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Chris Gore and Alan Ng review “Alien: Romulus,” now playing in theaters.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:03
okay Allan alien ramulus is the latest
0:06
film in the alien
0:08
franchise we're now up to like what is
0:11
it seven movies for the alien franchise
0:15
is that what it is but this is the seven
0:19
film honestly I've only seen the first
0:21
one to be honest I've seen alien and
0:25
Aliens about a hundred times each all
0:28
the other Alien movies Alien 3 Alien
0:30
Resurrection Prometheus alien Covenant
0:33
I've seen those maybe once or twice each
0:37
my memory of alien is those first two
0:40
movies same with the Terminator
0:43
franchise this latest film has a a new
0:47
creative direction under the d uh
0:50
Direction and writing of fed
0:54
Alvarez Allan tell us the story briefly
0:58
of alien
1:00
and we will be doing spoilers for this
1:03
review you will be warned in advance
1:06
Alan take it from here all right we are
1:08
on a mining Planet somewhere out in the
1:11
universe uh young rain kerine and her
1:14
Android buddy Andy uh are there and uh
1:18
she has earned enough credits to uh get
1:22
off the planet and uh and live a normal
1:24
life and and maybe see the Sun for the
1:27
first time in her life but no because of
1:29
the need for for more workers and
1:31
laborers her time credits have doubled
1:34
and now she must work another five years
1:37
uh to to pay off her debts uh frustrated
1:41
she and her uh Young Band of jenzy
1:43
friends go off and steal a ship uh they
1:47
need to get cryopod so that they can
1:49
escape uh to uh to another Colony um and
1:54
in order to get the cryopods they go to
1:56
this abandoned space station where there
1:58
are aliens aboard
2:00
and those aliens are beginning to hatch
2:03
and uh and hug their way into existence
2:07
uh can they survive what's up with this
2:09
Andy Android are there any connections
2:12
with the original film well that's alien
2:15
Romulus well that's the setup of the
2:18
first maybe First Act of the movie yeah
2:22
first 20
2:23
minutes let's get into it I have major
2:27
problems this movie
2:30
is a greatest hits of the alien
2:34
franchise by a cover band you know I
2:37
I've said before um uh JJ Abrams Force
2:41
awakens I mean JJ Abrams is a George
2:44
Lucas cover band his Star Wars is like a
2:47
bad cover band this is all the sort of
2:51
oh I remember that remember that from
2:54
Alien and that's what this is It's and
2:57
that's what bothered me there's and
3:00
we're going to get into spoilers so if
3:01
you're still here spoilers are going to
3:05
abound my that's my biggest problem with
3:08
this film is the the the fact that it's
3:11
a cover band aspect it's like it's the
3:15
things you remember from other Alien
3:16
movies just not done as
3:19
well the characters are all gen Z they
3:23
they don't have the grizzled you believe
3:25
when you watch the first alien that they
3:27
are grizzled face truckers you know
3:31
they're like you you buy it they're
3:33
they're color workers yeah yeah just
3:37
like our parents were you know in in
3:39
this film I just didn't these these
3:42
these jenzy kids they're all orphans I
3:46
didn't really buy it the best actor in
3:49
the movie is uh or the best character is
3:52
Andy played by David Johnson CI spany
3:55
was fine as rain kerine
3:59
I just wasn't she didn't have the weight
4:02
of like a a Sigourney Weaver when you go
4:05
back and watch the first alien or aliens
4:08
look you know what makes it
4:11
scary and this is the the biggest
4:14
problem I have with this movie it's not
4:16
scary we've seen this before I never
4:19
feel like I already know that anyone
4:22
that's not the character of Andy or rain
4:26
they're all fodder to be slaughtered
4:30
right because they're not fully
4:33
developed all those characters are going
4:36
away
4:38
so I never felt any
4:41
fear watch Sour's acting why is are
4:46
those two first two Alien movies iconic
4:50
it's the acting it's not the effects
4:53
it's not it's the way sorney Weaver as
4:57
Ripley reacts to every
5:00
situation it's like you see this pained
5:03
look you see the real fear on her face I
5:06
never got that from any of these actors
5:09
I thought they were all lightweights
5:11
compared to the original cast they
5:13
didn't sell fear to me they it just they
5:17
just didn't I didn't believe it so um
5:21
and aside from the fact that there is
5:23
a a cameo from a Legacy
5:27
character in this movie took me out of
5:31
the
5:31
movie we're talking about the character
5:34
of Rook who is they discover this um
5:38
other Android who's left at the space
5:40
station his name is Rook who looks just
5:43
like Ian Holm who played Ash he's
5:47
another version of Ash I guess but he's
5:50
rook and he's on this ship and they use
5:53
it looks like they use a deep fake it
5:56
looks so in a movie that has actually ve
5:59
thing I'll complement this movie about
6:01
the effects are great mostly practical
6:05
the spaceship porn is on point the music
6:09
on point sound design on point and I saw
6:13
this movie in IMAX I've seen it twice
6:15
IMAX and Dolby Digital
6:18
amazing in terms of that
6:21
experience the weakness is in the story
6:25
The Script the story and the casting I
6:27
really feel the biggest weak points of
6:29
this and the
6:31
unoriginality of this I wanted something
6:34
take it further now we'll get into third
6:36
act later I want to hear what you have
6:38
to say Alan but I was profoundly
6:40
disappointed I just thought well I'll
6:43
just I'll just enjoy the spaceship porn
6:45
because wow that worked I mean the way
6:48
the ships moved you really believed it
6:50
the way they docked or moved around or
6:53
were in Peril um the sound design I I I
6:57
was all in I thought that was so well
6:59
done I really believe fed Alvarez really
7:01
good director really good director who
7:04
had perhaps some mandates from the
7:07
studio about we gotta have this we gotta
7:10
have this and the callbacks from
7:13
dialogue pissed me
7:16
off there's a there's a line you you you
7:19
[ __ ]
7:20
like it was just I I groaned a couple
7:23
times now I did see the movie with my
7:26
daughter she had a good time she's
7:29
watching ing the movie with their dad so
7:31
can I say I had a good time yes did I
7:34
enjoy the movie major problems um it's
7:38
not even the worst alien movie it's
7:41
mid-tier it's serviceable so um I
7:45
already did my non-spoiler review I gave
7:48
it a four maybe a 4.5 on second viewing
7:51
like oh some things I like I still can't
7:53
recommend it and we are not going to be
7:56
talking about this a month from now or a
7:58
year from now when they make another
8:00
alien movie after we forget this alien
8:02
movie so we'll get deeper into the
8:04
spoilers Alan I got to hear your
8:06
thoughts because you are not a big
8:08
horror fan yeah so I mean it sounds like
8:12
it's no longer the worst of the alien
8:14
movies it moved up a notch or two it's
8:17
mid it's mid it is the seventh
8:19
installment by yes okay so I saw I've
8:23
seen alien once uh and that was two
8:26
years ago because we were doing a video
8:29
about it which you can look up on the
8:30
channel um because and I liked it I
8:34
liked a lot it it was scary I I like the
8:37
gravity I like the depth of it I like
8:39
the the groundedness of it and I also
8:41
like the characters in terms of them
8:42
being you know the everyday blue collar
8:45
worker who who's been put in a dangerous
8:47
position by the corporate corporate Gods
8:50
above um I'll I'll I'll describe alien
8:54
ramulus this way um it since now Disney
8:58
owns the alien franchise uh it's as if
9:02
they built a roller coaster uh based on
9:05
the alien franchise uh that's what this
9:07
movie is uh I I'm not as held to the
9:11
lore as you are or as most people
9:13
watching us right now are um but I will
9:16
say I had fun I I would not say I I was
9:20
afraid but there were definitely Thrills
9:23
uh there there's definitely suspense
9:25
which I enjoyed um so I will say I was
9:29
I'm not saying this is the greatest
9:30
movie ever uh I can't speak to anything
9:33
regarding the lore or the franchise uh
9:36
all I could do is tell you when I sat
9:38
down in my seat for the first two and a
9:41
half acts uh I was having a good time
9:44
and then uh then the second half right
9:47
of the of of the film sorry second half
9:50
of the second act oh sorry right second
9:53
act of the third act and then the second
9:55
third Act is when I was like I just want
9:58
to go home now uh the second third act
10:01
in this movie uh was just you know so
10:05
unnecessary uh which is why I'm G to
10:08
call it the second third act because you
10:09
could literally cut it out and still
10:11
have third third act it had like two
10:14
three third actt like is it over is it
10:18
over right and going back to that
10:20
article we read um the to me where the
10:22
wheels fell off was when it went
10:25
CG uh because up until then I was I was
10:28
buy into it there there were other
10:29
things that bothered me which we'll get
10:31
into spoilers but I would say uh you
10:34
know I would give it a bare
10:36
recommendation I would also say I
10:38
understand for people who are hardcore
10:40
into the alien franchise uh I understand
10:43
why you you will not like this movie and
10:45
and I get it but in terms of someone who
10:48
just bought a ticket and wanted to have
10:50
a good time at a movie you know I got I
10:52
had a good time I I think this you know
10:56
it's like uh it's like getting shakes
10:59
light you know you you can you can get
11:01
all your friends to go see this movie
11:03
have a good time and then and then
11:05
afterwards you say but but hey have you
11:08
seen the real Shakespeare or have you
11:09
seen the real alien and then go back and
11:11
see it um but this is like I said this
11:13
is a roller coaster version of the
11:16
original well the thing with Ash that
11:19
was the thing that bugged me the most oh
11:21
let me ask you this was was Ian home
11:23
actually doing it or was it a deep fake
11:26
I it seemed like they aied his voice
11:30
and it looked it was definitely a deep
11:32
fake CG effect so he wasn't involved in
11:34
the movie it took me out of the movie it
11:38
really did it way took me out of it it's
11:41
it's a distractingly bad in a movie that
11:44
had lots of really good effects you know
11:49
so um Ian Hol passed away in 2020 MH so
11:55
they obviously went to his family and
11:57
this is a bad precedent are we we going
11:59
to get actors that look like are we
12:02
going to cast um actors that were dead
12:05
in new movies like they're already doing
12:06
it they're doing that with James Dean I
12:09
I don't know how far it's gotten but
12:10
there's a lawsuit that erupted from uh
12:13
crisen Glover he was not in Back to the
12:15
Future two and three they look found an
12:17
actor that looked like him and then put
12:19
makeup on him turned him upside down and
12:22
he's in Back to the Future too but it's
12:24
not crisen
12:25
Glover that's a the biggest failing of
12:29
nearly perfect films Back to the Future
12:32
two and three should have had Cris and
12:34
Glover yeah well but if you can now do
12:38
this it's why not just bring uh
12:41
Sigourney Weaver back for some reason I
12:44
I think it sets a bad precedent I don't
12:46
think this movie was was scary because
12:48
we've seen it before we already know
12:51
what's gonna happen yeah any sort of any
12:53
fear or trepidation comes from well I
12:56
know what face huggers do and what the
12:59
hell is the incubation period on an
13:02
alien now uh it's uh five minutes like
13:07
it was it felt the right amount of time
13:09
in the first alien they've accelerated
13:12
this where um uh uh an alien can
13:16
incubate your body in 15 minutes yeah
13:19
and then you can give birth to a hybrid
13:21
human alien xenomorph that will grow to
13:24
full adult size in five minutes yeah
13:27
let's not forget that talk about that
13:30
yeah let let's not forget that there's
13:32
there's a little timer in this movie and
13:35
this timer goes down and so you know how
13:37
much how long an incubation period takes
13:40
because there's a timer involved right
13:43
and you know yeah without getting into
13:44
spoilers but you know it's less than 15
13:46
minutes well I mean get into spoilers
13:48
we're in the spoiler territory now um
13:52
it's it's okay so we're clearly
13:54
establishing we're going spoilers right
13:57
now yeah I know been doing it look the
14:00
the the the thing is this at the end of
14:03
the day this is the corporate
14:08
mandated alien movie that's what this is
14:11
made by a very talented director who I
14:15
believe the director did his job this is
14:19
the movie you want me to make I made it
14:21
and he had good intentions I love the
14:24
the at least um the Practical effects
14:27
they used I love the spaceship the
14:30
spaceships I bought it because most
14:33
movies you see that have spaceships it's
14:35
like oh it went from here to there it
14:37
went from there to here who cares he
14:39
really built it up that it was the rings
14:43
around the planet that worked the
14:46
monstrosity of of the ramulus Remis
14:49
space station that
14:52
worked um they got into a little bit of
14:55
lore with the scientists
14:59
about that um why are they studying the
15:01
aliens well it's because man is very
15:05
fragile man is fragile so how do you
15:09
make um man less fragile is you you
15:12
alter the DNA to make a version of man
15:15
that can survive the elements on other
15:18
planets so that was really interesting
15:21
but that was very brief represented by
15:24
the dumb CG deep fake of Ash played by
15:28
uh uh Ian Holm resurrected with software
15:32
and I just it didn't sell it to me um
15:35
the bucket is better than the movie in
15:37
the end so it still is a past review you
15:41
know under a five for me but and not the
15:44
worst alien movie because so many other
15:47
parts of it really
15:48
worked I was and know the one thing I'll
15:51
give it to I was never bored it was it's
15:55
slow in the beginning but I'm interest
15:57
interested right
15:59
so yeah and that's why I give it a more
16:02
positive view I mean it's not like I was
16:05
disengaged uh the ash thing I didn't
16:08
didn't bother me because I'm just not
16:10
held tightly to the lore like that or to
16:12
not that big a fan of the franchise um
16:16
but I will say it just went off the
16:19
rails when okay so now we're going to
16:20
spoilers yeah let's get let's get to the
16:22
last yeah third of the film third act so
16:26
the there so in the first third act um
16:31
there's a part where they're uh they're
16:33
they're climbing up An Elevator Shaft uh
16:36
and then you know the acid is Flo is
16:39
there from the aliens uh I thought it
16:42
was interesting that they used the
16:44
anti-grav uh portion of they turned off
16:47
gravity in order to to to win um I
16:50
thought that was interesting but then it
16:52
really got CG heavy and and it's
16:55
noticeable that's the problem with CG is
16:58
we are attuned to notice what's CG and
17:00
what's actually real uh and then they go
17:03
into this final alien this new alien and
17:06
I'm like this is the this is yeah this
17:10
is you know you a movie should build up
17:12
to something and it build up to this
17:15
this humanoid alien xenomorph and it
17:18
looked horrible uh yes it didn't look
17:21
scary it's just stood out it pulled you
17:24
out of the movie and um and it was just
17:27
like this is not the right direction you
17:29
want to take this thing this is not how
17:31
you want to end this movie uh because
17:34
literally they could have just cut it
17:35
off before that and ended the film and I
17:38
think people would feel feel a little
17:41
bit better about the movie as soon as as
17:43
soon as as soon as the one girl said I'm
17:45
pregnant you knew yeah and the whole
17:48
thing is I wonder now Allan do you think
17:51
there's an abortion analogy in this
17:53
movie some abortion I don't think
17:55
there's any sort of overt commentary at
17:57
all the movie is not woke it's not like
18:01
at all like you know say I hate when
18:05
wait wait let me finish it's when
18:07
something's diverse that people say
18:08
that's woke not really the first alien
18:11
was diverse just organically just now
18:15
they push it so it's annoying yeah it's
18:18
it's a mandate as opposed to something
18:20
organic exactly and the abortion thing
18:23
look you know she uh she kept the
18:27
baby right
18:29
right she had concern for the baby so I
18:32
don't think this was uh this was a
18:34
cautionary tale about not get not having
18:37
abortions you know right right it wasn't
18:39
that yeah in fact I I would I would go
18:41
the other direction even though it it uh
18:43
no but but wrong there are two scenes to
18:46
pay attention to one there's a scene
18:49
where there's they find the alien cocoon
18:52
and the guy takes the cattle proud
18:55
sticks it up the giant vagina looking
18:57
thing to electrocute it and basically
19:01
abort the thing in the Cocoon then
19:04
there's her giving birth and the thing
19:07
comes out and it's all you know it's
19:09
like a Hu you know what it looks like
19:11
Slender Man or something like Slender
19:13
Man with alien like pointy things and it
19:16
looked just gross and grew in 20 minutes
19:19
it doesn't make any sense it doesn't
19:21
feel real
19:23
and at that point in the movie I believe
19:25
they had 15 minutes left before the uh
19:28
right right
19:29
crash um yeah well to your first point
19:33
um that would be like if you had a
19:35
chance to abort Hitler would
19:38
you you know Al I'll give it I'll give
19:41
it that one you know here here's the
19:43
funny thing so um the the overall theme
19:47
of what what got all these people in
19:50
trouble what got most of the crew dead
19:52
it was this attitude of hey we need to
19:54
go back for our
19:56
friend uh because they had just left
19:59
everyone behind and got on the ship and
20:00
got out they would have uh things would
20:02
at least turned out better for two two
20:05
or three of the characters in the movie
20:06
Indy the Android was the smartest one
20:09
yeah that's why I I liked his character
20:10
the best he's the best actor in the
20:13
movie he he's the best let me finish
20:15
he's the best
20:17
actor because he starts one way as this
20:19
kind of almost on the Spectrum weird guy
20:23
who likes dad jokes but he's he's
20:26
dedicated to brother why did call each
20:29
other brother and sister makes no sense
20:31
stupid but um you know fine and then he
20:36
changes when he is installed and gets an
20:39
upgrade so now he's on the corporate
20:42
agenda he'll still save them but it's
20:44
whole thing is he leaves the pregnant
20:46
girl behind the door right and says no
20:48
because if I open the door we all die if
20:51
I don't open the door and leave you
20:54
behind only one of us dies right so he's
20:56
he's just sticking with logic
20:59
yeah so well also they could have killed
21:01
they could have ended things early by
21:02
killing Navaro uh who right who had the
21:06
face Huger going um but it was yeah it
21:09
was this is this is the thing is you
21:11
know there is there is some nobility to
21:13
the idea of go back for your friends
21:15
leave no one behind but in this case in
21:18
this movie doing that actually caused
21:20
more harm than anything and you know
21:24
just there are and so no no I I just
21:27
want to finish by saying you know that's
21:29
a noble thing to that's a noble
21:31
attribute to have but to have a film say
21:34
uh no that's that's the actually the
21:36
wrong thing to do feels like it's you
21:40
know it goes It goes to my conspiracy
21:42
theories of uh you know these these
21:45
ideals these uh you know these values
21:49
that we have as human beings to support
21:51
one another to be to have friendships to
21:53
support our friends it feels like
21:55
they're this is kind of a subtle Twist
21:57
on that saying uh maybe you don't want
21:59
to do
22:00
that well look I just the my biggest
22:04
complaint my two biggest complaints not
22:06
scary and the greatest hits and they
22:09
repeat all these moments and do them
22:12
worse so there's a two I'll point out in
22:16
the
22:17
end when she is like she's the the human
22:22
alien hybrid is after her and she goes
22:26
into the locker and puts on the space
22:28
suit right but in the least sexy way
22:33
possible I'm uh yeah Michael seff says
22:36
in the I'm sick of act actresses with
22:38
zero sexuality she was not sexy
22:41
Sigourney Weaver was sexy no bra in a
22:44
tank top and this tight underwear sexy
22:48
subtle and sexy I don't need full nudity
22:51
fine sci-fi give me sexy at least so
22:54
they
22:56
were wait wait one more wait one more at
22:59
the end when she does the diary into the
23:01
recorder that's right out of it's the
23:04
same thing is the end of alien like so
23:07
the repeating moments just not as well
23:10
and not scary I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm
23:13
out I'm out let me yeah let me talk
23:15
about the sexiness um this is a trend
23:18
okay I'm gonna I'm gonna call it here
23:20
this is a trend going on um but there
23:22
seems to be a trend to make Asian women
23:25
ugly in movies yeah you know we have
23:28
Navaro here and that's the other thing
23:30
is there's an Asian actress with the
23:32
last name novaro and and when we if we
23:35
talk about another movie on the list uh
23:37
the same thing happens here but to not
23:40
give an Asian an Asian name uh and then
23:43
to shaver head and not make her look
23:46
sexy at all compared to the other two
23:48
women in the movie uh I think last week
23:51
we talked about um let's see uh the uh
23:55
you there's a movie you I can't even
23:57
remember her name but there was an Asian
23:59
in the movie and I asked you did they
24:01
uglify her and you said yes um you know
24:05
Jessica henwick that was it um because
24:08
she she's a beautiful woman but they put
24:10
her in all these movies and they uglify
24:12
her they don't make her look attractive
24:14
at all or or luring at all um and you
24:19
know and they do the same thing here uh
24:21
the the other complaint I have is this
24:24
crew of of jenzy Misfits
24:28
I they don't look like they could
24:30
actually have done the things and
24:32
survived as far as they had in this
24:33
movie to me it this crew looked like
24:35
they should have been killed way earlier
24:37
in the
24:38
movie uh and that goes to the point of
24:41
you know you strong people should look
24:43
strong uh you know athletic people
24:47
should look athletic that's not this
24:49
crew and and it you know it just seems
24:52
like okay we're just going to hire
24:53
pretty people except for the Asian and
24:56
then uh and then give them you know make
24:57
them look heroic and make him look
25:00
athletic uh you know they do a lot of
25:02
running they do a lot of jumping they do
25:03
a lot of fighting uh and I just deep
25:06
down it's like could they really do this
25:08
in real
25:10
life all right final thoughts Allan
25:13
before we go to chat comments okay so
25:15
despite all my complaints there uh this
25:18
is not a horror film it's a thriller uh
25:21
it's a roller coaster ride uh it's like
25:23
twister you know you're there moves you
25:26
from one scene to the next with the
25:28
Thrills and turns that you want um and
25:31
so I'll give it a bare recommendation
25:32
for that well I'm I'm a fan of alien uh
25:37
Alien and Aliens the other films are
25:40
almost dismissible and this is another
25:42
dismissible mid alien movie the best
25:46
part about it is that we got some
25:48
amazing buckets maybe I'll collect them
25:50
all
25:58
SM
26:02
[Music]
#Film & TV Industry
#Science Fiction & Fantasy Films