Warning: This article features spoilers for Alien: Romulus’s trailers
Summary
Now thatAlien: Romulushas given away a lot in its trailer, theAlienreboot can’t copy one element of the original movie’s successful formula. A lot of movies tried to copyAlien’s success after director Ridley Scott’s seminal sci-fi horror movie was released in 1979. Therest of theAlienmoviesall expanded on Scott’s setup with varying degrees of success, but a slew ofAlienrip-offs predated evenAlien’s first sequel, 1986’sAliens. Movies likeGalaxy of Terror,Creature,Inseminoid,Xtro, andStar Crystalall tried to replicateAlien’s unique tone and style, but none succeeded.
While some ofAlien’s sequels are great and others are less impressive, none of the franchise’s later offerings replicated the tone and style ofAlienexactly. Director James Cameron’sAlienswas more bombastic and action-forward, while David Fincher’s infamously troubledAlien 3was darker and meaner than Scott’s original movie. Even Scott’s ownAlienprequels were more ambitiously weird and philosophical than his admirably simple original space-set horror movie. Now, 2024’s upcomingAlienrebootAlien: Romuluswon’t be able to copyAlien’s setup either. However, this is secretly a good thing for the new movie.
This Underrated $100M Sci-Fi Movie That’s Now On Streaming Is Perfect To Watch While Waiting For Alien: Romulus
Before Alien: Romulus arrives viewers should seek out a similarly grim, brutal sci-fi horror from 2017 that has been underrated since its release.
Alien: Romulus’ Trailer Deaths Mean It Can’t Be As Slow As Alien
1979’s Alien Is More Patiently Paced Than Many Viewers Remember
Even thoughAlien: Romulusdirector Fede Alvarez has voiced his dislike of trailers that include spoilers,Alien: Romulus’s trailer gave away a major death already. The movie’s final trailer depicts Aileen Wu’s Navarro getting attacked by a face hugger and later succumbing to a chest-burster. This makes it pretty clear who the movie’s first victim will be, which meansAlien: Romuluscan’t wait as long asAliendid before revealing the titular monster. As surprising as it might sound, a full hour ofAlien’s two-hour runtime elapsed before John Hurt’s Kane died as the chest-burster first appeared.
Alien: Romulus doesn’t need to revive the slow, atmospheric pacing of Scott’s original movie.
WhileAlien: Romulusmight borrow from Scott’s prequels, this spoiler proves that the movie would have a hard time waiting an hour before its first death. After all, viewers could be understandably annoyed if it took half the movie’s runtime forAlien: Romulusto reach an event that was already revealed in the trailer. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing sinceAlien: Romulusdoesn’t need to revive the slow, atmospheric pacing of Scott’s original movie. Alvarez has a more fast-paced, aggressive style of his own that the director could, and should, bring to the series.
Alien: Romulus Giving Away Navarro’s Death Makes Slow Pacing Impossible
The Alien Reboot Can’t Repeat This Slow-Burn Style
Alien: Romuluscan’t be paced likeAlienas this slow-burn style doesn’t fit the tone of the reboot.Alien: Romulusborrows its plotfrom Alvarez’s earlier horror hitDon’t Breatheand, judging by the trailers, the reboot also has that movie’s mile-wide mean streak. Alvarez’s earlier horror franchise reboot, 2013’sEvil Dead, managed the impressive task of making the infamously nasty series even more brutally violent and boundary-pushing. Rather than trying to replicate the tone ofAlien,Alien: Romulusneeds to utilize this intense, pulse-pounding style to revive interest in the series.
Although horror movies can be deliberately paced, the Alien franchise is in desperate need of some energy.
Both of Scott’s prequels, 2012’sPrometheusand 2017’sAlien: Covenant, featured swathes of lengthy exposition before anyone got killed. This didn’t help their critical reception and was singled out as a problem by numerous reviewers. Although horror movies can be deliberately paced, theAlienfranchise is in desperate need of some energy.Alien: Romulus’ glimpses of the human homeworldof its characters already prove that the movie won’t be jumping straight into gory action. As such, it would be a positive development if the movie took less than an hour before hitting its first big death.
Alien: Romulus Shouldn’t Be As Slow As Alien
The Reboot Needs To Be More Intense And Aggressive
Alien: Romulusneeds to be faster and nastier thanAliensince this fits director Fede Alvarez’s style better, andAliensalready upped the ante massively in terms of action and pacing. Numerous actors and creators involved in the movie’s production have stated thatAlien: Romulusaims to blend the tones ofAlienandAliens. This should mean that the movie will be as dark as Scott’s original horror, but as fast-paced as Cameron’s later blockbuster.
ForAlien: Romulusto avoid the prequel mistakes, the movie needs to steer clear of lengthy scenes spent hanging around with characters who will soon meet their doom. Although Alvarez was only a story writer on 2022’sTexas Chainsaw Massacre, it is worth noting how badly that franchise reboot fell victim to this issue. The reboot took its time setting up its cast, but they were hard to care about and the movie would have benefited from getting to the slaughter earlier. Hopefully,Alien: Romuluswill learn from this mistake and not attempt to copyAlien’s unique pacing.
