If I told you there have been seven Alien movies up to this point, you would have to stop and try to remember at least four of them.

A Sci-Fi franchise that started back in 1979 with Ridley Scott at the helm still has a major cultural presence to this very day.  Yes, Believe It or Not, Jennifer Lawrence was not the first female action star in cinema history. Even more shocking is the revelation that female lead movies existed before the age of Donald Trump. 

With that said, the Aliens franchise unfortunately represent the other major problem that seems to plague the Hollywood industry and that is the culture of the cash grab.  Because a franchise that has been around For 45 years still has such a prevalence with casual moviegoers Hollywood cannot help itself but try to create another that uses the alien name to put butts in seats.

Over the last decade, we have seen 20th-century Studios now under the control of Disney try to resurrect and move the Aliens franchise in a New Direction.  In 2012,  audiences were given the film Prometheus which was a movie that attempted to explain the origins of the iconic xenomorph creatures the audiences love.  A follow-up to that movie just a couple of years later was Alien Covenant, A film that attempted to Showcase more of the homicidal black alien monsters while keeping things in line with his new direction.

This time around we’re getting yet another new direction for the Aliens franchise as Alien: Romulus takes us back to the timeline in between the first two alien movies and gives us a look at the immediate aftermath through the lens of a new cast of characters.

Alien: Romulus begins with the character of Rain played by Cailee Spaeny. Rain lives in a mining colony with her synthetic Name Andy who Rain treats as an adoptive brother.  After realizing that Rain is never going to be able to work off her debt which will lead her to abandon The Colony for something better,  she rendezvous with a group of friends who decide that they are going to ransack an abandoned space station on the outskirts of the planet that will hopefully give them the supplies that they need to escape to a better place.

The group manages to board the abandoned ship but in their search for supplies, they are attacked by an army of spider-like creatures that attach themselves to the faces of some of the crew on board.  Unbeknownst to our group,  the abandoned space station that they have boarded has the same Xenomorphs that that infected the group after the very first Aliens film. On top of that, they also have to deal with the remains of Ash who has survived the events of that movie. It is now looking at a second opportunity to fulfill its mission.

Memberberries will be in full swing with the latest Alien movie that takes advantage of a lot of scenes and quite literally resurrects dead characters for the sake of the nostalgia pop from its audience. The film recreates multiple sets from the first movie to give audiences the feel that they’re right back in the first film similar to a DLC  that serves as an extra chapter to a popular video game.

 The film even went so far as to use the likeness of actor Ian Home, who died 4 years ago yet through the use of VFX and AI Is brought to life in this movie to once again serve as a de facto villain.  In many ways, this new Aliens film feels very much like an attempt at resurrecting the franchise. The cast of this movie is largely in their mid-20s  and the 1st act plays off more as something from Divergent rather than aliens. 

The problem is without the references and member berries, the film doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Cailee Spaeny is a far cry from Sigourney Weaver in size, stature, and talent. David Jonsson who plays the android Andy in the film, places his role as if he’s more mentally challenged than artificial. Nobody else in the film has much of a presence to talk about in the context of a monster movie where people are getting killed one by one. It’s not saying much nor is it providing much either.

Ever since 2012, 20th Century has tried to move this franchise away from  Sigourney Weaver but the reality is this franchise hasn’t produced a good film since 1986. Alien: Romulus can throw together a few DEI representatives, social commentary on capitalism, and enough nostalgia bait to hook an elephant. However, the result is another mediocre effort that can’t hold up on its merit without referencing the past. 

Alien: Romulus spends so much time trying to connect to other films of the franchise, it makes you rather want to watch them instead of the 80 million dollar whimper that was produced.

2/5

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