Film Name: 异形：夺命舰 / Alien: Romulus
So disgusting! So hungy! So exciting! So addictive!
This weekend’s release of “Alien: Romulus” will definitely be a challenge to the domestic audience’s “bottom line” of the film, because it is an uncensored R-rated film, but also a return to the “Alien” series of original characteristics of science fiction thriller horror film! It’s a sci-fi thriller that goes back to the roots of the Alien franchise.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a movie that can provide such intense audio-visual spectacle and sensory stimulation, and it reminds me of why the Alien series was successful in the first place: in the sci-fi garb and claustrophobic lining, it constantly amplifies the excitement and fear of the human physiological instincts.
Of course, it must be recognized that the horror, thriller films, due to its storytelling and depth is generally not strong, the core selling point and relatively “cheap”, there are also a lot of clichés, so the public rating has never been very high – but accordingly, this kind of horror and thriller and often can be a small But accordingly, this kind of horror thriller can often make a big success out of a small one.
Alien: Romulus is clearly an excellent genre film, with a great deal of back-to-basics and an effective eclecticism that gives it an aura of excellence that transcends its own subject matter.
(Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below!)
To get a better taste of Alien: Romulus, I went through a brief review of the four Alien films from the last century before watching the movie, and I realized something: the franchise’s signature has always been the “deep space horror movie,” with the core style laid down by the first Ridley Scott film, Alien, which is a great example of how to make a movie that’s not just a deep space horror movie, but also a deep space horror movie. Alien” directed by Ridley Scott.
Although the two new alien films in the last decade or so, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, are more in line with the aesthetic of the new century and have more room for in-depth analysis, they have lost the soul of the original “B-movie” after being filmed according to the specifications of a first-tier blockbuster.
So, when I saw this movie, I felt a sense of long-lost affinity and a familiar yet fresh feeling – yes, this is the retro sci-fi flavor!
The movie takes place between the first and second Alien films, and the story is simple enough to be told in a single sentence: a group of young people fleeing a mining-colonized planet arrive at an abandoned space station and encounter the monstrous aliens left there.
Aside from the simple, sharp plot, one of the first things that endeared the film to me was the way it was built up in terms of set pieces and props, as well as its overall aesthetic, which basically followed that of the first Alien.
It’s probably because the sci-fi films I’ve seen in the last decade or so have been so homogenized in their settings, almost all of which are holographic projections, streamlined designs, and minimalist operating styles that can’t wait for all the features to be available at the touch of a button. ……
So when I look at the old-fashioned, low-pixel monochrome displays on space stations, the bewildering array of function buttons, the densely-packed pipes and vents, the steamy, dark passages, I can’t help but think that goofy, old-school sci-fi design is the only thing that would do justice to an Alien appearance.
However, Alien: Romulus isn’t all about retro, it also puts in the right amount of what’s new now.
For example, the movie includes a lot of close-ups of the outside of the universe – limited by the technical conditions in the past, the “Alien” movie did not have such a good condition, but the film can be easily done.
In particular, the asteroid belt outside the space station, which could trigger a “crisis of destruction” at any time, is beautifully shot, fascinating and deadly, not only adding to the tension, but also making the movie a richer experience.
With that out of the way, it’s time to talk about the key aspects of Alien: Romulus.
In my opinion, the spirit of the movie is basically the same as the first “Alien”: deep space, lonely spaceships, claustrophobic spaces, dark corners, the exploration of the unknown, and scary monsters and terrified humans.
“The Alien franchise’s signature “facehugger-facehugger, chest-breaker-chest-breaker, adult-body-alien-chase/bite/pickpocket-spaceship” triad is also present this time around.
In addition, the movie also plays a lot of new tricks, out of the original for all to retain the feeling of watching, as well as in order to make themselves feel better, I will not describe in detail ……
In short, the disgusting places to the evil taste to a little stomach, but also really enough curiosity and excitement, I survived the physical discomfort for a short while, I get more and more satisfied with the freshness and coolness.
As for the question of whether it is scary, I don’t think there’s much to ask, it’s definitely scary. But the movie is actually quite friendly to passersby, although there are quite a few jump scares, but most of them will give the audience a little buffer, so as not to scare people half to death (probably).
And what impressed me most about Alien: Romulus is that while it stays true to the first movie as a whole, it also draws heavily on the features and experiences of several other Alien films, and the viewing is very layered.
The third act, for example, which garnered generally favorable reviews, can be described as climactic and richly entertaining to watch, starting with the group preparing to escape the space station and ending with the heroine, Raine, and the bionic man, Andy, getting out of the crisis.
The pace is slow in the early part of the movie, and there aren’t too many scenes of monsters attacking people, but after the atmosphere is set, the claustrophobic, cramped psychological fear will grip you at all times, and that was the biggest strength of the first Alien.
Once Reign and the gang get their hands on the assault rifles, the picture shifts, not only because the humans have the power to fight back, but also because it starts to move closer to the second Alien film directed by James Cameron.
Alien 2, while slightly less impressive than Alien 1 overall, is the entry that helped the series really make a name for itself, and thanks to more ferocious firepower and greater entertainment, its overall easier to watch.
That’s not to say the movie becomes flippant and mindless, but rather that it has more to play with.
One of my favorite scenes is the one where Raine and Andy are desperate to survive – they are treated as outcasts by the bionics on the space station, and due to the strong corrosive nature of the aliens’ blood, even if they kill them, they themselves will die of burns or break through the leaky space, and just as the two of them are waiting in despair to die, inspired by a cold joke told by Andy, it suddenly occurs to Raine that she can turn off the Gravity system, using the weightless environment to fight for a ray of life.
Although there are many sci-fi works that make use of weightlessness, in this case, Raine’s choice clearly gives the “shoot the monster” scene a complex flavor.
The first step is to swoop down on the incoming aliens, whose blood is a floating corrosive band that Raine has to find a way around in order to stay alive, and shoot if necessary. ……
This environment has been maintained until the two entered the elevator shaft, Rene even after the gravity system is restored, get the opportunity to “close contact” with an adult alien.
The Alien face-to-face scene is clearly an homage to the classic scene from Alien 3, with the difference being that the Alien there had already taken Ripley as half of her own kind, while the Alien here was preparing to take Raine back to use her as another petri dish.
That said, despite the poor reception of the last two Alien installments, Alien: Romulus still borrows some ideas and redeeming qualities.
For example, the “prisoner’s dilemma” faced by the protagonists in this film is similar to that of the prisoners in Alien 3, in that the Wieland-Yutani Corporation has a monopoly on virtually every aspect of human life and death in outer space, and everyone is inevitably a slave to it, a consumable.
The movie is even more of a tribute to Alien 4, as they come up with a human/alien hybrid! Blood! Po! Po!
It’s not like the white alien baby from Alien 4 that mixed the genes of both and took Ripley as its mother – the co-star who gave birth to it, Kay, was already pregnant, and it was only after she was injected with a concoction containing a synthetic of the alien genes that she quickly gave birth to the hybrid baby prematurely.
From the time Kay gave birth in the dormant warehouse, the movie went into overdrive. The hybrid baby was a monster in every sense of the word, but when it was hatched, it still had the characteristics of a human baby, so Reign went soft on it, but when the rapidly “adult”, tall, human-skinned hybrid baby reappeared, it made me feel bad! ……
It still had the act of being close to its birth mother, yet it still got Kai with its muzzle, and I don’t know if it was out of the baby’s instinct to drink milk or out of the alien’s natural instinct to bite ……
The design of this alien baby is indeed disgusting and scary, but considering the special nature of its bloodline and its relationship with aliens and humans, it’s quite significant.
I guess that’s why the movie named the ship after Romulus and Remus, and used “Romulus” as the movie’s subtitle. Except that the Wolf Boy doesn’t have much of a future.
I’ve said a lot of things in bits and pieces, so I’ll wrap up with one interesting point in the movie that I really liked.
After the hybrid baby gets on the mining ship, Raine, who lacks weapons, has to fight her way out of an extremely disadvantageous situation: she arrives at the mining box area, puts on an oxygen-absorbing mining suit, and defeats her opponent with her skill in the use of machinery, in a scene that reminds me of Ripley’s fight in the loading and unloading of the mechs in Alien 2, where it’s all about the “power of the workers”! “The scene reminds me of the fight scene in Alien 2 where Ripley is driving a loading and unloading mech.
Despite Alien: Romulus’ unexceptional storytelling and average characterization, with such a thrillingly over-the-top sensory thrill and sincere genre production, it’s enough to get interested viewers to rush the big screen.
Isn’t it enough to be able to watch it painfully?
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