Rain standing in a glowing corridor in Alien Romulus
By
Padraig Cotter
Published 38 minutes ago
Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW.
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Alien: Romulus' prequel comic revealed how the iconic original Xenomorph finally died, and I hate it. The original Ridley Scott movie transformed the genre and features one of the most terrifying monsters ever put on screen. The Xenomorph design has reappeared in every subsequent sequel and spinoff, but it was never more terrifying than in the first outing.
Of course, the Alien movie franchise itself is a mixed bag. There are the high highs of the first two entries, and the low lows of Alien vs Predator: Requiem. I felt 2024's Alien: Romulus fell somewhere in the middle. It boasts impressive production design and set pieces, but it doesn't feel especially fresh or original either.
Still, it revived the saga following the underperformance of Ridley Scott's prequel, Covenant, and Alien: Romulus 2 is upcoming. I also recall being eager to pick up the Fede Álvarez-penned Romulus prequel comic after the movie's release, which reveals how the original Xeno (AKA XX121) broke free and wrecked the Renaissance station.
Alien: Romulus' Comic Prequel Killed The Original Xenomorph In The Lamest Way
The body of Big Chap in Alien Romulus.
I'd heard reports that the original Alien would return in Romulus, and I was fully expecting it to become the main antagonist. The opening scene where its "body" was recovered seemed to confirm this, so I was genuinely taken aback when its dead body is revealed around the midway mark.
It may have been a gutsy move to tease the comeback of such a legendary monster, but it couldn't help but feel like a major anticlimax. I was hoping the Alien: Romulus comic would redeem this part of the story, but having read the prequel, it only made me feel worse.
It fills in the gaps between Alien: Romulus' opening scene and the time the main characters find the Renaissance station. The comic reveals that a former Marine named Hyla took an intense dislike to Weyland-Yutani bringing XX121 aboard, so she sets out to destroy it before it can wake up.
It ends up breaking free because of her, so Hyla and the android Rook work together to stop it as it massacres the rest of the staff. In the final pages, Hyla battles the monster and blasts it to death with her Pulse Rifle; in turn, its acid blood causes the Renaissance to decompress, sucking Hyla out into space.
On the whole, it's a mediocre comic. With only a single issue to tell the story, it feels too rushed, while Hyla is a very one-note protagonist. What's more, having a creature that was depicted as nigh on invincible getting blasted like a random bug feels so, so lame.
Alien: Romulus Depowered One Of Cinema's Greatest Monsters
The original Xenomorph surrounded by smoke from 1979's Alien.
Part of the terror of the Xenomorph in Scott's Alien was its unknowability. It could seemingly appear anywhere and kill whomever it wanted without getting so much as a scratch. More than that, the first Xeno was highly intelligent and not the cannon fodder version of the beasts that appeared in James Cameron's Aliens.
With the Romulus comic, the story reduced it to just another dumb, rampaging monster. The menace and terror are gone, and I couldn't believe how poorly the prequel handled "Kane's Son," as Ash (Ian Holm) dubbed him.
Granted, Álvarez and his co-writers only had 30 pages to tell a complete story, but it just fumbles Giger's creation. Its apparent demise at the hands of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley in the original was a more fitting fate, and it's a shame Álvarez brought the beast back to life, only to kill it in such an offhand manner.
"Kane's Son" Should Have Been The Main Threat Of Alien: Romulus
Close-up of a Xenomorph in Alien Romulus.
Years ago, I penned a feature on the forgotten Alien: Isolation webseries. This took cutscenes from the acclaimed 2014 game and added in a bunch of newly rendered sequences. It's not very good, but the ending revealed the Xenos don't die when they are blasted into space; instead, they go into a state of hibernation.
I suggested a future sequel could use this new lifecycle wrinkle to bring "Kane's Son" back, following his presumed death. I was feeling pretty smug when I realized Romulus was doing just that, which is another reason I felt let down by the final product.
While Alien: Romulus had a couple of unique creatures acting as the main threats - such as the Offspring hybrid - none live up to the original Xeno. Making XX121 the central monster would have made Romulus even more of an event and underlined its sheer unstoppability.
Having this "Perfect Organism" getting wasted by a Pulse Rifle blast is unspeakably disappointing. I'm probably alone feeling this way, since there were no major controversies surrounding Romulus' use of the monster. Instead, fans were irked by the "Get away from her, you b****!" callback or the CGI recreation of the late, great Ian Holm for Rook.
The sheer lameness of the original Xenomorph's death has largely remained unremarked upon. I feel part of the reason I couldn't fully get on board with Alien: Romulus was this element, and reading the comic prequel sure didn't help in that regard.
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Alien: Romulus
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed R Sci-Fi Horror Thriller Release Date August 16, 2024 Runtime 119 Minutes Director Fede Alvarez Writers Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett Franchise(s) AlienCast
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Rain
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