The good, the bad and the confusing (SPOILERS)

It seems like we might have a somewhat divisive Alien film once again. Why? I guess it depends on factors like your preference, where you set the bar for expectations, your mood, and last but not least how passionate or strict you are about the Alien franchise in your unique way. 

In my opinion, Romulus had brilliant highlights; some individual aspects being the best in dare I say the whole franchise(!) I guess that's what ironically and ultimately added to the slight "disappointment", because the highs include fantastic cosmic horror, stellar acting and lots of talent in several departments, while the lows tears it down equivalent to a musician doing a cover of your favorite song you've heard countless times instead of doing his own original thing.

To simplify and summarize, here's a list of what I personally found to be good, bad and hard to understand. 

The Good

The beginning.

One of the highlights of the whole Alien franchise. The colony is brutally harsh and the film wastes no time showing how W-Y employees (read:slaves) are merely replaceable tools in the giant belching machinery. The sense of hopelessness is very present, especially through the view of our young protagonists who've lost their parents, bound in invisible chains and destined to work to death for W-Y, yet Rain dreams about a new life on another beautiful planet. This set the bar high (maybe too high) and added depth.

Andy the Android.

My favorite android in the whole franchise. Yes I said it. Slightly better than Ash, Bishop and David. While the "sibling" relationship with Rain certainly added to his personality and presence on screen, David Jonson, with huge weight on his shoulders, managed not only to create an extremely convincing protector-type persona, but did an equally impressive reprogrammed cold company android, and all without excessive acting. I can't praise his performance enough and I feel like he carried the whole film. 

Every protagonist except Rain.

In short, they did a great job, especially Isabella Merced who I wished was the main character. The horror in her face...very convincing. Sure the cast consist more or less of stereotypes but they got the job done, mostly. 

The Xenomorphs.

Through probably the most majestic introduction in the franchise and old school filmmaking techniques, the Xenomorphs return big time. Well sort of. More on that later further down below. 

New origin ideas.

Another highlight of the film was the facehuggers presented in a new fashion through those vacuum bags rather than the classic eggs we're used to. While I'm not a fan of Prometheus or Covenant, the pathogen idea is somewhat more convincing here as we're finally given an actual explanation, although a bit brief, as to what it does. 

The visuals, sound design and the soundtrack. 

CGI-Ash face aside, this film is a feast to eyes and ears. From the camera angles, the high-quality vfx working in harmony with the effective sound and the ominous soundtrack, the film definitely delivers on the audiovisual tone. This is sci-fi horror at its finest. 

Acid in zero gravity.

Brilliant idea even though it sort of felt like a video game sequence imo. 

The bad

The overwhelming fan-service

It shouldn't affect the film negatively, yet it does because the nostalgia is being shoved down your throat like a magazine from an android rather than one or two references to the shared universe. Why Fede? The film already had all of its walls covered with Alien and Aliens posters and collectibles. Why cosplay something you're not? Why use the same dialogue?

A few examples:

Dialogue:

"Get away from her you bitch!"

"I prefer the term artificial person myself" 

"The perfect organism"

"Is that all you got!"

Scenes:

Rain being instructed how to use the Pulse Rifle in very similar fashion to the scene in Aliens.

The main protagonist Rain.

She's received a lot of praise. I don't get it. A little too stiff imo but nothing that ruins the film. 

The main antagonist Ash 

Name "Rook" aside, this is literally Ash all over again. We've already seen him in Alien yet here he pops up every now and then just to remind you that he's back. Again and again. 

The concept, introduction and demise of a newborn from Alien Resurrection.

Both in the same later act. It plays out a little different but it's clear where the inspiration came from. 

Tyler (Isolation reference?) being impaled, dragged into the ceiling vent and says "is that's all you've got" to a group of terrifying Xenomorphs. Not very convincing or scary. Show some respect and fear, please! Gawd..

Japanese anime-style swiftu evolutioneruuu!!

The xeno embryo grew really fast inside the host instead of slowly and more convincingly like in the previous films. Not to mention Newborn 2.0 evolving into a giant within seconds. Come on... it's ridiculous. 

The confusing

In the elevator scene, the scorched xeno gently uses its tail to save Rain from certain death rather than causing instant death by impaling her. It then puts her to the side platform, gets really close to her face for what felt like half a minute and...does not attack. Why? She wasn't carrying an embryo. Ridiculous and took away a lot of the fear factor of the xeno when it was so splendidly presented earlier in a horrifying fashion. 

Choosing to sneak past a room filled with facehuggers. 

Yeah they adjusted the temperature and explained what they had to do, but did they really have to do it in the first place? The station is massive, why not just find another path to their destination? 

Anyway, these are my observations and opinions, feel free to add your notes, disagree etc.