Alien: Romulus (2024)

Alien: Romulus (2024). 1h 59m | R

“Well, no, not horrible in a bad way anyway. To a point that is.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;ll admit to having a few reservations going into Alien Romulus. They were quite simple really; firstly the trailer showed a cast that was very young for some reason and that felt, based on very little info, a little manufactured.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSecondly itu0026#39;s the first Alien franchise film since Disney bought Fox and lets face it the House of Mouse hasnu0026#39;t had a great track record with existing franchises. Seems that Mickey and Donald seem less interested in study and bringing back and more interested in wiping them franchises out…nLastly there were a few elements that I recognised immediately as concepts or story line devices from the other films… I am proud to be a connoisseur of this franchise so it is very hard to make a call-back subtle enough for me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDespite these I was always going to see it in theatres despite having a bad feeling about this drop. Not just because its an Alien film but also because Fede Alvares has made some good films and I thought it might be safe in his and Ridley Scottu0026#39;s hands.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo. The good news. Romulus looks great. A great deal of effort has gone into the sets, the effects both practical and CGI look (mostly) very good. The opening has a real Blade Runner feel and one gets real moments where its as if Ridley Scottu0026#39;s presence is behind the frames as you watch them. The sound and lighting were excellent. The feel of the film was desperate, claustrophobic, scary and tangibly gritty. Nice.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe cast does a commendable job. No weak links as such though it is hard for the cast to really jump out at you as individuals. David Jonsson is the highlight for me; as the synthetic… I mean artificial person… he owns every scene he is in bringing just enough of Bishop and Ash to the story while also having some really unique and different characteristics.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are a few scenes that are very respectful of Gigeru0026#39;s original creature design and Iu0026#39;ll give props to Alvarez and his production design for effort made. The writers too have added some nice world building to give us a wider bigger scope of humanities presence among different worlds without going full Carl Sagan and tending towards a more realistic capitalism in space isnu0026#39;t really much different than capitalism in 2024 for good or ill feel. Anyone else for a lifetime of indentured servitude to Weyland Yutani corporation? I thought not but fun to see as a fiction. It will remind to question which species is worse….nRomulus also forges its own path in the genre. Is it science fiction horror, or science fiction action, or is it science fiction philosophy… Is it a stand up fight like Aliens or a bug hunt like Alien? Its more Aliens than Alien but with a Promethius slant that lacks the philosophical high brow writing and is more just in the creature designs and story devices. So solid, near full marks for taking a different course.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNow the bad news.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRomulus takes the existing lore and builds on it. Some of that building is… er, shall we say… off. Some is good – new elements founded on the original Alien and Aliens movies, and the Promethius ones too had me going. u0026#39;Eh??u0026#39; And then… u0026#39;well alright that was pretty interesting.u0026#39; But then there were ones that werenu0026#39;t so good. Not so good at all. I want this review to be pretty spoiler free so I wont give it a detailed analysis blow by blow but you will see what I mean. There was definitely stuff that I didnu0026#39;t like.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt times, not the whole time, Romulus felt like a soft reboot. There were many call backs to the other films and some of them so unsubtle as to feel like Kathleen Kennedy had impregnated the writers with a quota. (My mommy always said there were no monsters, no real ones, but there are and Kennedy is one.) They were way too blatant for me. Some were fine nuanced enough to get past anyone but the most discerning franchise devotee but others almost had me say u0026#39;urghu0026#39; out loud.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLike a lot of writing these days film did feel a little rushed at times – the creatures life cycle especially felt faster in this film than any of the others. There was no time taken to establish that the what was formerly a u0026#39;weird little critteru0026#39; has now with time become a u0026#39;deadly big critter.u0026#39; The same goes with the creature gestating inside a living human host only to have that gestation period be about ten minutes. Yikes! Why hang the hosts in the nest at all? Seems a lot of Xenomorph effort to me, why not just hold them down if its measured in just minutes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo is Romulus worth it? Yes it is. If you like this franchise you will like this film. Like me you will have your criticisms but you should see it on the big screen as they mostly come out only so now and then. Mostly.”