Alien: Romulus (2024)

[Dave]

Those Pitch Meetings get better and better. It probably helps to have better material to work with.

 

[ctg]

Man, it is so good. As some of you might know, I went and asked publicly: "Does anyone want to go to see Aliens? I buy you a ticket and popcorn." And it worked. I got a date with a friend, and we went to see it in Westfield Vue. The weirdest part of it was that the ticket selling machine claimed that all the regular ticket had been sold out, so I got VIP ones. After all, it was Alien one, which I haven't missed since the first two came out and I was too little to go out to see them.

As it has been noted, the film is situated after the first two, and it fits perfectly in the universe. In fact, this time, you get to see how normal people live in a colony planet at the beginning. Although not the first time, as it has been shown with many other things in the comics. But even in the games, it has been always either a ship and a planet with no survivors. In the Alien Covenant we saw a ship, colonists and engineer colony. However, in this one, it's a full living human colony out there somewhere far away from Earth and most of the mega corporations.

The only one present is the Wayland-Yutani corporation. In fact, they have more presence in the system as above the planet is the Romulus and Remus lab. So both wolves are present in this story. The victims in this story commit a heist to the ship, which turns out to be a space-station sized object. The protagonists don't want to visit it, but they have no other choice to get fuel to power cryo-beds to escape the system to another one.

They are pressured to do that because the WY uses the colonists as if they're slaving them, as they are no other sources for the manpower. They essentially have the people on the clock for 12000 day contract, and when it's finished, they double it with same terms. That is the source for motivation to go to visit the lab.

The lab itself is not as innovative as Aliens 3, because it's the same model as the Nostrodamus and Sevastapol in Alien Isolation. The first one gets mentioned in the movie as the source, but the insides are nothing like in those two. They have similarities, but I got more vibes towards Aliens Fireteam Elite especially when the protagonist finds that the xenomorphs has hatched a colony inside the ship.

Not just the one that W-Y made to study the creatures, but their own one. The ones that they have made is more intriguing as it's a proper farm. One thing that you don't see is W-Y xenomorph coffins introduced in Aliens Dark Descent as they've done something far industrialized. I got more wibes from that game and Fireteam Elite than from Isolation.

Another thing, there is a new monster and it has Prometheus connection. The whole revelation and connection shocked me. Just like the way synths behaved in this movie. So I recommend you to go to see what it is because it's worth to see this one in theatre, even if the scene is super loud, as VUE Westfield cranked them volume to 11 during the showing. Some of the screams will make your ears bleed.

I also wish I could explain more about the connections, but I don't want to spoil anyone. Just say that it's just as good as the Prey. Hopefully we'll see the main protagonist in another Alien settings.

 

[Toby Frost]

My problem is that it cannot ever recreate the surprises that I had in Alien or the suspense that was created in that film.

I agree - it can't, but what it can do is to restore some seriousness and dignity to the franchise, by removing the pretentious and silly stuff, and making a film that has suspense and weight. While Romulus isn't as scary or original as Alien, I did feel a sense of strong, vague discomfort while watching it, as if "trouble" was about to start in the real world. I think it does a lot to bring the franchise back to what it ought to be doing.

 

[ctg]

From Reddit

 

[paeng]

The original had well-written characters and such a set design because the budget wasn't very big. The latter took place because they didn't have a lot by way of CGI, etc.

Young viewers are more interested in movies similar to those released on streaming (if they're meant for that) or those that resemble superhero flicks (if they're meant to be released in theaters, first).

This one is unusual because it was meant for streaming (which is why the budget's small) but released to theaters likely because the market hasn't been doing well in any case for up to a decade. They probably gambled that more than enough would watch it (that is, pay the equivalent or more than a month's worth of streaming to view the movie once in a theater) given enough marketing, and then move to streaming.

Since the setting's mostly in a space station, then with a budget that's relatively bigger than those in earlier movies they could easily use practical effects in closed sets, and then CGI for certain scenes. Since they could safely assume that most expected to watch it had never heard of the older movies, then they could rehash as much as they could from the latter and even from the Isolation video game. And given the point raised above, they could make it a thrill ride, like an Evil Dead/Army of the Dead in space, and with one action scene after another.

Surprisingly, the strategy worked thanks to China, where because most movies shown have been in the crime, comedy, and romance genres, viewers were looking for something new, and they found it in Romulus. It's said to have now earned $300 million globally.

 

[Judderman]

The Evil Dead series is bordering on comedic, and over the top in parts. I don't think Romulus is like that is it? But a thrill ride makes sense.

 

[paeng]

Alien: Romulus Director Answers Our Questions About Where It Stands in the Franchise, Facehuggers, and More - IGN

Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez sits down with IGN to discuss the first trailer for the upcoming standalone installment in the franchise — facehuggers and all.

www.ign.com

The horror aficionado says he's extremely proud of what we’ll see this summer - and there's plenty of his style in it. “This is not the era of Hollywood or even the studio of the era of Alien 3, where [David] Fincher is fighting everybody to get his way,” the director gushed. “I made this movie as independently as I made Don't Breathe, really with a white page and the ability and the freedom given to me to write what we wanted. Not only that, but to have the chance to sit down with Ridley [Scott] as my producer and [James] Cameron as a mentor, just to sit down with him and chat about the movie and after they've seen the movie. [But] it is very me, believe me. The good and the bad. It's really me. If you like my movies, you'll get it.”

OK, OK, one final question, because I know what you’re thinking — it’s a Fede Alvarez movie, so can we expect some serious blood and guts? “Don't worry about that,” Alvarez teased. “I got you.” Phew. Just checking.

https://collider.com/alien-romulus-spoilers-fede-alverez/

ÁLVAREZ: This is the budget for the Hulu movie, by the way. The budget never changed. [Laughs] I don't know if they announced it or not at the time, but we made deals in 2021, so I can't blame anybody for not betting on the theatrical experience in 2021 when everything was dead. Basically, 20th Century was given the green light to make a certain amount of movies for the platform at a certain price, and that price was kind of the same for everything, which is basically around the budget of our movie.

 

[Rodders]

I finally saw this last night and i thought it to be very good.

I went into this without any real knowledge apart from the trailer that was posted on the Chrons. (thanks Dave.) The script was tight and the sense of risk and tension throughout. I also enjoyed the characters and even the obligatory a***hole has a motiove for behaving in the way that he did. Andy, Rain and Tyler were all well acted. I loved the practical effects, too and the aesthetic was spot on. Very Alien: Isolation. Some of the set pieces were very good. I especially enjoyed the corridor scene with the acid and the gravity.

I enjoyed the references to Alien, Aliens and Alien: Prometheus, but hated the use of a couple of tribute lines that, although coming from a place of love, felt artifical and a bit tacky. I'm not sure how i felt about the hybrid, but it had a decent enough reason in the script to being there and it did very much look like the engineer from Prometheus. (My first thought was they'd done Mark Strong very wrong. )

I'm actually quite hopeful for the future of the franchise.

 

[BAYLOR]

True.

I’ve often wondered why they kill. Perhaps it’s for sustenance but we never see a xenomorph actually eating a human. It can’t be for reproduction because humans are kept alive to host the offspring. Even the shark - one of our most misunderstood earth creatures - might look like something evil but kills for a very specific reason. The alien reason is unclear at best and, at worst, has simply been disregarded by lazy scriptwriters.

Another area that confuses me is their origin. It looks as if, in Prometheus, they accidentally evolve from some kind of microscopic life form that comes in contact with the Engineers’ fluid. Contrary to this, I’m left with the feeling that they were developed purely as a weapon (which would explain the Weyland Yutani interest).

And where does Covenant fit into all of this?

I suppose this confusion is the problem with extending, what was meant to be a single movie, into a multi-movie franchise.

It makes me wish that Ridley Scott had not bothered with the damned retconning crap of the so called prequels.

 

[paeng]

An earlier draft of the first movie referred to a pyramid instead of a derelict craft, and they likely used the latter due to lack of budget. They probably lacked budget for the latter as well, because they had to use some of the film crew's children for long shots as they couldn't build the Space Jockey set to scale.

Second, they retained the Space Jockey and the derelict craft, which means there's more to the franchise than aliens.

Third, they had a scene featuring Brett and Dallas being turned into eggs, but deleted it to keep the story tight.

These imply that they wanted a story involving ancient civilizations, Space Jockeys, and goo from the start, but lacked the budget and tech for special effects to show them. They managed to show that in part only with the fourth movie, with cloning and DNA, and with better tech and budgets, showed more through the prequels and now Romulus.

 

[svalbard]

Finally watched this tonight. Strangely enough I avoided trailers and reviews. Have to say that I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not exactly original, but it kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat.

 

[KGeo777]

They are releasing it in VHS pan and scan.

Drat.
I was hoping for letterbox.