In the Alien films, a xenomorph is a monstrous, all-consuming life form that exists only to make more and more copies of itself. Once the first xenomorph appears, it’s only a matter of time until all those gleaming chrome walls will be covered in creepy black goo and the humans suspended lifeless from the ceiling

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?

  • Professorozone@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    24 days ago

    I don’t like it when there is not an internal consistency. In the first movie they established how long a face hugger is attached to someone before an alien hatches. This was ridiculously fast. And it grew from the size of a large baby to an 8 foot tall monster in less than 17 minutes. At one point they said that the blood neutralizes shortly after the creatures death. Will not in this movie.

    It just felt to me like they essentially told the same story over again, in but not as well.

    But I’m glad you liked it.

    • sarcasticsunrise@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      24 days ago

      Now that I’m significantly less drunk and combative than last night (YEESH), I can react a littl better. I actually agree! 100 percent, I thought the inconsistencies involving the severely expedited gestation period and rapid growth was a bit of an ask from the audience. The callbacks got to the point where I was starting to wince over their abundance. Not the perfect Alien movie, (the first two already exist) but I thought it was fine and feel that it course corrected the trajectory of the franchise. People are actually excited for Alien movies again, that’s wild to me

      • Professorozone@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        24 days ago

        I can agree to that. As bad as I think it was (heightened expectations) it was miles better than the absolute garbage fire that was alien 3+.