Sci-Fi Alien: Romulus (2024)

[Kane52630]

It's only time.

 

[kguillou]

This was a good time, I really enjoyed this. I like how nuts the ending went. Only complaint is, and maybe it was just me but i couldnt tell how the ending was resolved. Like literally i couldnt see what happened that resolved the conflict. The camera was very shaky and the cinematography was so dark that i couldnt decipher what was happening.

But other than that, Alvarez did a great job directing this.

 

[Daywalker89]

The reception to this film is all over the show, theres certain reviewers that i thought would like this but nope they are sticking the knife and twisting it anti clockwise, certain grifters who i thought would be "grifting" are liking it while others are overly grifting. Then theres some people in my circle that i didn't see this film with saying its worse than covenant lool I don't think ive seen a film pulled in many directions like this has. I like it and of course thats all that matters but im genuinely intrigued by the disconnect. If i was a diehard Alien fan that knew more about the lore maybe my overall look on the film would differ.

I might do a massive marathon over the weekend just to get a perspective on this franchise. I keep hearing about the fandom call backs to other films that narked some people off in this film, apart from the obvious, most would of flew over my head.

I guess that last third really did do a number on people, hearing about studio interference behind the scenes has sparked my interest aswell but i don't know how true that is.

 

[psylockolussus]

I'm doing an Alien movie marathon like right now. I only need to finish Alien³ and Resurrection. I haven't seen Resurrection before. I'm skipping AVP even though I've seen those two films before.

Is there any connection from this new film from the older films, that I need to take notice of. I still have 1hour left in my Aliens (the ²nd film) rewatch.

 

[BobJM]

I very much enjoyed Romulus; I wouldn’t call myself a super fan of the Alien franchise but I’ve seen them all and think this fits in rather nicely as one of the ‘better’ installments.

I thought the Ash cameo/extended role worked surprisingly well. The widow & kids were on board, so why not?

 

[Drizzle]

I'm doing an Alien movie marathon like right now. I only need to finish Alien³ and Resurrection. I haven't seen Resurrection before. I'm skipping AVP even though I've seen those two films before.

Is there any connection from this new film from the older films, that I need to take notice of. I still have 1hour left in my Aliens (the ²nd film) rewatch.

Short answer: Yes.

Slightly spoilery more detailed answer:

Spoiler

There are nods to every film in the franchise (not counting AvP). There are subtle and not so subtle references to Aliens, Alien 3 and Resurrection but the movie's DNA is intrinsically tied to the other Ridley Scott movies in the franchise. Alien is what it ties into the most, Prometheus to a lesser extent and Covenant just through association with Prometheus.[/SPOILERS]

 

[psylockolussus]

Short answer: Yes.

Slightly spoilery more detailed answer:

Spoiler

There are nods to every film in the franchise (not counting AvP). There are subtle and not so subtle references to Aliens, Alien 3 and Resurrection but the movie's DNA is intrinsically tied to the other Ridley Scott movies in the franchise. Alien is what it ties into the most, Prometheus to a lesser extent and Covenant just through association with Prometheus.[/SPOILERS]

Thank you Drizzle!

 

[Stringer]

I got about what I expected from this; a solid iteration which was sorely needed but I couldn't help but think

Spoiler

the xenomorph(s) looked even weaker in this than what started in Aliens. Their sneakiness and overall cunning was severely lacking in this one.

 

[Ninjablade]

Saw this tonight. Wasn't expecting much going in, somehow I was disappointed. I was hoping to get funny bad, but instead I got just a boring slog of nothing. Not sure how you can make a generic version of a generic film, but Álvarez manages to do it somehow. I was expecting half decent directing, but I couldn't even get that. Scenes are poorly constructed, the editing is weird at times, the scares couldn't be worse, and anytime the film tries to be cool it flounders the moment because it has no artistic vision.

The script is baby's first fan fiction, oscillating between empty references, and dialogue that just explains every little possible detail to the audience as if they're stupid. No subtlety at all. The acting is either bored (Spaeny) or bad (everyone else) with the exception of David Johnson who does feel like he's trying to imbue the film with some sense of humanity. Something the film lacks and *those* scenes just heighten the issue times ten fold. Unnecessary and just wrong.

I like the production design. The movie really needed to be shot on film to really highlight it, as the digital attempts at recreating the look of the original film look very eh at times.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[kguillou]

Can someone explain to me what happened at the end with Rain and the hybrid alien thingy? I dont know if i had a bad projection or what, but in my screening she’s hanging by a rope with the hybrid above her ready to attack, she goes “die m******er!” The screen goes really dark and then we just see the ship explode below her. I really couldnt tell what was going on.

 

[Stringer]

Can someone explain to me what happened at the end with Rain and the hybrid alien thingy? I dont know if i had a bad projection or what, but in my screening she’s hanging by a rope with the hybrid above her ready to attack, she goes “die m******er!” The screen goes really dark and then we just see the ship explode below her. I really couldnt tell what was going on.

Spoiler

Rain had a line connected to the ship and was trying to jettison the cargo bay with the alien in it. Cornered by it, she used to the acid blood to create a hole in the bay which she fell through and thought it did as well. She's trying to pull herself back into the ship through the created hole however the alien is clinging to the bottom of the cargo bay with its tail and attacks her before she reaches the opening. She uses her tether to disengage the final latch holding with cargo bay to the ship, dropping the alien into the asteroids below.

 

[Another_Fool]

FINALLY got to see this tonight. And ya know what, it's solid. I don't think the film didn't have anything absolutely original but be a love letter to the franchise as a whole.

Spoiler

As someone who really likes Prometheus and Covenant, I really liked the connection in the third act. Was it kind of forced? Maybe. But it did the trick for me.

My ranking is:
Aliens
Alien
Prometheus/Romulus
Covenant
Alien 3
Resurrection

 

[Luigi]

Lex has been getting some love.

 

[Drizzle]

There's a whole laundry list of characters just from Aliens alone that I don't see on any of those posts.

 

[Kane52630]

Love that Sanaa Lathan is getting her flowers but it's so funny to see the people on twitter just gravitate towards only the movies from the 21st century.

 

[Another_Fool]

Lex has been getting some love.

Man, Noomi got hosed in Covenant. She absolutely should've been a secondary protagonist or got a direct sequel to Prometheus.

Spoiler

Also just thought about this. Can't remember if I saw the comment in here or on Reddit but someone had mentioned the one good thing about Romulus was that it retconned David being the creator of the Xenomorph. Now I've never interpreted it that David in Covenant created the first Xeno ever (just learned the recipe to bring them back), but if one subscribed to that, I don't think anything in Romulus contradicts it right?

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Shaw, Vasquez, Hudson and Hicks all should be on that list.

 

[Drizzle]

Shaw, Vasquez, Hudson and Hicks all should be on that list.

And Bishop. And Ash. And Parker. And Charles mf'ing Dance.

 

[Another_Fool]

Hicks is my guy. I was so salty with his death in Alien 3 that despite Colonial Marines not being a good game at all, I hope till the day I die it's still canon so that he's still alive in-universe.

 

[Drizzle]

Even though I think Alien 3 is fine in its own right, I will never not be pissed about the decision to kill off Hicks and Newt offscreen between movies. I accept it as canon but I've probably only watched it and Resurrection two or three times in the 20+ years since I first saw them compared to the countless times I've watched Alien and Aliens.

It also didn't really dawn on me until recently but was it ever stated that the main reason they killed off Newt like that was to avoid recasting her because she the character technically wasn't supposed to age?

 

[Another_Fool]

It also didn't really dawn on me until recently but was it ever stated that the main reason they killed off Newt like that was to avoid recasting her because she the character technically wasn't supposed to age?

Probably from a studio perspective they didn't mind not having to go through the headache of recasting a little girl, but no, it started with Vincent Ward's Alien 3 script which was the first draft to kill off Hicks and Newt, and Ward himself said he had Newt killed off in the beginning because "She kind of annoyed me."

Sooooo. Yeah Ward annoys me as a result. Forever.

 

[Kane52630]

If Alien 3 had a weaker story to tell I would probably feel more critical about the decision to kill them off but it didn't. It's not on the level of the first two but I love how they chose to make it about the prison system and Charles Dutton and Charles Dance were a fantastic addition. The funeral scene is in my top 5 favorite scenes from the franchise. Fincher will always hate it but that assembly cut worked for me, I saw the vision.

 

[Drizzle]

If Alien 3 had a weaker story to tell I would probably feel more critical about the decision to kill them off but it didn't. It's not on the level of the first two but I love how they chose to make it about the prison and Charles Dutton and Charles Dance were a fantastic addition. The funeral scene is in my top 5 favorite scenes from the franchise. Fincher will always hate it but that assembly cut worked for me, I saw the vision.

Yeah, for me it's still a perfectly functioning movie. I just find it hard to revisit especially after this moment at the end of Aliens encompassing everything Ripley and Newt went through:

 

[Zantera]

I love Aliens and the nice happy ending works for that movie, but I also really like the punches Alien 3 takes. It's a bleak and depressing story and despite everything Ripley has gone through the xenomorph just keeps coming back and ruining her life in different ways. I also think it just adds some neat ideas to the lore such as the xenomorph birthed from something else and not a human (and what that does to the xenomorph taking on other traits) and also the royal facehugger is pretty cool as well. After Aliens where everyone has an assault rifle or flamethrower and just destroys them like they're ants, it's also refreshing that Alien 3 is set on a planet without weapons and it makes the creature feel terrifying again. (aside from wonky effects sadly)