WEBVTT - Alien: Romulus, a Monstrefact Mini-Review

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lammin. This is The Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. This week,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm devoting the episode to a kind of mini review

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<v Speaker 2>of the latest film in the alien franchise, Alien Romulus,

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<v Speaker 2>directed by Fede Alvarez. First and foremost, I had a

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<v Speaker 2>great time in the theater with Alien Romulus. I'd been

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<v Speaker 2>pregaming for months, obviously with fresh viewings of my favorite

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<v Speaker 2>alien films, several sessions of the Alien RPG and several

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<v Speaker 2>alien related episodes of The Monster Fact and Weird House

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<v Speaker 2>Cinema here in the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed.

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<v Speaker 2>So I was geared up for it. And there's always

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<v Speaker 2>a certain amount of sunk cost with these films as well,

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<v Speaker 2>an opening weekend tick and a collector's mug will set

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<v Speaker 2>you back a pretty penny, so I have no regrets,

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<v Speaker 2>but hey, that's how sunk cost works. So I went

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<v Speaker 2>into the theater with a great deal of optimism, but

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<v Speaker 2>not without some caution. While Ridley Scott's producer credit was

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<v Speaker 2>reassuring I mostly know Fede Alvarez for the twenty thirteen

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<v Speaker 2>Evil Dead gore Fest, which I enjoyed, and twenty sixteen's

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<v Speaker 2>Don't Breathe, which I just have no interest in seeing.

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<v Speaker 2>Not perhaps my brand of horror, but I respect those

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<v Speaker 2>who dig it. One of my friends expressed hesitation in

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<v Speaker 2>seeing the film, giving Alvarez's tendency for, in their words,

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<v Speaker 2>a sort of meanness perhaps and maybe a little bit

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<v Speaker 2>of suffering beyond the point of their comfort level. So granted,

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<v Speaker 2>there's always suffering in an alien film, and perhaps meanness

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<v Speaker 2>as well, but it's a careful balancing act. So I

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<v Speaker 2>too was kind of unsure about where things were going

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<v Speaker 2>to land on that point. My other point of caution

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<v Speaker 2>concerned the Alien universe at large. I really enjoyed all

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<v Speaker 2>six previous films, you know, some more than others, obviously,

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<v Speaker 2>but I felt like each of them contributed nicely to

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<v Speaker 2>an ever expanding fictional universe. Alien and the sequel Aliens

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<v Speaker 2>set the tone, and I love the way Prometheus and

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<v Speaker 2>Covenant expanded the lore and confronted philosophical ramifications of the setting.

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<v Speaker 2>So I feared a narrowing of the Alien universe, in

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<v Speaker 2>which previous entries would be ignored or minimalized, or some

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<v Speaker 2>other move might be taken to unbalance the current state

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<v Speaker 2>of things, upsetting the lore of the Alien RPG and

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<v Speaker 2>other bits of extended media. Luckily, most of my concerns

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<v Speaker 2>proved completely unwarranted. To its great credit, Alien Romulus is

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<v Speaker 2>a film that embraces aspects of the entire Alien cinematic universe,

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<v Speaker 2>minimizing nothing, while also including nods to the excellent video

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<v Speaker 2>game Alien Isolation and proving very faithful to the Alien RPG.

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<v Speaker 2>In fact, as I've seen others point out online, the

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<v Speaker 2>movie could easily be a cinematic campaign for Free League's

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<v Speaker 2>xenomorph infested role playing game. The film does a great

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<v Speaker 2>job exploring the harsh life of interplanetary colonists, as well

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<v Speaker 2>as the machinations of the whalan Utawni Corporation. It lovingly

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<v Speaker 2>brings face huggers, chest bursters, and adult xenomorphs to life,

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<v Speaker 2>and also shows us a few things that we hadn't

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<v Speaker 2>seen before. It gives us some interesting android drama, and

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<v Speaker 2>above all else, delivers a thoroughly satisfying, pulse pounding sci

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<v Speaker 2>fi horror ride. I would say it kept me on

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<v Speaker 2>the edge of my seat, but the theater chair was

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<v Speaker 2>a recliner. The performances were all solid, with Kaylee Spainey's

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<v Speaker 2>Rain and David Johnson's Andy as the standouts. Now two

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<v Speaker 2>major points of frequent criticism that I should comment on.

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<v Speaker 2>First of all, yes, there are a lot of callbacks

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<v Speaker 2>in the dialogue to previous Alien films, in addition to

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<v Speaker 2>visual and musical cues. Many of these are rather pleasant

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<v Speaker 2>examples of mild fan service. I quite enjoyed hearing entry

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<v Speaker 2>of the Gods into Valhalla as our characters entered the

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<v Speaker 2>gloomy space station, but the instances do build up to

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<v Speaker 2>a point that may exceed your personal tolerance. There is

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<v Speaker 2>also the film's use of the android character Rook created

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<v Speaker 2>in the likeness of the late Ian Holme, who lived

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen thirty one through twenty twenty, who of course played

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<v Speaker 2>the android Ash in the original Alien. So much work

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<v Speaker 2>clearly went into recreating this performance, and I'm to understand

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<v Speaker 2>it was done with his family's blessings, But at the

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<v Speaker 2>end of the day, I would have much preferred a

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<v Speaker 2>live actor in the role, someone who could have truly

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<v Speaker 2>brought the part to life in a unique way, while

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<v Speaker 2>also honoring the synth performances that came before. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>I can easily think of numerous examples of living actors

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<v Speaker 2>who could have really sunk their teeth into this role,

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<v Speaker 2>and I'd be talking about it right now. Is one

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<v Speaker 2>of the highlights of the film. As it is. The

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<v Speaker 2>effects provide us with a synthetic rendering of Ian Home,

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<v Speaker 2>which is uncanny, much in the same way that the

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<v Speaker 2>digital Peter Cushing from Rogue One was uncanny and missed

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<v Speaker 2>the mark. Even allowing that Rook is a synthetic person

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<v Speaker 2>and a glitchy, damaged one at that it just never

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<v Speaker 2>felt right, and it just also felt largely unnecessary. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>if I had more time, I might discuss that there's

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<v Speaker 2>at least one character in the film whose sole purpose

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<v Speaker 2>seems to be prolonged suffering and death. I'm not sure

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<v Speaker 2>how I ultimately feel about her portrayal. I may have

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<v Speaker 2>to come back to that later in my own thoughts,

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<v Speaker 2>but I do want to touch on the Offspring, a

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<v Speaker 2>creature we encounter in the film's climax, a product of

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<v Speaker 2>Waylan Newtawni bioengineered black goo and Zeno corrupted human pregnancy.

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<v Speaker 2>The spirit of the choice is very much in keeping

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<v Speaker 2>with various ideas explored in the Alien RPG, and is

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<v Speaker 2>in many ways a new take on the Newborn creature

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<v Speaker 2>from Alien Resurrection, and it's certainly nasty and terrifying. However,

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<v Speaker 2>much like the Newborn, I had reservations about the design.

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<v Speaker 2>I loved its creepiness and the inclusion of engineer genetic notes,

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<v Speaker 2>also felt it to be a tad anticlimactic after so

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<v Speaker 2>much absolutely on point classic hr gig or xenomorphaction. My

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<v Speaker 2>thoughts on this might change that sometimes do, but I

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<v Speaker 2>would have personally preferred an alternate design approach. I don't know,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe it could have been tweaked one way or another. Finally,

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<v Speaker 2>we have to discuss the law of the conservation of mass.

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<v Speaker 2>As I discussed in my house stuffworks dot com article

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<v Speaker 2>how the Alien xenomorph Works back in twenty twelve. This

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<v Speaker 2>has always been a potential problem in xenomorphiology as far

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<v Speaker 2>back as the original Alien film. We see the chest

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<v Speaker 2>burster grow to enormous size in no time, but cut

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<v Speaker 2>script material and extended universe insights always allowed that perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>the creature ates something to put on that mass, be

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<v Speaker 2>it in Nostromo food stores, or chunks of the ship,

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<v Speaker 2>something to allow for the fact that if a creature

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<v Speaker 2>is to take on x amount of mass, it needs

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<v Speaker 2>to absorb or convert x amount of mass or energy. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>I haven't rewatched every alien movie recently, most of them,

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<v Speaker 2>but there are a few I haven't gone back to.

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<v Speaker 2>I feel like we always had at least a little

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<v Speaker 2>more wiggle room on this issue. Fudgeble time in which

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<v Speaker 2>a fresh Zeno could conceivably bulk up to its adult form. Romulus, however,

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<v Speaker 2>really throws this idea out the air locks. Cenomorphs grow

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<v Speaker 2>in size at a crazy pace in virtually no time,

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<v Speaker 2>though thankfully we don't observe it in real time. I

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<v Speaker 2>want to stress, though, that this is a minor quibbled

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<v Speaker 2>that this didn't actually detract from my enjoyment of the film.

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<v Speaker 2>It was still a tremendous time. But I couldn't help

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<v Speaker 2>but think about it. I can't help but apply that,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, the science podcast or brain to it a

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<v Speaker 2>little bit. As Joe pointed out to me, we were

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<v Speaker 2>talking about this before I came into record. There's at

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<v Speaker 2>least some mention made in Romulus of a remarkable cellular

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<v Speaker 2>property of Zeno cells that Rook hasn't completely worked out,

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<v Speaker 2>and you know, we see some of that in some

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<v Speaker 2>footage of an old experiment in the film. So perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>this is a nod to their ability to grow at

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<v Speaker 2>such a pace, and the film is just you know,

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<v Speaker 2>accepting it and wrapping this into the lore. And also

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<v Speaker 2>I understand that you know, ultimately you're trying to tell

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<v Speaker 2>a thrilling story, so it's also a pacing choice as well.

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<v Speaker 2>So fair enough. As I mentioned in the twenty twelve

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<v Speaker 2>How Stuff Works article, fast growth spurts are common here

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<v Speaker 2>on Earth. It's one of the primary ways to ensure

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<v Speaker 2>a creature's offspring will survive by allowing it to reach

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<v Speaker 2>maturity as soon as possible. For example, one mind blowing

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<v Speaker 2>example of this that I brought up in that article

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<v Speaker 2>is that a newborn blue whale grows at a rate

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<v Speaker 2>of two hundred pounds or ninety one kilograms every day,

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<v Speaker 2>consuming its mother's milk. But again, it's consuming in order

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<v Speaker 2>to grow. Other examples of interest here. According to the

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<v Speaker 2>American Museum of Natural History, the t rex Tyrhnosaurus rex

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<v Speaker 2>is thought to have grown at an estimated rate of

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<v Speaker 2>four point six pounds or two point five kilograms per

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<v Speaker 2>day for about fourteen years, and on a much smaller scale, E.

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<v Speaker 2>Colide bacteria can double its population every twenty minutes, subject

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<v Speaker 2>to environmental conditions. Again, all and all, Alien Romulus was

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<v Speaker 2>a tremendously fun ride that I thought honored the tradition

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<v Speaker 2>and a welcome installment in one of my favorite film franchises.

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<v Speaker 2>I look forward to seeing it again. Tune in for

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<v Speaker 2>additional episodes of The Monster Fact, The Artifact, or Animalia

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<v Speaker 2>Stupendium each week. I believe Animalius Dupendium is going to

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<v Speaker 2>come back, If not next week, then the week after.

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<v Speaker 2>But yeah, as always, you can email us with recommendations, feedback,

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<v Speaker 2>or in this case, your thoughts on Alien Romulus at

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<v Speaker 2>contact at Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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