Alien: Romulus (2024)

[BAYLOR]

I watched this again with a friend a few weeks ago, who made the point that it picked up after the angry young man is killed. I think this is true: while his character has a reason to be angry and bitter, it's pretty one-note, and he's depicted like some drunk guy outside a London pub trying to start a fight. I understand that the film requires tension, but he ends up taking up "too much of the screen".

It also occurred to me that, where the earlier films were a little bit subtler, Romulus goes full-on with the Freudian stuff. The facehugger seems to be assembled from a snake, spider and various genitals. I wonder if there was originally more in the script about the space station dividing in two, hence the Romulus and Remus discussion early on.

To be honest, while I've got good hopes for the franchise, I really hope that they find a way to write the blue men from Prometheus out of the story: all the Chariots of the Gods stuff doesn't hold up well, and the discovery that the fossilised creature from Alien is just a big bloke is quite a let-down.

They should have left the origins and nature of the derelict a mystery.

 

[Swank]

To be honest, while I've got good hopes for the franchise, I really hope that they find a way to write the blue men from Prometheus out of the story: all the Chariots of the Gods stuff doesn't hold up well, and the discovery that the fossilised creature from Alien is just a big bloke is quite a let-down.

I was just thinking the other day how it would be great to scrap everything but the first film explore the intelligence of a lone alien and its behavior, rather than turning them into battle monsters. The original xenomorph was subtle.

 

[Bugg]

And it was all the more terrifying for it.

 

[Toby Frost]

I was just thinking the other day how it would be great to scrap everything but the first film explore the intelligence of a lone alien and its behavior, rather than turning them into battle monsters. The original xenomorph was subtle.

Yes, I've wondered if the Alien xenomorph was actually intelligent but just young, and might eventually have worked out how to operate the Nostromo. I can see why they were turned into ant/spider monsters, and I think Aliens is an excellent film, but I did prefer the subtle approach. The first film feels much more Lovecraftian than the sequels.

 

[Dave]

I haven't yet got around to watching this. The reviews don't make me want to, and I'm not going to pay additionally to stream it now. I'll see it at some point.

They should have left the origins and nature of the derelict a mystery.

Didn't Prometheus already spoil that? In any case, people have been talking about it [the space jockey] since the film first came out. We've certainly discussed it here on SFF Chronicles for as long as was possible (so that's 2000) and I have a 1990's book that discusses the first four films in depth, and it is mentioned in that.

I was just thinking the other day how it would be great to scrap everything but the first film explore the intelligence of a lone alien and its behavior, rather than turning them into battle monsters. The original xenomorph was subtle.

Yes, I've wondered if the Alien xenomorph was actually intelligent but just young, and might eventually have worked out how to operate the Nostromo. I can see why they were turned into ant/spider monsters, and I think Aliens is an excellent film, but I did prefer the subtle approach. The first film feels much more Lovecraftian than the sequels.

That would have been a much better idea. It was a juvenile. It was only a few hours or days old in its current stage of development, and maybe there was a further metamorphosis, and another adult stage yet to come. Or maybe, as you say, it just needed its young brain to grow a little larger and it could learn to pilot the ship.

In any event, I'm not keen on either "armies of Xenomorphs" idea, or the cross-over with the Predator universe. The original Alien was subtle and clever, and I had imagined that a single Queen Alien had laid all the eggs and then died as part of its natural lifecycle. I'll continue to imagine that whatever this film retcons.

 

[ctg]

I haven't yet got around to watching this. The reviews don't make me want to, and I'm not going to pay additionally to stream it now. I'll see it at some point.

You can always come to watch it in my place Dave.

 

[Toby Frost]

You can always come to watch it in my place Dave.

I read this in the voice of HAL.

In any event, I'm not keen on either "armies of Xenomorphs" idea, or the cross-over with the Predator universe.

Same here. I can see why it would appeal in a Warhammer/Starship Troopers way, but it loses a lot of the mystery. The original Alien was sinister and evil, slightly demonic, not just a creature from another planet. There's a tiny nod to this in Romulus, where someone refers to it being "non-Euclidean" or the like, but it's largely lost.

 

[Foxbat]

Finally saw this. I think a better title would have been
Alien: Regurgitation
Right from the very start, this was simply a rehash of the first four Alien movies. We even have straight lifts of scenes (like the craft reactivating life and status screens reflecting on helmets in the opening shot). We even have regurgitated dialogue (get away from her, you bitch being an example). We have a CGI Ian Holm and Ripley 2.0 with whatshername the young actress. And to paraphrase the first movies, she blew it out the god damn airlock (or variation of).

It wasn’t a bad movie and was competently shot and directed but it was distinctly lacking any real imagination. I’ve seen a lot worse but I have to admit, there were a lot of moments watching it where I said ‘Oh, for f*** sake!’

I fail to see the reason for this movie. If it was to attract a new, younger audience to the franchise, I think it hasn’t done its job. Not because it isn’t good enough. If it stood alone at the genesis of a franchise, I think it would be in a better position but it’s like comparing Coca Cola to some cheaper, less well known brand. The original movie has stood the test of time and has cemented itself in SF movie history. It doesn’t need a younger sibling full of pesky kids to maintain its immortality. For me, this was Scooby Doo in space (with a bit more gore and mucus).

One thing this movie has convinced me of is that if the franchise looks for longevity, I think it should look to becoming a TV series - possibly like Stargate with Space Marines investigating xenomorph threats on different worlds with perhaps a slowly unfolding long-term story arc of origins.