I'm surprised that, off the many aspects of this movie people have been talking about since the release, one is never brought up : so many times in this movie, we get lore dumps of how facehuggers and xenomorphs work and function, removing even more mystery and darkness around these supposedly cryptic and perfect organisms, something that was heavily criticized when Prometheus and Covenant released, but it barely mentioned when it comes to that movie, why is that?
The first 45 minutes were amazing… excellent set-design, some world-building, brilliant actors (Andy by far), characters I really came to care about (apart from the one dick 'ed). But then it makes a sharp decline. The final act just felt totally unnecessary to me, being half Prometheus and half Covenant. Why tf did they do that to Dora the Explorer T.T
Watching this film was like being an incel for 7 years and finally getting the chance to get my end away, but having no attraction to the other party and not being able to get off. Ultimately very frustrating and disappointing. The film looked and sounded great but was criminally guilty of telling and not showing. I wanted to see what happend after they recovered the alien and began their experiments, how long it took to replicate the face huggers and synthesise the black goo, and Ultimately the catastrophe caused by the alien reawakening and the efforts to bring down the alien. We didn't get to see any of this and it was the most interesting plot point of the film. We don't know how long the alien was inert for after recovery but it must have been a while in order for them to replicate the face huggers and the goo, but we don't know because we never saw any of it. The guy with the cattle prod was an awful character and an awfully acted character who died a stupid death. He got dripped on by the acid and just lay there staring at his melting fingers, allowing more acid to fall on and kill him. Anyone who has ever been burned will know how you jump out of your skin the moment you feel it, but he just lays there like a complete divvy. The smart pulse rifle scene was boring and lacked impact as she was just still aiming down a one way hall allowing the gun to smart aim and destroy everything as they were just coming at her in a straight line. It lacked fear factor, whereas it could of been an aswome run and gun scene through the hive, dragging the malfunctioning android with her to the elevator, the acid ripping its way through the ship adding another level of intensity and need to evac ASAP…. what could of have been.
This movie is such a great addition to the franchise. We all have opinions, but most of hate for this movie is from the most shithead Cinema Sins adjacent critiques. One or two moments don't COMPLETELY ruin it. It's a great flick.
Alien and Aliens are two of my all time favorite films, so even though the franchise has had a few mis-steps I'll always have time for a new installment. I was looking forward to this because the director/writer team of Alvarez & Sayagues are pretty competent (Sayagues switch to the director's chair on Don't Breath 2 is some stellar work by the way). Unfortunately I was left disappointed by this. It looks and sounds great, playing homage to the original Alien as perfectly as the Alien Isolation video game. However, beyond that the film is at best average. I didn't like the cast much (and with so many female protagonists in the franchise it would at least make a change to have a male lead for once). The score didn't add a lot so didn't live up to the work of Goldsmith, Horner, or even Gregson-Williams. The biggest let down was the writing, I appreciated that film took time to set the scene and give some logical explanation to the unfolding story, but the idea that the research station went unnoticed until some 20 somethings discovered it in orbit above their planet, was too far fetched. The writing also unravelled more as the film went on, and started ransacking ideas from the franchise. They should have stayed away from the black goo genetic mutation elements introduced by Prometheus, and the humanoid alien at the end was a repeat of Alien Resurrection. Then there were all the familiar quotes being clumsily thrown in, and the identical scene where the protagonist has to get into a space suit to eject the alien from the ship. That said, there are a couple of decent scenes that play with gravity (inspired by the Dead Space video game perhaps?) but overall I was left wondering why this got green lit instead of Neil Blomkamp's vision.
Warning as this is listed as spoiler free review i feel the need to let you know there are scene descriptions in my comment below so if you haven't seen the movie WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR GO AND SEE IT lol just messing but yeah don't read on you have been warned.
I think to praise this film as highly as people have is a bit OTT to be honest and i feel these people are these people that will just look at the surface level of the film and also would love a film about bread in it if it had amazing special effects and explosions unfortunately society has a lot of vain people that are not willing to or can't see beneath the surface and the standards of movies have dropped and these people don't want to or can't call it out as it is because with the standard of movies dropping so have most of the peoples standards.
Saying all the above ina general sense i enjoyed the movie the effects where great, the cinematography was amazing and i loved how they used CRT's to actually keep it aesthetically accurately in the timeline but the story and most of the characters except Rayne and Andy who i have to say was the most memorable character and the actor did a fantastic job of portraying two versions of the same character but what really made me enjoy the movie instead of having my mind blown was i felt the overuse of scene parallels and line nod's especially the one that Andy says which when he said it it just made no sense and felt really out of context so to explain on this in particular when ripley said it she said in such a forceful way that it had an impact and the reason being is because with protecting Newt she had just become a mother after only recently discovering her daughter had passed on so that is the context but when Andy said it i fail to see the context except that it was added for the sake of just paying a nod with no context to the scene.
Also the parallels when Rayn went back for Andy – Ripley going back for Newt, the lift scene and countdown with Rayn – Lift and countdown in Aliens where Bishop was supposed to stay on the platform, i could go on and on but i wont i just felt there was so many more and i was left wondering was this film made to pay homage or to entertain because there really has to be both especially in a franchise as big as this and a great balance of paying homage to the past whilst keeping it in context in present day and not over using references is TopGun Maverick there were 2-3 lines used throughout that movie and one scene re-creation at the beginning that was in the original and that was it Maverick had its own vibe and is well documented to be said a better movie than the original which i grew up on and i agree so yeah those are the gripes oh and one last gripe nearly forgot this maybe my film colour grading analytical side coming in but why especially on the close ups if elt having the aliens very well lit took away the horror and terrifying vibe from them and it just felt so off having a terrifying monster so well lit up and not in the shadows especially as when you go so close up naturally you lose light so to me that doesn't make sense but again i want to say as much as i have written above i do like the movie i just think take out the references or most of them just have 2-3 so it dont feel forced and replace the other scenes and lines with some original material if that had happened i think i would have come out of the theatre with my mind blown.
My god ive just written an article. hmmmm maybe i should be a critic this aint bad actually. :)
The parts that werenโt member-berries were plot hole ridden or just plain bad. Why did no one else know of the space station? If Ripley is floating out in space and in the second film, no one believes her story. Why did the robot explain the events of the first film and they even knew to look for the alien? How did they find a random alien floating in space And why was it so close to the Nostromo when they would be scattered across the galaxy? They were quite quite a few few other plot holes, but those are some quick ones that instantly took me out of the movie.
Romulus is basically a super high budget fan film. It was a lot of fun and I loved it. Like wtf are people expecting? No sequel, prequel or interquel will ever capture the magic of the original films. Maybe we all need to take a step back and realize those films we grew up with are masterpieces and will never be recreated in the same way. So why are we looking for that every time?! This film was a lot of fun. It looked and sounded fucking great. Amazing sets and practical FX, scary Xenos, huggers and good gore!
As fans we are all inherently biased but when trying to be objective you can't deny this is a super solid film. From the story, the acting, the visuals and score! Yes there is tons of fan service throughout the entire film but they still did some things that we haven't seen before. Unfortunately with the state of the franchise, doing something new is a hard sell to the studio. I would argue it's the most compelling story we've had since Aliens. I actually cared about these characters and their motivations.
I couldn't believe how well done this was. One could argue some of the secondary conflicts were introduced for the sake of conflict; especially when it comes to the ex-boyfriend's cousin. I believe that was likely one of the few nitpicks I had. That said, the movie feels and looks extremely well shot, not using quick edits to mask poorly performed action scenes, and does a fine job crescendo-ing to a final scene that felt strangely familiar yet different. This probably the best movie since Alien to dive deep enough into character development that you care, but not soo deep that you end up 90 minutes into the movie before something besides drama occurs. I also had to give a small face palm to the Andy character as well. Perhaps I'm just so used to Fassbender and Henriksen… but Andy felt like a guy trying to act like a machine while Fassbender and Henniksen felt "real" and "synthetic" at the same time.
I do hope they continue on with Alverez at the helm. For someone to take the entire mess that was the first 6 movies, run a narrative thread through them, and bring things back to where they're supposed to be, he deserves to carry this forward. Despite it not being scary, the second and third act feel so much like Aliens (without Marines) you really do start getting to edge of your seat.
I'm surprised that, off the many aspects of this movie people have been talking about since the release, one is never brought up : so many times in this movie, we get lore dumps of how facehuggers and xenomorphs work and function, removing even more mystery and darkness around these supposedly cryptic and perfect organisms, something that was heavily criticized when Prometheus and Covenant released, but it barely mentioned when it comes to that movie, why is that?
The first 45 minutes were amazing… excellent set-design, some world-building, brilliant actors (Andy by far), characters I really came to care about (apart from the one dick 'ed). But then it makes a sharp decline. The final act just felt totally unnecessary to me, being half Prometheus and half Covenant. Why tf did they do that to Dora the Explorer T.T
Watching this film was like being an incel for 7 years and finally getting the chance to get my end away, but having no attraction to the other party and not being able to get off. Ultimately very frustrating and disappointing. The film looked and sounded great but was criminally guilty of telling and not showing. I wanted to see what happend after they recovered the alien and began their experiments, how long it took to replicate the face huggers and synthesise the black goo, and Ultimately the catastrophe caused by the alien reawakening and the efforts to bring down the alien. We didn't get to see any of this and it was the most interesting plot point of the film. We don't know how long the alien was inert for after recovery but it must have been a while in order for them to replicate the face huggers and the goo, but we don't know because we never saw any of it. The guy with the cattle prod was an awful character and an awfully acted character who died a stupid death. He got dripped on by the acid and just lay there staring at his melting fingers, allowing more acid to fall on and kill him. Anyone who has ever been burned will know how you jump out of your skin the moment you feel it, but he just lays there like a complete divvy. The smart pulse rifle scene was boring and lacked impact as she was just still aiming down a one way hall allowing the gun to smart aim and destroy everything as they were just coming at her in a straight line. It lacked fear factor, whereas it could of been an aswome run and gun scene through the hive, dragging the malfunctioning android with her to the elevator, the acid ripping its way through the ship adding another level of intensity and need to evac ASAP…. what could of have been.
Too many callbacks to better films and inferior prequels – sick of this Weekend at Bernie's sh!te with deceased actors.
"You get invested in their journey and don't want them to die."
I wanted all but two characters in this film to die horribly.
This movie is such a great addition to the franchise. We all have opinions, but most of hate for this movie is from the most shithead Cinema Sins adjacent critiques. One or two moments don't COMPLETELY ruin it. It's a great flick.
Nah ! …a tired Fanchice
It will quickly be forgotten.
Sometimes i feel like the only real alien fan, i swear im the only mf that likes all the movies……….just not resurection that one doesnt exist๐
Therrs summin in da fookn wa'er ๐
Alien and Aliens are two of my all time favorite films, so even though the franchise has had a few mis-steps I'll always have time for a new installment. I was looking forward to this because the director/writer team of Alvarez & Sayagues are pretty competent (Sayagues switch to the director's chair on Don't Breath 2 is some stellar work by the way). Unfortunately I was left disappointed by this. It looks and sounds great, playing homage to the original Alien as perfectly as the Alien Isolation video game. However, beyond that the film is at best average. I didn't like the cast much (and with so many female protagonists in the franchise it would at least make a change to have a male lead for once). The score didn't add a lot so didn't live up to the work of Goldsmith, Horner, or even Gregson-Williams. The biggest let down was the writing, I appreciated that film took time to set the scene and give some logical explanation to the unfolding story, but the idea that the research station went unnoticed until some 20 somethings discovered it in orbit above their planet, was too far fetched. The writing also unravelled more as the film went on, and started ransacking ideas from the franchise. They should have stayed away from the black goo genetic mutation elements introduced by Prometheus, and the humanoid alien at the end was a repeat of Alien Resurrection. Then there were all the familiar quotes being clumsily thrown in, and the identical scene where the protagonist has to get into a space suit to eject the alien from the ship. That said, there are a couple of decent scenes that play with gravity (inspired by the Dead Space video game perhaps?) but overall I was left wondering why this got green lit instead of Neil Blomkamp's vision.
That CGI mouthโฆ ๐
Warning as this is listed as spoiler free review i feel the need to let you know there are scene descriptions in my comment below so if you haven't seen the movie WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR GO AND SEE IT lol just messing but yeah don't read on you have been warned.
I think to praise this film as highly as people have is a bit OTT to be honest and i feel these people are these people that will just look at the surface level of the film and also would love a film about bread in it if it had amazing special effects and explosions unfortunately society has a lot of vain people that are not willing to or can't see beneath the surface and the standards of movies have dropped and these people don't want to or can't call it out as it is because with the standard of movies dropping so have most of the peoples standards.
Saying all the above ina general sense i enjoyed the movie the effects where great, the cinematography was amazing and i loved how they used CRT's to actually keep it aesthetically accurately in the timeline but the story and most of the characters except Rayne and Andy who i have to say was the most memorable character and the actor did a fantastic job of portraying two versions of the same character but what really made me enjoy the movie instead of having my mind blown was i felt the overuse of scene parallels and line nod's especially the one that Andy says which when he said it it just made no sense and felt really out of context so to explain on this in particular when ripley said it she said in such a forceful way that it had an impact and the reason being is because with protecting Newt she had just become a mother after only recently discovering her daughter had passed on so that is the context but when Andy said it i fail to see the context except that it was added for the sake of just paying a nod with no context to the scene.
Also the parallels when Rayn went back for Andy – Ripley going back for Newt, the lift scene and countdown with Rayn – Lift and countdown in Aliens where Bishop was supposed to stay on the platform, i could go on and on but i wont i just felt there was so many more and i was left wondering was this film made to pay homage or to entertain because there really has to be both especially in a franchise as big as this and a great balance of paying homage to the past whilst keeping it in context in present day and not over using references is TopGun Maverick there were 2-3 lines used throughout that movie and one scene re-creation at the beginning that was in the original and that was it Maverick had its own vibe and is well documented to be said a better movie than the original which i grew up on and i agree so yeah those are the gripes oh and one last gripe nearly forgot this maybe my film colour grading analytical side coming in but why especially on the close ups if elt having the aliens very well lit took away the horror and terrifying vibe from them and it just felt so off having a terrifying monster so well lit up and not in the shadows especially as when you go so close up naturally you lose light so to me that doesn't make sense but again i want to say as much as i have written above i do like the movie i just think take out the references or most of them just have 2-3 so it dont feel forced and replace the other scenes and lines with some original material if that had happened i think i would have come out of the theatre with my mind blown.
My god ive just written an article. hmmmm maybe i should be a critic this aint bad actually. :)
I am really happy you liked it. I canโt wait to see it again. Not perfect but it is a fresh air after horrible Covenant.
This is more of a recap than a review
The parts that werenโt member-berries were plot hole ridden or just plain bad. Why did no one else know of the space station? If Ripley is floating out in space and in the second film, no one believes her story. Why did the robot explain the events of the first film and they even knew to look for the alien? How did they find a random alien floating in space And why was it so close to the Nostromo when they would be scattered across the galaxy? They were quite quite a few few other plot holes, but those are some quick ones that instantly took me out of the movie.
Romulus is basically a super high budget fan film. It was a lot of fun and I loved it. Like wtf are people expecting? No sequel, prequel or interquel will ever capture the magic of the original films. Maybe we all need to take a step back and realize those films we grew up with are masterpieces and will never be recreated in the same way. So why are we looking for that every time?! This film was a lot of fun. It looked and sounded fucking great. Amazing sets and practical FX, scary Xenos, huggers and good gore!
Mum's the word about a certain synthetic! I greatly enjoyed the film overall aside from THAT, which rather left a bad taste in my mouth…
Since I'm not a Prometheus fan, this film having references to it makes it an easy pass for me.
As fans we are all inherently biased but when trying to be objective you can't deny this is a super solid film. From the story, the acting, the visuals and score! Yes there is tons of fan service throughout the entire film but they still did some things that we haven't seen before. Unfortunately with the state of the franchise, doing something new is a hard sell to the studio. I would argue it's the most compelling story we've had since Aliens. I actually cared about these characters and their motivations.
I couldn't believe how well done this was. One could argue some of the secondary conflicts were introduced for the sake of conflict; especially when it comes to the ex-boyfriend's cousin. I believe that was likely one of the few nitpicks I had. That said, the movie feels and looks extremely well shot, not using quick edits to mask poorly performed action scenes, and does a fine job crescendo-ing to a final scene that felt strangely familiar yet different. This probably the best movie since Alien to dive deep enough into character development that you care, but not soo deep that you end up 90 minutes into the movie before something besides drama occurs. I also had to give a small face palm to the Andy character as well. Perhaps I'm just so used to Fassbender and Henriksen… but Andy felt like a guy trying to act like a machine while Fassbender and Henniksen felt "real" and "synthetic" at the same time.
I do hope they continue on with Alverez at the helm. For someone to take the entire mess that was the first 6 movies, run a narrative thread through them, and bring things back to where they're supposed to be, he deserves to carry this forward. Despite it not being scary, the second and third act feel so much like Aliens (without Marines) you really do start getting to edge of your seat.