ALIEN ROMULUS post screening discussion
- Thread starter Banzai88
- Start date
TheMechanic
Sr Member
I'm just saying that more and more people I talk to and more reviews I watch and read tend to be trending toward the negative.
Solos blaster
Sr Member
I would say that after one, two, or multiple rewatches, the glamour, the facade or just the shiny "newness' starts to fall away and you start seeing the things that may have gotten a pass the first or maybe the second time because "new thing" excitement become more apparent as the excitement wears off. The more I hear many of the callback lines, the more blatant and cringy they become with each rewatch. And I didn't really care to hear them the first time without an eyeroll or a groan. +n or -n depending on how you like it and each rewatch based on how much you enjoyed it the first time = N. Although I don't know who would continuously rewatch something they didn't like that much the first time...
TimDRX
Active Member
Ahahah that was the creepiest part IMO!
It's probably the first / main idea they had for the movie - the legend of Romulus and Remus is that they were raised as wolf cubs, the flipped image of a non human breastfeeding is the reason the movie is named Romulus IMO.
Thanks. I am a student of Greek & Roman history but never even came close to thinking this. Just goes to show you when they taught connecting the dots in grade school I was not paying attention. Big miss on this one thinking two biology labs. Need to do better on my deep dives.
I'm really tempted, just as an excersise, to do a fan edit of the movie. Cut out all the repeated lines from previous movies, as much Rook as possible, Kay injecting the black goo, and end when they get back on the ship and start prepping for hyperspace. No 'offspring'. A sort of long short film really 
I might leave in Andy's 'artificial person' line as I figure it may be a programmed response to being called a robot.
I might leave in Andy's 'artificial person' line as I figure it may be a programmed response to being called a robot.
DC Maddox
New Member
The believability of the alien lifecycle in Alien is a critical aspect of why the film worked so well and its enduring appeal. As Ridley Scott himself said regarding H.R. Giger's creation: "I think Giger has an extra quality, and one of the most frightening things is the quality of reality, combined with a sort of his own form of fantasy. And I think that's what makes it stronger, is the reality, not the fantasy."
I re-watched it last night to verify I had these facts straight.
In the film, once landed, Dallas, Lambert, and Kain set out to find the source of the signal while Parker and Brett began the repairs needed to get the Nostromo back into space. We know from one of the scenes that Parker informed the senior officers that the repairs would take "at least 25 hours." We know from later scenes that Parker and Brett were both tired and short-tempered from doing the work, and that Dallas was exasperated and impatient to leave as soon as it was feasible to do so. There was also some time spent when all the crew were evaluating Kain's initial condition and dealing with the aftermath of the acid incident. All of this happened while still on the planet.
We don't know exactly how much time elapsed from the point where Kain was infected to the Nostromo getting back into space. However, given the extent of the repairs and all the other stuff which occurred on the planet, it seems it was at least a full day, possibly two. Once back in space, Kain was in stasis for quite a while before his condition apparently improved. Shortly thereafter, the crew joined for dinner where the chestburster appeared.
After Kain's death, there was a burial which was attended by the full crew. There was also sufficient time for Ash to design and build the motion tracker while Brett built the "cattle prod." Then the search got underway, where Brett was abducted by the now full-grown alien. So, from the time Kain was first infected to the point where we first see a fully developed alien is approximately 2-3 days.
That's very fast by the standard of any terrestrial organism, but it's within the realm of believability given the bizarre nature of the alien's biological composition and quasi-parasitic nature.
Now I don't mean to sound unduly harsh, but Fede Alvarez either completely misunderstood the lifecycle of Giger's alien as it was presented in the original film, or he just didn't care and morphed it into a generic monster because that was convenient for the dumbed down action movie Hollywood wanted. Either way, the end result is a video game which apes some of style of Alien, but none of the substance.
TimDRX
Active Member
to play Fede's Advocate it wasn't a natural alien - it was some weird reverse engineered one grown from 3D printed facehuggers and black goo extracted from the Big Chap's body. Rook might have forgotten to carry a two somewhere in transcribing the DNA of the thing and whoops now it grows way too fast and dies of old age in a day.
I think the extreme contraction in the life cycle is necessary if you wanna keep the ticking clock of the station crashing into the ice rings. Suppose they could have just had a grown alien lurking in the station already, but I think the facehugger and chestburster were the director's favorite part and once you've done that you may as well have it become the main threat.
I think the extreme contraction in the life cycle is necessary if you wanna keep the ticking clock of the station crashing into the ice rings. Suppose they could have just had a grown alien lurking in the station already, but I think the facehugger and chestburster were the director's favorite part and once you've done that you may as well have it become the main threat.
It's stated explicitly in Alien: Romulus that the xenomorph is capable of altering its metabolism depending on its needs. Exact quote:
"Z-01 contains the genome responsible for the Xeno's ability to accelerate and slow down its metabolism at will."
There's your life cycle timing inconsistencies covered. As far as I'm concerned, that's a long-standing plot hole closed.
"Z-01 contains the genome responsible for the Xeno's ability to accelerate and slow down its metabolism at will."
There's your life cycle timing inconsistencies covered. As far as I'm concerned, that's a long-standing plot hole closed.
yaris
Sr Member
This.
I've rewatched it and it has some merit. BUT it copies so many aspects of ALL the other movies it feels like it's a total rehash struggling to find it's own place in the chain.....and fails in it's dependency on obvious and sometimes crude references from the other films.
Goofy looking alien man-baby ending........Yep, that right there is a real stinker of a hybrid monster.
Knightmare
Sr Member
I was expecting the worst film Alien ever made but I actually like it . Is it Aliens not by a long shot will anything be nope . The one thing I would have liked to have seen was her get the Pulse rifle sooner and done more with it the Rifle kicked a** . I thought this was much better than that complete Horror show Alien Covenant with Danny Mcbride leading the charge .
Here's how I rate 'em-
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Prometheus
Covenant
- These movies do not fit in with the tech of the others, the Engineers are too small to be the Space Jockey, the Engineer ships are not bio-mechanical. I therefore consider them to be alt universe, and not a prequel to the first three at all.
Romulus - basically a video game tie-in. Made by the guys who did the Colonial Marines game, not Isolation.
Resurrection - fan fiction by someone having a bad trip.
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Prometheus
Covenant
- These movies do not fit in with the tech of the others, the Engineers are too small to be the Space Jockey, the Engineer ships are not bio-mechanical. I therefore consider them to be alt universe, and not a prequel to the first three at all.
Romulus - basically a video game tie-in. Made by the guys who did the Colonial Marines game, not Isolation.
Resurrection - fan fiction by someone having a bad trip.
Interesting...anyone notice if Rook is any better?
variety.com
‘Alien: Romulus’ Director Fixed CGI Ian Holm for Home Release After ‘We Ran Out of Time to Get it Right’ for Theaters: ‘I Convinced the Studio to Spend the Money’
Fede Álvarez did not like the way CGI Ian Holm looked in "Alien: Romulus," so he fixed it for the movie's home release.
variety.com
I wonder if this includes Disney+ streaming version.Interesting...anyone notice if Rook is any better?
‘Alien: Romulus’ Director Fixed CGI Ian Holm for Home Release After ‘We Ran Out of Time to Get it Right’ for Theaters: ‘I Convinced the Studio to Spend the Money’
Fede Álvarez did not like the way CGI Ian Holm looked in "Alien: Romulus," so he fixed it for the movie's home release.
yaris
Sr Member
Here's how I rate 'em....
Alien
Aliens
Everything else is excrement....
You'd think with all the money, time and talent available they could get close to Alien and Aliens...but sadly no
Lord Boron
Sr Member
My understanding is it’s just the blu-ray/4k. In the comparisons I saw it just looks to me that they just zoomed out a little and changed the lighting. Didn’t look much better to me.
AnubisGuard
Master Member
The lip sync/facial expressions are less exaggerated on several of the shots. That's a definite improvement; it's just too rubbery and cartoony on the theatrical version. That said I do think I like the lighting on the theatrical release a bit better.
Diabhal
Active Member
The hybrid made my skin crawl because as soon as I saw it figured out it was that freakish looking basketball player and he doesn’t need makeup or a costume to look like a sideshow freak.This.
I've rewatched it and it has some merit. BUT it copies so many aspects of ALL the other movies it feels like it's a total rehash struggling to find it's own place in the chain.....and fails in it's dependency on obvious and sometimes crude references from the other films.
Goofy looking alien man-baby ending........Yep, that right there is a real stinker of a hybrid monster.
