LoboKurg

This is a unique case of a series so bad that it is absolutely radioactive. By that, I mean everyone within a certain radius of its inception and creation should likely be carrying some taint from its inevitable fallout.

The marketing for this should be no less affected. People who questioned trailers and images had to sit through months of netflix and journalists swearing up and down that it's not as bad as everyone said (even though it was) and that anyone that questioned it was a some kind of bigot, racist, or phobe.

Even now you can still dredge up articles swearing this was a great series and the people that say otherwise are wrong. If it wasn't for how aggressively deceptive and intentionally deceitful those people were, this show might have just been forgettable, but because the maliciously treated everyone that questioned it as an ass, I feel they should have to wear this show around on their neck like an albatross, and a link to those ill advised articles they wrote should be a permanent fixture on all their social media handles.

That's how much vitriol this show induced, and as bad as it was, it was just made worse by the political wave of toxic waste it tried to ride to a better ranking.

There's a lot this film did right, and a few things that it got too wrapped up in. At the end of the day though, I was entertained, and with that the film did it's job.

The good ------------- This film recreated the atmosphere, music, and set design that the Alien franchise has been missing for a long time. There's plenty of gorgeous long panning shots to showcase the environment and make viewers feel like they're in the setting. Gravity is used to showcase some additionally challenging scenes, and I don't mean just as an obstacle for characters, but also as a means of conveying what a world without it would look like, and in this they succeeded in giving us some unique scenes.

The artistry and creativity with which some of the scenes were displayed were exceptional and stood out. Their masterful use of lightning was dynamic and made you feel present in the environment. There were plenty of shots made just to establish the setting that really grabbed my attention, enough that I was able to spot added details in the backdrop every time.

As for cast and the alien itself. This movie introduces a few more expansions to the lore while also bridging the prequels so they could be better tied into the equation.

Our protagonist, Rain, was an effective character to tell this type of story. Instead of a Mary Sue, we had exactly what a horror protagonist should be, someone who is deeply in the thick of a situation way beyond their norm. As an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation it added a much needed element that viewers could relate to.

Cailee Spaeny does a solid job in the role of Rain, conveying genuine fear, and staying committed to her character's motivation. Of those motivations is a Synthetic that has been in her family and acts as a fraternal figure for her, giving her an extra depth to her humanity and need to have something to cling on to.

The Bad ------------ Tension and the aliens themselves both suffer from the same problem and fail to recapture the level of terror the first couple of Alien films were able to instill. That fatal flaw is the use of CGI over practical effects at the wrong times. In the case of monsters, CGI has never been able to outdo or outperform traditional methods, and that becomes evident in Romulus, as the creatures stand out against all the environments in a very stark contrast.

The tension is further diluted by some predictable moments, most of them stemming from the film recreating certain scenes in a homage to the older movies in the Alien franchise. I get it, they want to pay respects, but too many tributes just end up being campy. The introduction of Rook was well placed and effective, and the film didn't need more than that.

Still a worthy watch for traditionalists and also fans of Alien Isolation, as it recaptures some of those bleak and dim spacefaring vistas.

What a weird mix of flaws and strengths. This series had the art style, atmosphere, and tone for a pretty impressive war drama but stumbles all over itself in the execution, and just sucks at maintaining any tension it tries to build.

Firstly, the art style looks really good, especially in night scenes that make the mobile suits look menacing. The military engagements on a large scale look solid and well done, but then there are some just poorly thought out fights and engagements when the attention becomes condensed to the pov of a few characters.

One of the more egregious ones was when we see mobile suit on mobile suit combat, it's just so incredibly awkward. The gundam just looks so clunky when it moves and dodges, as if someone put a model toy in front of a green screen on a string and added the after burners in editing. It's made more cringe inducing by characters gawking in awe and marveling at what they see as a marvel of speed and fluidity. What we as viewers see is a kid playing a mech video game and spamming the jump button because he hasn't gotten good with the controls yet.

The worst part is, when we saw mobile suits used as a battlefield asset against traditional military forces it looked flawlessly good and natural. It's almost like two completely different teams were responsible for these scenes.

For inexplicable reasons the gundam just pinballs around from target to target, even at one point where it has a Zaku in melee range for an easy kill, and then decides to abandon its opportunity to eliminate a threat to go engage other more far off targets. There's no explanation for it, and is a blatant moment of tension that is immediately ruined by Deus Ex Machina writing.

Another scene that seemed pretty ineptly written was when several characters were trying to flee a battlefield on foot and all they had were pistols but were ambushed by an enemy patrol. In any other wartime scenario that would be a devastating, unenviable, and likely fatal position to be in, but the tension quickly evaporates as they are not only able to challenge attackers with automatic weapons and the element of surprise on their side, they do so using nothing but their pistols. They are able to do it easily and quickly despite the range limitations and every conceivable disadvantage.

Other small things like poor movement and sectors of fire just make the show reek of inexperienced writing. I know it's supposed to be a work of science fiction, but with as much attention and detail as they put into making it feel like a war film, I expected them to at least have some kind of military advisor on board to help prevent exactly the kind of juvenile inconsistencies that riddle the show.

Dialogue is just flat out bad, and seems to grow worse every episode. Despite the abundance of characters being in the military, none of them seem to have any understanding of warfare on any scale. Interactions are mostly inhuman and always seem to follow the formula of "Question" "rebuttal" "counterpoint" and then silence or grunting.

Now, I was able to look past these issues enough that I still enjoyed it a bit, but I really hope the people responsible for this show learned from all the things they did wrong.