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?

  • DragonTypeWyvernEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    I’m always down for more android drama so that’s worth two points itself.

    I also love Weyland-Yutani’s single minded obsession with “the perfect organism” biting them in the ass again and again when they’re already making a superior version of humanity that can colonize space.

    What’s even the profit to be had in turning humanity into xenomorphs or whatever bullshit they’re on? It’s the fatal flaw of corporate bureacracy we’re seeing in real time as our current mega-corps set piles of money on fire on the regular, they’re not even fucking good at capitalism, just at beating down workers who don’t have an alternative.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      I always thought their goal was to weaponize the xenomorphs?

      But I suppose it’s not meant to be clear. They’re greedy corporations looking to milk as much profit from anything they can find. Good thing corporations aren’t like that in real life ;P

      • DragonTypeWyvernEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        I think that’s what Ashe and Burke talked about/implied so most people just rolled with it, it’s not like MIC corruption is a rare theme, but they’ve been working up the human/xenomorph hybrid angle for a while.

        https://screenrant.com/alien-weyland-yutani-xenomorph-goal-hybrid-species-marvel/

        And it does tie a lot of threads together while being honestly a bit more horrifying imo. There’s always been a bit of a background to the movies of “How could Weyland-Yutani be so stupid as to risk a xenomorph outbreak on Earth or a colony” and even “but Marines with guns absolutely slaughtered them so it’s not even that good of a weapon” that this motivation addresses far more readily.