The Alien: Romulus review embargo is officially over! So far, the reviews have been fairly positive. Many outlets call Alien: Romulus the third-best Alien movie after Alien and Aliens. Outlets have praised the young cast, especially David Jonsson as Andy.
The film’s terror and creepy atmosphere get some praise. The film contains set pieces we’ve never seen before. Many reviews commend the controversial third act which is very polarizing – some critics love it but say it might not be for everyone.
In terms of criticisms, some critics point out there is a pacing issue in the second act and the film is filled with a few too many callbacks to the previous Alien films including memorable lines from past films. Some reviews say the practical effects were great but the CGI isn’t always spot on.
Hey You Guys (4/5):
This is an enjoyable addition to the series, offering both familiar thrills and new surprises. And while the scares may often rely on familiar tropes, Alien: Romulus still manages to deliver a compelling storyline that will satisfy even the most ardent fans of the franchise.
IGN (8/10):
Alien: Romulus’s back-to-basics approach to blockbuster horror boils everything fans love about the tonally-fluid franchise into one brutal, nerve-wracking experience.
Bloody Disgusting (3.5/5):
The biggest horror event of the year has arrived, and while it doesn’t shake up the lore or deviate from the path, it’s such a thrilling ride you’ll be hard-pressed to care. Alvarez puts the horror first here, with exquisite craftmanship that immerses you in the insanity.
CNET:
Criticism aside, Alien: Romulus is a banger. It brings the terrifying glory back to the universe Ridley Scott built. Álvarez has made the Alien movie that fans have been yearning for. It rips, and it roars. The franchise is in good hands now. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Deadline:
There’s a (literal) injection of mad science from the sequels, which brings a certain amount of creepy novelty to the otherwise predictable false ending, but Álvarez doesn’t put fan service first, even if certain moments are lifted from the back catalogue shot for shot. Instead, he works hard to bring something of his own to the project, which he does in a virtuoso scene that finds Rain dodging silver globules of acid alien blood while firing hundreds of rounds from an M-41A pulse rifle in zero gravity. If that catches your interest, Alien: Romulus will catch your eye; with its spectacular darkness, it could be the surprise hit of the season.
Coming Soon (8/10)
The final act features a devilishly disturbing idea that takes a big swing but may not work for everyone. It worked for me. Álvarez proves once again that he never holds back during the final act, taking concepts to their full potential and blowing our minds one step at a time. Alien: Romulus is a deliciously crafted horror film where each scene gets better than the last. The characters are always facing tough decisions and fighting like hell to survive. The performances across the board are appropriately panicked, with Rain feeling like Álvarez’s take on Ellen Ripley.
Unlike other movies, this film works least when it relies on fan service and nostalgia and works most when it offers new, fresh ideas. Offering an unforgettable experience, Alien: Romulus proves once again that in space, no one can hear you scream.
Here’s the review roundup:
Positive
IGN (8/10)
ComingSoon.net (8/10)
Observer (3/4)
Nerdist (3.5/5)
Deadline
Collider (7/10)
Hey You Guys (4/5)
CNET
Entertainment Weekly (B+)
Variety
Bloody Disgusting (3.5/5)
The Hollywood Reporter
Empire (4/5)
Joblo (7/10)
Average
Den of Geek (3/5)
The Verge
Negative
Indiewire (C)
Slash Film (5.5/10)
Alien: Romulus currently has a score of 85% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes after 68 reviews.
For reference, here are the Rotten Tomatoes scores for the previous Alien entries.
| Movie | Year | Rotten Tomatoes |
| Alien | 1979 | 93% |
| Aliens | 1986 | 94% |
| Alien 3 | 1992 | 45% |
| Alien Resurrection | 1997 | 55% |
| AvP | 2004 | 22% |
| AvP Requiem | 2007 | 12% |
| Prometheus | 2012 | 73% |
| Alien Covenant | 2017 | 65% |
| Alien: Romulus | 2024 | ??? |
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It's LV-410, apparently.
It's never been explicitly stated what the planet's name is, but in an interview a few weeks back, Fede implied that it maybe could've been Thedus.
Anyone in the know at Weyland-Yutani would have wanted to retrieve samples, it's just likely that, given the time and distance required to travel to reach Renaissance, they couldn't get to the Station before its collision with the rings around the planet that Jackson's Star is housed upon (side note: Do we know the planet's name?). It is also extremely likely only certain top-secret pockets within the company that knew to begin with. Hell, it's possible that a recovery team was on the way to Renaissance but just couldn't make it in time. Once Rook was reactivated, he began the process of attempting to recover samples to continue the work begun on the Station on his own, from internally within the Station.
What if they just wanted to let the station drift into the rings and have it take care of itself? They figured maybe that the only beings that could enter would be synthetics and if by some chance someone did get in, the aliens would take care of them. I'm betting they wouldn't really care if there was a risk of Jackson's Star getting infected. The only thing that doesn't make sense is that the black goo was still on the station and Rook wanted it off and delivered to the company.
I can buy it if what they're doing is illegal AF and they value secrecy over safety.
It's also possible that it's not illegal at all, but they're concerned about the potential for corporate espionage from their competitors.
They found Big Chap only 170 days prior to when Rain & Co boarded The Renaissance?
That makes it even worse! W-Y managed to figure out the Xenomorph DNA, compounds, composition etc.to the point where they can literally print it like a commodity. Not just making a genetically engineered creature that looks like a Facehugger (as in a creature that in reality is just a hopscotch of mixed terrestrial DNA designed to visually resemble a Facehugger but in reality isn't related to the Xenomorph at all), but literally creating an ACTUAL Facehugger that can produce embryos as well as harboring the sought after Plagearis Praepotens magic juice. Push the button, et voila, and a machine mass-produces these little buggers!
W-Y scientists are putting the Engineers to shame here!
Compare that to the cloning technology we see in A:RES (which is over 200 years late!), and the whole Facehugger printing concept just feels beyond silly, inconsistent and truly anachronistic.
Also, I refuse to believe that huge of a project and operation, like the on The Renaissance space station, to have no additional safeguards or access to assistance and support in its proximity. But I guess from a plot and story line POV this gets somewhat of a pass as the Company has a history of being 'sloppy' ("silos" & too big for functional oversight).
Anyways, the printing part is what annoys me the most. It's just way too advanced and out of place compared to the technology we see in other Alien movies. The printing of Facehuggers is gimmicky and absolutely out of place.
Maybe their particular operation had no outside support to call upon and everyone who actually knew anything about it died on the station when it all went to shit.
Remember...
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Who's to say Wey-Yu had the kind of team that could handle that sort of retrieval close by?
I was okay with all the experimentation stuff, but how did they simply let it drift into a planet's ring system at the ass end of space, without attempting a retrieval?
You're too kind as ALIEN: ROMULUS definitely went a bridge too far with this one. Like I said, I'd be more ok with all of this if it took place post-A:RES ...but before ALIENS - just throws the whole thing off.
Sure, W-Y became more fragmented and sloppy after the merger, and it seems like the company encourages illegal initiatives and operations as long as W-Y as a whole aren't held liable/accountable. But The Renaissance is NOT a small operation, and W-Y would get in big trouble if the authorities were to be tuned in on what's going on. Letting this space station drift away and not bother with it, is just ridiculous.
Again, knowing how to PRINT an alien organism is a much bigger feat than cloning it. This shows that W-Y had completely figured out the Xenomorph to the point where they can literally build it from scratch, in a couple of minutes. That also means that W-Y knows exactly what compounds etc. they need for their printed Facehuggers to recreate the Plagarius Praepotens. This type of knowhow and technology is just too damn advanced and anachronistic compared to what we see in the other movies.
Having the last known location of the Nostromo but not the Derelict I can also buy, especially being the signal no longer exists after Alien Isolation.
Deriving the Facehuggers from the DNA of the Alien itself, exactly because they do not have the technology to directly copy the adult creature and then harvesting the Plagarius Praepotens from the comparatively simpler organism also does make some sense to me.
...I mean, the Xenomorph is supposed to be this mysterious and complex organism linked to this magic black substance that can create or wreck anything organic, yet here we have humans figuring it all out to the point where we can literally print fully functional Xenomorphs... What's even the point of the life cycle after this? Why even bother with Facehuggers when they could've printed a bunch of Big Chaps???
What makes it even more annoying is that W-Y seem to not bother at all with finding and reclaiming The Renaissance space station with all those experiments once things went haywaire, and neither did they seem to bother to make backups of all the data and those samples and prototypes acquired through their research, as if they couldn't care less... Yet, in ALIEN 3, after the Company figured out what Burke was doing and what happened to Ripley & the Marines, W-Y sent a starship, scientists and commandos ASAP to intercept and collect their prize (the queen embryo and the Dragon), which made it seem like W-Y didn't know much about the creature and were dying to bring it to the lab. Yet in A:ROM, W-Y had figured out the Xenomorph to the point where they were able to print them...
Also, as others already mention - why look for a needle in a haystack (Big Chap cocoon) when they could've just visited the Derelict on LV-426??? In A:ROM the Company obviously had the destination and location down as they were able to pinpoint Big Chap's little cocoon vessel.
As mentioned before - ALIEN: ROMULUS should've taken place after ALIEN: RESURRECTION, instead of The Renaissance it should've been The Covenant, and Rain, Andy & Co should've encountered David rather than Rook. To make things a little interesting, Andy could be an Auton rather than a regular synth, which would make for interesting scenes between David and him. Oh, and NO Big Chap. With A:ROM set post-A:RES, Fede would've had more freedom to change things around, without creating these enormous and contrived loopholes.
It was but she may have gone into shock as well.
I just took it as the facehugger didn't finish the implantation before it was chilled off her face so the chestburster was weaker.
Even then, one birth is not exactly the same as the next even amongst the same animals in nature. Circumstance of environment, the fetus, etc. plus Rook's f**king about with the mutagen, just another factor at play.
I do appreciate the faster ripping and tearing then bursting out myself, as of course I enjoy the finer things in life, but it was interesting seeing a different kind of birth.
Fede said he wanted to show what it would look like in real life, but 426Buddy is right - that thing would've been f**ked on the Nostromo.
I wanted more of a burrowing effect from the chestburster, but I consider that a small nitpick of mine.
Romulus looks fantastic and I don't even think that's up for debate, especially the opening at the colony. But so much else is just a let-down.
The bursting effect and the actual chestburster animatronic were a let down.
Outside of Rook, I didn't notice anything that was really deserving of harsh critiques visually. Maybe one shot here or there is less convincing than another, but every movie has that. There was nothing that took me out of the movie.
80 mil is not a small or medium budget either.
The facehuggers looked fake as hell and Rook was a disgrace, and the Xenomorphs looked like mannequins and puppets in several of the shots.
Nope, I don't think we are. I hate this movie lol. I've invested enough thought in this debate.
I think she mirrors the general audience feelings of the film quite well.
ALIEN 3 is objectively not a bad movie. Flawed? Yes. Different from ALIENS? Yes.
A3 has good storytelling, it has a great flow and pace and it is the PERFECT ending for a trilogy like the first three Alien movies.
There is character development when it comes to characters other than Ripley, Clemens and Bishop, such as 85 and Morse. Same with Dillon - he's a solid character. David is another one. Sure, there are a ton of inmates that are just there, which I have no problem with. There were a bunch of pretty anonymous Marines in ALIENS as well (Wierzbowsky, Crowe, Spunkmyer, Dietrich...), yet I'm going to assume that you probably have no problem with that.
The only thing that is objectively damning when it comes to ALIEN 3 is the egg on Sulaco and some of the creature effects. The Egg plot hole is actually not that big of a deal unless you're an Alien fan as most casual viewers probably never would notice the issue with the presence and placement of that egg. The deeply flawed creature and special effects however, is a bigger deal as A3 is after all a monster movie.
A:ROM on the other hand deals with a small cast, yet they are as bland as they get. Andy, and Rains at times, are the only characters that are interesting, albeit very uneven and not very solid characters. Navarro had potential, but they killed her off way too early. The dialogue is clunky and consists of way too many quotes and lines directly taken from previous Alien movies. A:ROM had a huge budget, yet the creature effects are pretty crappy for being a movie of this caliber made in the 2020s. The storytelling is mediocre at best and the flow and pacing is quite bad actually. So I find it quite hilarious that you're so critical and picky when it comes to A3, yet you're super cool with A:ROM.
Anyways, I'm pretty sure that you and I are not going to reach any kind of conclusion when it comes to this.
Look, I'll forgive that last jab there, but I promise you that I don't just subscribe to formulaic plots. The fact that these prisoners are basically forced to listen to a woman, and that they're all essentially in hell with a demon as penance for what they've done- that doesn't make this a good, deep, or profound movie IMO. Where is the character development outside of Ripley and Clemens? Why do we care about anyone running through those corridors? We're not even given a rudimentary reason to care. How is it that the special effects of Alien and Aliens easily trump anything in this film? No one really wanted to make this movie. Sigourney didn't even want to come back unless they killed her. It doesn't have anything besides Sigourney and Fincher going for it, and Fincher was basically neutered in terms of control. So at the end of the day, I'm glad you've found something to like about this movie and that it works for you, that's great. However, if someone asked me if this was objectively a bad movie I would probably say yes. I don't think what's here is indicative of good storytelling or plotting, and it's definitely lacking in the character development department. I wouldn't even consider it good as a thrill ride, as I didn't find anything thrilling about it. It's droll and hopeless, and definitely not my cup of tea.
I'm not surprised that Mr. Fincher disavows the movie - it was hell for him, torturous from beginning to end thanks to the studio. It's almost as if he suffered alongside the characters in his movie, both fighting The Company, so to speak. Despite all of that, ALIEN 3 turned into a magnificent movie (as I pointed out in detail in my previous reply to you). That is a feat in its own.
And like I already pointed out, the whole point is that the lowest and most reviled lot of mankind, stashed away in a hellish shit hole at the ass-end of space, are the ones who save mankind. Not only that, but many of them are rapists and murderers of women, yet they are forced to follow and listen to a woman - the woman who brought the Angel of Death to their Rapture Waiting Room that is Fiorina 161. The fact that all the more innocent characters die first (Newt, Hicks and Spike the dog / the ox) followed by the one's who's been redeeming himself being killed before he gets to hear the truth from Ripley, just adds to the harshness and unforgiving nature of the universe and the Alien. ALIEN 3's concept and themes are truly multilayered.
ALIEN 3 is also Sigourney Weaver's arguably finest performance as Ellen Ripley. Strength through vulnerability and doubt, sacrifice and hopelessness. The last five minutes of A3 are absolutely on point and the Funeral/Birth scene, despite the gore, is the most beautiful yet heart-wrenching scene from any of the Alien movies.
Not surprising that you like ALIEN: RESURRECTION more than A3 as A:RES follows the standard Alien movie formula to a t, just like A:ROM. With that said I prefer A:RES over A:ROM on almost every level.
Yeah, it's kind of funny to me how I really, really want to see the last entry in the prequel trilogy to happen even though PROM and A:CON are far from my favorite Alien movies. I just feel like there's so much potential when it comes to David, The Covenant colony ship, and his experiments etc.
I'm not going to belabor the point too much, but you're defending a film that the director himself has disowned, and it doesn't matter which cut. He wants nothing to do with it. Today he's one of the best directors still working. Me disliking the film has nothing to do with it failing to be Aliens 2, you're projecting there. I simply think killing those two characters off screen was an unforgivable movie mistake. I was ready to follow them all into any format, but it didn't happen. Alien 3 is the ultimate example of corporate meddling. They hired an up and coming director, but they decided not to trust him at some point and took control away from him. It didn't even have a complete story when it started filming. It was a hatchet job from start to finish. The only compelling character besides Ripley in this was Clemens, who is killed way early on. We're then stuck with dealing with Dillon, and the only things we know about him are that he's a "murderer and rapist of women," and that he's found god. We don't get to actually know anything of his real character or story, and that goes for all the other prisoners that are completely indistinguishable from each other. The sets can be described as gothic, but frankly they bored me. The effects are bad when the alien isn't a man in a suit. This film leaned into the nihilism, but it wasn't a fitting end for Ripley and her story. It's a glimpse of David Fincher's awesome potential, realized in much better films that came after. If it's even remotely watchable to people, you have Fincher to thank for that. I don't think anyone else could salvage anything from this. Resurrection has more personality than this film, with all due respect.
Critics "savaged" ALIEN 3 because it wasn't ALIENS 2. Period. They wanted more of the same old same but with even more bells and whistles (more cannon fodder Xenos, more Space Marines and big guns, giant bosses and mech suits, bigger explosions and grander space vistas), with this Super Hero xeno-killer core family of mommy Ripley, dad Hix and their kid N00t, prevailing through the movie, wading through Xenos, busting up the Company, saving the day, Cameron style.
Instead they got a movie that brought the Alien movies back to a much darker, more nihilistic and bleakly realistic world without superheroes and happy ends. Not just that, but it broke up with the standard Alien movie formula (investigate signal, incident occurs, unleashed Xenomorph(s), try to escape Xenomorph threat, total destruction of main location/spacecraft, fight Xenomorph on board smaller spacecraft, flush out Xenomorph into space, surviving cast drifting off into space - the end). It also went with the daring concept of no guns and a cast where everyone had shaved heads, all convicts and prison staff, except for Ripley. A dreary horror drama-thriller in space, exploring the themes of AIDS; redemption, desolation, Christian and religious themes in an indifferent universe where there's no God; nature vs. nurture when it comes to criminal and violent behavior; humanity's lowest and most despicable few being the ones helping Ripley to save mankind just for mankind to never know about it; Fiorina 161 being the Purgatory, the Alien the Angel of Death and the Company the Devil etc. - all presented in the most crude yet beautifully poetic amalgamated imageryone could ask for. Add Goldenthal's superior score and OST, and ALIEN 3 is this chipped and stained diamond of a movie aging like fine wine (with some unfortunate pieces of cork in it).
Yes, A3 has its flaws (egg on Sulaco, a bunch of shoddy special effects, contradictory alternate scenes and cuts, and the grueling production and process behind the scenes), but it is by no means a bad or horrible movie. Fine, it might not be your cup of tea, but claiming that it is a crappy flick, just proves my initial point regarding the assessment of the rationale: ALIEN 3 "sux" because it's not ALIENS 2, whereas ALIEN: ROMULUS is safely unimaginative and is much more of an ALIENS 2 candidate than any of the previous Alien movies, hence why online critics and and a large swath Alien fans ("Alien fans" as in ALIENS fans and sci-fi action fans) are head over heels when it comes to ALIEN: ROMULUS.
For sure they're not the best Alien films but imo they're more interesting than Romulus. And yes, Covenant sequel please.
Alien 3 was savaged by critics. It was a film with a release date instead of a script. It also commits the sin of killing two awesome characters from Aliens, right at the beginning, offscreen! And people complain about Romulus? Alien 3 is a terrible film, no matter which cut you watch.