Movies ALIEN: ROMULUS (First Teaser Trailer)

[Thrawn33]

I have hope

 

[MicroBrew]

I have reservations about this…

I have a lot ....a lot ... of reservations after seeing the trailer. Because it looks more like a jump scare movie; a movie where scary monsters and action is everything.

An Alien movie does not need to be non-stop monster vs. human scarefest; storylines and worldbuilding matters a lot.

The problem with Promethesus was the the scientists came out as dumbasses.

The problem with Covenant was that instead of exploring the Engineer homeworld and what Elizabeth Shaw and David did, Scott focused too much on sticking Xenomorphs into Covenent to satisfy the fanbois who were all clamoring for more xenomorph action.

This new/upcoming Alien movie seems more like another attempt to make the fanbois happy. I want to see an Alien movie focused on the Engineer homeworld, exploringthe Engineers / their culture and a more detailed look at why they set out to destroy humanity. We have tons of Xenomorph action; don't need more it.

 

[MidgardSerpent]

Poster looks fantastic. 0:24-0:30 and 0:31-0:32 look very video gamey to me, probably all cgi. The texture of the cryo chamber and the walls have that sterile uncanny valley quality to them. Cheap looking and immersion breaking. And a bit surprising since those kind of sets could have been relatively easy and cheap to build. The Indiana Jones trailer had similar moments of bad cgi, which is shocking considering the legacy and magnitude of these projects.

I guess I'm kind of over the Alien franchise because this teaser didn't do anything for me at all, if you ignore the title it feels like your standard action sci fi movie with some jump scares. It's probably compounded because I read the comics a few years back and I noticed most stories kind of repeated the same premise over and over, it gets kind of repetitive even if the base concept of the Alien and world-building is really cool.

 

[Bob Gray]

I have a lot ....a lot ... of reservations after seeing the trailer. Because it looks more like a jump scare movie; a movie where scary monsters and action is everything.

An Alien movie does not need to be non-stop monster vs. human scarefest; storylines and worldbuilding matters a lot.

The problem with Promethesus was the the scientists came out as dumbasses.

The problem with Covenant was that instead of exploring the Engineer homeworld and what Elizabeth Shaw and David did, Scott focused too much on sticking Xenomorphs into Covenent to satisfy the fanbois who were all clamoring for more xenomorph action.

This new/upcoming Alien movie seems more like another attempt to make the fanbois happy. I want to see an Alien movie focused on the Engineer homeworld, exploringthe Engineers / their culture and a more detailed look at why they set out to destroy humanity. We have tons of Xenomorph action; don't need more it.

The whole engineer storyline is tainted goods as far as Im concerned. Maybe something good could have come out of it, but they screwed it up twice, so they cant go back to that well. Alvarez' style isnt really jump scares, but racketing up tension and then releasing it with extended sequences (chases, "one thing goes wrong after another", shit hits the fan etc.). Im sure there WILL be jump scares, but in my experience thats not really his goal.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Lol. Ok. So Ridley Scott helped make the movie, then denied it, and then the director of the movie took his help, only to then to make up a story about Scott not having helped and they both conspired to tell a lie about Scott being invited to a screening in which he had no idea as to the contents of the movie. Because "logically based history franchise state of film".

It is my understanding that Scott scrapped his own planned sequel to Covenant, and let Alvarez run with his ideas and version. Both Scott and James Cameron were brought on board more or less as consultants given their histories with the franchise, but neither knew much of the recorded content or footage until their private screenings, and both were apparently positive in nature.

This film is slotted between Alien and Aliens, and even though I have reservations of the cast (seems awful young) and female protagonist lead (again), the trailer looks great and I would expect this comes with an R-rating. For what it's worth, I have long thought this is what the Predator franchise needs to do as well. We can do without the one-liners, just make it savage and bloody.

Found an article in THR that explains the casting choices and what lead to it, as well as how Scott and Alvarez connected. I found it an interesting read and am optimistic this film does well.

‘Alien: Romulus’ Director Fede Álvarez Unveils First Teaser, Talks Ridley Scott and James Cameron-Approved Prequel

The filmmaker confirms the project is not a standalone, but rather connects to the other films in the franchise: “I love all of those movies. I didn't want to omit or ignore any of them."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

will watch but need to see covenant first

 

[Adamant]

The problem with Promethesus was the the scientists came out as dumbasses.

The problem with Prometheus (and Covenant) is that they don't feel like Alien movies. They don't look like Alien movies, they don't sound like Alien movies. Covenant has aliens in it but it still somehow doesn't feel right.

I thought the Engineers were pretty terrible and wholly uninteresting. It was honestly a major letdown and super anticlimactic that Ridley tried to say those elephant things were actually "engineers" (the giant bald white guys). lol, no.


It just totally bastardized and spit in the face of the whole mystery of it. Which is why I will continue to disregard and ignore that lame ass shit.

I definitely don't want to see them, or anything from Prometheus/Covenant, again. Let's just leave those two absolute turds in the rearview mirror where they belong. Good riddance. (Ridley should retire. He doesn't have it anymore and hasn't for a very long time).

Thankfully this new ones takes place within the timeframe of the first two films and actually looks like it fits, which is huge. It actually looks like an Alien movie. I hope the story is good and the whole thing turns out positively. The teaser looks promising.

 

[Travis Alexander]

Well I’m fucking excited for this!

 

[MicroBrew]

The problem with Prometheus (and Covenant) is that they don't feel like Alien movies. They don't look like Alien movies, they don't sound like Alien movies. Covenant has aliens in it but it still somehow doesn't feel right.

I thought the Engineers were pretty terrible and wholly uninteresting. It was honestly a major letdown and super anticlimactic that Ridley tried to say those elephant things were actually "engineers" (the giant bald white guys). lol, no.


It just totally bastardized and spit in the face of the whole mystery of it. Which is why I will continue to disregard and ignore that lame ass shit.

I definitely don't want to see them, or anything from Prometheus/Covenant, again. Let's just leave those two absolute turds in the rearview mirror where they belong. Good riddance. (Ridley should retire. He doesn't have it anymore and hasn't for a very long time).

Thankfully this new ones takes place within the timeframe of the first two films and actually looks like it fits, which is huge. It actually looks like an Alien movie. I hope the story is good and the whole thing turns out positively. The teaser looks promising.

The bald guys in Covenant weren't engineers. They don't look like the Engineers in the opening scene of Promethesus and the Engineer who came out of hibernation pod.

 

[Substance Abuse]

It is my understanding that Scott scrapped his own planned sequel to Covenant, and let Alvarez run with his ideas and version. Both Scott and James Cameron were brought on board more or less as consultants given their histories with the franchise, but neither knew much of the recorded content or footage until their private screenings, and both were apparently positive in nature.

This film is slotted between Alien and Aliens, and even though I have reservations of the cast (seems awful young) and female protagonist lead (again), the trailer looks great and I would expect this comes with an R-rating. For what it's worth, I have long thought this is what the Predator franchise needs to do as well. We can do without the one-liners, just make it savage and bloody.

Found an article in THR that explains the casting choices and what lead to it, as well as how Scott and Alvarez connected. I found it an interesting read and am optimistic this film does well.

‘Alien: Romulus’ Director Fede Álvarez Unveils First Teaser, Talks Ridley Scott and James Cameron-Approved Prequel

The filmmaker confirms the project is not a standalone, but rather connects to the other films in the franchise: “I love all of those movies. I didn't want to omit or ignore any of them."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Thanks for sharing that article. I'm going to check it out.

 

[TCE]

Can't wait for this

 

[PeterGriffin]

The problem with Prometheus (and Covenant) is that they don't feel like Alien movies. They don't look like Alien movies, they don't sound like Alien movies. Covenant has aliens in it but it still somehow doesn't feel right.

I thought the Engineers were pretty terrible and wholly uninteresting. It was honestly a major letdown and super anticlimactic that Ridley tried to say those elephant things were actually "engineers" (the giant bald white guys). lol, no.


It just totally bastardized and spit in the face of the whole mystery of it. Which is why I will continue to disregard and ignore that lame ass shit.

I definitely don't want to see them, or anything from Prometheus/Covenant, again. Let's just leave those two absolute turds in the rearview mirror where they belong. Good riddance. (Ridley should retire. He doesn't have it anymore and hasn't for a very long time).

Thankfully this new ones takes place within the timeframe of the first two films and actually looks like it fits, which is huge. It actually looks like an Alien movie. I hope the story is good and the whole thing turns out positively. The teaser looks promising.

The fact you don't think Prometheus doesn't feel like an Alien movie works toward the direction Ridley Scott desired. Prometheus was never intended to be a direct prequel to the Alien Franchise, it was to explore its own ideas and mythologies. The first time I watched Prometheus, I hated it. Probably much for the same reasons you explained. After watching it at release, I went online to find out how they could have fucked it up so badly, and that's when I realized it wasn't supposed to be an "Alien" movie. (For movies I really, really want to see, I normally avoid all teasers, trailers, pressers etc, just to avoid being influenced). Having re-watched it knowing it was supposed to be a separate entity, I found myself actually enjoying it.

For example, the snake like creature that attacks Milburn, I'm pretty sure that was simply an indigenous creature to the planet. When Shaw gets knocked up by Holloway (after David spiked his drink with the oozed booze), she was going to deliver some fucking weird-looking squid. The weird looking squid did the whole throat fucking of the Engineer, and we get the first-generation Xenomorph. I guess throaty-dick needed actual DNA instead of a spiked drink to create the Engineer-Xenomorph. I might not even be right here, but it's a logical path to follow and why we never get to see a human-bred Xenomorph in this film.

Don't get me wrong, Prometheus certainly had its moments of "WTF" (Oh, I'm going to get crushed by a giant rolling metal Septum Piercing... I should continue to run in a straight line in its path!) and it requires the audience to think more than they normally would have to. You weren't supposed to like Vickers or Weylund, as both were intended to be assholes. Theron and Pearce checked those boxes. David mainly learned from Pearce but dealt with Vickers as well, so him turning out evil is not unexepected Him not having free will gave him purpose in creating beings that would, and of course Fassbender was excellent as always. Is there anyone who doesn't like Idris Elba or Benedict Wong, or have either ever done a bad role? They're the real heroes here. Milburn and Fifield, though played well, were used as comedic relief more than anything else and in my opinion was completely unnecessary for the type of movie they were going for.

The cinematography and score was pretty good. I thought the visual and special effects were very well done. All in all, it really wasn't a bad movie on it's own. If it was to be taken as a direct lead in to Alien (with no Alien: Covenant go-between), it would be an abomination.

It was Alien: Covenant that linked Prometheus to the Alien Franchise and tried to explain it all away without asking Prometheus' permission. Oddly enough, for all the shit that AVP and AVPR receive, Covenant dropped the ball much more than those two team-ups, it was a massive disappointment. It wasn't that it was terrible, but they could have done so much more with it if they were intending to develop it to link Prometheus to the rest of the franchise. I wish they hadn't, creating another storyline with different creatures/worlds/vessels could have been cool. Much like Star Wars is more than just the Skywalker/Palaptine foolishness, Prometheus could have evolved into something else unique. And the Engineers in Alien: Covenant were not Engineers either, rather one of the Engineers' experiments (presumably gone right).

All that said, and I know you didn't ask for a TLR, but when you said you hated Prometheus I knew where you were coming from. Most die-hard Alien fans disliked them both (Prometheus and Covenant).

 

[Bob Gray]

Maaaaan, he's saying the right things:

“I have this obsession with no green screens”: Alien: Romulus Director Promises Every Creature in the Movie is Real That Makes it Even More Exciting

Alien: Romulus' director confirms that all the creatures were built on the sets as he hates the idea of green screens.

fandomwire.com

“I have this obsession with no green screens, so we built every creature and set. Everything had to be built so we were really living and breathing in these spaces.”

“When it comes to face-to-face encounters and moments with creatures, nothing beats the real thing – For the sets, we built spaceships and we built miniatures. We went back to all of that. And then we figured out ways to marry it with the CG world. There’s some things that only CG can do for the scope and movement. So it really has to be the right tool for the shot.”

 

[Adamant]

Maaaaan, he's saying the right things:

“I have this obsession with no green screens”: Alien: Romulus Director Promises Every Creature in the Movie is Real That Makes it Even More Exciting

Alien: Romulus' director confirms that all the creatures were built on the sets as he hates the idea of green screens.

fandomwire.com

I wish more directors and studios followed suit. CGI is so damn lazy and cheap. (I don't mean it's easy for the people who actually have to make everything in the computer, or that they're lazy. I mean when studios just rely almost entirely on CGI for everything, it comes across as lazy by the filmmakers and studios and feels cheap).

Studios need to go back to practical sets, rear projection, matte paintings, models, miniatures, prosthetics, animatronics, stop motion, forced perspective, suits, puppetry......and then use CGI only to touch things up if need be. Hide wires, blend things, remove unwanted objects, smooth out some rough spots, etc. But otherwise, do everything in camera! If it was possible 50 years ago to make blockbusters work without CGI then it's possible today.

(I would even go one further and say they should completely ditch digital and go back to shooting movies entirely on film. Save digital for TV shows)

This guy is saying all the right things, and the look of the trailer makes it feel like we're finally....FINALLY.... getting a legit Alien movie again. I hope it is indeed legit and the movie turns out as good as the trailer makes it seem. It would be nice to finally have another Alien movie I can watch and enjoy outside of Alien and Aliens.

 

[tank666]

Not up to speed with these is Ripley dead now?

 

[eddymotto]

The fact you don't think Prometheus doesn't feel like an Alien movie works toward the direction Ridley Scott desired. Prometheus was never intended to be a direct prequel to the Alien Franchise, it was to explore its own ideas and mythologies. The first time I watched Prometheus, I hated it. Probably much for the same reasons you explained. After watching it at release, I went online to find out how they could have fucked it up so badly, and that's when I realized it wasn't supposed to be an "Alien" movie. (For movies I really, really want to see, I normally avoid all teasers, trailers, pressers etc, just to avoid being influenced). Having re-watched it knowing it was supposed to be a separate entity, I found myself actually enjoying it.

For example, the snake like creature that attacks Milburn, I'm pretty sure that was simply an indigenous creature to the planet. When Shaw gets knocked up by Holloway (after David spiked his drink with the oozed booze), she was going to deliver some fucking weird-looking squid. The weird looking squid did the whole throat fucking of the Engineer, and we get the first-generation Xenomorph. I guess throaty-dick needed actual DNA instead of a spiked drink to create the Engineer-Xenomorph. I might not even be right here, but it's a logical path to follow and why we never get to see a human-bred Xenomorph in this film.

Don't get me wrong, Prometheus certainly had its moments of "WTF" (Oh, I'm going to get crushed by a giant rolling metal Septum Piercing... I should continue to run in a straight line in its path!) and it requires the audience to think more than they normally would have to. You weren't supposed to like Vickers or Weylund, as both were intended to be assholes. Theron and Pearce checked those boxes. David mainly learned from Pearce but dealt with Vickers as well, so him turning out evil is not unexepected Him not having free will gave him purpose in creating beings that would, and of course Fassbender was excellent as always. Is there anyone who doesn't like Idris Elba or Benedict Wong, or have either ever done a bad role? They're the real heroes here. Milburn and Fifield, though played well, were used as comedic relief more than anything else and in my opinion was completely unnecessary for the type of movie they were going for.

The cinematography and score was pretty good. I thought the visual and special effects were very well done. All in all, it really wasn't a bad movie on it's own. If it was to be taken as a direct lead in to Alien (with no Alien: Covenant go-between), it would be an abomination.

It was Alien: Covenant that linked Prometheus to the Alien Franchise and tried to explain it all away without asking Prometheus' permission. Oddly enough, for all the shit that AVP and AVPR receive, Covenant dropped the ball much more than those two team-ups, it was a massive disappointment. It wasn't that it was terrible, but they could have done so much more with it if they were intending to develop it to link Prometheus to the rest of the franchise. I wish they hadn't, creating another storyline with different creatures/worlds/vessels could have been cool. Much like Star Wars is more than just the Skywalker/Palaptine foolishness, Prometheus could have evolved into something else unique. And the Engineers in Alien: Covenant were not Engineers either, rather one of the Engineers' experiments (presumably gone right).

All that said, and I know you didn't ask for a TLR, but when you said you hated Prometheus I knew where you were coming from. Most die-hard Alien fans disliked them both (Prometheus and Covenant).

Well thought out post.

My issues wth Prometheus relate to execution. Some of the scenes and characters don't make sense and I have always assumed that context was lost during editing.

Some of it was poor plotting, not editing. I hated the "scientist sees weird little organisms swimming in his own eyeball and says nothing but instead gets drunk and bangs his girlfriend".

There are parts of the film that I do like and I have no problem with it being so different from the other original Alien films.

It has always felt to me like a film that could have been really exceptional and it just never came together.

 

[I Am Legion]

I have a lot ....a lot ... of reservations after seeing the trailer. Because it looks more like a jump scare movie; a movie where scary monsters and action is everything.

An Alien movie does not need to be non-stop monster vs. human scarefest; storylines and worldbuilding matters a lot.

The problem with Promethesus was the the scientists came out as dumbasses.

The problem with Covenant was that instead of exploring the Engineer homeworld and what Elizabeth Shaw and David did, Scott focused too much on sticking Xenomorphs into Covenent to satisfy the fanbois who were all clamoring for more xenomorph action.

This new/upcoming Alien movie seems more like another attempt to make the fanbois happy. I want to see an Alien movie focused on the Engineer homeworld, exploringthe Engineers / their culture and a more detailed look at why they set out to destroy humanity. We have tons of Xenomorph action; don't need more it.

The reason why the 1st one was so scary and great was because of the slow burn in building the terror. The isolation, the darkness. I get it, the Xeno's are the star now. But that's because writers suck now. It's easy to just write jump scares and kills. The perfect movie has balance. The Engineers were never truly fleshed out and I too would like more there.

 

[Berserker13]

Well thought out post.

My issues wth Prometheus relate to execution. Some of the scenes and characters don't make sense and I have always assumed that context was lost during editing.

Some of it was poor plotting, not editing. I hated the "scientist sees weird little organisms swimming in his own eyeball and says nothing but instead gets drunk and bangs his girlfriend".

There are parts of the film that I do like and I have no problem with it being so different from the other original Alien films.

It has always felt to me like a film that could have been really exceptional and it just never came together.

They cut out the good parts... another genius hw move

 

[Osculater]

If the movie gets at least a rating over 6.5 I'll probably watch it on IMAX

 

[ObsoleteSoul]

I can’t help myself…. If it is part of the Alien universe, I’m gonna need to experience. Just is what it is. Fingers crossed, again, as this teaser looked decent.

Please. Pretty please, be good!