Anyway, Alien: Romulus is the seventh film about these particular monsters. According to the producers, the film takes the franchise ‘back to its roots’. So we get a group of grimy crew-mates piloting a big rust-bucket of a spaceship who pick up an extraterrestrial stowaway and end up having to use their wits and courage to survive as it gobbles them up, one by one.
And it’s not a bad film. It’s nicely creepy, the special effects are good, the acting is perfectly serviceable. In fact, I could give you a normal review of Alien: Romulus, but just writing this is making me feel a little crazy. It’s not a bad film, but it’s also a direct copy of a much better film that already exists. That film is called Alien, and it came out in 1979. It had Sigourney Weaver in it. It hasn’t vanished. If you have a Disney+ subscription or a torrent client, you can watch it tonight. Why have we made it again? What’s the point? Why have we spent the past 45 years – which is longer than I’ve been alive – making seven different versions of the same film? What on Earth is going on?
I mean yes, totally. I haven’t seen it, yet, but will likely be going to the cinema for this one.
But, to just throw an idea out there … covers of and homages to songs are normal and sometimes awesome in music, and fundamental in live music.
So maybe the same isn’t so bad in film, especially if they’re not done badly, as it seems to be here.
Maybe “the problem” is more the lack of properly original works, the copious unashamed cinematic universe slop and faithless reboots?
In the same way that Bond films and Disney films find ways to manifest and apply to each new generation or era, why not other classic forms?
The Bond franchise is an interesting one because they’ve essentially been remaking the exact same movie since Doctor No, and although there are definitely ups and downs, on balance it’s still a good franchise! Virtually no continuity. Only occasional meta nods. In essence, every single Bond movie consists of…
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Bond goes to exotic location
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Bond engages in romantic shenanigans with one or more partners
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Bond faces a threat ranging from personal to world-ending
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Bond is menaced by a villain with some personal quirk
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Bond engages in a popular extreme sport
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Bond deals with a number of nameless goons plus at least one ascended chief goon, probably named, with their own particular quirk
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Bond foils the plans of the bad guy and has an epilogue with a romantic partner
Change some variables, rearrange the furniture a little, but this is basically every single James Bond movie for the last sixty two years, and we still love them! It makes me think that originality is overrated.
But, to just throw an idea out there … covers of and homages to songs are normal and sometimes awesome in music, and fundamental in live music.
So maybe the same isn’t so bad in film, especially if they’re not done badly, as it seems to be here.
The film does a lot of things I liked but those call-outs are often so clunky it spoiled what could have been one of the great Alien films (it’s still better than most).
Are we reading the same article? The text was bashing anything that has a scary alien in a rust bucket spaceship killing ppl. The callbacks are corny sure but not the point. To say no one should make a film that puts a xeno in a space ship and have it hunt down ppl anymore because they did that 50 years ago is insane.
No, it wasn’t bashing anything that has a scary alien in a rust bucket spaceship… It merely says, “we already have that movie and it’s great”. It literally praises the original…
I’m with you on the covers analogy, but I feel the best covers take the source material and do something different with it to set it apart.
I haven’t seen aliens Romulus yet myself, but it sounds like the ‘cover’ here doesn’t really stand out or do anything different to the original.
Its a mixed bag. They do some cool and original things with the premise. There are also a lot of “point at screen because you remember this” moments. Overall its definitely one of the stronger entries in the franchise and definitely does enough new to justify its existence.
