Don’t get to the cinema as often as I used to, in some respects that’s because I don’t have the time I used to have, and in recent months, thanks to Worldcon, I’ve not had time at all. The other reason is that there are less films coming out that I want to see on the big screen, but every once in a while, there’s a film that you just really need to go to the cinema for.
In advance, I’m a huge fan of the Alien concept, note that I didn’t say the franchise, which has varied wildly depending on which film it was. But like many others, it means that I know most of the franchise from top to bottom.
Alien Romulus combines both the best and worst of the franchise. From the opening scene just outside Zeta 2 Reticuli, and they bring something back on board, to the first shots of a mostly terraformed world, and the massive tower of the atmosphere processor rising above the surface. The opening to the film is superb, everything the Ridleyverse ever promised, you can imagine replicants running around out there, you can see why everyone is only in it for themselves, and it’s the first time we’ve really seen the Alien universe as it really is, not a separate universe such as the AVP parts of the franchise, not Covenant or Prometheus where it’s another world entirely, this is the universe as it was originally envisaged, dark, dirty, hopeless.
Loved it…
Up to the space station on perfectly reasonable reasons, not going walking on an alien planet without space suits, not treating strange alien creatures like squishmallows, none of that, every action taken is sensible and the characters are realistic, with fully fleshed out motivations.
Of course, things go sideways, aliens start occurring, and the characters start dying. Gestation times are sped up as they have been in every film since the first, but the first chestburster (it’s in the trailer), is weaker because of how quickly it was implanted, it doesn’t just burst out in the manner of John Hurt, but has to slowly tear its way through because its not strong enough to do it in one hit.
Considerations like that, are gold to fans like me.
I see a lot of people saying the first half of the film was too slow, and I suspect that that’s a generational thing, I don’t mind a half hour of setup, particularly when the opening scene has such promise. This was well thought out and had a good premise that was not spoiled by too much CGI or stupid plots. I didn’t like the last ten to fifteen minutes, but that’s because it veered very close to Prometheus and Alien:Resurrection, for my money the two weakest films in the series.
And on that subject: Fan Service
If the sound you use is exactly the same as one from a previous film, fans are going to notice, if the doors are taken from Alien:Isolation, we’ll notice, if you say “Get away from her…” we know which words come next.
And that’s not a bad thing…
In small doses…
I would hope that this film provides enough return to allow Fede Alvarez to get another film, one where he puts together something that isn’t catering to older fans like me, but instead is its own story, taking its own path. Don’t get me wrong, if you like Alien films, go see this, definitely go see this, it’s easily in the top three of the Alien films, and as we all know, Alien and Aliens are the first two (whichever order you put them in), so this marks a return to form for the franchise, and a film that had our whole group glued to the screen for the entire film.
And Androids…
You ever think the Alien is the scariest thing in that universe? Think again, superbly nuanced performance from David Jonsson, worth the entrance price for him alone.
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