Things that i personally would have preferred to see - a fully animatronic Rook, damaged and no longer "top of the line" like Alien3 Bishop, the removal of Andy's callback line in the elevator shaft, and finally slow down the orbital decay a bit after the shuttle crashes into the side of Renaissance Station... If the movie was spread over a longer perceived time, maybe they sped up the destruction of the station a bit, but not so much... going from like 32 hours to 40 minutes made the mad rush around the station feel unrealistic... Maybe thats just me, after playing alien isolation, but the station should have felt bigger and more like a character in itself... It would have just made everything feel better paced IMO
That timeline was ridiculous. So many basic basic mistakes that took me right out of the movie. Offspring was a step down from a xenomorph, creepy but not scary. The callback lines were a joke.
The alternative Offspring end sounds like they took the idea from Gibson's Alien 3 where the station staff get infected and then mutate into Xenomorphs.
Offspring in the final cut was dumb af. Almost as much as Alien Resurrection. We need to give these films to people with some creativity. People pretty much werewolfing into xenomorphs would of been a nice opportunity for a gory practifical effect scene. Don't see why we've gotten so many bad alien movies when a wealth of quality content exists within the comics.
Thank you very much for sharing your experience of rough cut version romulus. I hope they release a director's cut version that includes the rough cut parts :)
I would have like to see the Offspring's head grow a little longer like a xeno, but keeping the humanoid face. Sort of like the alternate zombie attack scene in Prometheus.
Given how the back of its skull had cracks in it, and the tongue becoming more Xenomorph like as it grew. I think had it lived long enough the Offspring would’ve gotten very Xenomorph like, head included.
Fantastic video, kudos for tracking down so many clips to illustrate what you were talking about, with the movie still being in theaters and all. I'd be curious to hear if we got to see more of Jackson's Star in the early cut. I'm hoping the deleted scenes on Blu-ray will expand on the first 10 minutes of the film as they were my favorite, even if it's just a couple more glimpses of what life looks like on there for Rain, Andy and people in general, trying to survive in the bleak shadow of WY. 24:00 That sounds absolutely perfect. Poetic even, the way it mirrors the opening scenes with Rain and her whole reason in going out on this journey. Much better than the ending we got which is basically just repeating the first film, almost word for word with the voice-over and all.
I was wondering why Rain was moving her arm like that at the end! Great video! Also I was wondering about how they could take off without permission so it’s interesting that was cut (probably for pacing).
I'm really hoping for an extended/director's cut. This movie really deserves a longer version to explore further the horror and the characters. Still a great movie nonetheless.
My biggest complaint was them not showing ANYTHING from The Big Chap's havoc on the Renaissance Station! I would love a movie dedicated to that and I think the story would have been better than Romulus and would even have been a better fit for Fede to do more gore. Above a movie or comic though, an Alien Isolation 2 that focused on the events of The Big Chap on the Renaissance Station would be AMAZING!🙏
I don't see how that would be an interesting story. The story of Romulus is in fact clearly far more interesting in terms of characters, choices, themes, and motives. What about the goals of some everyday scientists is going to engage an audience? And what about the security team? It's just not in any way a clear path to a good story. It needs WAY more going on. Fighting big chap isn't enough.
@@pseudonymousbeing987 you clearly don't have a good imagination. There are an endless number of possibilites for a great story about what went wrong, how did it go wrong, was it purposeful, who was there, what were they doing, what other experiments were going on, and I could go on and on. I don't understand how you don't see the same themes and everything in Romulus wouldn't be applicable in a story about what happened on the station?
I was sort of on the fence in whether or not I was going to watch Romulus. I really enjoyed Prometheus and didn't like Covenant nearly as much. You've got me intrigued now. I'll be watching it this evening thanks to your breakdown. Thank you.
Jeez dude feel better! Thanks for sharing that, its fascinating to hear what could have been vs what we got. I think the Offspring transforming into an alien would have been a little too odd. It's body was leaning very heavy in that direction anyway.
Thank you! I'm feeling much better now. The Offspring changing was very interesting to see indeed, but I was okay with it not changing in the theatrical cut.
I loved it when Andy said "get away from her." It was the added "...y-you b-bitch" that killed the moment for me when seeing it in the theater for the first time. After 6 more theatrical viewings and 3 so far with home video, I feel better about it. Mainly because Bjorn called Andy "bitch" a few times, so Andy simply learned that word.
Bjorn death sounds better in the first cut, i wonder what changed and who made the decision to add the “Get away from her you bitch”quote because he needs to get fired asap
@@candycommander it was otherwise a fine movie. A rehash of things we’ve seen before? Yes. But after being let down by the last 2 films (well, really, let down since alien 3) it was a nice pallete cleanser
@@Cargo_Bay Way too predictable to be entertaining. Aliens built upon what we got in the first movie. What new things did we get with Romulus? The alien cacoon and facehuggers can be duped like huge chumps through heat is all I can think of. Facehuggers looked like trash compared to the OG and the CGI used on the chest burster scene was lame af. They could of had something interesting if android dude was all "You better test the black goo on me first." or maybe "Rook" tricked him somehow. We've yet to see how that effects a synthetic. Would of been much better than the laughable newborn we got in the film.
@@Cargo_Bay Alien³ is my favorite in the franchise and I also like the prequels a lot, like all the Alien films they are different and add a lot to the franchise without confirming anything about the origins of the xenomorph, not to mention their amazing scores, thats why this franchise is the best and makes it special and unique, Romulus was a greatest hits compilation movie with some new lore added and its by far the less original in the franchise but thats okay as long as the movie makes money and we get more originals and different Alien films without one single cheap memberrie or callback to the other films
Did they cut a few shots of something emerging from the opening in the groin area of the offspring? I saw the film a second time recently and it seemed to be missing something I recall being repulsed by, when I saw it in the cinema.
I think you let your imagination get to you, as there were no cuts that I saw in the early version, theatrical or home release that had anything emerging from its groin. It is easy to see more than is going on with things that gross you out like that! I've been there myself with other movies!
That is crazy that the abomination baby at the end was played by that basketball player. Practical effects?!?!? I thought that was CGI it was so weird! (Give that guy a sandwhich quick!!)
21:01 I found this video because I was googling for what is different in theatrical vs blu-ray. The as you call it, 'eating on Kay - breast feeding situation' scene is not in the blu-ray. Whereas it was in the cinema release, and I know coz I watched it in the cinema. The whole end of the movie with this monster 'the offspring', resonated strong when I saw it in the cinema. However, I bought the blu-ray, watched it, and thought it was a bit different. It wasn't as scary, or way out wierd on the blu-ray, although I have only just realised why. I just now figured out this scene was missing on this digital release. It's weird that it is cut, because it added to the freakiness of this enemy / part of the movie. It also makes me wonder what else was cut in the blu-ray release. ... Furthermore it makes me wonder if we need another version of the movie later, to get the whole movie. I.E. meaning to get this scene, and whatever else is missing. 21:32 Yes, that fingers being sliced is missing too from blu-ray too. 22:00 The tongue on the space-suit visor was missing too. You later nemtioned: The Offspring skin falling off with the vacuum. That is also missing on the blu-ray. That part all just happened quickly. I'm sure that Rain in the cockpit at the end, was in the cinema release, and is cut from the blu-ray. I am failry sure I remember the wet footprints on the floor (that you mentioned) too. This just made me check my blu-ray copy of Alien: Romulus, and I see it's a '15' rated movie. Maybe there is an 18 rated version on digital release, and I bought the wrong one. However, if so how was I supposed to know. Be honest, I feel short changed now. .. The blu-ray I have of this movie is not the cinema release I saw. There should have been advertising mentioning the different blu-ray release details. The whole section of this monster at the end of the movie feels watered down. (I rewatched it tonight.) I also remember, "Get away from her you bitch", line in the cinema release .... and the Ripley reference. I feel bad about my blu-ray of this movie now, because it's not right. My blu-ray version is not Alien: Romulus ...... it's Alien: Romulus censored version.
Very interesting! Thank you! Hope they will bring a making off which shows more behind the scenes and maybe some off the rough material you talk about.
The offspring was indeed confusing. It was clearly transforming itself constantly onscreen. If it had turned into a full xenomorph, that would have been totally messed up.
Thank you so so much for this video!! Yeah I definitely did not like The offspring/ black goo/ newborn hybrid at the end of the movie.... But everything else was quite awesome and I'm so so happy to have an alien movie back in the theaters 🍿🎬👽 I still have the original trilogy, then followed by alien Romulus, AVP 1, Prometheus, etc
First, great to hear You are back on Your feet, the Vid is still going and it was in our vicinity rampaging as well lately. Secondly, super thanks for this insightful video and the knowledge shared. It did alter my perspective on the final release of the film a little bit. Especially regarding the deep fake of Ian Holm and the Offspring. I was arguing that a puppet of Ash/Rook would have worked like they did in Alien 3 with Henrikson. The fact to bring Ash back was awesome in my opinion as many years back I played with some fan script idea that was close to what we saw here now. But hearing, that the puppet would have been even less immersive or even more off putting is a bit of a relive. About the Offspring, not knowing that a real actor with his unique physique played that one, made me initially slam on that whole concept and I saw it as purely bad CGI concept. I regret that unrevised notion after the first watch. A little bit more transition or body changes over the encounter would have been awesome. Of course not to form a full Xeno creature, but something even more grotesque. The only thing I just can´t stand about this "showdown" was the horrible laughable growth time, that reminded me of the Species movie much more than anything ALIEN. The Jared Leto Joker grin was a bit too much as well. Overall, a very insightful video and again thanks for the effort. Cheers.
Hope you managed to dodge the icky and not get sick as well! Thank you for watching the video and glad it was insightful for you! It’s definitely a movie that can be divisive, but I hope by sharing this info it adds clarity for some folks.
Honestly, I hated the "Get away from Her, you Bi#$" line. They already had Ian Holmes, and his lines, "the perfect organism" ect. It was too much. And the line was executed poorly. I had to force myself to chuckle, because I think it was supposed to be humourous. Anyways, still gonna watch this movie again with some friends on Screen X. And yeah, I'm psyched to get that NECA figure too!
Lt's also remember, Fede was alot younger when he did Evil Dead, with alot of his philosophy in this movie, I think less was more and it was a good call. What I DID NOT AT ALL want was ANOTHER (ANOTHER, ANOTHER, ANOTHER,) Aliens film; we got Aliens re-hashed in every other piece of media since it was released, and I loved Aliens.
But also that Evil Dead is by far a much more gory and over the top film series, way more than the ALIEN films. So I can see why his Evil Dead was more intense, violent and gory than ALIEN ROMULUS.
Me and about 10 people in my theatre audibly ooffed when ian holms appeared on screen 😂 There was something incredibly unsettling and uncanny valley about it .
What if they made Rook as a puppet where his jaw was messed up, his mouth was stationary, and his voice sounded more mechanized like it was only coming from his throat? I wished they had done that with Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy. Just mess up their face and it'll be fine.
Maybe its just me but since he is no longer with us i think that would be done in poor taste. Most likely his final appearance in a film and it's all messed up and disfigured. Just my opinion tho.
@@frostmorph6 True; it's different when the actor has passed. Now that I think about it, it might have actually been interesting from a story perspective if Rook looked like Andy to drive home the idea that Andy wasn't a "real person" to the others, but Andy was supposed to be an obsolete model so... ? I guess what I was saying was that for the sake of avoiding the Uncanny Valley with the likeness of these actors, if you HAVE to have them, I'd prefer if they just obscured their face just enough to hide the small details. The Bishop puppet in Alien 3 is a perfect example of this, as you're not expecting him to look perfect, but the puppet looked amazing. Ultimately, I have mixed feelings about it all, but overall, I'm happy with what we got.
@@T1544767 I kinda like the idea of it being andy but then again they already did that with covenant having 2 David's. Originally it was supposed to be a girl android but it got changed to a familiar face so Andy would have the spotlight instead of having to share it. Personally I don't get why people are so upset by it. The actor wanted to come back and the director had the family's blessing, yet people are acting like they know better. Or that the cgi wasn't perfect It's an android not a real person suddenly everyone is a cgi expert. It's just absurd and feels like after covenant those fans will never be satisfied
That's exactly what they did with Bishop in Alien 3. As bad as Rook looked, my main issue with him was contextual. Maybe it's just me, but I was always under the impression that Ash was a unique synthetic, otherwise there was a chance one of the crew would recognise him as a synthetic. A different model of synthetic would've worked better plot wise for me.
Seems like it is to me. It's the same set piece as Key's birth scene just a new perspective. Easy enough to just do a slow shot you know you'll use during your atmospheric teaser trailer. Smart to make it footage that doesn't spoil the actual story.
No, you can see the Narcissus docked at the end of the corridor during the scene where Kay is trapped in the Romulus hanger and begging the others to open the door. It is seen again floating away inside the wreckage of the debris field as the station is crashing against the planetary ring.
Interesting. Im actually surprised the rough cut wasn't that different from the final version. Though who knows if stuff was cut by the rough cut. I already commented on another of your videos but short version--a life long Alien fan (before there even was a franchise), loved it. Yeah, I'm not sold on Rook (though the iffy AI could be a result of him being so damaged, so it kinda works in the movie logic sense) or the hybrid but I didn't hate it and it certainly didn't hinder my enjoyment of the film like I was dreading. I was surprised because my heart sank when I read about those elements, but they didn't bother me in the end. Yes, easily the best Alien movie since Aliens. I can understand some not liking it but there have also been some who are being way too nitpicky, taking the movie way too seriously, almost going in wanting to hate it. Oh well, to modify a line from Catch 22 "They know everything about the Alien films except how to enjoy them". The real surprise was finding out the one thing I did hate in the movie (you know, THAT line.) was a reshoot! Shouldn't have bothered. Ha! Normally I hate tampering with finished films but if they cut that from the dvd release, I'll be ok with that.
Very valid points! I do think this one will age well with fans over the years, it's just so new right now that some of the callbacks and things might be a little jarring for folks. But over time I think many more will warm up to the film.
It looked just like the puppet we see Fede show in the clip I share in this video. It's just once it started talking you could tell it needed the CGI help on the face. The rest of it was exactly the same as we saw in the final version, just didn't have any CGI enhancements. It was only the face that was adjusted.
@@MikesMonsters such a lame idea to shoe horn him in…I wonder if it was Sir Ridders or the studio or Alveres himself… I reckon studio Ridders most likely. Totally clueless
I enjoyed this video, thanks. I was really really shocked when you emphasised that the offspring could of been way way worse …because I hated the ending lol it completely lost me and made me realise Fede just typed into chatgpt “make Alien movie script that has elements of all the alien films” Smh 🤦♂️
The whole Rook ordeal seems like they really tried to make it function, however we need to keep in mind that deep fake cgi technology is expensive. Even for big movies like Rogue One, Civil War, and so on. This movie used every peny and you can tell, which is appreciated. However you need quite the investment to make a puppet perform with fully facial expressions like a real actor. It is what it is, they tried their best with what they got.
I definitely feel like Rook would've been handled better if it was a more damaged puppet like Bishop in Alien 3. The effect was very convincing and wasn't distracting like Rook is, though imo its not terrible, it couldve been done a better way like they did with bishop in 1993.
Possibly, but the performance of the standard puppet definitely needed the help from the CGI. It's hard to know if a more damaged look would have benefited the performance.
Best the Offspring be what it is imo, melting from the acid blood and clearly not doing well in space; stops it from undermining the titular Alien organism.
I would’ve liked to see the offspring turning in to a kinda Nemesis from resident evil. Some kinda bulky monstruosity unstoppable chasing them around in the end, after growing up by eating
@@MikesMonsters yeah I mean, a bulky version of the xenomorph but deformed, because the thing that she injected wasn’t the perfect solution, so it would’ve grown like a tumor, or like the rat in the laboratory; that was even scarier for me.
How exactly did the scene played out in this first cut when Andy saved Rain and says the “get away from her” quote? I hope they do something about it for the 4k/blu ray release
Nostromo's Narcissus shuttle is not the only one of that type in the universe. People are so stupid. Speaking of stupid, the detonation of Nostromo would not have left a debris field. It was vaporized by MULTIPLE thermonuclear explosions. Big Chap would not have been located in that debris either. It was jettisoned from Narcissus after it reached a considerable distance from the Nostromo. It's not rocket science, and frankly I'm disappointed in Fede for writing it that way.
@@MikesMonsters Well that would be beyond dumb, being as it is already established that she was adrift for 57 years. Somebody would have noticed and interacted with the Narcissus if it drifted into the system.
Rated 18s for a reason. Watered down to rated 15s i knew this was going to be a movie a 12 year old could watch, Back bursting alien in Covenant was so much more darker and scary than the crap chest burster scene in romulus,
Not really. It just looked like a standard Xenomorph. And in the films we've never seen a standard Xenomorph evolve into a Queen. Just through extended media.
The Transformation of the offspring into a full xenomorph was the idea from the morphing of Capt Dallas and Bred in Alien 1979. It was only shown in the extended Version but it was an idea on how to make more Aliens or Facehuggers and that would have been the same with the offspring turining into a xenomorph as he was injected with the black goo and in Alien 1978 they would have had a longer morphing sequence as they were exposed to the black goo from the xenos saliva.
It was a biiiit different than the deleted scene with Dallas and Brett in ALIEN. This wasn't needing a cocoon or any egg-morphing to do the transformation, it just kind of started happening as The Offspring was chasing Rain.
That image of Isabella Merced with the Xenomorph tongue was made by a RUclips channel who make fake trailers, and use AI to make the thumbnails. That was never ever a part of the movie, and was just clickbait.
I forgave the CGI Rook scene, just because the rest of the movie was so fascinatingly beautiful to look at, plus the horror element just took me away from Rook completely. The space station crashing the planet ring scene was so beautiful, I think it was the most beautiful scene in the entire movie.
I do recall hearing that, but the version I watched was shortly after he saw and started commenting on it. So maybe some more cuts were made between November and whenever he saw it. But as for what I saw it, it wasn't vastly different than the theatrical version that came out almost a year later.
With it being set between ALIEN & ALIENS, I think Bishop could have easily worked as an early model. But it could have also just been an entirely new character too and that could have worked.
Theres is a chance of the main antagonist being mother as we had confirmation of an actress being rook from years ago, and seeing the effects on rook the change of puppeteering Ian Holme's corpse may have been recent Also, you said there wasn't any generative AI in the movie, there was
It wasn't completely brought to life with generative AI is what I was saying. Many early leaks were telling people the entire character was brought to life with generative AI. But that is not the case. I was trying to make it clear that it was a puppet performance, with an actual voice actor, and that it was cleaned up with generative AI. But not entirely made from scratch with the AI.
@@MikesMonsters i asked you directly if there was any use of generative AI in the movie you said no If I knew preciously i wouldn't have paid to watch it No matter how little it was
@@plaguedoctorjamespainshe6009 Well, at the time before release, I didn't personally know how and what they used to bring it to life. I was told CGI enhancements beforehand, which was very vague and I was only going off that information.
Hope you get well soon... The Rook Puppet looked decent.. its a shame that they never spent more time and money to improve the Mouth and Eyes... it would not matter if they never fully functioned as its a Android that is damaged... As the CGI overlay was wonky at times. Also I think seeing the Offsprings Head elongating should have made it to the Final version.
Thank you! I'm feeling much better now. It's always about time with this stuff. If they had more time to work on the puppet, or even the CGI, it probably could have been perfected on either form.
Out of curiosity was there any difference in the scene with Kay being killed by the Offspring because in the theatrical release it goes from the Offspring releasing his second looking proboscis mouth to breastfeed then it cuts away to Rain and she goes back to the Cryopod where she sees Kay dead in the Offspring' arms. If you look at the scene again where he's holding her when the light flashes you see blood streaming down her arm so was there a scene where she was struggling while he was breastfeeding from her because I personally felt that the audience was gyped out of a good scene but instead they killed Kay off screen and to me that was lame. What I didn't understand was also I get that the studio didn't want to do nudity or in this case a topless scene but they could've at least showed the proboscis pressed up against Kay's shirt and you see the black goo breast milk pool under her shirt and see it drip from the Offspring' Mouth while he was breastfeeding.
Perhaps they should try doing the transition of the offspring subtly, similar to the creature from “THE FLY”. The theatrical version needs to be slightly longer as it felt rushed in the last act.
Has anyone considered that rook being a weird uncanny valley cg effect was the intention? Hes a busted machine thats not in its ride "mind" so to speak, and seeing that face being weird is intentional thing maybe?
I don't think it was intentional to make his face look like it was a 2D projection sliding around on the front surface of his head. It looked pretty good in the video calls though, so perhaps they ran out of time etc for the more uncanny shots.
Thanks for watching! I'm all vaxxed up and actually just need to do the latest dose for the year and I'll be caught up again. It's definitely time for another jab, especially after getting sick recently.
Do yourself a favor and rewatch the ALIEN scene when they bring back Ash to question him. Its aweful. The sudden jump cut from a puppet to the actor is jarring and the aweful expression on the puppets face after hes punched or hit or ehatever us comically bad. Long story short, this new movie isnt doing anything worse than was already done long ago.
@@treborkroy5280 Firstly, tearing down a previous movie in order to defend a more recent one is a weak counter-argument and rooted in deflection. Secondly, Alien was released in 1979. Alien Romulus was released in 2024. There's no excuse for Rook to have looked as bad as he did in this day and age.
@@Right_Said_Brett it isn't tearing it down, and shove the deflection comment. This is a RUclips comment section not some formal debate panel. Give me a break. No it didn't have to look that bad in 2024 and there wasn't any good excuse for in 1979 either. You're holding the modern films to a standard that the original never upheld itself. Chill pills. Get a prescription.
I think I would've preferred to see the offspring continue to mutate and begin to look more xenomorph like with an elongated head and tubes but definitely not the skin peel off to just be another xenomorph part. I'm not sure if I would've preferred Bjorns death but on paper it sounds better to me than having him just stare at the tail.
I way prefer the offspring turning into a Xenomorph tbh. having the final boss in the movie be some completely different creature than the alien feels like the filmmakers acknowledging audiences have been desensitized to the xenomorph design. that original ending would’ve felt better to me personally
I get that opinion, but how it played out in the early version just didn't feel like it made sense. It's skin falling off felt very out of left field and left me scratching my head a bit, and the reveal of it being a xeno wasn't much either because it's then blasted off into the rings like The Offspring was in the final version. There wasn't much to it, so it just had me a bit confused.
I enjoyed the movie and can forgive any small misgivngs right up until the end. The Offspring (or Alieneer as I call it) was completely the wrong way to go. This ending failed for Resurrection in my opinion. I know they won't have spent the money but a different cut without the Alieneer would have been so much better 😢
As an Alien fan, didn't you tell them the gestation period of a chestburster is supposed to be a substantial amount of hours, not 3 minutes ? Also in Alien and Aliens it's made quite clear that if you attempt to remove a facehugger, it kills the host.
I didn't have anything to do with the planning, filming or production of the movie. That was all done by the time I got to see the early version. All I did was help some of the marketing people who made posts for social media like TikToks and stuff. I did very, very little and wasn't involved with helping make the movie.
Dude nothing personal you are not Really happy of what they did for alien romulus enjoy it it's great to see this franchise may come back don't you agree
When Andy said "get away from her you b****", I literally got up and walked out of the theater. I just couldn't take the movie seriously after that. Whose idea was that? DUMB!
lol You were a marketing tool to promote the film/do some A/B testing. If you signed an NDA it was a legitimate request. If they didn’t then you were probably a marketing/promotional tool. Curious who else they brought in…
@@ChuckBerrington I literally helped them by saying which footage not to put in TikTok’s and stuff, to avoid spoilers because they were not mega familiar with the franchise. That’s all. I actually didn’t sign anything. I am good friends/close with folks on that specific team, and that’s how I got brought in. No one else was asked to join. I wasn’t any type of marketing tool, as you claim. Just did some advising is all.
@@MikesMonsters Apologies, I meant no disrespects. Just found it funny. Thanks for the response, no need to get defensive. But you did provide some feedback, just related to marketing and not the direction of the film. Again not saying you were a huge peg or played some pivotal role. A tool, the same way a violinist is a tool for the conductor’s symphony. I’m sure their goal was authenticity and probably like most marketing departments they only had an extremely superficial understanding of lore/audience. If it was good team they took the advice to heart, if not then it was just confirmation bias. The best kind of marketing looks invisible, and makes the product(subject/client) shine. I think they had a good start but it kinda fell off the rails.
So many wrong decisions. Why didn’t they just tell the story of Big Chap wreaking havoc on the station. I’m done with the franchise. They can never get it right.
I was really shocked at how bad Romulus was and have pretty strong feelings about it after waiting 7 years for a new film in the franchise. I think the most respectful way to pay tribute to the first two films would’ve been to honour the things that made them special, and by that I mean identify those characteristics and create something in the same spirit, not simply copy and paste. Romulus was a copy and paste job, at times word for word, frame for frame, which bordered on plagiarism. The dialogue was really bad, the supporting cast just had the feel of generic horror fodder, absolutely zero depth. I don’t want to criticise the actors because I’m sure they’re better than that. Spaeny is a class act but even Rain and Andy’s arcs countered along with all the smoothness of an old train, constrained by bad dialogue and pacing that moved too quickly. Initially, I liked the idea that Big Chap was recovered, but the idea that he came back to life and was also killed again, off screen was just ridiculous and very much had the Disney fingerprints of “somehow Palpatine returned”. I thought the cinematography was the best thing about it, but at times even that was copy and paste from previous films, particularly the scene where Rain climbs into a suit in her underwear. For those people who say nothing will touch the first two films, I say no, that is a cop out and if we start from that premise we are already setting the bar too low. For me this film was a cheap and lazy insult to the first two movies. I thought the score was also too busy. To let tension build you have to let things build, and it just jumped all over the place. The only part where the score got it right with tension was the sequence with the offspring. Outside of that the score was a bit operatic, a bit Star Warsy which does it fit with what the Alien tone. To me the score felt like the composer was auditioning for more Disney projects and trying to show his full range, rather than doing what was right for the mood. I was really hopeful that Disney would respect the originals in tone, style and innovation, but alas it as too much to hope for. This was the Alien version of Force Awakens, but more clumsily executed. It’s an extremely sad iron to see the soul and originality of Alien filleted and gutted like this by a corporation. Disney gave Alien the Weyland Yutani treatment,
Bro you are so lucky to see alien romulus in the original cut and I genuinely hope you get better COVID is absolute dog water
It was certainly lucky to be able to see it so early! Thank you! I'm doing much better after getting over Covid now.
It's clear why you were chosen to see an early cut. Your knowledge and passion for the saga are incredible. Cheers.
Learning that people in your theatre clapped for “get away from her….you….bitch???!” line makes me really fucking sad.
I feel is the same Marvel crowd mentality that cheers during movies or gives an applause when the movie is over.
Things that i personally would have preferred to see - a fully animatronic Rook, damaged and no longer "top of the line" like Alien3 Bishop, the removal of Andy's callback line in the elevator shaft, and finally slow down the orbital decay a bit after the shuttle crashes into the side of Renaissance Station... If the movie was spread over a longer perceived time, maybe they sped up the destruction of the station a bit, but not so much... going from like 32 hours to 40 minutes made the mad rush around the station feel unrealistic... Maybe thats just me, after playing alien isolation, but the station should have felt bigger and more like a character in itself... It would have just made everything feel better paced IMO
That timeline was ridiculous. So many basic basic mistakes that took me right out of the movie. Offspring was a step down from a xenomorph, creepy but not scary. The callback lines were a joke.
The alternative Offspring end sounds like they took the idea from Gibson's Alien 3 where the station staff get infected and then mutate into Xenomorphs.
Offspring in the final cut was dumb af. Almost as much as Alien Resurrection. We need to give these films to people with some creativity.
People pretty much werewolfing into xenomorphs would of been a nice opportunity for a gory practifical effect scene. Don't see why we've gotten so many bad alien movies when a wealth of quality content exists within the comics.
Yeah, I am curious if they pulled inspiration from Gibson's ALIEN 3 for the idea of The Offspring.
Thank you very much for sharing your experience of rough cut version romulus.
I hope they release a director's cut version that includes the rough cut parts :)
I would have like to see the Offspring's head grow a little longer like a xeno, but keeping the humanoid face. Sort of like the alternate zombie attack scene in Prometheus.
It certainly was interesting seeing it transform a little bit.
Given how the back of its skull had cracks in it, and the tongue becoming more Xenomorph like as it grew. I think had it lived long enough the Offspring would’ve gotten very Xenomorph like, head included.
Fantastic video, kudos for tracking down so many clips to illustrate what you were talking about, with the movie still being in theaters and all. I'd be curious to hear if we got to see more of Jackson's Star in the early cut. I'm hoping the deleted scenes on Blu-ray will expand on the first 10 minutes of the film as they were my favorite, even if it's just a couple more glimpses of what life looks like on there for Rain, Andy and people in general, trying to survive in the bleak shadow of WY.
24:00 That sounds absolutely perfect. Poetic even, the way it mirrors the opening scenes with Rain and her whole reason in going out on this journey. Much better than the ending we got which is basically just repeating the first film, almost word for word with the voice-over and all.
I was wondering why Rain was moving her arm like that at the end! Great video! Also I was wondering about how they could take off without permission so it’s interesting that was cut (probably for pacing).
Agreed. Get away from her line belongs to only one person! I hated hearing it
I'm really hoping for an extended/director's cut. This movie really deserves a longer version to explore further the horror and the characters. Still a great movie nonetheless.
I was hoping there was a longer xenomorph stalking scene
My biggest complaint was them not showing ANYTHING from The Big Chap's havoc on the Renaissance Station! I would love a movie dedicated to that and I think the story would have been better than Romulus and would even have been a better fit for Fede to do more gore. Above a movie or comic though, an Alien Isolation 2 that focused on the events of The Big Chap on the Renaissance Station would be AMAZING!🙏
That could be its own movie! I would have been happy with a short scene of it getting free.
He has a graphic novel showing that soon
I don't see how that would be an interesting story. The story of Romulus is in fact clearly far more interesting in terms of characters, choices, themes, and motives. What about the goals of some everyday scientists is going to engage an audience? And what about the security team?
It's just not in any way a clear path to a good story. It needs WAY more going on. Fighting big chap isn't enough.
@@pseudonymousbeing987 you clearly don't have a good imagination. There are an endless number of possibilites for a great story about what went wrong, how did it go wrong, was it purposeful, who was there, what were they doing, what other experiments were going on, and I could go on and on. I don't understand how you don't see the same themes and everything in Romulus wouldn't be applicable in a story about what happened on the station?
@@pseudonymousbeing987 I agree. The big chap ain't enough to keep the movie interesting. It's just one xeno. We want more than just xenos.
I liked the movie but it was the first time I thought the fan service actually hurt the experience.
I can definitely understand that!
I was sort of on the fence in whether or not I was going to watch Romulus. I really enjoyed Prometheus and didn't like Covenant nearly as much. You've got me intrigued now. I'll be watching it this evening thanks to your breakdown. Thank you.
I like muthur 900 being the villain instead of rook,but still i liked the film and im happy its doing well,hope we get a good sequel 😁😁😁
Yeah, I would be curious to see that version too. But what I saw it was only Rook in the early cut.
@@MikesMonsters Hopefully we get a good sequel and less of the black goo🙏🙏😁
Jeez dude feel better! Thanks for sharing that, its fascinating to hear what could have been vs what we got. I think the Offspring transforming into an alien would have been a little too odd. It's body was leaning very heavy in that direction anyway.
Thank you! I'm feeling much better now. The Offspring changing was very interesting to see indeed, but I was okay with it not changing in the theatrical cut.
Hope you're properly over COVID soon, Mike!
I'm getting there! Feeling much better now. Thank you!
I loved it when Andy said "get away from her." It was the added "...y-you b-bitch" that killed the moment for me when seeing it in the theater for the first time. After 6 more theatrical viewings and 3 so far with home video, I feel better about it. Mainly because Bjorn called Andy "bitch" a few times, so Andy simply learned that word.
Interesting! You're one of the first I've heard say they liked that line! I get why he said it, I just didn't need that specific call back myself.
I feel like the scene with Bjorn getting pulled with him walking away a bit would have looked better..
I personally like how it played out in the theatrical version a bit more than it did in the early cut.
Bjorn death sounds better in the first cut, i wonder what changed and who made the decision to add the “Get away from her you bitch”quote because he needs to get fired asap
i cant believe anyone decided that was a good idea. They sort of robbed Andy from having his own iconic line. Idk what they were thinking
They knew the movie was pure dog water so all they could do was remind the audience of objectively superior movies.
@@candycommander it was otherwise a fine movie. A rehash of things we’ve seen before? Yes. But after being let down by the last 2 films (well, really, let down since alien 3) it was a nice pallete cleanser
@@Cargo_Bay Way too predictable to be entertaining. Aliens built upon what we got in the first movie. What new things did we get with Romulus? The alien cacoon and facehuggers can be duped like huge chumps through heat is all I can think of. Facehuggers looked like trash compared to the OG and the CGI used on the chest burster scene was lame af. They could of had something interesting if android dude was all "You better test the black goo on me first." or maybe "Rook" tricked him somehow. We've yet to see how that effects a synthetic. Would of been much better than the laughable newborn we got in the film.
@@Cargo_Bay Alien³ is my favorite in the franchise and I also like the prequels a lot, like all the Alien films they are different and add a lot to the franchise without confirming anything about the origins of the xenomorph, not to mention their amazing scores, thats why this franchise is the best and makes it special and unique, Romulus was a greatest hits compilation movie with some new lore added and its by far the less original in the franchise but thats okay as long as the movie makes money and we get more originals and different Alien films without one single cheap memberrie or callback to the other films
Did they cut a few shots of something emerging from the opening in the groin area of the offspring? I saw the film a second time recently and it seemed to be missing something I recall being repulsed by, when I saw it in the cinema.
I think you let your imagination get to you, as there were no cuts that I saw in the early version, theatrical or home release that had anything emerging from its groin. It is easy to see more than is going on with things that gross you out like that! I've been there myself with other movies!
That is crazy that the abomination baby at the end was played by that basketball player. Practical effects?!?!? I thought that was CGI it was so weird! (Give that guy a sandwhich quick!!)
21:01 I found this video because I was googling for what is different in theatrical vs blu-ray. The as you call it, 'eating on Kay - breast feeding situation' scene is not in the blu-ray. Whereas it was in the cinema release, and I know coz I watched it in the cinema.
The whole end of the movie with this monster 'the offspring', resonated strong when I saw it in the cinema. However, I bought the blu-ray, watched it, and thought it was a bit different. It wasn't as scary, or way out wierd on the blu-ray, although I have only just realised why. I just now figured out this scene was missing on this digital release. It's weird that it is cut, because it added to the freakiness of this enemy / part of the movie.
It also makes me wonder what else was cut in the blu-ray release. ... Furthermore it makes me wonder if we need another version of the movie later, to get the whole movie. I.E. meaning to get this scene, and whatever else is missing.
21:32 Yes, that fingers being sliced is missing too from blu-ray too.
22:00 The tongue on the space-suit visor was missing too.
You later nemtioned:
The Offspring skin falling off with the vacuum. That is also missing on the blu-ray. That part all just happened quickly.
I'm sure that Rain in the cockpit at the end, was in the cinema release, and is cut from the blu-ray. I am failry sure I remember the wet footprints on the floor (that you mentioned) too.
This just made me check my blu-ray copy of Alien: Romulus, and I see it's a '15' rated movie. Maybe there is an 18 rated version on digital release, and I bought the wrong one. However, if so how was I supposed to know.
Be honest, I feel short changed now. .. The blu-ray I have of this movie is not the cinema release I saw. There should have been advertising mentioning the different blu-ray release details.
The whole section of this monster at the end of the movie feels watered down. (I rewatched it tonight.)
I also remember, "Get away from her you bitch", line in the cinema release
.... and the Ripley reference.
I feel bad about my blu-ray of this movie now, because it's not right. My blu-ray version is not Alien: Romulus ...... it's Alien: Romulus censored version.
I don't get it. Did the Narcissus auto-dock with the station? Cuz Ripley would still be in cryo-sleep.
Glad to see you are doing better now great video
Thank you so much for watching!!!
Feel better soon! Aweseome video!
Thank you for watching! I'm feeling quite a bit better now.
@@MikesMonsters happy to hear that!
I'm sorry you got Covid Mike it's a real pain. I'd love to see the original cut of Romulus
Thank you! I'm pretty much over it at this point and hoping I don't catch it again, if not for a long time!
I like to imagine the offspring start to sing "All I want" by The Offspring when he appears.
Damn! Wish we got this less fan-servicey cut! The Rook stuff and classic lines repeated out of context really dampened the experienced for me
Very interesting! Thank you! Hope they will bring a making off which shows more behind the scenes and maybe some off the rough material you talk about.
We will all find out soon in the coming months when a home release is announced.
I like the fact they used him . I think sigourney Weaver and the rest of the cast of alien would be happy that he was brought back in this
Interesting thought!
The offspring was indeed confusing. It was clearly transforming itself constantly onscreen. If it had turned into a full xenomorph, that would have been totally messed up.
Thank you so so much for this video!! Yeah I definitely did not like The offspring/ black goo/ newborn hybrid at the end of the movie.... But everything else was quite awesome and I'm so so happy to have an alien movie back in the theaters 🍿🎬👽
I still have the original trilogy, then followed by alien Romulus, AVP 1, Prometheus, etc
First, great to hear You are back on Your feet, the Vid is still going and it was in our vicinity rampaging as well lately.
Secondly, super thanks for this insightful video and the knowledge shared. It did alter my perspective on the final release of the film a little bit. Especially regarding the deep fake of Ian Holm and the Offspring.
I was arguing that a puppet of Ash/Rook would have worked like they did in Alien 3 with Henrikson. The fact to bring Ash back was awesome in my opinion as many years back I played with some fan script idea that was close to what we saw here now. But hearing, that the puppet would have been even less immersive or even more off putting is a bit of a relive.
About the Offspring, not knowing that a real actor with his unique physique played that one, made me initially slam on that whole concept and I saw it as purely bad CGI concept. I regret that unrevised notion after the first watch. A little bit more transition or body changes over the encounter would have been awesome. Of course not to form a full Xeno creature, but something even more grotesque. The only thing I just can´t stand about this "showdown" was the horrible laughable growth time, that reminded me of the Species movie much more than anything ALIEN. The Jared Leto Joker grin was a bit too much as well.
Overall, a very insightful video and again thanks for the effort. Cheers.
Hope you managed to dodge the icky and not get sick as well!
Thank you for watching the video and glad it was insightful for you! It’s definitely a movie that can be divisive, but I hope by sharing this info it adds clarity for some folks.
Honestly, I hated the "Get away from Her, you Bi#$" line. They already had Ian Holmes, and his lines, "the perfect organism" ect. It was too much. And the line was executed poorly. I had to force myself to chuckle, because I think it was supposed to be humourous.
Anyways, still gonna watch this movie again with some friends on Screen X.
And yeah, I'm psyched to get that NECA figure too!
It was supposed to tie back to Andy getting called a 'bitch' earlier in the movie but it just didn't work.
Lt's also remember, Fede was alot younger when he did Evil Dead, with alot of his philosophy in this movie, I think less was more and it was a good call. What I DID NOT AT ALL want was ANOTHER (ANOTHER, ANOTHER, ANOTHER,) Aliens film; we got Aliens re-hashed in every other piece of media since it was released, and I loved Aliens.
I feel like Aliens is genuinely one of the most overrated pieces of the Alien universe, to me it’s such a downgrade following Alien
But also that Evil Dead is by far a much more gory and over the top film series, way more than the ALIEN films. So I can see why his Evil Dead was more intense, violent and gory than ALIEN ROMULUS.
Me and about 10 people in my theatre audibly ooffed
when ian holms appeared on screen 😂
There was something incredibly unsettling and uncanny valley about it .
What if they made Rook as a puppet where his jaw was messed up, his mouth was stationary, and his voice sounded more mechanized like it was only coming from his throat? I wished they had done that with Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy. Just mess up their face and it'll be fine.
Maybe that could have worked! Very interesting thinking about the potentials.
Maybe its just me but since he is no longer with us i think that would be done in poor taste. Most likely his final appearance in a film and it's all messed up and disfigured. Just my opinion tho.
@@frostmorph6 True; it's different when the actor has passed. Now that I think about it, it might have actually been interesting from a story perspective if Rook looked like Andy to drive home the idea that Andy wasn't a "real person" to the others, but Andy was supposed to be an obsolete model so... ?
I guess what I was saying was that for the sake of avoiding the Uncanny Valley with the likeness of these actors, if you HAVE to have them, I'd prefer if they just obscured their face just enough to hide the small details. The Bishop puppet in Alien 3 is a perfect example of this, as you're not expecting him to look perfect, but the puppet looked amazing.
Ultimately, I have mixed feelings about it all, but overall, I'm happy with what we got.
@@T1544767 I kinda like the idea of it being andy but then again they already did that with covenant having 2 David's. Originally it was supposed to be a girl android but it got changed to a familiar face so Andy would have the spotlight instead of having to share it.
Personally I don't get why people are so upset by it. The actor wanted to come back and the director had the family's blessing, yet people are acting like they know better. Or that the cgi wasn't perfect It's an android not a real person suddenly everyone is a cgi expert. It's just absurd and feels like after covenant those fans will never be satisfied
That's exactly what they did with Bishop in Alien 3. As bad as Rook looked, my main issue with him was contextual. Maybe it's just me, but I was always under the impression that Ash was a unique synthetic, otherwise there was a chance one of the crew would recognise him as a synthetic. A different model of synthetic would've worked better plot wise for me.
I hope 20th Century executives watch this and decide to cut that one awful line out.
There's a shot of the EEV from the trailer looking into it from the far end and it's all bloody that wasn't in the film, was that just a trailer shot?
Seems like it is to me. It's the same set piece as Key's birth scene just a new perspective. Easy enough to just do a slow shot you know you'll use during your atmospheric teaser trailer. Smart to make it footage that doesn't spoil the actual story.
No, you can see the Narcissus docked at the end of the corridor during the scene where Kay is trapped in the Romulus hanger and begging the others to open the door. It is seen again floating away inside the wreckage of the debris field as the station is crashing against the planetary ring.
That was just a trailer shot, and wasn't in the early cut that I saw.
Interesting. Im actually surprised the rough cut wasn't that different from the final version. Though who knows if stuff was cut by the rough cut. I already commented on another of your videos but short version--a life long Alien fan (before there even was a franchise), loved it. Yeah, I'm not sold on Rook (though the iffy AI could be a result of him being so damaged, so it kinda works in the movie logic sense) or the hybrid but I didn't hate it and it certainly didn't hinder my enjoyment of the film like I was dreading. I was surprised because my heart sank when I read about those elements, but they didn't bother me in the end. Yes, easily the best Alien movie since Aliens. I can understand some not liking it but there have also been some who are being way too nitpicky, taking the movie way too seriously, almost going in wanting to hate it. Oh well, to modify a line from Catch 22 "They know everything about the Alien films except how to enjoy them". The real surprise was finding out the one thing I did hate in the movie (you know, THAT line.) was a reshoot! Shouldn't have bothered. Ha! Normally I hate tampering with finished films but if they cut that from the dvd release, I'll be ok with that.
Very valid points! I do think this one will age well with fans over the years, it's just so new right now that some of the callbacks and things might be a little jarring for folks. But over time I think many more will warm up to the film.
Most curious about the rook animatronic, haven't seen the whole video but i hope you detail how the unfinished version looked.
It looked just like the puppet we see Fede show in the clip I share in this video. It's just once it started talking you could tell it needed the CGI help on the face. The rest of it was exactly the same as we saw in the final version, just didn't have any CGI enhancements. It was only the face that was adjusted.
Hope you feel better soon!
Feeling much better now! Thank you!!!
@@MikesMonstersI'm glad you are!
When you saw screenings with the puppet, was it clear that it was going to be Ian Holm?
100% clear it was him. Looked just like him, but the moment it started talking you could tell it needed some help digitally.
@@MikesMonsters such a lame idea to shoe horn him in…I wonder if it was Sir Ridders or the studio or Alveres himself… I reckon studio Ridders most likely. Totally clueless
I enjoyed this video, thanks.
I was really really shocked when you emphasised that the offspring could of been way way worse …because I hated the ending lol it completely lost me and made me realise Fede just typed into chatgpt “make Alien movie script that has elements of all the alien films” Smh 🤦♂️
I hope there is a directors cut
We will find out if that happens in time.
The whole Rook ordeal seems like they really tried to make it function, however we need to keep in mind that deep fake cgi technology is expensive. Even for big movies like Rogue One, Civil War, and so on. This movie used every peny and you can tell, which is appreciated. However you need quite the investment to make a puppet perform with fully facial expressions like a real actor. It is what it is, they tried their best with what they got.
Completely agree!
New to the channel. Feel better, bro
Thank you for the well wishes! I appreciate you being here!!
kind of like the offspring turning into a xenomorph idea.
I definitely feel like Rook would've been handled better if it was a more damaged puppet like Bishop in Alien 3. The effect was very convincing and wasn't distracting like Rook is, though imo its not terrible, it couldve been done a better way like they did with bishop in 1993.
Possibly, but the performance of the standard puppet definitely needed the help from the CGI. It's hard to know if a more damaged look would have benefited the performance.
Best the Offspring be what it is imo, melting from the acid blood and clearly not doing well in space; stops it from undermining the titular Alien organism.
I agree!
I would’ve liked to see the offspring turning in to a kinda Nemesis from resident evil. Some kinda bulky monstruosity unstoppable chasing them around in the end, after growing up by eating
Interesting thought! It definitely never got bulky during the transformation I saw, just shifted into more Xenomorph-like shapes.
@@MikesMonsters yeah I mean, a bulky version of the xenomorph but deformed, because the thing that she injected wasn’t the perfect solution, so it would’ve grown like a tumor, or like the rat in the laboratory; that was even scarier for me.
How exactly did the scene played out in this first cut when Andy saved Rain and says the “get away from her” quote? I hope they do something about it for the 4k/blu ray release
It was exactly the same, but he just didn't say the callback line.
Nostromo's Narcissus shuttle is not the only one of that type in the universe. People are so stupid. Speaking of stupid, the detonation of Nostromo would not have left a debris field. It was vaporized by MULTIPLE thermonuclear explosions. Big Chap would not have been located in that debris either. It was jettisoned from Narcissus after it reached a considerable distance from the Nostromo. It's not rocket science, and frankly I'm disappointed in Fede for writing it that way.
Yeah, but I think we will find out in October that it was indeed the Nostrum's Narcissus shuttle that was housing Ripley. We'll all find out soon.
@@MikesMonsters Well that would be beyond dumb, being as it is already established that she was adrift for 57 years. Somebody would have noticed and interacted with the Narcissus if it drifted into the system.
@@TrayChester01 Are you dumb or just deliberately being 'Edgy' 🤔
You remind me of a young Paul Medford. Like in the EastEnders days
That's a first for me!
Rated 18s for a reason. Watered down to rated 15s i knew this was going to be a movie a 12 year old could watch, Back bursting alien in Covenant was so much more darker and scary than the crap chest burster scene in romulus,
Ash is my fav Android.
Ash is a top tier synthetic! I can see why he's a favorite.
Do you think the Offspring could have been evolving into a Xeno Alien Queen in the early cut?
Not really. It just looked like a standard Xenomorph. And in the films we've never seen a standard Xenomorph evolve into a Queen. Just through extended media.
The Transformation of the offspring into a full xenomorph was the idea from the morphing of Capt Dallas and Bred in Alien 1979. It was only shown in the extended Version but it was an idea on how to make more Aliens or Facehuggers and that would have been the same with the offspring turining into a xenomorph as he was injected with the black goo and in Alien 1978 they would have had a longer morphing sequence as they were exposed to the black goo from the xenos saliva.
It was a biiiit different than the deleted scene with Dallas and Brett in ALIEN. This wasn't needing a cocoon or any egg-morphing to do the transformation, it just kind of started happening as The Offspring was chasing Rain.
Oh did you notice in one of the trailers it showed the alien mouth piece coming out of the girls mouth could this be altimate ending ???
That image of Isabella Merced with the Xenomorph tongue was made by a RUclips channel who make fake trailers, and use AI to make the thumbnails. That was never ever a part of the movie, and was just clickbait.
I forgave the CGI Rook scene, just because the rest of the movie was so fascinatingly beautiful to look at, plus the horror element just took me away from Rook completely. The space station crashing the planet ring scene was so beautiful, I think it was the most beautiful scene in the entire movie.
It is certainly a beautifully shot film!
didnt say ridley scott that the original cut was far more long?
I do recall hearing that, but the version I watched was shortly after he saw and started commenting on it. So maybe some more cuts were made between November and whenever he saw it. But as for what I saw it, it wasn't vastly different than the theatrical version that came out almost a year later.
Lance Henriksen wouldn't have worked. Bishop's creator would have just been a kid at the time, so the Bishop-type android did not exist yet.
With it being set between ALIEN & ALIENS, I think Bishop could have easily worked as an early model. But it could have also just been an entirely new character too and that could have worked.
Mother would of been sick ... 2001 alien style
I think maybe a little too much 2001. But it was still an interesting idea when I read about it!
Theres is a chance of the main antagonist being mother as we had confirmation of an actress being rook from years ago, and seeing the effects on rook the change of puppeteering Ian Holme's corpse may have been recent
Also, you said there wasn't any generative AI in the movie, there was
It wasn't completely brought to life with generative AI is what I was saying. Many early leaks were telling people the entire character was brought to life with generative AI. But that is not the case. I was trying to make it clear that it was a puppet performance, with an actual voice actor, and that it was cleaned up with generative AI. But not entirely made from scratch with the AI.
@@MikesMonsters i asked you directly if there was any use of generative AI in the movie you said no
If I knew preciously i wouldn't have paid to watch it
No matter how little it was
@@plaguedoctorjamespainshe6009 Well, at the time before release, I didn't personally know how and what they used to bring it to life. I was told CGI enhancements beforehand, which was very vague and I was only going off that information.
Hope you get well soon...
The Rook Puppet looked decent.. its a shame that they never spent more time and money to improve the Mouth and Eyes... it would not matter if they never fully functioned as its a Android that is damaged...
As the CGI overlay was wonky at times.
Also I think seeing the Offsprings Head elongating should have made it to the Final version.
Thank you! I'm feeling much better now.
It's always about time with this stuff. If they had more time to work on the puppet, or even the CGI, it probably could have been perfected on either form.
Out of curiosity was there any difference in the scene with Kay being killed by the Offspring because in the theatrical release it goes from the Offspring releasing his second looking proboscis mouth to breastfeed then it cuts away to Rain and she goes back to the Cryopod where she sees Kay dead in the Offspring' arms.
If you look at the scene again where he's holding her when the light flashes you see blood streaming down her arm so was there a scene where she was struggling while he was breastfeeding from her because I personally felt that the audience was gyped out of a good scene but instead they killed Kay off screen and to me that was lame.
What I didn't understand was also I get that the studio didn't want to do nudity or in this case a topless scene but they could've at least showed the proboscis pressed up against Kay's shirt and you see the black goo breast milk pool under her shirt and see it drip from the Offspring' Mouth while he was breastfeeding.
The scene with Kay's death played out exactly the same in the early cut. Nothing was removed or changed.
Really wish we got the newborn transformation!
Maybe in the home release! But I think the film worked better without the transformation, but I can understand the desire to want to see it.
The vaginal cocoon scene was just hideous shoving the electric prong inside was cringe
The xeno form of the offspring was white too when the skin fell off?
Nope, just a standard Xenomorph. It basically looked like Scorched without the scar. Nothing else was different about it.
Not that I want it back. I dont! 🙂I'm just curious as to whether I saw that or not.
Perhaps they should try doing the transition of the offspring subtly, similar to the creature from “THE FLY”.
The theatrical version needs to be slightly longer as it felt rushed in the last act.
That was my first thought when he described it. It played out really well in that movie.
Very interesting thought!
Has anyone considered that rook being a weird uncanny valley cg effect was the intention? Hes a busted machine thats not in its ride "mind" so to speak, and seeing that face being weird is intentional thing maybe?
I don't think it was intentional to make his face look like it was a 2D projection sliding around on the front surface of his head. It looked pretty good in the video calls though, so perhaps they ran out of time etc for the more uncanny shots.
It definitely wasn't intentional to make it look like that. They wanted it to be more seamless and look real.
Get the latest vax, everyone. Thanks for doing this, Mike.
Thanks for watching! I'm all vaxxed up and actually just need to do the latest dose for the year and I'll be caught up again. It's definitely time for another jab, especially after getting sick recently.
@@MikesMonstersunsubbed. I thought we were done with the whole c19 circle jerk a few years ago.
God I hated that callback like from Andy. Ugh. Didn’t ruin the movie, but sheesh.
That and the horrible Rook. How did that get OKed?!
That line definitely was a surprise to me with it not being present in the early cut.
Do yourself a favor and rewatch the ALIEN scene when they bring back Ash to question him. Its aweful. The sudden jump cut from a puppet to the actor is jarring and the aweful expression on the puppets face after hes punched or hit or ehatever us comically bad. Long story short, this new movie isnt doing anything worse than was already done long ago.
@@treborkroy5280 Firstly, tearing down a previous movie in order to defend a more recent one is a weak counter-argument and rooted in deflection. Secondly, Alien was released in 1979. Alien Romulus was released in 2024. There's no excuse for Rook to have looked as bad as he did in this day and age.
@@Right_Said_Brett it isn't tearing it down, and shove the deflection comment. This is a RUclips comment section not some formal debate panel. Give me a break. No it didn't have to look that bad in 2024 and there wasn't any good excuse for in 1979 either. You're holding the modern films to a standard that the original never upheld itself. Chill pills. Get a prescription.
@@treborkroy5280 Oooohhh, look at you rage because you're unable to back your own argument up.
I think I would've preferred to see the offspring continue to mutate and begin to look more xenomorph like with an elongated head and tubes but definitely not the skin peel off to just be another xenomorph part. I'm not sure if I would've preferred Bjorns death but on paper it sounds better to me than having him just stare at the tail.
Understandable!
Great video! I wish I could say I enjoyed Romulus but its probably my new least fav Alien film
Thank you! Maybe with time it'll grow on you since it's so new and possibly jarring at the moment. But I understand the distaste for it as well!
I will never approve of digital necromancy. Just use a different actor to play an android.
Valid!
I way prefer the offspring turning into a Xenomorph tbh. having the final boss in the movie be some completely different creature than the alien feels like the filmmakers acknowledging audiences have been desensitized to the xenomorph design. that original ending would’ve felt better to me personally
I get that opinion, but how it played out in the early version just didn't feel like it made sense. It's skin falling off felt very out of left field and left me scratching my head a bit, and the reveal of it being a xeno wasn't much either because it's then blasted off into the rings like The Offspring was in the final version. There wasn't much to it, so it just had me a bit confused.
@@MikesMonsters So it wasn’t like another design eh? Just a common household xeno?
I enjoyed the movie and can forgive any small misgivngs right up until the end.
The Offspring (or Alieneer as I call it) was completely the wrong way to go. This ending failed for Resurrection in my opinion.
I know they won't have spent the money but a different cut without the Alieneer would have been so much better 😢
Interesting thought!
As an Alien fan, didn't you tell them the gestation period of a chestburster is supposed to be a substantial amount of hours, not 3 minutes ? Also in Alien and Aliens it's made quite clear that if you attempt to remove a facehugger, it kills the host.
Romulus had new face huggers
I didn't have anything to do with the planning, filming or production of the movie. That was all done by the time I got to see the early version. All I did was help some of the marketing people who made posts for social media like TikToks and stuff. I did very, very little and wasn't involved with helping make the movie.
Dude nothing personal you are not Really happy of what they did for alien romulus enjoy it it's great to see this franchise may come back don't you agree
I am happy with what they did with Romulus. Check out my review video that came before this one where I share my positive thoughts.
When Andy said "get away from her you b****", I literally got up and walked out of the theater. I just couldn't take the movie seriously after that. Whose idea was that? DUMB!
He even seemed confused when he said it, like he wasn't sure where it had come from.
missed a cool final act.
@@dewey70 He learned it from Bjorn constantly saying bitch around him.
lol You were a marketing tool to promote the film/do some A/B testing.
If you signed an NDA it was a legitimate request. If they didn’t then you were probably a marketing/promotional tool.
Curious who else they brought in…
@@ChuckBerrington I literally helped them by saying which footage not to put in TikTok’s and stuff, to avoid spoilers because they were not mega familiar with the franchise. That’s all. I actually didn’t sign anything. I am good friends/close with folks on that specific team, and that’s how I got brought in. No one else was asked to join. I wasn’t any type of marketing tool, as you claim. Just did some advising is all.
@@MikesMonsters Apologies, I meant no disrespects. Just found it funny. Thanks for the response, no need to get defensive. But you did provide some feedback, just related to marketing and not the direction of the film. Again not saying you were a huge peg or played some pivotal role. A tool, the same way a violinist is a tool for the conductor’s symphony. I’m sure their goal was authenticity and probably like most marketing departments they only had an extremely superficial understanding of lore/audience.
If it was good team they took the advice to heart, if not then it was just confirmation bias. The best kind of marketing looks invisible, and makes the product(subject/client) shine.
I think they had a good start but it kinda fell off the rails.
Dude!!! The offspring changing into a xeno would had been better!!!! You kidding me?!!
Why people act like big chap is special? He looks and acts exactly like any other Xeno. We got a dozen of them in Romulus.
He looks different. He has a see through head
He's the original. The best designed Xenomorph in many people's opinions.
So many wrong decisions. Why didn’t they just tell the story of Big Chap wreaking havoc on the station. I’m done with the franchise. They can never get it right.
I was really shocked at how bad Romulus was and have pretty strong feelings about it after waiting 7 years for a new film in the franchise. I think the most respectful way to pay tribute to the first two films would’ve been to honour the things that made them special, and by that I mean identify those characteristics and create something in the same spirit, not simply copy and paste. Romulus was a copy and paste job, at times word for word, frame for frame, which bordered on plagiarism. The dialogue was really bad, the supporting cast just had the feel of generic horror fodder, absolutely zero depth. I don’t want to criticise the actors because I’m sure they’re better than that. Spaeny is a class act but even Rain and Andy’s arcs countered along with all the smoothness of an old train, constrained by bad dialogue and pacing that moved too quickly. Initially, I liked the idea that Big Chap was recovered, but the idea that he came back to life and was also killed again, off screen was just ridiculous and very much had the Disney fingerprints of “somehow Palpatine returned”. I thought the cinematography was the best thing about it, but at times even that was copy and paste from previous films, particularly the scene where Rain climbs into a suit in her underwear. For those people who say nothing will touch the first two films, I say no, that is a cop out and if we start from that premise we are already setting the bar too low. For me this film was a cheap and lazy insult to the first two movies. I thought the score was also too busy. To let tension build you have to let things build, and it just jumped all over the place. The only part where the score got it right with tension was the sequence with the offspring. Outside of that the score was a bit operatic, a bit Star Warsy which does it fit with what the Alien tone. To me the score felt like the composer was auditioning for more Disney projects and trying to show his full range, rather than doing what was right for the mood. I was really hopeful that Disney would respect the originals in tone, style and innovation, but alas it as too much to hope for. This was the Alien version of Force Awakens, but more clumsily executed. It’s an extremely sad iron to see the soul and originality of Alien filleted and gutted like this by a corporation. Disney gave Alien the Weyland Yutani treatment,
The track that plays when they're above the planet sounds copied from lord of the rings
This is immature. The movie was great. Point blank.
@@dradra2day not a compelling rebuttal.
its your own fault you cant enjoy an imperfect movie
@@ThisIsYourGodNow another underwhelming rebuttal. “Imperfect” can be anything from 0-99%.
blah blah blah ...
Thanks for your input!
I like these kind of shows but, Too Much Your Face. I'm not gonna sit here and stare at some Dude.
Can they just get on with the next film after Covenant now, thank you
Anything is possible at this point!