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?

  • Kushan@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    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.

    • maegul (he/they)@lemmy.mlM
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      2 months ago

      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.

    • theovy@aussie.zone
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      2 months ago

      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.