28/39
Andy: The solution for a claustrophobic astronaut is to give him more space
Scenario
While delving into the depths of an abandoned space station, a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. Director Fede Alvarez explains the rule he set in Alien: Romulus that “if it can be practical, it will be practical,” so the cast always performed opposite a physical representation of the xenomorph. Director Fede Alvarez sought out the special effects team from Alien 2 (1986) to work on the creatures. Physical sets, practical creatures, and miniatures were used wherever possible to help ground the later visual effects work. When Rain turns off the ship’s gravity and shoots all the aliens, all of their blood is suspended in the air in long, smeared patterns. Zero gravity in real life causes liquids to form spherical shapes, not spread out in long, flat pieces like in the movie.
Alien Theme Written by Jerry Goldsmith
The 20th Century Studios fanfare freezes and turns ominous, like in Alien 3 (1992), leading into the film’s opening scene. The logo itself suffers a static explosion and turns green. Featured on Nerdrotic: The Acolyte: Force is Female CONFIRMED? The Death of Movie Theaters – The Real BBC @MauLer @HeelvsBabyface (2024). By now in 2024, there are more bad alien movies than good ones. So something that pays homage to the originals really piqued my interest.
The opening scene was perfect
Visually, it’s an old “Alien”, albeit with a modern twist. It looks great, spectacular even, especially the space scenes. The main problem with the film is that there is no tension, no sense of terror, and it’s not scary, except for the last few scenes, which I enjoyed. The movie tries to force tension and intensity with another plot device besides the alien: the equivalent of a bomb timer countdown. It doesn’t work because it overwhelms the alien threat, they become awkward obstacles. The facehuggers have been reduced to annoying pests, something you can just punch.
I didn’t get the sense that they were being hunted
The aliens are cannon fodder and the cast seems to clash with them. Take the sentry gun scene from Aliens, for example, which this movie references. But you don’t see aliens die in Aliens, you do here, which makes them seem weak. On a side note, this scene also reminded me of the Starwars “boring conversation anyway” prison hallway. Many scenes played out like a QuickTime event in a video game, with characters over-explaining and then narrating their actions: “I’m going to press X to do this.” It’s like the audience needs to be told what they’re seeing and why they should feel scared or tense because there’s no tension in the scene, even though there’s an alien present. I have concerns about adding more laws etc to the franchise.
That’s the point of a monster
I don’t need to know how the alien works, it’s not scary if you know everything about a monster. They use this new found law to outwit some aliens, again it was like a scene from a video game. It really nails the alien aesthetic, it’s a high paced movie with video game level writing and characters. Kind of fun, but ultimately disposable. Whether they’re exploring the stars, escaping dystopias, or making the world a better place, these women are what defines sci-fi.
Leave a Reply