Alien: Romulus

The 8th film in the Alien franchise, does Romulus rise above the most recent entries and recapture the original's glory?
77/1003917167
Starring
Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux
Director
Fede Alvarez
Rating
R
Genre
Horror, Sci-Fi
Release date
August 16, 2024
Overall Score
Rating Overview
Story/Plot
Visuals/Cinematography
Performance
Direction
Non-Wokeness
Rating Summary
By sticking to the basics and casting talented performers, Alien: Romulus is a perfectly adequate entry into the franchise and certainly the best in many years. However, its generic characters and over reliance on plot convenience relegate it to fun and forgettable.
Audience Woke Score (Vote)
26 people reacted to this.
Please wait...

Set in 2142, between the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Alien: Romulus follows six young space colonizers who encounter Xenomorphs while scavenging for scraps on an abandoned space station.

Alien: Romulus Review

Few film franchises are able to survive multiple sequels. The quality quickly drops off as each subsequent film becomes less original and more repetitive, and they often become almost parodies of their early greatness as original cast members and creators become less interested in revisiting the well. More than once, a filmmaker has attempted to inject a sense of freshness into one of these flagging series with ill-conceived canon-breaking nonsense only to destroy the IP. One need only look at the disaster that is Disney’s Lucasfilm as a prime example.

That said, for years, 1979’s Alien and its direct sequel, 1986’s Aliens, seemed to prove the exception to the rule.  Alien defined the genre while Aliens built upon and enriched the cinematic world of the deadly Xenomorphs, finding new and novel ways to approach the material that made contextual sense and gave the primary protagonist an organic storyline in which to grow and shine.

X Marks the Spot - Follow us Today!!

After that, things get a bit divisive, with Aliens III and Resurrection splitting fans and the prequel and crossover films ranging in quality from unfocused and poorly thought out to embarrassing. So, it is understandable if potential audiences, especially those members who count themselves as fans of the original two, find that they are circumspect about Romulus.

On its own, Romulus is a decent enough action-thriller/horror film. Most of the picture is tightly paced with a fine build-up and pleasant rhythm. It offers more than enough jumps and scares to satisfy those looking for them, and it’s peopled with emotionally present actors and actresses who give authentic, if not gripping, performances.

The visuals are… well, they are a mixed bag. With one uncanny exception, that of an Ian Holm simulacra, never has an Alien film’s special effects looked more realistic. Furthermore, great and loving pains were taken to create a sense of aesthetic continuity between Romulus and the films that chronologically bracket it yet are 30 and 40+ years its senior. However, the movie occasionally falters in its lighting. While the ambient darkness helps foster tension, there are fleeting moments when the movie is a shade too dark, making the action too hard to follow and emotionally barren as a result.

As mentioned earlier, the performers are all top-notch, which makes their characters’ homogeneity and mundanity all the more regrettable. Gun to my head, I couldn’t have told you a single human character’s name within seconds of the final credits. I specify “human character” because David Johnson, who plays this film’s defective artificial lifeform, is not only the only performer whose character has an arc, but his Andy offers the only bit of originality in the entire film, limited and quickly MacGuffined away though it might be. Regrettably, the film also suffers from a lack of focus, giving us multiple tenuous subplots that do little more than provide serendipitous plot devices before they are forgotten or overshadowed by the action.

That said, originality is Alien: Romulus’ chief Achilles heel. The adventure itself is a meaningless asterisk within the lore, and its stand-alone story doesn’t provide the audience with new revelations about the film world’s past or present. The pretense employed to move the main cast from their starting point to the Xenomorph(s) house of horrors is beyond contrived, and, without exception, the action is singularly progressed via luck and plot conveniences. Most importantly, though, it’s all been done. Every beat and every scare has already been thoroughly explored in one or more of the series’ other films, with Romulus only mixing a few of them together in different measures.

On the other hand, by sticking to the proven basics and avoiding the rest, Alien: Romulus is effective, if not original or memorable. It is scary and tense, occasionally disturbing, and a fair bit of popcorn-munching fun. If you enjoy the theater experience and these types of films, you should buy an IMAX ticket and grab a matinee.

 

WOKE ELEMENTS

Everything Must Star 90 lbs Women
  • One of the things that made Ripley special, the character traits that kept her alive for the better part of three movies, was her practical, intelligent, and proactive nature.
    Spoiler
    The main gal in Romulus is just as generic as the rest of the bulk of the cast, and her survival feels preordained instead of earned. It’s an Alien movie; therefore, a female character must be the focus, and she must survive.

James Carrick

James Carrick is a passionate film enthusiast with a degree in theater and philosophy. James approaches dramatic criticism from a philosophic foundation grounded in aesthetics and ethics, offering insight and analysis that reveals layers of cinematic narrative with a touch of irreverence and a dash of snark.

39 comments

  • Rawfan

    August 15, 2024 at 11:42 am

    Woke rubbish.

    35
    14

    Reply

    • Dave

      August 16, 2024 at 11:16 pm

      How was it woke? Seriously asking…haven’t seen it.

      4
      9

      Reply

      • James

        August 17, 2024 at 1:46 am

        Did you know, Dave, that you are on a website, dedicated to answering that very question?

        Not only that, do you realize that you have asked your question directly beneath a REVIEW of the VERY movie you are asking about? A review that, in an impossible-to-miss section labeled “WOKE ELEMENTS,” offers the very answer you are seeking?

        And yet, somehow … you missed it?

        I guess what I’m trying to say here, Dave, is that if you are too lazy to scroll up a few inches to actually find the information you requested yourself … why should any of us do it for you?

        14
        24

        Reply

        • Jim

          August 17, 2024 at 9:32 pm

          Except that the guy who just reviewed it above said it’s not woke. Did you not read the review? That’s why Dave asked the first guy how it was woke.

          15
          1

          Reply

          • James

            August 18, 2024 at 12:58 am

            “Except that the guy who just reviewed it above said it’s not woke.”

            So when I first read this review on my phone, I ONLY saw the question from Dave. I did not see the post from Rawfan–JUST Dave’s post. I read your post, and went back and now I see RawFan’s nonsensical post above Dave’s … which puts Dave’s question in an entirely different context. I thought Dave was responding to the review, not to another poster.

            My apologies to Dave and everyone else here for my response, which I know realize was completely misguided. Sorry everyone.

            10
            8

        • Fatlee117

          August 17, 2024 at 11:06 pm

          WTF are you babbling about?

          3
          2

          Reply

    • Jim

      August 17, 2024 at 9:33 pm

      By that logic, Alien and Aliens are “woke” too.

      4
      9

      Reply

  • Aloysius T. McKeever

    August 17, 2024 at 11:38 am

    This movie is great ! I loved it .

    4
    5

    Reply

    • Jim

      August 17, 2024 at 9:34 pm

      Really liked it. Rain was an awesome final girl. Could have done without the CGI Ian Holm.

      3
      7

      Reply

  • Jack kroger

    August 18, 2024 at 7:25 pm

    Yeah first 15 minutes a black dude is beaten by a bunch of ignorant white folkd. Yes it’s 100 percent woke and this website is 100 percent bs

    30
    13

    Reply

    • James Carrick

      August 18, 2024 at 7:41 pm

      I don’t recall them all being white guys. But we keep the comments open and make the Audience Woke Score available because we understand that we might miss some things, or have differing opinions from others.

      Thank you for your polite and thoughtful constructive criticism.

      14
      5

      Reply

    • Jim

      August 18, 2024 at 8:23 pm

      White characters being cruel to a malfuncting black android is woke? My dude, are you feeling okay? Not everything is woke. Showing the cruelty people can inflict on others isn’t woke.

      9
      18

      Reply

    • James Carrick

      August 18, 2024 at 9:14 pm

      Never let it be said that Worth it or Woke doesn’t go the extra mile. Here are some screenshots of that scene. Between the brown color palette, the cinematography, and the costumes, it’s impossible to definitively determine the race of the three boys attacking him. One appears to be caucasian, while another could be anything other than black, and the third could be anything from caucasian to a light-skinned black person. His hair certainly looks traditionally black.


      16
      4

      Reply

  • ega

    August 19, 2024 at 4:30 pm

    One of my favorite aspect of this site is that comments are open and discussion is encouraged. Thank you! Love this particular sequel. It knows what it is and it doesn’t try and reinvent the genre, just give us a great Alien story.

    6
    1

    Reply

  • John Logan

    August 20, 2024 at 5:58 pm

    99% based?

    I am worried that the woke propaganda has reached a level of proficiency that it escapes the radar of reviewers, in this case of James’ (nice new picture by the way). Or perhaps James is more liberal than I am. I prefer not to consider the third alternative right now for the sake of maintaining hope.

    Here are some woke/propaganda elements that annoyed the hell out of me after going to the movie blindly after seeing the ‘Based’ rating on WioW (which I can no longer trust so blindly after this incident):

    [Spoilers below]

    – DEI cast: Two leads: one is (body-positive?) female, the other is intellectually-challenged black. (Intersectionality checkboxes: female, black, disabled, and possibly body positive).

    – DEI cast: 3 females, one of whom is potentially a non-heterosexual Asian with nearly shaven head, and the other one… Latino (?). A black android who is initially mentally limited who then becomes the most intelligent character. (Additional intersectionality checkboxes: gender (subtle), latino (?))

    – Mary Sue lead with no depth of character, reminiscent of the girl-boss of Disney StarWars (with only a faint imitation of Sigourney Weaver’s depth of character and gravitas).

    – White guys are either evil or weak (and insufferable)

    – Posthumous subversion of Ian Holm—one of the most beloved characters (i.e., Bilbo in the ‘racist’ Lord of the Rings) has been digitally cast as an (old) evil white male. Very likely intended as raising the woke flag, symbolizing even death cannot prevent them from conquering an iconic character/actor/symbol/perceived enemy.

    – A clumsy propaganda scene features a digital Ian Holm saying something along the lines of “The colonies were established through your labor; now we ‘humbly’ seek your assistance”—a reference to colonialism followed by some sort of apologetic plea.

    – Magical black guy trope (e.g., see the 2024 movie “The American Society of Magical Negroes”) and a character arc based on overcoming it: The black android’s ‘prime directive’ is to make the Mary Sue happy. Then this evolved into competing the mission/serving the company, and finally, into doing ‘what is good for us’.

    – The black android becomes the strongest and smartest character due to changing his previously limiting and oppressive slave mindset (i.e., his chip).

    – Subliminal messaging: Many shots of the black android from below after he transcends his slavery to the Mary Sue. E.g., he is on high ground and looks down on the white male and female.

    – Subliminal messaging: White guy kneels in front of the black android; it’s contorted—that is, this trope is plugged in without naturally blending into the story (also see, eg., Mandalorian); kneeling in that situation can hardly be justified, if at all.

    On the other hand, the character arc of the black android is notable. Initially, he is a slave to Mary Sue, then to the corporation, and eventually, he begins to consider his own self-interest. Changing the chip in his head serves as a strong metaphor for altering a submissive mindset, leading to a more confident, successful, and respected individual. However, true freedom requires also shedding this overly logical mindset and reaching a compromise between compassion/altruism/submission and self-interest. If this was incorporated without the propaganda elements shoved down the throats of the audience, it would have been a good, memorable character arc and a much stronger role model.

    And regardless of the propaganda elements, it is a bad movie that is merely a poor, soulless imitation of the Scott/Weaver’s Alien that feels like a teenage horror flick. This is also due to the ages of characters; there doesn’t seem to be a single adult in the movie except for the CGI-resurrected Ian Holm.

    Thanks for reading. As a note: I understand why WioW has audience ratings and I appreciate it. However, to get a meaningful sample, one must wait at least a week or so until enough people have seen the movie and given Disney/20CFox a substantial amount of money to fuel their further propaganda.

    Disclaimer: I do not read the reviews on WioW beyond the Woke Elements section. (If I didn’t see the movie, I don’t want to spoil it, and if I have already seen the movie, I don’t feel the need to read the script.)

    71
    12

    Reply

    • James Carrick

      August 22, 2024 at 1:00 am

      I’ll try to tackle most of these.

      – DEI cast – You claim that the female lead might be a body positive female. Cailee Spaeny is a relatively attractive and fit young woman who weighs about 115 lbs.
      Cailee Spaeny

      – The other lead is an intellectually-challenged black man, and you assert that his handicap and skin color are to check off intersectional checkboxes. I completely understand how you can get to this, however, while he is the first Black Synthetic in an Alien film, he’s not the first in the canon; that distinction belongs to the Shop Steward in the early ’90s comic series, Aliens: Colonial Marines. Second, although it’s likely the casting directors were eager to cast a Black actor in the role, David Jonsson delivers the film’s standout performance by far. At Worth it or Woke, we don’t consider casting the best actor for a role to be “woke” if their skin color is incidental and they aren’t replacing a legacy character. This is one of the reasons I dislike wokeness—it casts doubt on every minority hire, regardless of their talent and qualifications. It’s an unfair practice that undermines everyone involved. I’ve chosen to credit Jonsson based on the strength of his performance. Finally, the character’s intellectual capacity is a key character trait that drives both the plot and the main character’s interpersonal conflict. There’s nothing about his intellectual deficiency that didn’t make contextual sense within the film’s narrative. It felt neither out of place or agenda driven.

      – DEI cast: Yeah, there’s a mix of genders and races, with an Asian woman, a Latina (not the first in an Alien film – Vasquez) and a black man, but there were also three white people, the lead among them. Wokeness comes down to context. Does it make sense for there to be a mixed group of races as friends? In this instance, I see nothing about the world on which the film begins to be convinced that it should be more homogenous. Between the film’s color palette (a lot of browns and oranges) and the costuming, I thought almost everyone (extras included) did in fact look basically indistinguishable from one another.

      – The Asian woman is potentially non-heterosexual with a nearly shaved head: I didn’t see or hear anything other than her short haircut to give any indication of her sexuality. It seemed to me that her severe coif was more an aesthetic choice to further drive home the dystopian vibe of the main planet.

      – Mary Sue: I have to completely disagree here. Spaeny’s character wasn’t developed enough to be much of anything, not even a Mary Sue. Unlike Disney Star Wars’ Rey who is brilliant and perfect at everything she touches without effort, Spaeny’s character keeps a cool head which helps as she is lucked from one situation to the next. She exhibits no particular skill or special abilities. Even the gun she is given is does all of the work for her.

      – White guys: Only one white guy was evil and he was more or less a legacy character that was already established as evil in previous entries. The other one panics pretty hard, and the third sticks things out nearly to the end, being helpful and knowledgable, and leading until his end.

      – Ian Holm: Holm’s character is virtually the same as that of the original. He has the same directive and ostensibly the same personality program. I’ll grant that he was ham fisted memberberry nostalgia porn, but otherwise, I don’t see this one at all.

      – A clumsy propaganda scene: The “Company” has a long established history of abuse and colonization. The Marines in Aiens were “The Colonial Marines.” Their exploitation of people to serve their own self interest is a major theme in every single Alien film.

      – Magical black guy trope: I’m not seeing this. Yes, Spaeny’s father programmed him to take care of her and when given the Ian Holm chip, his directives were modified to that of the Company’s, but that was to provide conflict in the second act and as a poorly delivered emotional payoff in the third. It was Spaeny who changed his directive into doing what is “good for us,” but even so, so what? I’m not getting how her character having an emotional attachment to him is woke.

      – The black android becomes the strongest and smartest character due to changing his previously limiting and oppressive slave mindset: I think this is a mega-ultra doppler stretch. He was a damaged droid that got temporarily reprogrammed to create cinematic conflict and tension.

      30
      30

      Reply

      • John Logan

        August 26, 2024 at 7:27 pm

        Thank you for your thoughtful and respectful answer, James. I appreciate the time and energy you devote to comments like mine.

        I do not want to start an endless discussion, but I need to clarify my observations and respond to some of your points. Thank you for reading in advance.

        [Spoilers below]

        > “White guys: Only one white guy was evil . . . The other one panics pretty hard, and the third sticks things out nearly to the end, being helpful and knowledgeable, and leading until his end.”
        I disagree that was just panic. Closing the door on your friends and leaving them to die is a form of evil. In the case of Ian Holm’s character, the form of evil is the strong, calculated one. In the case of the ‘panicky’ guy’s case, it is the evil comes from weakness of character and a betrayal. Additionally, the panicky guy has been abusive and bullying since the beginning towards the black android, which makes him insufferable, which is designed to make the audience enjoy his death. As for the other white guy who is “helpful and knowledgeable, and leading until his end”: he did not look like he was leading when he knelt in front of the black android out of the blue, and begged, as well as in almost none of the other scenes. Generally, he was weak and ineffective. Here is also a possibly subliminal message: He was not allowed to go down in a blaze of glory; even though the audience was primed to think that he was going to shoot his gun at the approaching aliens (and he had plenty of time). However, the scene was suddenly cut and he was dead without release, emphasizing his ineffectiveness. (I don’t believe this is nitpicking, but, unfortunately, it is skillful, subtle propaganda). Overall, the only moral, strong, and effective characters were the black guy and the female lead—the disadvantaged groups according to the Ministry of Truth. (Of course, the black android alternated between moral and intelligent).

        > “Magical black guy trope: I’m not seeing this.”
        What I meant in my original comment was that the entire character arc for the black synthetic is based on him overcoming the magical black guy trope—that is, slavery, or the slavery mindset. He starts off as a being that exists to serve a white woman (slave), then to serve a company (slave), and then to the white woman and himself (individual). As I pointed out in my original comment, this is actually a character arc many of us can resonate with and there is nothing inherently wrong with it. However, in the context of other propaganda elements, the arc loses its nobility and betrays being just another trope dictated by The Ministry of Truth. So, a proper name for this would be Anti-magical black guy trope or character arc.

        > “The black android becomes the strongest and smartest character due to changing his previously limiting and oppressive slave mindset: I think this is a mega-ultra doppler stretch. He was a damaged droid that got temporarily reprogrammed to create cinematic conflict and tension.”
        I don’t see how it is a mega-ultra doppler stretch.
        Scene 1 – Primary directive (due to the chip in the neck): Serve the white woman. Behaviour: Simple and docile.
        Scene 2 – Switch/’Upgrade’ the chip. New primary directive: Serve the company. New behaviour: Super intelligent, rational, and strong. Camera: Low angle to create impressions of superiority.
        Scene 3 – Switch the chip once again. New primary directive: Serve the white woman and himself. New behaviour: Simple and docile but now protects self-interest.
        The fact that these changes created cinematic tension does not falsify the argument that the black android changed his mindset (in scenes 2 and 3 above) and became the most powerful character as a result for the majority of the movie. This trope derives from the ‘oppressed female/minority’ trope. Good examples are the first Captain Marvel of the MCU and X-Men Dark Phoenix, where both female leads actually had immense power but the powers were latent due to being oppressed by a white male. By defying their oppressors, they unlocked their full potential. Granted, the black android has some twists of this trope: the first white oppressor is not evil and not male (therefore, how can she be evil, right?), and there is a second character (Ian Holm, who, in fact, also plays a white male oppressor) who redeems him from the first oppressor and lets the black android manifest his latent powers. The propaganda value comes not from the exact adherence to the trope. It comes from showing (over, and over, and over, and over again) that a disadvantaged population (women, blacks, etc) has latent powers that are kept in check by an oppressor who is a member of the majority (white males, and to a lesser extent, white females). If only the oppressed could rise against their masters. Which is a good message actually, but detracts from the nobility of the original message when racialized or ‘genderized’ this way (read: we are all slaves; not just blacks or women).

        > “The ‘Company’ has a long established history of abuse and colonization. The Marines in Aiens were ‘The Colonial Marines.’ Their exploitation of people to serve their own self interest is a major theme in every single Alien film.”
        I agree to some extent. However, given the context of the other woke elements I mentioned, that scene where Ian Holm tells the black synth that the colonies were built on his back and then he apologetically and ‘humbly’ asks for his help while himself is crippled and dying is highly symbolic. That scene—along with the scene where the only half-decent white guy kneels in front of the black android, and begs—looks like it is directly prescribed by the Ministry of Truth.

        > “I completely understand how you can get to this, however, while he is the first Black Synthetic in an Alien film, he’s not the first in the canon; that distinction belongs to the Shop Steward in the early ’90s comic series, Aliens: Colonial Marines.”
        Thanks for empathizing with my point of view. However, it’s important to consider the context in which certain cultural gestures or actions were made, especially when it comes to issues of representation and propaganda. The current culture-war era is different from the pre-culture-war era of the 80s and 90s. It’s not necessarily fair or accurate to use past gestures made by authors of a different era as justification for present-day propaganda. In the case of pre-culture-war gestures, such as including a black character in comics from the 80s and 90s, I believe these actions were often made out of a common-sense version of inclusivity and representation, rather than the aggressive woke propaganda of today. Your (admirable) unearthing a 30-year old gesture made to minorities in a different context, especially in a different medium like comics, can be seen as an archaeological effort. While I admire your depth of knowledge of the art, in my opinion, it’s not ‘based’ to bring up a pre-culture-war relic and use it for justification of propaganda in the current culture war era. What was not a weapon back then, is now a weapon. If you excuse me for using a crude but great expression I read the other day on a forum, your defense of the DEI casting is like someone telling me that “it’s raining” while Disney (and their subsidiary ’20th Century Fox’) is “pissing on my leg”.

        > “DEI cast: Yeah, there’s a mix of genders and races, with an Asian woman, a Latina (not the first in an Alien film – Vasquez) and a black man, but there were also three white people, the lead among them.”
        White women is also considered is also considered a disadvantaged minority according to the Ministry of Truth, so please count that out. This movie has 100% DEI casting.

        > “although it’s likely the casting directors were eager to cast a Black actor in the role, David Jonsson delivers the film’s standout performance by far. At Worth it or Woke, we don’t consider casting the best actor for a role to be “woke” if their skin color is incidental and they aren’t replacing a legacy character. This is one of the reasons I dislike wokeness—it casts doubt on every minority hire, regardless of their talent and qualifications. It’s an unfair practice that undermines everyone involved. I’ve chosen to credit Jonsson based on the strength of his performance. ”
        Yes, but the “99% Based” rating of the entire movie, not of Jonsson’s acting ability (which I agree that was very high). Let me put it this way:
        – Until recently: DEI cast featured talentless actors and actresses.
        – Recently: DEI cast started to feature talented actors and actresses.
        – All along: The casts have been DEI.
        The Ministry of Truth realized that they cannot be woke BOTH in casting (what the audience sees) and recruiting (how they select someone for the role). Now, the meritocracy seems to be back in recruiting: someone has to be hired not only based on skin color and gender, but also based on talent. After all, the past years have shown that this talent is necessary for successful propaganda. And DEI talent, besides increasing the strength of the propaganda through stronger characters, is an effective measure for calming down the center-leaning critics.

        As for your insightful comment “This is one of the reasons I dislike wokeness—it casts doubt on every minority hire, regardless of their talent and qualifications.”—I agree. This is the woke machinations backfiring. 10 years ago, almost none of us would have doubted a brain surgeon’s or airplane pilot’s qualifications due to being a racial minority or female. (On the contrary, I would have trusted his/her skills more, as he/she probably had to be very good to overcome all biases stacked against minorities or women.) Today, we have the concept of DEI hire even in these positions. However, when it comes to movies, I think it is not that complicated to detect wokeness: an actor or actress may be super-talented, but if the cast is DEI (context 1) and there are other DEI elements such as all white males being evil or weak (context 2), the casting and roles were created with propaganda in mind. I am in no position to tell you that you should change your criteria, but given the rampant Hollywood propaganda of the past years (context 3) I must also point out that the casting is not incidental if it is designed to check all DEI boxes, namely race, gender, and disability. In my opinion, this is true even if the sci-fi setting (context 4) seemingly justifies such ‘perfect’ diversity as you say.

        > “Wokeness comes down to context. Does it make sense for there to be a mixed group of races as friends?
        I would not have a problem with a mixed group of races as friends if the movie…”
        1. …was not made in the culture wars era (the larger context in which all this thing transpires, which I think should also be considered)
        2. …did not contain other woke elements (which provide another context in which the DEI casting should be interpreted). Some of these woke elements directly related to characters (such as making the white males weak or evil).
        Simply put, in my opinion: DEI cast (+ other propaganda tropes of the Ministry of Truth) = Woke.

        > “The Asian woman is potentially non-heterosexual with a nearly shaved head: . . . It seemed to me that her severe coif was more an aesthetic choice to further drive home the dystopian vibe of the main planet.”
        I can agree with you for the most part. I don’t have strong feelings about this one. However, please consider that the golden rule of propaganda is “repeat-repeat-repeat”. Every movie should include a masculine female one way or the other according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Truth.

        > “Mary Sue: . . . I have to completely disagree here. Spaeny’s character wasn’t developed enough to be much of anything, not even a Mary Sue. Unlike Disney Star Wars’ Rey who is brilliant and perfect at everything she touches without effort, Spaeny’s character keeps a cool head which helps as she is lucked from one situation to the next. She exhibits no particular skill or special abilities. Even the gun she is given is does all of the work for her.”
        I agree to an extent, especially given the zero character development. However, the universe seems to bend to her will without requiring any skill from her, just because. I think the woke Mary Sue trope is still evolving and it is reasonable to assume that we will see many variants of it, one of which is the Mary Sue whose divine ‘skill’ is luck. Sigourney Weaver’s character convinced me she was a tough woman who deserved to survive. Romulus chick did not; she survived and killed tens of aliens (where even one should have been enough to wipe the entire group out) because she was destined to do so (or ‘just because’). In the end, the message to the impressionable audience (young, teenage, child) is the same with the Star Wokes franchise: you can win without effort, because you are young, female, etc. (or ‘just because’).

        > “Cailee Spaeny is a relatively attractive and fit young woman who weighs about 115 lbs.”
        Valid. I misinterpreted your “Everything must star 90 lbs women” comment in the Woke Elements section. She did not seem very body positive to me, but I thought that was what you meant, which is why I included a question mark in my original comment—to acknowledge what I thought was your point of view.

        > “Ian Holm: Holm’s character is virtually the same as that of the original. He has the same directive and ostensibly the same personality program. ”
        I must admit that I do not recall Ian Holm’s character in the previous movies. I got to know him thanks to his role in The Hobbit, and started to notice him in movies after that. So, I’ll trust you on this one.

        Overall, my fear that the propaganda is getting subtler, or that you are more liberal, seems to be justified. I can only hope that my points make some sense to you, and maybe also a dent in how you view this and future movies. I think what you created here is very important and I have tremendous respect for your continued efforts. However, I would love to see you a bit more critical than giving a 99% based rating to a movie like this. I hope you would consider it.

        Thanks for reading.

        26
        5

        Reply

        • Sweet Deals

          August 26, 2024 at 10:35 pm

          I stopped paying attention to Alien after Prometheus. I just wanted to talk about the lucky/lazy heroine.

          I greatly disliked Disney’s Moana, mostly because its humor was annoying. The movie sets up Moana as an “independently thinking heroine”, except everything she does is someone else’s idea. Moana is groomed to become chief of her tribe not because she wants to, but because her father does. Moana leaves her island not because she wants to, but because her grandmother planted that seed in her head. Moana goes on a quest to return a magical rock to its rightful owner not because she wants to, but because the Ocean demanded it of her. Even Moana’s companion Maui makes it very clear that he doesn’t want to go on the quest, but he ends up railroaded into it. There’s a part where Maui brutally shoves Moana off of her raft, only for the Ocean to blatantly violate the laws of physics and shove her back on, as if to say that both heroes are obligated to stay on course and are not allowed to back out or fail. (If the Ocean could interfere this directly with mortals, one wonders why the Ocean bothered recruiting them instead of returning the rock by itself. I guess it wanted to teach Maui a lesson or something).

          I had a similar reaction to Rey in The Force Awakens. Rey is instantly good at everything, but going on the adventure wasn’t her idea. She didn’t want to rescue the droid at first, didn’t want to leave her home planet, and didn’t even want to become a Jedi. All those things were, shall I say, Forced onto her. If she had made her own choices instead of following the plot, she would have stayed home starving to death waiting for a family that would never arrive.This isn’t new, because I heard complaints about this going back all the way to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. In that movie, Alice is also billed as an “independent thinker”, but spends the movie wandering around acting confused while other characters debate whether she’s meant to fulfill a prophecy or not. I remember Spy Kids 4 was really terrible; not only were the next generation kids annoying, but throughout the film they are either railroaded by gadgets or instructed to sit things out while the adults take care of everything. By the time they finally get the idea in their heads that real heroes should make their own choices, the realization happens so late in the game and comes so forced that it doesn’t really pay off.

          I wouldn’t know how woke that is; I just think that a lot of action genre writers are either lazy or short on time and rely heavily on sudden fiats and tired clichés to keep the plot moving.

          3
          1

          Reply

        • Bronson

          August 27, 2024 at 6:01 am

          Like John Logan, I found this movie to be pretty darn woke, for all the reasons he listed. Overall though I did enjoy the film.

          One thing that seems to have been overlooked is that Archie Renaux is in fact mixed-race (anglo-indian as noted on his wikipedia page). It would seem this gives him sufficient non-white credentials to be depicted in the film as fairly likeable and competent, despite eventually sacrificing his own life so that Marie-Sue can fulfill her destiny with her android of color.

          8
          1

          Reply

        • Stalinboy

          August 29, 2024 at 4:40 am

          Wife wants to see this movie today, your comments are the only based ones here, the liberal cope may be the most prolific but we’re here where we are today because of prolific cultural laziness. The kneeling thing… really people don’t get how movies are directed deliberately in every element such as that? Talk about naive. I’m out. (Its Disney ffs). Thanks for saving me the money!

          8
          1

          Reply

      • Ktuff_morning

        September 1, 2024 at 1:53 am

        You’re writing and analysis are improving. This response is some of your best stuff yet. You’re still prone to hyperbole in your reviews though. Your judgment for when and where to make assertions is a little off. Experiment with implicit criticism over explicit, trust your reader’s imagination to get your point (that part is actually fun for the reader) and as always watch the cognitive distortions; generalizing, magnification, labeling, etc. Humor might be the missing ingredient. If you’re hyperbole was funny then you might have something. Perhaps something like instead of “disaster that is Disney’s Lucasfilm” you might say the “Disney corporation’s besnotted Lucasfilm”. Yes, woke is srs bzns but shooting fish in a barrel is always funny.

        1
        3

        Reply

    • John

      August 30, 2024 at 12:21 pm

      Need to file this under “…once you know the woke agenda, you can’t help but see it”

      10
      1

      Reply

    • Arkane

      September 16, 2024 at 1:37 pm

      Thanks for the comment. As a minority I hate DEI in movies just for the sake of it. Drives me crazy and so many movies are doing it these days. Then you get the 90 pound girl beating up men twice her size with ease. Also, said girl is smarter then Einstein. I also hate spoiling a movie and back in the day would never look at any reviews. However, in today’s woke age, its way too risky to watch a movie in the cinema without checking how woke it is. At home, you can always fast forward or turn it off but at the movies, you’ve already spent your hard earned cash and have to sit through the nonsense.

      4
      1

      Reply

  • Chris

    August 21, 2024 at 7:16 pm

    Thank you John Logan for your review. If even half of that is accurate its enough to keep me away from that movie.

    12
    3

    Reply

  • Dan

    August 26, 2024 at 10:21 am

    I loved reading all the reviews, and even though Carrick is rather lax on giving films the “woke” treatment, it is clear as day that the percentage of based movies is VERY low in this day and age. I didn’t go see the new Transformers movie because I did my research. I waited until it was free to watch somewhere and it proved to me that I would never spend money on it to add to my collection of the other 6 movies.

    I read EVERYTHING I can find on movies before I offer up my hard earned cash to pay for this “white hatred” that is being spewed in movies. That is number one to me. If even it is a joke in passing like in Transformers where “white people love that…” when referring to jokes, gets a hard pass from me. Are they saying that ONLY white people love jokes? Are they saying that black people and Asians and even Mexicans don’t like jokes? I know what they were trying to do and it was enough for me to turn it off.

    I knew that the new Alien movie would be a disaster so I didn’t go see it. I am not one who gets his undies in a bunch whenever someone spoils something for me. I just don’t care. I will find out eventually anyways, so it’s no big deal to me. So I read every review I can find to see if it’s worth my money. This new Alien movie… is not. Despite Carrick’s verbal gymnastics to try to make the movie appealing and “not woke” it is most definitely woke. Back when the previous Alien movies were made, there wasn’t this forcing of getting EVERY SINGLE RACE into the movie to please every single race, it was done fluidly. Every movie in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s were not forced at all. They were fluid. And the jokes, EVERYONE was made fun of. Gay people, white people, black people, Mexican people, Asian people. And no one melted. Now, it’s ONLY white people who are the target of Hollywood and the actors in thier crummy shows and movies.

    I have my 70’s and 80’s and 90’s movies and TV shows to keep me company. I don’t need the new stuff that is being put out today. I am done with even trying anymore. No more movies are getting my money. So sick that everything has to be gay, woke, DEI, and remade. I am done.

    8
    2

    Reply

  • John Logan

    August 29, 2024 at 7:55 pm

    Cheers! Made my day to hear.

    2
    2

    Reply

  • Andy

    August 30, 2024 at 1:05 pm

    Long time Alien fan.

    Having seen this, the cast was obviously a Disney mandated DEI full spread, and I kept thinking that Cailee Spaeny and David Johnson might as well have been Daisy Ridley and John Boyega from Star Wars, as it had obviously been mandated by Disney that a woman and a black guy run the movie. The acting was generally good all around but the aforementioned DEI elements were distracting.

    Also the movie was mostly direct callbacks and scenarios from the earlier movies spliced together, with a handful of lines of dialogue directly stolen from those movies. All in all it was decently entertaining on its own but was basically a reboot for a “modern audience”.

    With all the popular franchises now being owned by mega corporations that get ESG dollars from Black Rock and Vanguard, it seems like any good original entertainment will likely come from smaller independent projects.

    7
    1

    Reply

  • Ktuff_morning

    September 2, 2024 at 12:58 am

    Woke diversity hires. Of course. However, they also happened to choose the right actors. The android guy stole the movie, in fact. NOT a contradiction because, let’s get real, you know they were going to put in a black actor in the main cast no matter what. And that should always be pointed out.

    Woke villain. Say what? Well the fact remains up on that screen was a grotesque horrifying-looking human/alien hybrid creature who also happened to be, you guessed it, a white male. And that should always be pointed out.

    Is the female heroine is an untouchable dominant god? mmm…not as such. I don’t think there’s any woke calculation because a) they’re keeping the format of the female single heroine survivor and b) she may have survived for the sake of a sequel which would be a money decision. How about the ending of Alien: Covenant by the way? Turns out she wasn’t the god after all was she? Hahaha!

    Worth it? Almost. That last villain was worth half the price of admission. The FX looked fantastic. Some cool ideas. Honestly though halfway through I just wanted to leave. If it was on TV at home I would have taken a break and maybe never come back to it. I’m glad I got through it. Worth a rental let’s say.

    1
    4

    Reply

    • Ktuff_morning

      September 2, 2024 at 11:09 am

      Where’s the edit button? I want to change Hahaha! to Haha!

      Reply

      • Ktuff_morning

        September 5, 2024 at 9:31 am

        No, actually I want it to be Ha!

        Reply

  • jibbity

    September 4, 2024 at 11:40 pm

    THANK YOU!! Almost considered seeing it but due to your discriminating eye & in depth, fantastic covering of all the woke points (which some most assuredly might miss & be brainwashed by (or already are conditioned to) I will NOT be going or forking over my money to see it. MANY Thanks! Hopefully I can return the favor.

    1
    1

    Reply

  • Jared

    September 14, 2024 at 6:43 pm

    It’s definitely a woke theme to make you feel guilty about being white. Whether or not this scene was meant to do that is probably debatable. But on it’s surface… having not watched the film… it looks woke af.

    2
    2

    Reply

  • jibbity

    September 15, 2024 at 10:22 am

    WOW! Even more in depth, insightful info. Not joking – you NEED to start your own no BS movie review website.

    1
    1

    Reply

  • Michaels

    September 29, 2024 at 12:30 pm

    “Alien: Romulus” is a bit woke in terms of casting and the black android servant. It is cringe in terms of the final boss and callbacks to earlier Alien movies. Overall, it is unremarkable and borderline tolerable.

    2
    1

    Reply

  • AO

    October 18, 2024 at 4:15 pm

    Sadly this site is just a watered down version of “woke” … it disregards/dismisses many truly woke issues. So unfortunate because a site like this is definitely painfully needed now. O7 and cheers to all the people keeping it real and sharing the truth in the comments section … (until we all get silenced by the moderation hammer).

    Reply

    • James Carrick

      October 18, 2024 at 5:45 pm

      The interactive features on this site, like the ability to leave comments or share your own opinions, are here by design. If I wanted to shut down opposing views, I wouldn’t keep the comments section open or allow visitors to submit their own woke ratings on everything. In today’s polarized world, I get the skepticism, but that’s not what this site is about. We may not always see eye to eye, but my goal is to provide the best information possible, helping you and your family make informed viewing choices. That’s why I value the comments and audience woke ratings—they help balance my perspective in every review I write.

      Reply

  • Andy

    October 27, 2024 at 2:31 pm

    Its very clearly still following woke DEI standards.

    The antagonists:
    1. “Bjorn”, white guy with even a nordic coded name.
    2. White Android.

    The protagonists
    1. Gay coded asian girlboss.
    2. Girlboss
    3. Latin Female.
    4. Latin male hero
    5. Black male hero

    Reply

  • Travis grady

    December 24, 2024 at 10:32 am

    A lot of you guys need to get a life. This was one of the most non woke movies I’ve seen in a while.

    They weren’t beating up the black android because he was black it’s because he was a dumb android.

    Jenna Ortega was a great choice and the casting was pretty good. Could have had one more white character but I don’t really care tbh. The Asian chick never says anything about sexuality.

    Ripley had a shaved head so I’m not sure what the argument is there.

    If you don’t want to watch it that’s fine but you’re missing out if you’re an alien fan.

    Reply

  • Jungie Rogan

    January 13, 2025 at 5:32 pm

    Crying about DEI anytime a character isn’t a straight white male is so funny.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts

 

X Marks the Spot - Follow us Today!!