Alien: Romulus
“There’s something in the f***ing water” - Bjorn
After watching 6 movies this summer to prepare for this film, the time has finally come. A franchise I knew nothing about but has grown to be one of my favorite series had a lot to live up to with Romulus. I will say, I went in with anxiety and left with a big smile on my face! It opened us to a world that we haven’t seen often in Alien by being on a planet. Sadly, we didn’t get enough of it in my opinion, but it was interesting to see how dark the world is looking and can help explain motivations from past movies. Along those lines, it was one of my favorite parts of the movie. I think this movie was extremely cinematic in the best ways. The ships looked great, the practical effects mixed perfectly with CGI, and I think it was the best looking movie in the franchise.
Beyond that, in a seventh movie it is pretty hard to have a unique but connected story, but I think Romulus does a nice job. Now, its biggest complaints are that the fan services are too much and I have to agree that it is a little much. Each act had parallels to past movies, and some were so close it was somewhat cringey. If you haven't watched all 6 other movies recently, it most likely wasn't that big a deal, but it did hurt its score to me. Overall, I won't be writing a review for each movie, but I will leave you with the rankings I have for each movie:
Aliens
Alien
Alien: Romulus
Prometheus
Alien3
Alien: Covenant
….
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Alien: Resurrection
-J
Romulus plays a lot of fan service and is way too formulaic to be a truly great movie, but for an Alien movie, it’s very fun, and much higher quality than I imagined. With the exception of one “bully” character that didn’t come off as genuine, the acting and dialogue is actually great. Fede Alvarez had a couple strokes of genius - the opening scenes of the bleak mining station, the “Jurassic Park” vibes capturing of an unknown object from the Nostromo wreckage, and the whole collision course with an asteroid belt sequence. This a B-level popcorn flick, a good horror movie, and a great Alien movie, and would highly recommend it if you’re at all a fan of the franchise.
-Z
