Spoilers Alien: Romulus (Spoilers)

[Morrus]

We saw this last night.

So... I can't really rank Alien movies, but I can put them in 'tiers':

1. Alien, Aliens
2. Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection
3. Prequels (Prometheus, Covenant)
4. AvP movies

I'd put Romulus in tier 2.

Goes quite high on the gore stakes, probably more so than most Alien movies, and is definitely the 'slasher horror' mode of Aliens (where Alien was more classic horror, Aliens more war horror, this is slasher horror). It starts slow for the first hour, then the second hour is all screaming and running and dying. That said, with only 5 characters there isn't that much dying--and I can only name two of the characters (Rain and Andy).

Last 15 minutes with the human/Engineer/xeno baby was just weird. It didn't work for me. Neither did digital Ian Holm. And Andy using the line 'Get away from her you bitch!' felt forced and out of place. And the whole Alien growth cycle from facecuddle to chestburster to full grown xeno seems to take just minutes now.

That said, it was perfectly serviceable. No Alien film is ever going to be a genius piece like the first two were but I'm happy with a solid movie.

One thing I noticed... Alien movies typically use characters' last names -- Ripley, Hicks, etc. In this one we're very much on first-name terms with all the characters. I don't know that it matters, except that I noticed it.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The last 15 minutes it really felt like they wanted too much. I would have been fine with a bit of alien: redux and sequel bait rather than super-fast alien life cycle here. But the movie does really takes and uses its time well to introduce the world and the characters, set the stakes, and has a few neat character ideas.

Also, maybe have a bit less acid mist to navigate through to actualy make it look plausible but risky, not just plain impossible (when it isn't).

Spoiler: End Plot

The Engineer-Alien thing just seems to grow out of thin air within a few minutes. That really just doesn't feel plausible.
I guess without it however, they just have the basic plot of the original Alien without really adding new "mythology", so I guess they went for this.
I would have probably gone for the risky sequel bait approach which probably a lot of people would also hate, so it's hardly a genius perfect idea.
Have them get back on the ship, maybe some last fight, and the mother looks healthy and good. The mother gets into the cryo-chamber first, Rain tells Andy to do what's good for all of them (I don't know what the exact wording was in English, this time I watched it in German, but I would keep it ambigious whether it means only the two of them, or everyone aboard the ship). And then have her go to cryo-sleep, and then have Andy look at some cryo-scan and have some alienesque feature visible on the baby in the womb.

 

[RangerWickett]

Yeah, the aliens always had a sort of 'violating conservation of energy' element to them. Maybe you can shrug and assume somehow Prometheus goop is supremely more complicated than we can tell, and it actually is able to tap into some sort of extradimensional energy source that allows a biological entity to fuel extremely fast growth. Because even in the first movie, the chestburster grows to the size of a baby in a few . . . hours, maybe? Then a few hours later it's bigger than a man.

(Though I've seen a fan theory that actually the 'adult' alien on the Nostromo actually had been an adult for a long time, having originally burst out of the navigator on the derelict ship on LV-426. After Kane got face-hugged, the adult alien followed the crew back to the Nostromo and somehow managed to crawl inside. Which solves the 'how did it grow so fast' question, but now introduces the 'how did it not starve' question.)

 

[Richards]

Well, if it didn't mind a bit of cannibalism, there were a ton of alien eggs the crew discovered. Maybe your hypothetical LV-426 adult alien had been nibbling on the ones in the back, where they wouldn't be missed, or something....

Johnathan

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Best horror movie I've seen in ages, I actually liked it more then OG aliens.

 

[Clint_L]

As an independent horror film, it's pretty solid. As an Alien film, I pretty much agree with Morrus's assessment. It goes in for shock and gore more like a conventional horror film, rather than the creeping dread of the original or the intensifying action of Aliens. And the twist at the end is silly, IMO, evoking the worst idea of Resurrection.

 

[Argyle King]

I'm still not sure how I feel about it.

It's an okay film, but (as Morris already said) a few things feel forced and out of place.

Also, there are times when people being too stupid took me out of it.

There are a lot of cool ideas and scenes in the movie. Overall, it's enjoyable. But the soul of the film feels a bit empty to me.

 

[Larnievc]

One thing I noticed... Alien movies typically use characters' last names -- Ripley, Hicks, etc. In this one we're very much on first-name terms with all the characters. I don't know that it matters, except that I noticed it.

Isn’t Rain’s first name Marie?

 

[Morrus]

Isn’t Rain’s first name Marie?

No, her first name is Rain.

Her last name is Carradine.

 

[Larnievc]

No, her first name is Rain.

Her last name is Carradine.

I’m sure I saw on a screen of her bio (in the film) that she was looking at in an early scene that she is called Marie Raines Carradine.

But everyone calls her Rain.