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’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.
Don’t disagree. Sometimes though a relatively straight cover of something people like but in a more modern style can work well too. Bond films are maybe an example of that.