Culture Crash: Our Review Of “Alien: Romulus”

In recent years, the legacy re-quel has become all the rage. Movies like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and the David Gordon Greene Halloween trilogy have simultaneously served as sequels and reboots of iconic franchises. These movies often bring back old characters but in a way that remains friendly to new viewers who may not know all the ins and outs of the original series.

Now, the Alien franchise has entered that fray with Alien: Romulus, a new movie that stars a new cast and does not bring back original star Sigourny Weaver, but is set between the first two Alien movies and directly connects via its setting. Fans familiar with the Alien lore will immediately recognize the connective points, while new viewers can still enjoy the movie on its own.

And in my view, Romulus works best when it is paving its own way forward as a standalone film. Stars Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are incredible in their own right and give audiences plenty to care about without needing to recall details of the original Ridley Scott Alien movie or even the James Cameron-directed sequel, Aliens.

Where Alien: Romulus trips up a bit is in its shoe-horning of a character played by a digital recreation of Ian Holm, an actor who starred in the original Alien movie in 1979 but who died in 2020. *Strangely, this character isn’t even the same one played by Holm in the original film, making it entirely unnecessary for the character to be played by a familiar face. It should be noted that Holm’s estate gave their blessing to the filmmakers, but still ***ethical question of using AI to recreate deceased actors can be a tricky one. Even beyond that question, though, the Ian Holm resurrection in Alien: Romulus simply looks off. Every shot with Holm’s character Rook looks like a digital effect that doesn’t quite get out of the uncanny valley. Even worse: it’s the only digital sore spot in a movie that otherwise looks great and uses plenty of awesome practical effects.

In all, I think Alien: Romulus is a good Alien movie and it’s worth seeing, but the debate about whether directors should continue using AI likenesses in movies will continue to rage on, and in the case of Alien: Romulus, I just don’t think the decision to use a deceased actor’s likeness was ever justified on screen.