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?

  • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I mean, the fact it took them SEVERAL DECADES to finally make a good repeat kinda’… actively reinforces the point of the article…

    How many interesting new ideas could we have gotten instead without Hollywood morons chasing that virtually unattainable goal for several decades?

    • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      It’s not like they were pushing Alien hard for several decades. There’s more superhero shit in 2 or 3 years than Aliens in 50.

      • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Well that’s what happens when Disney buys something these days. It’s either The Vault or oversaturation.