A buddy back in the day whose favorite film was the original ALIEN once ranted about how Ripley surviving against the original Xenomorph was the fluke of flukes and that Cameron reducing them to cannon fodder for gun-toting marines was disgraceful.
With that in mind I'd have to say that Romulus actually makes for a better sequel than ALIENS--lore-wise. Obviously for filmmaking craft ALIENS unquestionably reigns supreme.
I love that in Romulus Rain doesn't kill a single xeno without AI assistance. Anyone who tries to go mano a mano, even when well-armed, dies. The xenos are back to being forces of nature that can only be overcome if the physical laws of the universe (Zero G, a planetary ring) and the trillions of calculations per second of a computer (Andy/auto-targeting pulse rifles) are used against them.
I also like that the film showcases characters that are constantly requiring the aid of, yet are just as constantly in danger of, AI. Andy's allegiance hauntingly changes from scene to scene based on whether his programming aligns with the well-being of the human characters. Stuff like that is fun to chew on as it echoes our real world society's realization that the only way for AI to benefit mankind is if it *thinks* that benefiting mankind aligns with its prime directive. Rain needed Andy to survive, but she also had to constantly strive to stay one step ahead of his interpretations of Company mandates.
Similarly Rook was playing the exact same game, trying to trick the humans into thinking that Company mandates aligned with their well-being ("press the button to activate Remote so I can save you...") Great stuff.
With that in mind I'd have to say that Romulus actually makes for a better sequel than ALIENS--lore-wise. Obviously for filmmaking craft ALIENS unquestionably reigns supreme.
I love that in Romulus Rain doesn't kill a single xeno without AI assistance. Anyone who tries to go mano a mano, even when well-armed, dies. The xenos are back to being forces of nature that can only be overcome if the physical laws of the universe (Zero G, a planetary ring) and the trillions of calculations per second of a computer (Andy/auto-targeting pulse rifles) are used against them.
I also like that the film showcases characters that are constantly requiring the aid of, yet are just as constantly in danger of, AI. Andy's allegiance hauntingly changes from scene to scene based on whether his programming aligns with the well-being of the human characters. Stuff like that is fun to chew on as it echoes our real world society's realization that the only way for AI to benefit mankind is if it *thinks* that benefiting mankind aligns with its prime directive. Rain needed Andy to survive, but she also had to constantly strive to stay one step ahead of his interpretations of Company mandates.
Similarly Rook was playing the exact same game, trying to trick the humans into thinking that Company mandates aligned with their well-being ("press the button to activate Remote so I can save you...") Great stuff.