16/49
Andy: The solution for a claustrophobic astronaut is to give him more space
Tale
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 established on Alien: Romulus: “If you can be practical, it will be practical,” so that the cast would always be acting in front of a physical representation of the xenomorph. Director Fede Alvarez sought out the special effects crew from Alien 2 (1986) to work on the creatures. Wherever possible, physical sets, practical creatures, and miniatures were used to support the subsequent visual effects work. When Rain deactivates the ship’s gravity and shoots all the aliens, all their blood is suspended in mid-air in long, blotchy patterns. Real-life zero gravity causes fluids to form into spherical shapes, not distributed in long, flat pieces like in the movie.
Alien ThemeWritten by Jerry Goldsmith
The 20th Century Studios fanfare freezes and becomes eerie, as in Alien 3 (1992), leading into the film’s opening scene. The logo itself experiences a burst of static and turns green. Featured in Nerdrotic: The Acolyte: Force is Female CONFIRMED? The Death of the Theaters – The Real BBC @MauLer @HeelvsBabyface (2024). At this point 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 vintage “Alien/s”; albeit with a modern polish. It looks great, spectacular even, especially the space scenes. The main problem with the movie is that there’s no tension, no sense of dread, and it’s not scary, except for the last few scenes, which I liked. The movie tries to force tension and intensity with another plot device over the alien, the equivalent of a bomb timer counting down. It doesn’t work because it overtakes the alien threat and becomes inconvenient roadblocks. The facehuggers have been reduced to annoying pests, something you can just swat away.
I didn’t feel like they were being hunted
The aliens are cannon fodder and the cast just seem to run into them. For example, the sentry scene from Aliens, which this movie references. But you don’t see the aliens die in Aliens, you see it here, which makes them look weak. Side note, this scene also reminded me of the “boring conversation anyway” in the prison hallway from Starwars. 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 that.” It’s like the audience needs to know what they’re watching and why they should feel scared or tense because there’s no tension in the scene, despite the presence of an alien. I have my doubts about adding more laws etc.
into the franchise
I don’t need to know how the alien works, it’s not scary if you know everything about a monster. That’s the point of a monster. They used this new law to get past some aliens, again it was like a scene from a video game. It really nails the alien aesthetic, it’s a fast paced film with video game level writing and characters. A little funny but ultimately disposable. Whether they’re exploring the stars, escaping dystopias, or making the world a better place, these women are the essence of science fiction.