Alien: Romulus director on practical effects & Ridley Scott's approval

[@Floridiots]

I saw Alien:Romulus Thursday afternoon. Absolutely loved it!!! Fede Alvarez is fast tracking to be one of my favorite directors!!!

[@mjbee]

This interviewer is really good. He asked very deep, insightful questions.

[@Nicholas_Chen_]

Fede Avarez is really passionate about the franchise and the old school filmmaking, all practical, in the veins of Alien, Aliens, Jurassic Park etc. Also with a great sense of humor, seems like a super chill dude.

[@robertjamesonmusic]

@@Nicholas_Chen_ lol almost nothing in the film looked like practical effects

[@stephenjames4098]

All practical like Jurassic Park…

[@EnrysonFerraz]

Of course the facehugger scene is made 100% pratical! stuck as on ASH face on the robot.. LOL Film makers NEED TO STOP! Yes Fede Avarez use a lot of practical effects! But he did a TON of CGI! Even JURASSIC PARK 1 fro the 90s use a LOT OF CGI! The movie uses a lot of "pratical" companies like the guys from "industrial light and magic" "Track VFX" "Atomic Arts" "Logan" and a couple more. THE MOVIE IS GREAT! because of the story telling! practical effects and CGI are just a TOOL! The industry need to stop this madness of "NO CGI"! The public DO NOT CARE if he uses PUPPETS or CGI! So do not LIE TO THEM! Ridley Scott use a LOT of CGI on Prometheus, and he dint misled the public! yes, the movie has bee shoot on real locations, but he use a lot of cgi to! Just look on the trailer man! facehugger scene, the way they broke the glass and pursuit the characters, THIS IS CGI! 100%!!! And the movie has a lot of shots like that! JUST STOP SAYING THIS BS! He use a lot of CGI! and the movie is great! DUNE uses a LOT of CGI and the movie is great! This is a missing opportunity to give the correct praise to the VFX artists that worked on the movie. You are immersive on the story, so you do not see the CGI. But they use.

[@zbigniewiksinski]

"Fede Avarez is really passionate about the franchise and the old school filmmaking, all practical, in the veins of Alien, Aliens," and movie is still totally medicore crap

[@CF-uh2xl]

Ironically, (my recollection is that) Jurassic Park marketing trumpeted the CG work so much that you might well have thought it was all CG. Ditto Terminator 2. But then likely unrealisable without CG and, at the time, very novel. So much so that you could easily overlook the fact that the CG didn't match the practical, or particularly for T-1000 maybe that should be vice-versa... but it's very obvious watching a digital copy today.

[@AlexLawngtv]

Watching this made me feel like i was watching something out of time. The practical effects deserve an award this season alone. But i think the story was good for the needs of the characters. I want to go see it again.

[@brettengland192]

I have been an Alien fan since seeing the first film on HBO. I was in 7th grade. My parents wouldn't take me to see it in the theater because it was Rated R. Classmates were lucky enough to see it and they raved about it's majesty. Watching it on a 27" TV screen was an amazing experience. I can't imagine how amazing it would've been to see that film on a huge screen. I've since seen "Alien" on the big screen numerous times and it's always a thrill. I've seen every subsequent film in the franchise since. I've liked or loved them all to various degrees, however, not since "Aliens" have I been as thrilled as I was seeing "Alien: Romulus" for the first time. "Alien" and "Aliens" are a hard act to follow, but Romulus is neck and neck with those two films.

[@b.pack3]

Praises to Fede for being the FRONT AND CENTER of the marketing for this movie, you can tell he loves what he's made and his part in this universe.

[@knownpleasures]

Brilliant interview with a talented director. “Fear is the enemy of creativity “. That’s probably his motto when he goes to work.

[@jzh8499]

Fear is the mind killer. 🙃

[@youareverywhere]

Thank you Fede for your contribution and deep care to the Alien franchise. You've inspired me to keep doing what I love simply for my love of it.

[@bocajo111]

i feel so inspried after watching this. what a great interview.

[@ABPBANKS]

THIS MOVIE WILL ONLY GET BIGGER AND BIGGER AS TIMES GOES ON, A REAL MASTERPIECE ON EVERY LEVEL POSSIBLE 👌👌👌👌👌👌🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@CM-xn7cm]

Great interview. Never heard of Fede before Romulus, at least I wasn’t familiar. Really loved Romulus. Love it even more hearing the passion Fede had and sounds like he went back old school.

[@kyleboutilier6005]

Fede Alvarez hope you see this. We loved it. Can’t wait for the sequel. Great film

[@Doomlaser]

You did a killer job, Fede Alvaraz. Please direct whatever else you want, and I will go see it.

[@dungeonboy3270]

Awesome interview, Alien: Romulus is now my 3rd favorite Alien after the first two

[@soeasy9863]

Fede Alverez should direct Alien Isolation. Blast !

[@commandZee]

Fede Álvarez's dating and falling in love metaphor about movies is spot on. "Because it happened once, you're always chasing that experience."

[@billybobtexas]

Fantastic interview! To be heartbroken by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers! Heh wow to hear what he said about the effects crew *big smiles* Saw the movie lastnight and loved it. More please. 😅

[@larsklevberg1127]

Great and inspiring interview.

[@marcux83]

Alvarez nailed it with this movie 🎉

[@robertjamesonmusic]

No he didn’t lol

[@ChannelZero1031]

This has to be officially the only film you have ever seen. It bombed so badly.

[@marcux83]

@@ChannelZero1031 no I've seen alien/s 1-4, prom + covenant. and I'd include it in the Alien 1 and Aliens 2 saga.. not much love for the prom prequel. and 3 & 4 suck balls Oh well haters gonna hate I guess 😎

[@ChannelZero1031]

@@marcux83 It is what it is 🤷‍

[@InstruMentalCase]

It looked great (aside from the terrible CGI deep fake), but it had generic characters, eye rolling callbacks, and it basically felt like a theme park ride instead of a legitimate film.

[@TukkyHD]

amazing work. do more

[@AngelSantiago247]

i love this guy's vision and excited for future films.

[@ericgen5022]

Just back from the theater. Very entertaining. Lots of fun scares. Ties in Prometheus and the world building that movie expanded on. A couple / too many fan service moments (that weren’t needed IMO). The actor who played the Andy character was superb. A solid entry in the series. Glad I saw it in the theater. Will buy it on iTunes when it’s available. Grade: B+/A.

[@ChannelZero1031]

Take that bait, honey! Munch!

[@ericgen5022]

@@ChannelZero1031 what? 🤷‍♂️

[@Hessianoct]

After years of terrible Marvel movies filled with bad fan service, I didn't mind it that much in Romulus.

[@LoneHorizons]

@@Hessianoctyeah it didn’t ruin the film for me though it was distracting.

[@MasthaX]

Just gave me some good nostalgia chuckles but I don't think that's bad. Viewers who have never seen Alien (or any other film in the franchise) wouldn't even catch up on them.

[@MasthaX]

In my opinion Fede Avarez (+crew) added a truly worthy piece to the Alien franchise, loved every minute of it.

[@osmia]

I certainly enjoyed the scope of this interview. It seemed like he was really easy to draw out. Would have been cool to see a cut to the the original versus now photos

[@davidr1620]

Saw it last night. Really enjoyed it. Solid film.

[@Andrew-Antioch-Kim]

People and critics bash "The Girl In The Spider's Web" but each time I view it, I still thoroughly enjoy it!

[@benjaminnappez6084]

Fully agree, great underrated movie. I've watched it multiple times since it released because of the direction, editing, acting, etc. Only a few movies achieve this.

[@codphilosophy]

the bash it because they are fincher fanboys

[@SaberRexZealot]

@@codphilosophy or, ooooorrrr, it’s because we wanted a continuation of that story that the books by the original author did. Jumping from book 1 to 4 was an insane choice.

[@codphilosophy]

@@SaberRexZealot Those films were already made. You just wanted it directed by Fincher.

[@tennisCharlzz]

If I were just listening to Alvarez, I wouldn't know he was from Uruguay. I'd think he was a native either American or Canadian speaker. When you hear Guillermo del Toro talk, you know he's not native to the US. It's kind of impressive, really.

[@CF-uh2xl]

Can't remember the details (and Google search isn't helping!) but he spent some time in Europe, which no doubt helped. (And clearly spent his youth incessantly watching Hollywood movies.) I wouldn't say he sounds "native" and very occasionally his grammar is off, but certainly he is extremely fluent and far more articulate than many "natives."

[@geimo]

Uruguay nomá! ^^

[@michaelmack-jw3rl]

Thank u fede for saving the alien franchise an thank u for making this the best alien movie In a long time i really loved it

[@tonwisniewski]

So much praise for the practical effects on the aliens, but why the CGI on the android, that could very well be done with a look-a-like actor, combined with good make-up?

[@ivoferin8176]

This guy is great... Another South American director shaping cinema for the coming years.

[@darkworx-films]

Sick of the whole discussion about CG vs practical. Both have their strengths!

[@acapedit]

He did a great job. It's as good an Alien movie as can be made in this corporate Disney age.

[@arashtadjiki]

cant wait to see Romulus

[@Wha162]

Great movie, catch it on a big screen!

[@orest323]

this guy is for real

[@dovesofwar1777]

Fede needs another original horror film for his next movie!

[@stefanlennartsson9860]

I find the interviewer a little assertive at times. Like a hard "Why?", "Why this?", "Why that?" in the middle of Alvarez' sentence. Like come on, calm down a little. Otherwise great interesting interview.

[@MrMisuma]

There is a certain character in the movie, I wish they used some sort of animatronic instead of CGI. If I had to choose, I would rather have a bad animatronic than bad cgi. Imo.

[@thetekkween3082]

I would love for him to take Isolation and do something with that. I think he did something great here

[@Poepopdestoep]

@@vfx.360 Well, it's still a very good game. The more people play it the more people realise that it is the true 3rd film :)

[@tyleradams3490]

This guy with the “artist’s spirit” and the comparing it to AI and “proud to use practical effects, that these came from humans” DUDE… CGI is made by humans. Artists. Learn your stuff…it’s insulting and you’re giving a false impression to the audience… and even Fede is trying to defend CGI a bit after some of these talking points you’re leading him with.

[@JATJAT330]

Alien: Romulus is an absolute masterpiece and in my view one of the strongest entries of the entire franchise. Stunning from start to finish!

[@challenger516]

Let this guy direct the next Predator movie.

[@Max-bu5ky]

I’m a VFX artist and man it’s just painful watching this I’ll give some credit to Fede he brings some light not a lot but some to the VFX of the film. The film has like roughly 7 VFX studios working on it and Star Wars the Phantom Menace only had 1. Unfortunately there’s this false narrative that it’s only practical effects and limited CGI. But if you work in the industry and worked on projects like this you’ll know that’s total bs. CGI which the term alone I hate as it suggests that the computer generated the image rather than what actually happens is providing tools like a sculptor artist need tools is an art form. You need the same skill of lighting a scene on set as you do through lighting a scene in a software like Maya.

[@pixelpusher91]

I was about to write down the very same thoughts. Anyone who sat through the end credits saw the hundreds of talented VFX artist from ILM, WETA, Fin Design, atomic Arts and so on and so forth. I am pretty sure they wanted to do the android practically and they failed miserably. Deepfaking it was the last resort and VFX yet again saved the day with their limited time and budget. Both practical and VFX has their own strength. I am also pretty sure the practical xenomorphs had no tails on set (VFX had to augment the costume, they had to clean up the practical facehuggers at the very least and/or replace them completely. Bashing VFX is only reasonable for the marketing guys because the audience knows jackshit about how and when the VFX is done. Therefore they can sell the evil idea to them that the reason a movie flops nowadays is because of the bad VFX. What a stupid idea for the stupid people! If only you would see half of what we the VFX artists had seen!

[@LoneHorizons]

@@pixelpusher91it’s the same with Christopher Nolan films. He’s got a reputation for “not using CGI” but I worked with VFX artists who did hundreds of shots for Inception. Then just recently you have Tom Cruise saying there are no CG planes in the Top Gun sequel, but the VFX studios that made them obviously show their work on their websites etc. Meanwhile here in London there are lots of VFX studios where 3D artists and compositors regularly pull all nighters to get these blockbusters finished on time.

[@CF-uh2xl]

I admit to being surprised at the end of the movie at the number of CG credits. There does seem to be a marketing aspect to this. That said, if speaking to a general audience, I am not sure how you explain the choice to have a higher percentage of practical work and full set builds than you might have. The easiest way I can think to explain it is that it's like Photoshop. Lots of layers, compositing and adjustments. I think most people would be astonished, with some of today's movies, at how much of what they're seeing is not "in-camera," or "strictly in camera" (e.g., environmental FX.) It really shows just how good most of it is. Going unnoticed as well as high expectations are the problem... because when ends up in "uncanny valley," or "lazy" use of "canned" FX, or the physics aren't right... it gets noticed and CG per se gets the blame. Whereas in older titles we simply expect such things as dodgy composite shots with a miniature spacecraft. Or the worst is hidden with quick cuts, haze and low lighting. Cameron said of Aliens that if they'd shown another frame of some of the shots, it would have sucked. Even if not literally true, you get the point he was making.

[@Largentina.]

I can't believe he also didn't talk about all the caterers on this film either!!! So many lunches made for the cast and crew and Fede didn't bring them up ONCE.

[@MasthaX]

I've never understood the whole practical vs cgi battle some people seem to want to fight. What I care about as a viewer is that the scenes look coherent and not (too much) out of touch. If I go see a Pixar film, as a viewer I know it's all going to be CG, no problem there. But if I go see a (mostly) live acted movie and some CG things look off or not belonging there it will just throw you off and it will break the scene in my opinion so other than that I personally don't really care what techniques are being used, as long as it looks good. Take it like this; how many people are actually interested in what kind of paint an artist has used to make his piece?

[@tomgun8146]

I would love to hear Fede and Guillermo del toro have a conversation on monsters on film.

[@jazzman7320]

This happened 10 months ago, enjoy!

[@tomgun8146]

@jazzman7320 I saw it after I made comment lol

[@jazzman7320]

@@tomgun8146 epic, eh? 😁

[@lowbudgetmic]

Practical effects! O;

[@jettxjordan]

Incredible, Ye strikes again.

[@christianthane1482]

Mind blown lmao

[@TheGoldenDonuttt]

Love the “Alien” franchise . Love Tom Power ! Cannot wait to watch the movie!

[@nickm8425]

Interesting, according to this interview the whole ending was Alvarez’ fault as his draft was what was on final screen. I thought for sure that the 5th Act was Ridleys prometheus meddling.

[@Poepopdestoep]

It must be (ridley) right? He produced it, so he had a lot of input i would think.

[@kamandi1362]

Interesting guy and I enjoyed Romulus up until the fourth act which was silly and superfluous. I’d still highly recommend seeing this theatrically, though. But it’s a shame his commitment to film making doesn’t extend to shooting on actual film. The 4K cinematography looks great in Dolby Vision but still doesn’t have that filmic feel. I saw Twisters on the same screen earlier this summer and that looked phenomenal.

[@hoover728]

I love celluloid as much as the next cinephile but also remind myself that Police Academy 4 was shot on 35mm and Blade Runner 2049 was digital.

[@camillaskovbjergandreasen7408]

It makes total sense that he would approve of this movie when he is the one who directed Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. 🤣 Why would anyone care about what he had to say after that? Because this movie takes place between Alien and Aliens, I had hoped they would have thought about how this movie would fit with Aliens. But in this movie they made it so that Weyland Yutani knew about what happened in Alien. How can that be when in Aliens, they only found out about it after Ripley told them? The people who made this movie just had to cram it in where it didn't belong, and now Aliens no longer fits with Alien. That means Aliens didn't even need to happen. I don't get how anyone can say they honestly like the first two movies and this one.

[@tyleradams3490]

Imagine it’s not a tennis ball but instead an actor doing the creatures actions and emoting to the hero actor… and then that creature performer is painted out and his digital creature performance is rendered in his place. Now imagine an animatronic that is wonky and has to be shot just right to not give away how rigid and dead and robotic it looks while the actor tries to react to this technical process of getting the creature to move right and not wiggle that way and what not… tell me which the actor is gonna give a better performance to? Is it definitely the puppet or might it be the actor in a proxy costume or in grey and snarling and grabbing them? We don’t use a 🎾…

[@heilong79]

That moment he talks about that got a cheer on the new movie sucked so hard. It was everyones complaint and it did not belong in the film at all. Many of us in the audience growned when the line was said. I liked it but for sure he over indulged.

[@DanCThorpe]

I bet Ridley forced him to add the Prometheus stuff.

[@grayhourproductions]

I commend him on his commitment to making the film look and feel the way it did really exceptional. I enjoyed it very much until the last quarter of the movie. But between the reused dialogue and that cliche end with the awful creature reveal really hurt the movie. Bad.

[@Poepopdestoep]

First part of the movie was directed by a human, the second part was directed by an AI. It was worse than most of the fan films i've seen.

[@DoomSplitta]

This dudes argument against CGI and the band analogy is so spot on. Alvarez is the future. God Speed.

[@nikita_kozlov]

First off I’d like to say I loved the movie. However, Im really tired of people pretending that their movies aren’t filled with cgi and that somehow makes them more special. At one point the interviewer equated cgi with AI, as in not being made by humans. There are huge amounts of talented cgi artists making most movies come to life. Also as we have seen in “no cgi” films like top gun, practical effects often get used as reference for cgi artists. Show some love for the digital artists.

[@CarloLicheri-s7q]

I wanted to like it so badly but it’s a no from me. 😢

[@alcoholicgoat]

What about deepfake Ian Holm?

[@youshallnotpass2140]

He forgot to mention the CGI for Rook. Lol

[@MasthaX]

They are discussing the movie broadly without revealing any plots.

[@FirstnameLastname-my7bz]

24:03 Kayne West helped him get famous? Wow.

[@joelhartley5108]

Might had been a decent film if Ridley Scott got out of the way. Saw it today and what a mess!

[@codexnecro]

13:10 unfortunately that was the weakest part of the movie.

[@michaelkunt]

Asking ridley scotts approval on an alien movie is like asking for fresh and fits approval on sex positioning

[@waheex]

the floor fell out of the movie with the ash hash. I take it this was studio interference as it was sooo bad

[@davidcunningham9282]

After seeing this last night, the practical effects were meaningless given how utterly awful the movie was. Not to mention them being completely offset by the affront of cgi Ian Holme

[@DanIel-fl1vc]

I only saw the start of Alien Romulus, then stopped. It looks good, but there are two massive flaws with it. 1. A female protagonist has to either be mother/maiden. You can't have her be a man in a woman's body. The reason Ripley worked is because she was a motherly influence on every single male character in the entire series. This is not true here, so it seems like an act. You don't like her and it's not believable. I got the impression she's similar to Rey from Star Wars, just a stuck up wanna be man. 2. Maybe they're not teens but they talk and act like teens, yet somehow they're able to hijack and fly a ship. About as believable as a group of 16 year olds today hijacking a passenger airplane in real life. I don't believe it and it's stupid. The earlier alien movies were rooted in realism, bureaucracies, adults quarreling and talking about scenarios they've agreed upon when X thing happens. This is important, you can't just throw reality out the window. Especially when it comes to sci fi and fantasy, since those genres are so unbelievable to begin with. It's also hard to ignore the race quota, better to hire people that act well instead of cramming every single ethnicity into a movie for representation. None of the acting was very memorable from what I saw. Looked like random people off the street that lean left on every political issue. Needed a masculine presence in there. That's another point, Ripley's motherly presence was contrasted with masculinity. That tension is great, especially prevalent in Alien 3 when she's surrounded by prisoners all lusting over her. That's what it's really about, the bug is just a plot device to get people riled up.

[@marekpiechowicz9010]

Hn No

[@arncj18]

2nd part of movie was cringe

[@rosumparat]

He focused on visuals and forgot to write a good story.

[@Travis_22]

Romulus was trash. Alien Resurrection was better imo.

[@IvanTrejofilms]

Radiohead LOL

[@ThePandacub69]

Scott approval??? Scott needs to retire

[@zbigniewiksinski]

fede, why did u exactly pitch - poor fan service, emo crybaby android, teens with zero charisma in space, copying ending from 4th alien movie?

[@morpheus20220]

Alien: Romulus A garbage and lame alien movie by a very bad filmmaker, and why Scoot did this?!!!

[@jamiesalmonsculpture8599]

Enough with the over hyping already! It's in no way a great movie. It's a good movie. But has way too many silly pointless call- backs to Alien and Aliens. The KZbin hype wagon in full swing😅 He has the nerve to say it has some of best CGI ever....except for the obvious terrible CGI 😅😅😅& Interviewers with no clue about how films and practical fx are really done

[@michaelfielding6666]

Just give this guy and the director of prey the AvP franchise.

[@LoneHorizons]

It’s impossible to make a good AvP film. It’s just a bad idea.

[@raisingbarssince1978]

what a bad story jesus christ leave the alien franchise alone

[@emosam07]

Damn too bad you had some glaringly bag cgi to counteract the heat practical effects (which didn't get enough coverage) 😅😅 Great fun movie though lol

[@joejoyce8031]

People have been dogging on cgi since 1999 and earlier… it’s not a new thing that people complained about cgi and want practical. It’s not a new thing

[@joshuaselvig6832]

Practical effects along with CGI > Straight CGI

[@teletranoats7491]

I'm so disappointed! I'm not saying the movie is bad-it's just okay. While watching Alien Romulus in theaters (NOT IN IMAX, THANK GOD), I found myself having flashbacks to the early '80s when slasher movies were gaining momentum. A group of rebellious kids decides to pack up and go on a ride, seeking the marvels of life and freedom. They find a lake, a creepy cabin in the woods, or end up encountering a bunch of sick hillbillies with a chainsaw, leading to chaos. Alien Romulus feels like what Ridley Scott had always wanted: A Texas Chainsaw Massacre in space. He's mentioned that many times, and after five decades, he’s finally fulfilled his dream. But here's the problem: Ridley Scott's days at the helm of the Alien franchise are over. As long as he's making the decisions, Alien will never boldly go where others have never gone before. My main issue with Romulus is that it doesn’t present anything new. There are no variations whatsoever. The retro-futuristic aesthetic is there, attempting to recapture the eerie atmosphere and Art Nouveau claustrophobic environment of the first movie. I counted up to 37 homage scenes, ranging from Alien to Covenant. Honestly, if you put Dead Space and Alien: Isolation together, you get Alien: Romulus in a nutshell. It’s also Don’t Breathe in space. Fede had it in his hands. It could have worked perfectly without the massive fan-service nostalgia approach to paying homage to the previous films. Why not bring the Xenos to Jackson? It would have been great to see how a bunch of "lifeless colonies" would try to survive against a dangerous threat they simply don’t understand. True fans have been dreaming of a movie that tells the story of what happened, for example, in Hadley's Hope. Why not take this opportunity to create a decent plot in Jackson? Why not use severe weather conditions like snowstorms to create a sense of dread, with Xenos lurking and prowling around the colony, waiting for their prey? I remember watching 30 Days of Night, and people bought into the idea because not only were the vampires scary as hell, but the eerie, claustrophobic environment of a small city in the middle of nowhere was relatable. That works. That takes the responsibility off the Xenos, which is another problem. Alien movies are always about the Xenos-too much focus on them! We need to move forward, be bold, and expand the universe beyond Ridley’s sick ideas of rape, sex, and the fear of darkness in space. We acknowledge Fede's efforts to please the true fans of the franchise, but I believe that's the major issue: too much nostalgia and not enough substantial content. In my opinion, to make Alien work, you must avoid focusing too much on the monster. It becomes overwhelming. Everyone in the cinema was just waiting for the monster to show up, and when it finally did… no one reacted. It didn’t shock anybody, except for some teenagers who had never seen an Alien movie before. The Romulus Space Station is a great mess. We never know where we are, and it’s easy to get lost as you watch the movie. Syd Mead and Ron Cobb wouldn’t have fixed that for sure. Is that a bait station? An experiment station? A joke station? A lame excuse to come up with a movie based on a plot we've known for decades? Does Fede have any idea who William Gibson is? Remove the Cold War aspect of his "Never Made Alien 3," and you get Alien Romulus. Oh yes…Alien Isolation got there first! A kid told me that! The soundtrack was also a great letdown. It couldn’t hold a candle to the work of Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. A score is the heart and soul of a movie. Jerry and James understood that. It paces and gives the proper tone to a scene. You remember a scene, and suddenly the score pops up in your head. Alien 3 was also great in that regard, but after that… what a disaster. Alien 4, Prometheus, Covenant, and now this. Why not Brian Tyler? Why not Lorne Balfe? The only amazing thing for me was seeing "ROOK" back. It brought tears to my eyes, and I was so impressed with how realistic the technology was in bringing him back to life on screen. Weta Digital working alongside ILM-WOW! It’s going to be a game-changer, despite the ethical implications of bringing back a figure who is no longer with us in real life. Romulus is overly self-explanatory, and at times it confuses the audience with all the technical terms and acronyms used to identify Xenomorphs. Too many technical terms to classify Xenos, and nobody actually knows what exactly Weyland-Yutani is doing with those creatures. Bioweapons? Human replacements in colonies? Creating a new kind of proto-weapon? Enhancing the GOO’s ability to mutate and change species' DNA? Another issue is that the Renaissance ship is so vast that we never really get a sense of where the characters are. It’s chaotic, with people running from one room to another, reminiscent of the cat-and-mouse chase in Alien 3. Finally, the ending-why? Why pay homage to Alien: Resurrection by introducing "that thing" at the end of the film? It didn’t add up. Pregnancy themes are serious matters, and scenes like that traumatic birthing sequence could hurt the box office. Many women might be uncomfortable with such imagery. Alien Romulus is a great wake up call to everyone. WE MUST PUT AND END ON THIS SO CALLED FAN SERVICE LIKE MOVIE . It became a cancer in Hollywood movie making these days and it serves as an excuse for lack of creativity and origitality preventing the fullfillment of great movies ! we´ve had enough!!!! In conclusion, I’d give it a 6 out of 10. It’s watchable, but it will never surpass Alien 1, 2, and 3 in my humble opinion. Pros: • The homage scenes were simply amazing. • Introducing aspects of the relationship between the Corporation and Colonists (submission and exploitation). • How hopeless it is to live a life in space colonies where people can barely see the Sun. • ROOK. • Fantastic practical effects, though not impressive. • The cast did a pleasant job, better than those morons from Prometheus and Covenant. • Set design and sound design were above expectations! Awesome. • Respect for “no sound in space” in some parts of the movie. • The relationship between Andy and Rain (machine and humans), exploring morality and ethics. Cons: • Too much nostalgia and a lack of promising content to add to the franchise. • The audience got lost inside the space station, never knowing where they were. • The chestburster scene was a joke-awful. • Too self-explanatory. • A robot capable of holding a massive 2-ton steel door but unable to take a punch from a Xeno. • The soundtrack was completely out of tune and barely resembled the Alien lore. • "The thing" at the end of the movie looked like a…Engineer. • Too much fan service. Bold but not bold enough! Too much recycling. • Ethical implications of bringing back the face of an actor without his consent, especially since the person has been dead for some time in real life.

[@magicccconch]

As someone who knows the major scenes of Alien and Aliens but never really seen them. I adore this movie. I did not catch any nostalgia because i didnt recognize any of it. I just viewed it as a individual film not being able to compare.

[@JasonHicks343]

Bro is professional hater.

[@LoneHorizons]

@@magicccconchgo back and watch them! You’ll appreciate Romulus even more then.

[@LoneHorizons]

@@JasonHicks343can’t believe he wrote a 2000 word essay in a KZbin comment no one will ever read. He may as well have written it on paper and then thrown it in the bin 😂

[@CF-uh2xl]

@teletranoats7491 And what would be wrong with watching it in IMAX?

[@VFXforfilm]

And yet the film sucked. The REAL reason and the ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM on why films suck today is that they don't honor God or Godly principles. Why would we not touch morals when the foundation of the story is the MORAL of the story. I'm 46 and work in the industry, I've taught at the largest film school in the world, met a lot of big time directors. WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Today the Gen X filmmakers (at the current helm) are shlubby or skinny, balding or bearded narcissistic depraved atheists with little rebellious tattoos on their body. They are fanboy nerds that have very little need for morality, levity, joy, love, and true absolute morals. Instead they are ambiguous in their convictions and just make the same old judgmental-less story, over and over. PERFECT EXAMPLE: Alien 3, made by the greatest narcissist filmmaker David Fincher who took the story of a nuclear family (Hicks, Ripley, and Newt) and killed them off, had her sleep with a doctor out of wedlock and mock Christianity. Return to Godly Principles (not necessarily bible movies as they get cheesy) in film and you will see people in cinemas packed again.

[@Poepopdestoep]

Filmmaker David Fincher had nothing to do with the decision to kill of Hicks, and Newt. The script was not! written by him. He fought the studio every which way to make the story make sense. But ultimately lost. Maybe research first before you make such dumb statements. The film (romulus) sucked because of a superbad script (especially the second part)

[@davelee1935]

Alien member berries Fede should be embarrassed releasing that crap

[@npc5100]

Ridley Scott destroyed two last movies, so who cares about his approval. He was very good director, but it was 100 years ago. If they gave chance to District 9 director we would have seen very different alien movie. so thx ridley for killing franchise. You will see Ridley Scott mental capacity after gladiator 2 release.

[@FirstnameLastname-my7bz]

Prometheus is kino and Restoration of an actual Why of franchise.

[@OtisF96]

I liked the film but I am getting really bored of hearing the phrase ‘practical effects’, as if there’s nothing more to talk about. Sure, they’re well done, but it’s not a revolutionary thing.

[@jonathandavis-po6js]

Ive always perfered practical effects , but these creature designs were trash, the face huggers, everything, xenomorph, trash

[@tikotiko5328]

I’m sorry, but the new alien movie completely sucked. I hated the entire cast and the characters. Had to walk out after 30 minutes.

[@garrenluce1984]

Ridley ruined this movie I know he forced him to add his Prometheus crap

[@Lawyeris]

Romulus wont become a classic, it is far far away even from Prometheus and Covenant. Romulus is just an action movie with weak (even sometimes silly or too simple) scenario, aliens in space with kids, nothing more

[@Lawyeris]

​@canceritself1854when I saw in trailers kids as main acting characters, I understoo, that it will fail...but the plot also is very weak, it seems main director was veeeery lazy

[@ChannelZero1031]

Fede, you did your best. I am sorry but this didn't work.

[@airixxxx]

Why are you replying to everyone trying to tell them they can't like the movie?

[@robertslipek7311]

Speak for yourself.

[@VickyWlt]

@@airixxxx He is an incel with no hobbies.

[@robertjamesonmusic]

Just saw the movie and it was TERRIBLE!!! Waaaaay too much cgi. Almost everything in the movie other than shots of outer space SUCKED

[@Columbo777]

Completely agree

[@AnxiousAdam]

Must suck to be miserable

[@gibberishface]

“Too much cgi” he cries. Then proceeds to compliment the purely cgi space shots lol

[@robertjamesonmusic]

On par with as bad of a movie as the thing remake

[@pixelpusher91]

I'm pretty sure you have no idea which shots needed VFX and which were captured purely on set and they were just as good as they were shot. I'd say at least 80% of the movie needed some treatment on the VFX side. Maybe close to the 100%. I'm talking about everything from removing wires from actors and the practical dummies to augmenting the stuff on screen (like the tails of the practical xenos). All the way through digital makeup (hello teenage pimples) CGI xenos next to practical ones and god knows what else. Yeah, I'd say a purely, noCGI shot is super-duper rare in such a movie.

[@analogecstasy4654]

I saw Romulus Saturday night and I will never watch anything by this director again. Boring AF, the first 30 minutes were fine then it tried to be too many things and did none of them WELL. It may LOOK like Alien and Aliens but this film doesn’t WORK like those movies. It’s all over the place!! I re-watched Covenant last night and realized it’s a MASTERPIECE compared to Romulus.