Movie Review - Alien Romulus

Alien: Romulus is finally in the theatres, and the geek rank team give it the once over. Directed by Febe Alvarez and staring Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson and Isabella Merced, was this worth making another instalment to the Alien franchise.
Join the discussion and comment on our thoughts.
Geek Rant will also be looking at more Marvel, DC, Star Wars and Star Trek movies and series in the coming weeks.

[@LukeLovesRose]

Those elements like the weak, flat and forgettable characters plus the callbacks really cheapened Alien Romulus. "Get away from her you b***h" was downright insulting. Obviously we remember Ripley, Dallas, Parker, Ash, Newt, Hicks, Hudson, and Vasquez. But i also remember Johner, Call, David obviously, Weyland, Shaw, Vickers and Daniels more than any of the characters in Romulus. Disembodied is a great way to describe these actors. I did like Andy better than the rest of these lifeless actors.

[@geekrant5329]

Agree, they shouldn't have used that line - and that the characters were more memorable in previous films, but the Andy idea was an attempt at something new. Thanks for watching.

[@jeremysmyth5978]

Thanks for voicing most of my disappointments with this travesty. It was an abomination. I can’t believe how many people have liked it.

[@geekrant5329]

Yes we were pretty disappointed with a lot of this - thanks for watching.

[@branmuffin411]

I saw it last night. What an absolute dogsh*t of a movie. It was so bad I seriously wanted to kill myself right there in the theatre. I’m not joking. I will never watch another Alien movie.

[@Five-Star-General]

3/10 movie, visuals are good: characters 1/10 story 0.5/10. Great discussion guys. This showcases logically sound objective observations, and emotional responses quite well. Rain is garbage, terrible leadership, impulsive, smug, Tyler or whatever his name was cool but dumb. The android had more character than all of the others combined.

[@geekrant5329]

Great comments - being such fans of the original two movies we were very disappointed. Thanks for watching and don’t forget to subscribe

[@mikesher3794]

Why bring back "Big Chap" in the most unbelievable way (he was just floating about near the wreckage of the Nostromo) only then to have the Alien die off screen. The movie could have had Big Chap running amok on my the station, showing us how he caused complete chaos. The second half of the movie coild then have the space heist gone wrong plot. Fans would have got to have seen big chap on a rampage. Not sure what he would make of the "Offspring" at the end.

[@geekrant5329]

Totally agree - the way he was just floating around the debris of the nostromo was poor. And really disliked the whole offspring thing and how fast it grew! Thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe.

[@hottube135]

Agreed utter garbage dumb characters and stupid story line boring the set designs are ok

[@geekrant5329]

Thanks for the comment and watching - more reviews to come.

[@biashacker]

The premise should have been that an infected spacecraft crash lands on the miner planet and the miners have to fight off the alien invasion, therefore finding a way to escape the planer. You guys are also brilliant! If Andy would have turned into a super android and started massacring the aliens like a space marine while also having underhanded motives to sneak out some alien serum - That would have been a great plot development. Then him being taken out at the end would have made more sense. This move was absolutely terrible.

[@geekrant5329]

Like your thoughts - thanks for watching, don't forget to subscribe!

[@garylasorella7997]

Could've also had the company find an egg on the ship (egg morphing) brought it back and pit it somewhere in the mines to turn that planet into a farm and erasing the evidence they were behind it once the shit crashes into the ring.

[@LanceyKersti]

@@biashacker thats basically the Hadley’s Hope story … ( the colony from Aliens ) only the Aliens eggs were already on the planet. A story about what went on at Hadley’s hope before ripley and the marines arrived would be a good story.

[@biashacker]

@@LanceyKersti That is true...,

[@NECROTEMOR7]

There's so little new to see. The horror and tension Alien did better, the action and female lead Aliens did better, the hybrid (& I can't believe i'm saying this) Alien Resurrection did better, specially its death. This is like Star Wars 7.

[@NECROTEMOR7]

It had jumpscares!! Cheap ones 😒

[@geekrant5329]

Yes too many reference back to the originals for my liking.

[@kyjo72682]

I didn't think the bird in a cage scene was supposed to be metaphorical. I thought it was just a canary that miners use to check if it's safe to go down or not - signifying how dangerous that job is. Especially considering her parents died that way. IMO it perfectly matched her dilemma - take the risk and join the heist crew - or stay and possibly eventually die in a dangerous mine in indentured servitude.

[@dr.impossibleofcounterpunc1984]

There was no need for Prometheus and Convenient. The notion that you needed a backstory to deminsh the Alien mythology seemed like the perfect setup to fail. No matter how beautiful and well shot both films are, Fox and Ridley Scott have aided the decline of the franchise and also reset the series with probably the most boring and pointless entry yet, Alien Romulus. All I wanted was closure, and Blomkamp's Alien 5 would've given the series the necessary end required, but Fox had other ideas and backing Alien vs. Predator, then backing Scott to deliver both Prometheus and Convenient, was the perfect way to protract the agonising death of the franchise. Romulus has the opening, which is so naff and completely stupid that you instantly know the rest of the film will be instantly forgettable on repeated re-watching with inconsistency being one of many elements to stain Romulus. The set design may look good, but the set design certainly doesn't save a travesty. The Alien franchise ended in 1992. As much as I detest Alien 3, I have to accept that the end story arrived and the franchise finished.

[@geekrant5329]

Great points! Yes, Alien 3 gave it a good conclusion to the Ripley story.

[@theapexpredator157]

The whole point of the mining part in the beginning was to show how much they were struggling and to also set up the motivation for their actions later on in the film. I felt like the throwbacks should've been kept out of the movie. The CGI on Rook didn't look good. The motivation for wanting to study the alien was apparent since the first film. Weyland-Yutani wanted to do biological research on it so that they could possibly create a super-soldier or worker, use xenomorph's as weapons etc. The rat was injured, not dead. Ridley Scott didn't really like everything about Aliens and so he might not consider it canon.

[@geekrant5329]

Thanks for the comments and agree with your points, too many throwbacks, poor cgi. Definitely thought the company wanted the alien for research but felt from the first four films (especially resurrection) that they wanted an alien that they could train. When Ridley Scott has got hold of it again he has changed a core principle with the creation of our race, the black goo and ultimately I don’t like how it can round to David being the creator of the xenomorph. Maybe he didn’t like the aliens film as much as we did but it stayed true to the original film in our opinion. Thanks for comments and keep watching!

[@jamesday1295]

I think this was set 40 or so years later initially, and never conflicted with that important part of the timeline. Its too thougtless in the setup. Both the prologue and end have been tacked on to write in the prequels. Otherwise it plays out similarly. I cant imagine someone that plays computer games undermining the most recognised weapon in media. It make the tone with the callbacks less egregious as well.

[@geekrant5329]

Think you are right about the prologue and the ending - weaker parts of the film. Was so hoping that this was going to be good

[@earthcitizen3939]

4th best after the original 3. Most characters were weak, but that has been the case starting with Alien R.

[@geekrant5329]

Think I agree with you this is probably the fourth best Alien film. Thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe!

[@Ray-c1r]

Hello no, it's not better than Resurrection

[@kyjo72682]

Aliens growing out of thin air was a problem in every movie so far. But yes, it was very visible here but also in Prometheus and Covenant.. The creatures just grow from nothing which always takes me out of it. It just can't work this way. Every organism needs to get its mass from somewhere.

[@geekrant5329]

Totally agree - this was especially problematic with the last section of this film - one second it was a baby and two minutes later it was 8 foot tall!

[@deinoswiz1]

Call from alien 4 was very human like android. movie also was very women's lib like movie. The statement of "run" was sort of a quote from professor Allen Grant in Jurassic 3.

[@nickolas6060]

Still since 1986 I have been waiting for a decent sequel. Nearly 40 fkn years!! We want marines, a queen, some character development, and explain what that ship was doing with all those eggs on lv426. This POS felt like a bunch of scenes ideas mashed together. Oh an for fk sake, make up your mind how long embryo ingestion takes. Oh the alien grows after 5 minutes now wtf

[@geekrant5329]

Couldn't agree more, especially on the gestation period - ridiculous! Unfortunately, I think they did that to make that end section work - which it didn't. Keep trying to tell myself that we have two classic films to enjoy (the third is a bit harshly judged) - is it reasonable to expect more than that?

[@LukeLovesRose]

By the way, if you were fans of this franchise, you would remember what Bishop said about the acid blood in Aliens. Ripley completely ignores him but Bishop says that the acidity is neutralized as soon as the Alien dies.

[@geekrant5329]

Yes I do remember that line, and agree that the blood is neutralised when they die (hence how Bishop was able to do an examination of the face hugger carcasses) but when the blood has been blown out of their bodies it is still potent.

[@mechinate]

Why then did the acid from the dead facehugger in the first film corrode through the floor?

[@LukeLovesRose]

@@mechinate That facehugger wasn't dead. It was still alive and kicking, still hooked to Kanes face

[@Ray-c1r]

Maybe the greater powers did know of the aliens already and let the colony be on purpose, and sent ripley and the marines to die after their goal was set which was burk to acquire the aliens somehow...

[@geekrant5329]

I am not sure if they did know about the Aliens on LV426 because it is Burke who tells them to investigate the co-ordinates when Ripley had returned. She was in deep space for 60 odd years so perhaps that info was lost?

[@Ray-c1r]

@@geekrant5329 perhaps...

[@fotomannow]

Agree, I was disappointed. Glad I didn't pay to see it! 😁

[@geekrant5329]

Always enjoy the cinema and what I hadn't realised was our local cinema had an upgrade to fancy motorised leather seats!

[@MrProjo]

Aliens 4 reskinned with kids and a boring girl boss

[@geekrant5329]

Yes certainly don’t have characters anywhere near Ripley. Thanks for watching and comments

[@LukeLovesRose]

To me, Prometheus and Covenant are still the 3rd and 4th best film in the franchise. Aliens is still the best. Alien is obviously a close second but with Aliens, Cameron mastered 3D storytelling long before Avatar. There is nothing wrong with the science-fiction in Prometheus and Covenant. People really need to open their minds more and give those movies another chance. Im tired of hearing the contempt for those movies. Its not science facts. This is science-fiction. You might as well try and destroy The Force in star Wars based on modern science. I wish they had the Rook character to come back as a truly terrifying element and inject the pregant lady with the black goo.

[@machaolesplendide]

Prometheus and covenant don't deserve to be in the franchise. Those movies are dumb af

[@machaolesplendide]

You never grasped what science fiction is. Star wars is fantasy. Star trek is way more science fiction. Might be why you don't understand till this day why covenant and prometheus are so bad and an insult to the franchise. You are free to like them but if you do not acknowledge they are bad, I have little hopes for you.

[@LukeLovesRose]

@@machaolesplendide Until you understand the 3D magic of James Cameron, you need to STFU

[@TheGlobuleReturns]

Switch Alien and Aliens and you’re 100% correct ;)

[@LukeLovesRose]

@@TheGlobuleReturns What are you talking about? Did you read what I said about Camerons 3D storytelling?? The fact that no one can see the numbers 4 and 57 in the background of Aliens shows how powerful Cameron is as a writer and director.

[@CyperN077]

It's The first Alien movie that I won't watch again.

[@geekrant5329]

I know what you mean, especially the end sequence. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@Ray-c1r]

Covenant is the worse, this romulus was better but thats its place right next to it...

[@geekrant5329]

Yeah - probably agree with that - need to watch covenant again to firmly place it.

[@greyearlillustrator]

it was pure shite. I kept seeing glazing reviews when it came out, I couldn't believe how different I felt coming out of the cinema. Glossy, wafer thin and painfully poor ripping off of ideas. All characters were flimsier than the end alien baby/chap's legs!

[@geekrant5329]

Yes the trailer made it look better than actual - Shame I thought they might pull off a decent film but too much repurposed material and characters were too thin as you say! Thanks for comments and watching

[@Matowix]

It's a bad movie. I'm done with Hollywoke

[@LanceyKersti]

The movie was not good but that had nothing to do with "woke"

[@branmuffin411]

The movie was absolute dogsh*t and there wasn’t even anything woke about it

[@LanceyKersti]

Oh i forgot “woke” to them means diversity in cast and not mostly white people…

[@earthcitizen3939]

Woke is a word that reactionaries use about anything that they disagree with. Nothing new here

[@earthcitizen3939]

@@Matowix So you want to live in the 1800's? The world is evolving

[@geoffowen7627]

Its a mix of all 4 Alien movies rolled into one, Alverez is a crap director, his actors are always wooden, the plot makes no sense, remember berries and boom booms all over the place, He spends more time squeezing in references rather than getting a decent story, he is great for visuals though, but that's about it. And the original Alien should be no where near the Nostromo wreckage, did the 'Writers' watch the original at all. Disappointed, but I didn't hate it, its like the AVP movies, a fun silly pointless spin off.

[@geekrant5329]

Yes agree with many of your points - visuals were good generally but you are right too much of a mix of previous films, ideas. Also as we thought the original alien wouldn't have been just spinning around the Nostromo wreckage. Thanks for watching and the comments.

[@Ray-c1r]

Dune 2 was better than 1 but still somewhat sucked and was boring to dumb especially the villains

[@geekrant5329]

My verdict is still out on Dune 1 and 2 - they have some good imagery and effects, and they are a lot better than some of the stuff released in recent years.

[@Ray-c1r]

@@geekrant5329 ok they are better in ways than the sequel star wars

[@Ray-c1r]

Movie was well made, but kinda sucked, copied alien aliens n Resurrection. Gen y or z meets aliens 😆. And there were some dumb parts in it and the xenomorph was too easy to kill n that hybrid and CGI actor sucked...and it's like what did this have to do with Prometheus/covenant 3, Resurrection & Prometheus were still better. But this was better than covenant.

[@geekrant5329]

Yeah agree, obviously we were disappointed too. Thanks for the comments and watching.

[@garryaldridge7325]

Its a Hard Match between "Covenant " and "Romulus" for the worst Shitpile of Movie ever...

[@yurikendal4868]

48:50 I DO have a problem with a movie trying to jack (steal) material from other movies. Romulous tried to hard to be everything but its own thing. An appeal to member berries is not good story telling. Need to go a bit harder there Toby