Alien: Romulus Learned The Right Lessons From Ridley Scott's $240 Million Prequel

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Alien: Romulus!


Summary

  • Alien: Romulus focuses on practical effects, bringing back the terrifying tone of the original Alien film.
  • The film bridges the gap between Alien and Aliens, heavily relying on story reveals from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
  • By learning from past failures, Alien: Romulus successfully unites the entire franchise with its practical effects and atmospheric horror.


Alien: Romulus has made one major improvement on the franchise, proving that it learned the right lesson from Ridley Scott’s $240 million prequel. Alien: Romulus goes in a wildly different direction when compared to other recent Alien movies, with the 2024 film sticking closer to the atmosphere and horror of the 1979 original rather than focusing on the worldbuilding and grand themes of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus prequel. While this move may have been controversial, Alien: Romulus undoubtedly did one thing right when compared to its immediate predecessor, learning a major lesson from a past box office disappointment.


Alien: Romulus is finally here, with the film managing to pull off the impressive trick of uniting the entire Alien franchise. Despite the movie taking place between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus heavily relies on story reveals from the prequel movies, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. In Alien: Romulus, it is discovered that the black goo, also known as Prometheus Fire, is on board the Romulus space station, with it being extracted from the Xenomorph from the 1979 original. The acknowledgment of the prequels is exciting, even if it went back on one of Alien: Covenant‘s biggest changes.

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Alien: Romulus Mostly Relies On Practical Effects & It’s Great

It Is A Huge Franchise Improvement


One of the best parts of Alien: Romulus is that the film’s monsters and gore mostly rely on practical effects, and they are great. The new Xenomorph is seen throughout the movie, and the film’s handling of the creature is more in line with the 1979 original, with the Xenomorph mostly appearing hidden in shadow. This allows Alien: Romulus to rely on puppets, suits, and animatronics when creating its Xenomorph, and it looks so much better than the CGI Xenomorph that have been seen in recent Alien movies.

Alien: Romulus definitely does use a lot of CGI, but only when it would otherwise be impossible to pull off an effect. Things like exterior shots of the Remus and Romulus stations crashing into planetary rings obviously have to be CGI, as well as some other elements. There are some times that the titular monsters have to be CGI, such as in a few action scenes. However, the Xenomorph and Facehuggers manage to mostly stick with practical effects, something that not only makes the monsters feel more tangible, but also more in line with the original Alien and Aliens.


Andy (David Jonsson) and Rain (Cailee Spaeny) in Alien: Romulus and Ian Holm as Ash in Alien

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Alien: Romulus Brings The Franchise Back To Its Practical Roots After Covenant’s CGI

Which Was One Of The Prequel’s Biggest Problems

Alien: Romulus‘ decision to bring practical effects back is a great one, as the previous film went way too far with CGI. While Prometheus used CGI for its alien creatures, the true Xenomorph didn’t appear in that film. However, Alien: Covenant‘s Xenomorph used way too much CGI, and while this did allow the creature to move more like an animal, it also made it feel less real. Alien: Covenant‘s CGI Xenomorph was one of the biggest points of criticism of the film, with it taking much of the fear out of the iconic movie monster.


The techniques used to bring the Xenomorph to life in Alien: Romulus are much closer to the original movies, and that’s a good thing. Alien: Romulus set out to recreate the tone and atmosphere of the original film, and by creating the Xenomorph with practical effects, the film was able to do that. Alien: Romulus‘ practical effects are absolutely fantastic, and many Alien fans are excited to see more of how they were done as Alien: Romulus behind-the-scenes footage continues to release.

Custom image of Cailee Spaeny in Alien: Romulus

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Alien: Romulus’ Practical Effects Make The Aliens Scarier

Like In The Original Movie

One of the big benefits of Alien: Romulus using practical effects is that the Xenomorph are a lot scarier, with it being a major improvement over Alien: Covenant. The Xenomorph in Alien: Covenant is frequently shown in direct sunlight, and that combined with the CGI look makes it seem far less scary.

However, Alien: Romulus‘ use of practical effects requires the film to keep the Xenomorph in shadow a lot more, making it far more terrifying. This is a strategy that was used in the original Alien, and it is great that it has returned in the most recent film. Since the Xenomorph is rarely seen in full, it is up to viewers’ imagination to truly piece together exactly what the Xenomorph looks like. This allows for a much more terrifying movie monster, with Alien: Romulus being a perfect example of why practical effects can often be better than CGI.