartbeat sound that was used throughout. The pacing was great even if the 1st act was abit slow off the jump but when it did...brace yourself. Some great moments and some that were abit dumb and inconsistent(Elevator scene im looking at you) but overall this deserves the 3rd place in the franchise that most of the hype have placed it.

Cailee Spaeny is great here as Rain, Great moments where you can't help but root for her and in general Cailee range is great, She hasn't been around that long but shes definitely making her mark on the big screen now. Loved David Jonsson as Andy and probably my standout. Chewed up the scenery and gave that same " i can't trust this dude " vibe in most scenes that previous androids had.

Some of the other cast were okay but there was some silly choices made as usual because simply " Horror playbook 101 "

Now that last 20 mins of so. That was something else , literally and figuratively lool yes its divisive and yes i expect it to be talked about in fandom and Youtube vids will be made galore about it lol Do i think it worked? for raising the stakes then yes but at what cost? From what ive read from previous talk (previous films) alot of folk weren't keen on seing certain elements like that again. The fact they went there was quite something lol

I give it a solid 8.5 and will definitely watch again at another time. Its been a while since i was ingrossed in a well made furturistic Scfi horror like that. Great job to all involved, now its time to deep dive into those spoilers from a few pages back lol

 

[Drizzle]

The accents were too much, I could barely understand what they said.

That one guy (the jerk crew member) definitely needed subtitles.

 

[Punisher_MAX]

One of my few gripes is that I wish the crew was bigger to see more Xenomorph carnage.