Alien: Romulus

Nothing special, a lot of the really positive reviews are overhyped.

The characters for the most part are totally flaccid and devoid of any real character, apart from Andy. I honestly didn't have any emotional attachment to the majority of the characters and most of them were just annoying and thick.

The movie was tawdry at times, seeming to take an age to get going and relying far to heavily on Alien franchise cliches to add any real colour to the plot and script.

The special effects were good enough and the design on the original xenomorph was excellent, although the face huggers look worse in this film than they did in Alien and Aliens for some reason.

Don't ger over excited by the current hype surrounding Romulus, it isn't a terrible film but it isn't a great one either. As a huge fan of the originals, i came away disappointed.

Alien: Romulus delivers a gritty experience reminiscent of the original film, with impressive world-building and familiar tech that longtime fans of the franchise will appreciate. The movie captures the essence of the Alien universe, offering a standalone story that fits well within the established timeline and cleverly nods to Prometheus.

However, the film's reliance on callbacks to previous entries in the franchise detracts from its originality. While some references are clever, others are forced and cringeworthy.

The introduction of the main character Rain, played by Cailee Spaeny, feels uninspired. We've seen this before - another Ripley. It's actually David Jonsson's character, Andy, who ends up being the most interesting by a long shot. If there is one franchise that would benefit from exploring new characters rather than rehashing old ones, this is it.

Despite these negatives, Romulus is technically impressive. It's beautifully shot, the effects are good, it has some genuine scares, and manages to deliver solid thrills and action scenes that are sure to please. I just wish it were brave enough to carve out its own identity.

Positives first - Good action, great practical special effects, and nice visuals.

Director Fede Alvarez and his production team have captured the gloomy atmosphere of Alien, and the thrilling action of Aliens almost perfectly. The action was thrilling with some scary moments.

The use of practical effects and realistic miniatures was so refreshing to see in this age of CGI overkill. Seeing a fully realised Xenomorph in the flesh blew me away, and the Space scenes were beautiful. This camera work, visual presentation, and use of quality albeit limited CGI when necessary was excellent.

Negatives - Average acting, nostalgia bait story, copy & pasted dialogue from better Alien movies, and the inclusion of lore elements from the inferior prequels which I wish did not exist in official canon. Plus the reveal of the villain was an "oh, get out of here " moment, I will say no more.

Apart from the great lead actress Spaeny playing up her role, the other cast of actors/characters was just okay. I thought the nostalgia bait story was boring, eye-rolling, and almost 4th wall breaking, it ruined the immersion for me. I'm getting bored of sequels/prequels heavily relying on lazy "remember-berries" to get a kick out of the casual audience while making the Alien fans embarrassed almost angry. To be honest it's just lazy script writing, and disrespectful to the other Alien movies that did it first!. Unnecessary.

Also the overuse of copy & pasted dialogue from the better Sigourney Weaver Alien movies was very cringe. 20th Century Studios should've called it Alien: Remember because of the over-reliance on oh you remember this bit from.. Lastly, trying to inject all the controversial and franchise damaging Prometheus nonsense into the film was frustrating, I hated all that origin of the Space Jockey and creation of the Xenomorph rubbish. And don't get me started on the villain, I don't want to spoil anything, but it was laughably lazy.

I think setting the movie between the first 2 films was a mistake because you have to make your movie fit into the established continuity of the franchise with all the tie ins and plot beats required to make it fit. They should've done a sequel set years after Alien: Resurrection, and setup the start of a brand new Alien saga long after Weavers adventures (and with better writers onboard).

This had the potential to be right up there with Aliens, but due to disappointing characters, a lacklustre "remember-berry" story, and poor script, it was a let down. Alien: Romulus, an above average Alien greatest hits movie, 4th best film in the franchise.

This may be a stupid point to argue, but why do those aliens grow so crazy fast?

I accept, that not every species has to grow similarly. But how can a baby alien grow into an adult in the space of 15 minutes in the film?

They are not fed, and yet, they can grow large bodies within minutes? It just bothers me. How hard would it be to give them, say, a day to reach adulthood. But minutes?

It makes - and this is gonna sound stupid - the alien species unbelievable.

I love the way they reproduce: A queen lays eggs, face-huggers infest people and then aliens burst from their chests... classic. But can we give them a little time to grow? They are not inflatable rubber dolls! I'm done. Watch the movie. It's decent.

Sure to be a crowdpleaser and produced to perfection this greatest hits album catering to generation Z, doesn't really tread new ground. Don't you dare to be original like 'Prometheus' or bold, like 'Alien: Covenant'. Just give the audience familiarity and play it somewhat safe.

In a world where most new movies coming out from Hollywood are either reboots, remakes or sequels and where new ideas being greenlit are things of the past (unless it can be made on a small budget), we are being flooded with try-to-check-all-boxes movies with several screenwriters and focusgroups attached.

Consider me worried.