By The reviews are in for “Alien: Romulus” and the reaction seems pretty good.
With 98 reviews counted, the film sits at an 81% (6.9/10) on Rotten Tomatoes while with 36 reviews counted it’s at a 63/100 on Metacritic. To put that in comparison, here’s how it scores against prior films in the “Alien” Saga:
Alien: RT: 93% (9.1/10). MC: 89/100
Aliens: RT: 94% (8.9/10). MC: 84/100
Alien 3: RT: 45% (5.6/10). MC: 59/100
Alien Resurrection: RT: 56% (5.9/10). MC: 62/100
Prometheus: RT: 73% (7.0/10). MC: 64/100
Alien: Covenant: RT: 65% (6.3/10). MC: 65/100
General consensus seems to be its best when its inventive and trying fresh stuff, and a lot of praise for the practical effects and atmosphere, but there’s plenty of criticism of the callbacks and unoriginality. Also one key character inclusion really upsets some people, and the third act is a divisive one.
Here’s a sampling of reviews:
“The creatures remain among the most truly petrifying movie monsters in history, and the director leans hard into the sci-fi/horror with a relentlessly paced entry that reminds us why they have haunted our imaginations for decades.” – David Rooney, THR
“Alvarez puts the horror first here, with exquisite craftmanship that immerses you in the insanity.” – Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting
“This is closer to a grandly efficient greatest-hits thrill ride, packaged like a video game. Yet on that level it’s a confidently spooky, ingeniously shot, at times nerve-jangling piece of entertainment.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“An efficient addition to the 45-year-old franchise, Alien: Romulus draws on the strengths of the sci-fi/horror series without ever suggesting that the property’s best days are ahead.” – Tim Grierson, Screen
“The slime and the shadows and the silences are back. Horror DNA is honored rather than pointlessly duplicated. This time, at least, IP familiarity breeds contentment.” – Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict
“Alien: Romulus has the capacity for greatness. If you could somehow surgically extract its strongest sequences, you’d see that beautiful, blood-quivering harmony between old-school practical effects and modern horror verve.” – Clarisse Loughrey, Independent
“What’s onscreen is neither a haunted house nor a roller coaster, but a standard theme-park ride based on a movie — an Alien-flavored attraction that doubles as an overly respectful homage.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone
“[One creative choice is] an unintentional, chilling vision of the future that has nothing to do with chest-bursting monsters. You might find this palatable. For me, it ruined what was otherwise a fun, icky trip to space.” – Esther Zuckerman, Bloomberg
“A technically competent piece of work; but no matter how ingenious its references to the first film it has to be said that there’s a fundamental lack of originality here which makes it frustrating.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“A gorehound whose tastes and talents are much better-suited to the Grand Guignol splatter of “Evil Dead” than they are to the suffocating dread of “Alien,” the director would rather torture his cast than develop their characters.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire
“Alien: Romulus” opens in cinemas on Friday.
The post The “Alien: Romulus” Reviews Are In appeared first on Dark Horizons.
