Aliens - Romulus: Takes small step in the right direction

[Cos]

The original Aliens was one of the first horror/science fiction moves that did got me hooked on the Genre, as it did a masterful job in building suspense. Aliens 2 brought it up a notch, then it was all downhill after. Aliens Romulus, while not perfect, takes a step in the right direction with a decent story, and good cast performances and paying a bit of homoage the originals. It was shot like they did in the first two and did a solid job in building suspense. B- Movie that kept me entertained. FYI, NO Aftercredits

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I’ll be watching Alien Romulus for sure. As I have watched every Alien movie (including Alien vs Predator movies).

My 1st Alien movie was James Cameron’s Aliens. Then after I saw that I went back to watch the original Alien movie.

My favorite Alien movie is Alien Resurrection. I think it is a fun and cool movie.

I also love Alien 3.

But I like every single Alien movie so far.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Where does this fit in the timeline or does it.

 

[j_garcia]

It is not just homage, it has throwbacks from almost EVERY movie in the franchise. It almost overdid it, but just seeing some of those references was fun. The way in which they brought the Alien element into this storyline was nicely done. I enjoyed it a lot. The director, Fede Alvarez, says he prefers to maintain an honesty to the original material, and I'd say he did that well. It more or less mimics the original's plot with some creative updates.

This is a standalone film that does not impact the stories of the others (at least not in this film), but slots between Alien and Aliens, so it uses tech from that era.

It also had some of the best Atmos I've heard in the theater.

 

[j_garcia]

I was reading a review of this film and it mentioned something that I never really connected in all these years. Though I understand "The Company" was always one of the antagonists, I never thought of it in the way that BOTH the Alien species AND the company have the same goal: subjugate humanity to the point of being a disposable resource.

 

[davidscott]

Where does this fit in the timeline or does it.

It fits somewhere between Alien and Aliens from what I can gather.

 

[j_garcia]

Prometheus: 2093
Covenant: 2104
Alien: 2122.
Romulus: 2142.
Aliens: 2179, and Alien 3 taking place right after that.
Alien: Resurrection: 2379

Interestingly, AVP and AVPR are before Alien.

The one BIG cameo/reference to Alien was pretty unexpected and cool.

*Edit - my daughter looked it up (She went with to watch Romulus). It seems Alien: Earth, the new series, is the lead up to Alien; presumably something to do with Weyland Yutani and the Nostromo.

 

[Mr._Clark]

A writer for the NYT rated the Alien movies. Her ratings:

1979 ‘Alien’

1986 ‘Aliens’

1992 ‘Alien 3’

1997 ‘Alien Resurrection’

2012 ‘Prometheus’

2017 ‘Alien: Covenant’

2024 ‘Alien: Romulus’

All the ‘Alien’ Movies, Ranked

With “Alien: Romulus” hitting theaters, the 45-year-old series is getting a new jolt of life. How does the latest film stack up against its predecessors?

www.nytimes.com

The reviewer states that her rankings are based on the following "on a scale of one (not too spooky) to (terrifying)" but when I read the reviews I'm under the impression that more little alien ["happy"] heads means "better" not "more terrifying."

Personally I would give Prometheus and Covenant better ratings (assuming the number of little alien heads actually signifies "good" not "scary"). I may be biased because I like Ridley Scott. Having said that, she has a point about the characters making idiotic decisions.

If nothing else, this is making me want to binge watch all of them in sequence this weekend. The only question is if it's best to watch them based on the theater release sequence, or the story line sequence. I'll admit that I found Prometheus confusing at first because I didn't realize it was chronologically the first movie in the storyline sequence.

Edit: I replaced the alien heads with "happy" faces because the alien heads didn't copy.

 

[j_garcia]

A writer for the NYT rated the Alien movies. Her ratings:

1979 ‘Alien’

1986 ‘Aliens’

1992 ‘Alien 3’

1997 ‘Alien Resurrection’

2012 ‘Prometheus’

2017 ‘Alien: Covenant’

2024 ‘Alien: Romulus’

All the ‘Alien’ Movies, Ranked

With “Alien: Romulus” hitting theaters, the 45-year-old series is getting a new jolt of life. How does the latest film stack up against its predecessors?

www.nytimes.com

The reviewer states that her rankings are based on the following "on a scale of one (not too spooky) to (terrifying)" but when I read the reviews I'm under the impression that more little alien heads means "better" not "more terrifying."

Personally I would give Prometheus and Covenant better ratings (assuming the number of little alien heads actually signifies "good" not "scary"). I may be biased because I like Ridley Scott. Having said that, she has a point about the characters making idiotic decisions.

If nothing else, this is making me want to binge watch all of them in sequence this weekend. The only question is if it's best to watch them based on the theater release sequence, or the story line sequence. I'll admit that I found Prometheus confusing at first because I didn't realize it was chronologically the first movie in the storyline sequence.

The ranking by a horror mag had them much different. Resurrection was last, which I agree with, even though I liked it. This sort of mirrors mine, though I would put 3 above Romulus. They had it:
1) Alien
2) Aliens
3) Romulus
4) Alien 3
5) Prometheus
6) Covenant
7) Resurrection.

 

[davidscott]

The ranking by a horror mag had them much different. Resurrection was last, which I agree with, even though I liked it. This sort of mirrors mine, though I would put 3 above Romulus. They had it:
1) Alien
2) Aliens
3) Romulus
4) Alien 3
5) Prometheus
6) Covenant
7) Resurrection.

I like that list with an exception. Alien 3 should drop to 6th place. And I might rate Alien and Aliens in a dead heat.

 

[j_garcia]

I like that list with an exception. Alien 3 should drop to 6th place. And I might rate Alien and Aliens in a dead heat.

We re-watched 3 the other day. Fincher does a better job at crafting a film and creating tension, but there were still some minor issues with it. For some reason, 3 seemed to suffer from a lower budget and used more digital than practical, which hurt it. Romulus has issues too, but I liked it. While I liked Prometheus and Covenant with David and the Engineers, I thought they were a bit more convoluted story-wise, with Prometheus being better than Covenant.

Alien and Aliens, I kind of agree, but they are almost two different genres. Alien is straight up horror, while Aliens is action-horror. Both being at the top of their game.

 

[jinjuku]

I appreciated that Alien Romulus was paying homage to the first Alien movie so for that it slots in at # 3 for me.

What I'm not a particular fan of is this genetic hybridization. It was never hinted at in the first two movies and seems as a cheesy way to get plot extension and more movies out of it. Now AvP was a genius idea that has always seemed to lack execution that matches.

 

[davidscott]

We re-watched 3 the other day. Fincher does a better job at crafting a film and creating tension, but there were still some minor issues with it. For some reason, 3 seemed to suffer from a lower budget and used more digital than practical, which hurt it. Romulus has issues too, but I liked it. While I liked Prometheus and Covenant with David and the Engineers, I thought they were a bit more convoluted story-wise, with Prometheus being better than Covenant.

Alien and Aliens, I kind of agree, but they are almost two different genres. Alien is straight up horror, while Aliens is action-horror. Both being at the top of their game.

Yep. Alien was a great flick, and Aliens was one of the few flicks that at least equaled the original.

 

[j_garcia]

I appreciated that Alien Romulus was paying homage to the first Alien movie so for that it slots in at # 3 for me.

What I'm not a particular fan of is this genetic hybridization. It was never hinted at in the first two movies and seems as a cheesy way to get plot extension and more movies out of it. Now AvP was a genius idea that has always seemed to lack execution that matches.

It wasn't hinted at in the first two because all the hosts were human so the resulting Aliens were pretty much the same. 3 was the one that showed the hybridization, then Prometheus and Covenant on why.

 

[jinjuku]

It wasn't hinted at in the first two because all the hosts were human so the resulting Aliens were pretty much the same. 3 was the one that showed the hybridization, then Prometheus and Covenant on why.

They implant a fertilized egg/embryio that gestates and hatches though. In the AvP movie is where we see this variance first.

It's all good since it's most likely bouncing around in Scotts head all this time. I think we have fantastic movies in the first two and I'm ok with Romulus. The rest of it though is not something get the hankering to watch.

 

[j_garcia]

Alien 3, the alien is a Rottweiler hybrid in 1992. AVP is 2004, even though the events occur before Alien.

 

[jinjuku]

Alien 3, the alien is a Rottweiler hybrid in 1992. AVP is 2004, even though the events occur before Alien.

Alien 3 I probably blocked from memory it was that bad.

 

[davidscott]

Alien 3 I probably blocked from memory it was that bad.

3 and 4 were both terrible.

 

[Trebdp83]

What’s a summer vacation without a trip to the drive-in? I was not expecting much from the movie after seeing the trailers and ended up really liking it. I also loved the familiar face that showed up. It was cool to see the dated future tech in the movie at a very dated and nearly gone for good type of venue. Sound was surprisingly good through the car’s radio in Surround mode and it was a really good time. I haven’t been purchasing movie discs for some time but will definitely pick this one up.

 

[davidscott]

What’s a summer vacation without a trip to the drive-in? I was not expecting much from the movie after seeing the trailers and ended up really liking it. I also loved the familiar face that showed up. It was cool to see the dated future tech in the movie at a very dated and nearly gone for good type of venue. Sound was surprisingly good through the car’s radio in Surround mode and it was a really good time. I haven’t been purchasing movie discs for some time but will definitely pick this one up.

What's a drive-in? Haven't seen one in decades.