Alien: Romulus

Just that this is out soon, got me thinking about how it fits into the whole Alien franchise, so it’s apparently in between Alien and Aliens.

https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0zDYxT0upqioxYPTiTczJTM1TKMrPLc0pLQYAj00KDw&q=alien+romulus&oq=alien&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDAgBEC4YJxiABBiKBTIPCAAQIxgnGOMCGIAEGIoFMgwIARAuGCcYgAQYigUyFQgCEC4YFBiDARiHAhjUAhixAxiABDITCAMQABiDARiRAhixAxiABBiKBTISCAQQLhhDGIMBGLEDGIAEGIoFMhUIBRAuGBQYgwEYhwIY1AIYsQMYgAQyEggGEAAYQxiDARixAxiABBiKBTISCAcQABhDGIMBGLEDGIAEGIoFMgYICBBFGDwyBggJEEUYPDIPCAoQLhhDGLEDGIAEGIoFMg8ICxAAGEMYsQMYgAQYigUyEggMEC4YQxiDARixAxiABBiKBTIQCA0QLhivARjHARi6AhiABDIVCA4QLhgUGIMBGIcCGNQCGLEDGIAE0gEIMTMwMGowajeoAhSwAgE&client=ms-android-motorola&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=vclbx

The film I’d like to see is a follow up to Aliens, where they ‘gun-up’ and head to take on the Xenomorphs on their planet. An all action film.

It’s looking good, they used the many of the SFX teams who created the original film Xenomorphs, it’s all physical effects, and I think there are some production people who were involved with the two original films.

didnthurt

The film I’d like to see is a follow up to Aliens, where they ‘gun-up’ and head to take on the Xenomorphs on their planet.

Always wanted the opposite…. one of them gets back to earth

Few things in life are guaranteed. But these 2 are; firstly, change always comes. Second, any new Alien film will be disappointing.

Always wanted the opposite…. one of them gets back to earth

Isn’t that Alien Vs Predator?

Alien, Aliens and Alien Isolation are great. The rest are terrible films. Three had promise before the studio started meddling. Resurrection was FireFly with an Alien and Prometheus and Covenant looked pretty but were awful. Honestly think Alien Isolation may be my favourite Alien thing. I’d love Romulus to be good but I don’t think it will be.

IMO Prometheus and Covenant both suffered from trying to build too much other stuff on top of the basic Alien premise, that mostly wasn’t as interesting as Ridley Scott seemed to think it was.

I’m hopeful that this might be a more back to basics deal and I might be pleasantly surprised, like with Prey.

Another prequel really.

How long before we get Alien: Jonesy. From the cats perspective.

I’ve never watched any of the alien films

There, I said it

It’s not a prequel, it is set between Alien and Aliens.

Why come on to a thread about a film franchise you’ve never watched? That would be like me opening a football thread. Just **** weird.

While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

Sounds like the success of the Alien: Isolation game may have influenced this one. What’s the betting that if it’s between Alien and Aliens, one of the colonizers turns out to be Ripley’s daughter?

Directors cut of 3 was good, if you’ve not seen it then you should. Totally different movie.

Didn’t even know Isolation even existed, which one does it emulate?

Always wanted the opposite…. one of them gets back to earth

There are two Alien movies in production, I think the other one has a working title of Alien: Earth.

Didn’t even know Isolation even existed, which one does it emulate?

It’s most like the original Alien, it’s a (terrifying) stealth game where you’re pretty helpless and being hunted by the xenomorph.

Directors cut of 3 was good, if you’ve not seen it then you should. Totally different movie.

I remember watching an early dodgy copy of Alien 3 when I was a kid, it turned out to be totally different to the released movie, wonder if it’s similar to the director’s cut? I might need to search that one out.

I remember the Alien 3 computer game being good too.

Directors cut of 3 was good, if you’ve not seen it then you should. Totally different movie.

As a fan of the franchise, I despise Alien^3.  The Director’s Cut is nominally less dreadful.

Didn’t even know Isolation even existed, which one does it emulate?

It’s an in-universe video game. As mentioned above, the protagonist is supposed to be Ripley’s daughter.  It’s very good.  I borrowed it from a friend, spent two hours shitting myself, didn’t see a single alien. (-:

The premise of the third film was excellent, but setting it directly after the events of Aliens doomed it completely, mainly because they had to kill off two of the main characters of the previous film before it even started.

They didn’t have to.  They just did.

I think that’s what doomed it for me personally.  Aliens is one of my all-time favourite films, the opening 5 minutes of Alien^3 just shits on that entire movie and goes “yeah, that was all pointless.”  I was royally pissed off before the opening credits had finished.

I’ve since revisited it with an open mind and… it’s still not good.  I’d rather watch Resurrection.

Yeah it’s shit in that respect but otherwise a great film. I like it, I guess someone had to.

Saw the trailer tonight, it has some promise and some cool visuals etc but it didn’t <look> right to me. The trailer’s also kind of annoyingly flashy, and intent on showing you what’s probably a decent chunk of the movie’s plot but cut to the bones. Like, we know there’ll be facehuggers, we know there’ll be chest bursting, you don’t need to put it all in the trailer. it felt a wee bit desperate. I mean ffs you can get people excited just by showing a space jockey, and they know that. TBF if I’d seen it on youtube I’d wonder if it was fan-made.

But, hey, I liked 3 and Resurrection.

we know there’ll be chest bursting, you don’t need to put it all in the trailer

i agree. Though Alien was released back in 1979 when I was too young to see it in cinemas* and Aliens was out in 1986.  There may be an entire generation who are only aware of these things from memes and tropes rather than big screen events.

*first time I saw it on a big-ish screen rather than ropey VHS was at university film club.

I really hope it’s good but I’m not a fan of the directors other work. I found his Evil Dead remake boring. Just gory with none of the humour or creepy atmosphere of the original.  Don’t Breathe started well and the second one was awful.

There’s a script out there somewhere on the internet for the original Alien 3. Set in a monastery and has a scene in a field of long grass that one of the Jurassic Park movies copied and watered down. It seemed genuinely great and very different to what ended up being made. Didn’t the director disown Alien 3?

I think one of the big problems is that it would be hard to improve upon the first two films. They were such fresh ideas at the time. A bit like watching Predator for the first time and having no clue what it is.

The film I’d like to see is a follow up to Aliens, where they ‘gun-up’ and head to take on the Xenomorphs on their planet. An all action film.

An even mor all action film just like the all action film it followed? The thing I most hated about Aliens was the idea that the aliens are just expendable, it stopped being this terrifying unstoppable thing that you didn’t understand into a war movie. They may as well as been the hoards of the Viet-Cong they were meant to represent.

 the opening 5 minutes of Alien^3 just shits on that entire movie and goes “yeah, that was all pointless.”

while as an individual character Hicks wasn’t totally shit just derivative , the death (off screen) of the cardboard cut out ‘young girl’ character who’s entire presence in the film is just so that she can get rescued again and again was blessed relief. Alien3 is at least better than the film that came before it.

Alien Isolation is the computer game, which I suggest you don’t play in VR, unless you have some spare underpants at hand!

Video contains swearing…

The Alien/Aliens/Alien^3 universe did produce some books that fit the bill for corporate involvement in the bringing of the bugs to earth. Spoiler, it does not go well. I used to have them at one point, but I donated them when I moved. They are not terrible and, if done well, could be a good way to continue the series.

On the new film, if it is like Alien: Isolation, it could be good. It will be scary as hell.

the death (off screen) of the cardboard cut out ‘young girl’ character who’s entire presence in the film is just so that she can get rescued again and again was blessed relief.

Alternatively, they could’ve handed off to an adult Newt and retired Ripley / had her as a mentor figure.

Alien3 is at least better than the film that came before it.

Delete your account.

Didn’t the director disown Alien 3?

David Fincher? Nah, he was frustrated by the studio meddling but learned from it. Plus we got the Assembly cut (not the directors cut as I mistakenly said before).

Delete your account.

Aliens is a terrible film unless you’re watching it after a session in the pub, otherwise it makes no sense in its own universe, and makes no sense as a film. There’s a couple of snappy lines and there’s some cool machinery. After that its a run of the mill war film with all the cliches thrown in.

When Hudson says “Wait, is this a bug hunt” you can turn off the movie while saying “Yes, Hudson, yes it is”

At least Alien 3 has some decent actors, and doesn’t rely on bang-bang in place of a plot.

The film I’d like to see is a follow up to Aliens, where they ‘gun-up’ and head to take on the Xenomorphs on their planet. An all action film.

Nah, it’s been done once a repeat of the same plot (marines Vs aliens) is just dirivative now. The first two are fundamentally different films with Ripley being the common thread/character, they could/should have stopped after Aliens IMO.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and actually say the bit I like about covenant/Prometheus is the idea of David a mad as a box of frogs android who’s actually the creator of the aliens specifically to try and wipe out Humanity. Scott’s execution of the concept isn’t great, the pacing and convoluted plots don’t help. But the kernel of the idea I like.

Looking at the cast and crew, i think it’ll be a movie trying to give the fans what they want, but not quite doing it, i don’t think it has the budget or backing to really do well, it was originally going to be straight to streaming as well.

As for the whole arguments, the Alien franchise has always followed the era it was filmed in, i loved Aliens because it was a proper 80s movie, everything after that has either tried to be too clever, or try and change it up, not a lot has worked unfortunately, but reality is, there’s a lot more franchises out there doing similar or the same.

not a lot has worked unfortunately.

Because the original was fine, it didn’t need the alien ship explaining, or the space engineers or any of that shit. Movies work just fine without every damn thing needing a back story or an explanation or retconning. Annoys the **** out of me.

I’m a fan of them all, including Prom/Cov. Personally I’d say Resurection is my least favourite, but also think ‘standard’ Aliens isn’t that great after you’ve watched the directors cut, which adds in a lot more context. I don’t really know why the majority seem to be so down on Prom/Cov – i’ve found the whole thing really interesting and engaging. There’s a good series of 6 shorts floating around on Youtube done for the 40th Anniversary too. Looking forward to Romulus.

Alien 3 worked well as the book which was released before the film and derived from the original screen play iirc.

There’s a bunch of stuff in it that didn’t make it to the films & what we were left with was very ‘hollywood’.

Same for alien Vs predator, some of the books, actually, all of the books are better than the films.

As for the new film I’m  purposely not looking at trailers so I watch it with no expectations.

 I don’t really know why the majority seem to be so down on Prom/Cov

I think becasue lots of folks were expecting movies that followed on from the previous set, when in reality they’re more a re-boot. I like Prometheus for its themes of “who are we”, “Is there a god” “why has it left us” and the Greek and Aztec religious themes. If you ignore that the previous alien franchise exists, its not bad – It has some staggering plot holes mind, so there’s that, but overall, I don’t hate it like some others do.

I don’t really know why the majority seem to be so down on Prom/Cov – i’ve found the whole thing really interesting and engaging.

Agreed, I enjoyed Prometheus and Covenant, but then I didn’t go in to either film with an encyclopedic knowledge of the whole canon to date, ready to be infuriated by any inconsistencies. In fact I’d always understood Prometheus was supposed to be sort of ‘Alien-adjacent’ as in it wasn’t supposed to be a factually consistent prequel to the original franchise.

Aliens is a terrible film
…
At least Alien 3 has some decent actors,

But it is fun. Alien^3 is just dull. When I come to a movie like Aliens, I’m expecting Die Hard In Space not Schindler’s List.

I like films, there are few I actively dislike.  But I think perhaps my view of some is irrevocably tainted by my prior expectations vs reality.  I was so excited for Alien^3, and so crushingly disappointed by it.  It’s far from alone here, I paid actual money to watch Highlander 2 in the cinema for god’s sake.

it didn’t need the alien ship explaining, or the space engineers or any of that shit.

On this we agree.

The thing that annoyed me most about Prometheus – aside from it being twaddle – was that the crew were supposed to be the cream of Weyland, experts at the top of their game, and they all had the common sense of a bag of grapes. The cartographer gets lost; the biologist removes their PPE before poking an alien life form with their hand; the protagonist so memorable I can’t even remember her role now tries to outrun a big heavy thing by running in a straight line in front of it rather than taking two sidesteps and watching it roll on by; and so on and so forth and things of this nature.

But it is fun.

Yes it is, I agree, but it has some god awful plot holes that really shouldn’t be there. You could still have a fun movie if you filled them in, or just thought about it for 10 mins, becasue we’re all just there for the sentry guns, right? It treats its audience like they’re stupid, or that it doesn’t matter, and I hate that.

Alien^3 is just dull.

It’s not a video game made real, fo shure. The thing is; the reason Alien and Isolation work so well (and Alien3 for that matter) is that it gats back to the root of the thing. Single monster, you hardly see it, you’re defenceless against it, and it will kill you, no ifs buts or maybes.

The thing that annoyed me most about Prometheus

The things that annoy me about Aliens: Why would Ripley trust anything the Wayland Corp tell her. Why go all the way to Hadley with just a platoon of marines, why not take a Company? Why do they all go down to the compound leaving no one on the Sulaco. Why do none of them wear the trackers that Hicks gives Ripley, why doesn’t Gorman tell the Sergeant that they’re under a nuclear reactor, and on and on and on…Once you start seeing them, you can’t help but think it was written on the back of a fag packet.

experts at the top of their game, and they all had the common sense of a bag of grapes. The cartographer gets lost; the biologist removes their PPE before poking an alien life form with their hand; the protagonist so memorable I can’t even remember her role now tries to outrun a big heavy thing by running in a straight line in front of it rather than taking two sidesteps and watching it roll on by; and so on and so forth and things of this nature.

This is all movies, ever, though!

Why go in to the creepy looking cabin, why not have backup upon backup for the electric fences, why not check that your lover is ACTUALLY dead before drinking poison yourself, etc. etc.

the protagonist so memorable I can’t even remember her role now tries to outrun a big heavy thing by running in a straight line in front of it rather than taking two sidesteps and watching it roll on by; and so on and so forth and things of this nature.

‘Antagonist‘ surely? you mean ‘Vickers’ (played by Charlize Theron).

The protagonist survived to the end, only to be murdered offscreen by the mad android and experimented on between films.

I liked the Vickers Character far more from the POV of someone likely to survive an encounter with malevolent Aliens, she was written and acted as competent and decisive, therefore her frustratingly stupid Death was even more annoying. she was Weyland’s biological Daughter, who despised him, seemingly because he was more invested in his psychotic Android creation. a way more interesting character that Ridley bumped off before doing anything useful with…

‘Shaw‘ The wet blanket that survives to the end of that film, only to be murdered prior to Covenant, only survives Prometheus through a string of dumb luck and one improbable surgery. That on top of all the other idiot moves by allegedly genius characters does make the film a bit of a wasted opportunity, it was supposed to be doing some world/universe building but really just fluffed it…

But Shaw is the titular Prometheus. That’s her fate.