Alien: Romulus is now in theaters, and while reviews have been very positive for the most part, you may have noticed that quite a few critics mentioned something that didn't work for them (some had no problem spoiling it outright).
Below, we break down what will likely be the most controversial and divisive aspect of the movie.
If you haven't been to see the movie yet, major spoilers follow.
When Rain Carradine and her crew arrive on the derelict space station, they discover that the ship's android is still functional despite clearly being in very bad shape after a Xenomorph attack. They plug him in to discover what happened, and we see that the synthetic (sorry... artificial person) is the same model as Ash from Ridley Scott's original movie.
Yes, the late Ian Holm is resurrected via CGI (AI?), and the results are just as ghastly and unconvincing as they have been pretty much every time any other movie has attempted this. Seriously, it looks like the other characters are standing around chatting to a dummy with a Snapchat filter for a face.
Whichever way you happen to feel about this character's inclusion, the android - who goes by Rook - proves to be an interesting addition to the story, ultimately hacking into Andy's programming and giving him a new prime directive: retrieve the adult Xeno and/or the Prometheus 5 formula, an experimental serum Weyland-Yutani has manufactured to advance human evolution.
This overrides Andy's more compassionate, child-like personality, and he becomes far more cold and ruthless. However, Rook doesn't count on the bond between the android and his human "sister," and things do not go according to the science officer's plan (more on this later).
What did you make of the decision to use Holm's likeness for Rook? Let us know in the comments section down below, and click here to check out our review.
"The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe."
The film stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (The Last of Us), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), and Aileen Wu. Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe 2) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.
Alien: Romulus is produced by Ridley Scott (Napoleon), who directed the original Alien and produced and directed the series’ entries Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Michael Pruss (Boston Strangler), and Walter Hill (Alien), with Fede Alvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (Charlie’s Angels), Brent O’Connor (Bullet Train), and Tom Moran (Unstoppable) serving as executive producers.