Alien Romulus

[Tiger2]

I took the lads to see it on the weekend and we really enjoyed it, nothing groundbreaking but a good continuation / reboot of the darkness, fear and tight spaces from the first 1979 story.
Good characters to care about and quite nasty in places with a few good jumps here and there. Space craft, sets and special effects pretty cool, just one very irritating bit of CGI
for me, which I won't detail as it's a spoiler!

Cheers,
Paul

[belrog999]

Looking forward to seeing this.
Steve

[Ant]

Saw it saturday too - there was much that I liked, especially the same environment vibe, there were some nice touches and they had kept the Alien fairly well true to form but I did feel the all the 'homages' were far too close to a straight tick list of "greatest hits".

I agree Paul about 'that' CGI - a valiant try but something somewhere was way off about the whole thing.

But what spoilt it for me was the sequence at the end. No. No no no. No no. No.

[FlemFilms]

It's the 4th best Alien film. Which isn't a glowing recommendation, but it's entertaining. What's original in this film is great. And if they just kept with that it could have been something special. But then, half way in, it turns into a greatest hits from all the other films. Why!? Just why.

I too did not love That CGI, but That Line, really made me gag. The more I think about this movie the less I like it. Maybe upon revisiting it I may bump it down to 5th place. This and Prometheus both have great things offset by some really stupid details.

My ranking of the Alien Franchise:
1. Aliens
2. Alien
3. Alien 3 (Special Edition only)
4. Alien: Romulus
5. Prometheus
6. AVP Requiem
7. Alien Resurrection
8. AVP
9. Alien: Covenant

[Tiger2]

Agreed, but for me, the singular best Alien movie of the crop will always be the original and first. Groundbreaking in so many ways, a film that spawned so many others and all because of the discovery of HR Giger's book, Necronomicon. The cast, the story, the Nostromo, the terrifying lifecycle of a totally alien creature, every micron of the original film is just perfect!

[FlemFilms]

For most of my life I've considered Alien and Aliens to be pretty equal. And I absolutely love both.
But in recent years, and my most recent viewing in prepping for Romulus, I've come to the conclusion that Aliens just offers more as a narrative film. It's perfect. Both are perfect. But Aliens is just... more.
Alien has the edge in style and scares, and grimdark vibes. But Aliens has more character, drama, action, tension, and themes. And it's absolutely relentless.

I posed to some friends the question of what is the greatest American movie ever made?
I've always considered Jaws as the greatest.
But maybe it's time to consider Aliens is in the running for that title.

So I ask:
Jaws vs Aliens?

[Tiger2]

Aliens is epic, 100% agreed, but offering more narrative? Hmm, not sure, it's a very clever 'shoot em up, but not quite Shakespeare; load a group of headstrong, pumped up guys with guns and ammo and then send them
into a situation they can't handle. I think the Queen concept was the best idea in Aliens, the fact that someone had thought about all the eggs beneath the Jockey in the first
film and what could have produced them, which I guess does extend the narrative / backstory as you suggest.

It reinforced the idea of the creatures being like insects, nesting, laying their young inside a paralysed victim like the wasps do with spiders in real life. Very clever, playing with the real horror of microscopic nature,
scaling it up and making us the prey!

Changing tack to Jaws, again, the first movie is still the best for me. All these years on, it's still frightening, because you know it could actually happen, there's nothing sci fi about it. That first death is genuinely violent and horrific.
Despite the model shark being a little rubbery by todays standards, the story, direction, script, characters we connect with and care for, the action and lets not forget a brilliant cast that can actually act, Jaws is totally flawless!
Peter Benchley penned a good story and they ran with it and made it better. I believe it was only Spielberg's second feature length movie too, not a bad start in the industry!!

Not sure if it's the greatest American movie ever made, but certainly a damn fine horror movie, no question. Have you seen the model by Stann Arts of Bruce the shark? What a brilliant piece of work!

Wow, this is the most I've typed on a thread here in ages, so sad the traffic is so quite now since Facebook took over, I value the mine of information and reference here so much more.
Many thanks for the conversation!

Cheers,
Paul

[FlemFilms]

"Have you seen the model by Stann Arts of Bruce the shark? What a brilliant piece of work!"

I have! It's on my very long "wanted list".

You fail to mention an entire theme of Aliens! Motherhood.
Ripley loses a daughter and gains another, and does everything in her power to love and defend that child. And... so does the Alien Queen. The ultimate showdown between two mothers defending their children, and both are right.

Maybe not Shakespeare, but that's a little more plot than Alien has to offer.

[FlemFilms]

Unfortunately, there's not more to say about Romulus

[Tiger2]

"Have you seen the model by Stann Arts of Bruce the shark? What a brilliant piece of work!"

I have! It's on my very long "wanted list".

You fail to mention an entire theme of Aliens! Motherhood.
Ripley loses a daughter and gains another, and does everything in her power to love and defend that child. And... so does the Alien Queen. The ultimate showdown between two mothers defending their children, and both are right.

Maybe not Shakespeare, but that's a little more plot than Alien has to offer.

Ok, point taken! I stand corrected and must admit I haven't watched Aliens for a few years, you've got me inspired to get the DVD out and remedy that. You can't blame me for my bias, being a Brit, one of the few films made on our shores that we actually got right!

All the best,
Paul

[FlemFilms]

If you do rewatch Aliens, try to watch the Director's Cut. Especially if you've never seen it. This is my preferred version now. It's better, with the exception of one scene.

[overspray]

You (both) have inspired me to rewatch the Aliens series and Jaws!

[FlemFilms]

Anytime is a good time to watch Aliens and Jaws

[belrog999]

Dan O'Bannon once cited "It, the Terror From Beyond Space" as his major inspiration for writing Alien.

[bucketfoot-al]

Loved the first 2 movies, and the 4th, where the bad-ass Sigurney clone kicks butt.

The reboots of the past 10 years were bad nightmare fuel that I wish I had never seen. So I'll second y'all about the great greatness of the original, but please excuse me if I pass on seeing this latest iteration.

[Tim Fortuna]

It was entertaining, liked the homage with one character but the cg really threw me off. I thought the two leads did a great job. Only real problem I had was that I kept saying to myself "Kids In Spaaaace!!" just like the opening to The Muppet Shows Pigs In Space.

[Squidy53]

Dan O'Bannon once cited "It, the Terror From Beyond Space" as his major inspiration for writing Alien.

As many of you may also know O'Bannon would also eventually admit: "I stole the giant skeleton from the Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires." Many others can see other striking similarities:









O'Bannon also "borrowed" from A. E. van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950), particularly its stories "The Black Destroyer", in which a cat-like alien infiltrates the ship and hunts the crew, and "Discord in Scarlet", in which an alien implants parasitic eggs inside crew members which then hatch and eat their way out. 20th Century Fox and Vogt eventually settled out of court.



Others have noticed similarities to the Doctor Who serial The Ark in Space (1975), in which an insectoid queen alien lays larvae inside humans which later eat their way out, a life cycle inspired by that of the ichneumon wasp. [Wikipedia]



While O'Bannon often said he stole from no-one in devising Alien, it appears he took from everyone.

[belrog999]

Had a chance to see this film. Thought I would never say this, but that had to be the dumbest "salvage crew" ever. Even worse than Ghost Ship. I found myself rooting for the aliens in a part of it. Glad I didn't pay to watch it. I will probably buy the blu ray, when it drops to 5 bucks just to complete my collection.