Joey Magidson
Alien: Romulus is here! The latest film in the long-running science fiction horror series is now in theaters, hoping to terrify audiences. Is it succeeding? Well, it definitely is for some. Just yesterday, I ranked the franchise’s installments here, including this one. Today, however, it’s about all of you, with the weekly Awards Radar Community Question. In short, if you’ve seen the flick, we want to find out your reaction to it!
In case you missed my Alien: Romulus review, this here is some of what I had to say about the movie:
The Alien franchise is a tail of a few highs, a couple of crossover lows, and aside from that, a lot of mediocrity. I’ll talk about that more when I rank the films later on in the week, but for a series with major influences on cinema, as well as a status as A-list, surprisingly few entries have been of high quality. There’s Alien and Aliens, but no other stone cold classic movies. So, Alien: Romulus enters the fray with a lower bar to clear than you might expect in order to be considered upper echelon. Does it accomplish that? Yes, but not quite by as much as you might hope. It’s good, to be sure, but anyone wishing for it to be great will end up at least slightly disappointed. Still, the franchise is on solid ground and potentially pointed in the right direction.
Alien: Romulus is closer in approach to the two best installments, though it does more or less take a straightforward approach to being a mix of science fiction and horror. The action is far less than in Aliens, so it’s a slightly scaled up Alien, at its core. That might not sit well with those looking for something big and bold and new. However, if you’re just looking for the powers that be to get this sort of thing right again, well, you’re in luck.
Now, it’s your turn. Where do you fall on Alien: Romulus? Do you like it. If so, do you like it more or less than I do? Either answer is fine. Maybe you don’t like it at all? If that’s the case, explain why. Regardless of your take, we’re excited to find out. So, lay it on us…
What are your reactions to Alien: Romulus? Let us know!
I was mostly in agreement with your review while watching Alien: Romulus; a perfectly serviceable if not exactly bold new take on the series (with a story that weirdly felt inconsequential to the canon of the mainline series, if that makes sense?)… until that character was brought back. I personally found it an unforgivable addition to this movie by every possible metric I can think of:
● Technologically, as it’s by far the worst-looking thing in a movie that otherwise boasted pretty solid visual effects,
● Ethically, since the actor who played this character passed away only four years ago and so could not consent to his likeness being used in such a mercenary fashion,
● Narratively, because there was no reason for why Rook had to look like that character at all. Actually, now that I think about it, I feel like it would have made more sense, from a storytelling standpoint, to have slotted David into that antagonist role, which would have brought Ridley Scott‘s prequel films around full circle and would have closed out a character’s arc that was set up in Prometheus and fleshed out in Alien: Covenant.
There are other problems I had with the movie – the human cast are all pretty forgettable, and the android protagonist walked right up to the edge of a character archetype we really should have thrown into the ash heap of Hollywood history a long time ago – but that specific problem was completely irreconcilable with a movie I could ever in good faith recommend that others see.
Very fair take.