Romulus’ surprise character return secretly undermines the original movie’s best twist

Warning: Contains spoilers for Alien: RomulusAlien: Romulus Subverted audience expectations by bringing back a familiar face from the original film. However, as shocking as the character of the movie was – 45 years after his previous appearance in the franchise – his role also restored one of Aliens most effective plot twists. Made before audiences became overfamiliar with acid blood, facehuggers, and carnivorous xenomorphs, the 1979 movie featured some shocking scenes. While the iconic chestburster has passed into filmmaking folklore, the actual best twist of the movie arguably has far greater narrative significance.

Aliens genius was the transplantation of haunted house tropes into outer space. A limited cast of characters encountered something completely incomprehensible and terrifying, slowly succumbing to its power before one survivor emerged triumphant. It’s a formula that’s been repeated in the horror genre time and time again. However, in this setup, The movie heightened the tension by refusing to conform to narrative conventionConsistently pulling the rug out from under the viewer. One of the twists concerns Ian Holm’s character, Ash – a truly unexpected moment that is unfortunately undercut by Alien: Romulus.

Ian Holm’s role undermines the revelation that Ash is a robot in Alien

Other “Ian Holm robots” do not make sense in the Alien Universe

Despite the death of the actor in 2020, Alien: Romulus Recreated Ian Holm’s likeness for the character of Rook. His appearance was one of many effective callbacks and Easter eggs related to the original Alien movie and immediately established a connection between two main robot characters in the story. in AlienHolm played the Nostromo’s science officer, Ash. Despite the fact that he was on the same side as the crew, it eventually became clear that Ash was actually a synthetic, tasked with bringing the alien creature back for Wayland-Yutani to study.. This revelation basically made him the secondary villain of the movie.

From a history perspective, AlienS Ash Twist was extremely effective. Suddenly, both the characters and the audience could not trust anyone, but the tension increased and the atmosphere of fear and suspicion increased. And yet, with his slide revealed, Alien: Romulus He grasped the power of the moment in one stroke. What made the Ash three so effective is that None of Aliens characters had no idea he could be a robot – a situation exemplified by Parker’s stand remarks, “Ash is a goddamn robot!“

However, the surprise of the crew is much harder to believe if it turns out that the Alien The universe is actually full of synthetics that look just like ash. Rook’s existence suggests that Ash was not a unique model commissioned for the Nostromo project. instead, He is one of many identical robots associated with Weyland-Yutani Spread across the universe. It is impossible to believe that none of the Nostromo’s crew would recognize Ash, given his doppelgangers’ new-found prevalence. As a result, Alien: Romulus has inadvertently compromised one of the franchise’s most effective twists.

The Ash Robot twist is one of the franchise’s most shocking moments

It works on multiple levels

There are several reasons why Aliens ash discovery is so successful. Beyond building the atmosphere and contributing to the movie’s unbearably tense climax, It helps establish one of the key themes in the franchise – Corporate greed. It is Ash who for the first time described the role of the company and the extent of the Nostromo’s emergency, as well as explaining exactly what they were up against. His opinion on the “Perfect organism“And his expression of”sympathies“To the surviving crew is also chilling, immediately establishing him as an iconic movie villain.

In addition to this, however, it is also important to consider the context in which Ash’s true identity was revealed. At this point in the original movie, Aliens world was in its infancy. The viewers didn’t even know that the real robots were part of the story. This makes the unmasking of Ash’s true form confusing and confusing. The slow trickle of white liquid down his forehead initially had no explanation – as all of AlienS most effective scares – making the twist doubly shocking. for Alien: Romulus To have compromised this moment is a real disappointment, since it challenges the authenticity of AlienIt’s world-building again.

Alien: Romulus should have brought back a different franchise robot character

They would have made perfect sense

In choosing to bring back Holm, Alien: Romulus suggested that Alien‘s characters had no rational reason to be surprised when Ash turned out to be a robot. However, while this clearly undermines the original story, it was a way for the 2024 sequel to bring back a popular legacy robot character without compromising a core part of the narrative. Specifically, the movie could have reintroduced Lance Henrikson.

in AliensHenriksen challenged audience expectations by proving that not all “Artificial people“were inherently bad. As Bishop, he heroically saves Ripley and Newt from LV-426Expertly piloting the cap ship to save them from the alien queen – a stark contrast with Ash. However, while this was Henriksen’s most memorable Alien His prolonged presence in the franchise actually makes him the perfect candidate for a comeback.

Henriksen returned to the series in Alien 3Both as Bishop and as another character variously identified as “Bishop W“or”Michael Bishop Wieland“Next, Henriksen also appeared Alien vs. Predator Like the original Charles Weyland, founder of the company. Because he has already featured in several installments in the saga and there is a clear precedent for him playing multiple distinct characters, Henriksen’s presence could have produced the same effect as Holms without compromising the story. While Holm’s Alien: Romulus The appearance was a surprise, raising questions about whether Henrikson would be able to embrace it.