This post contains spoilers for the movie “Alien: Romulus”
Within the enduring Alien film series, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation persists in pursuing a risky endeavor: attempting to profit from the lethal xenomorph despite numerous failures and casualties.
Despite repeated setbacks and fatalities, corporate higher-ups, upon encountering the menacing chest-bursting, acid-blooded alien, persist in proclaiming, “This time, we’re going to make it work.”
Regrettably, despite my admiration for “Alien: Romulus” (which I genuinely enjoyed), the latest installment fails to sidestep its own dubious concept: Hollywood’s infatuation with utilizing CGI to rejuvenate or digitally resurrect beloved actors.
The practice of de-aging has become increasingly prevalent, as seen in attempts to portray a younger Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” a younger Will Smith in “Gemini Man,” and younger versions of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in “The Irishman.”
Moreover, technology has been employed to bring deceased actors and characters back to the big screen, such as Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin in “Rogue One.” “Alien: Romulus” mimics this technique by featuring a similar android model to the original “Alien,” purportedly portrayed by the late actor Ian Holm, who passed away in 2020.
The filmmakers claimed that Holm’s likeness was achieved using animatronics and actor Daniel Betts’s performance, but CGI is unmistakably involved. Given that this issue was a point of contention during the previous year’s actors’ strike (source), it’s not surprising that director Fede Álvarez noted similar concerns during production.
Despite such apprehensions, Álvarez dismisses the notion, citing the substantial cost and labor involved in using CGI to replace actors. In essence, working actors may have little cause for concern at present. Furthermore, the visual fidelity of CGI de-aging and digital resurrections, as seen in “Romulus” and similar projects, is often lacking.
Although skilled visual effects artists undoubtedly work on these effects, the results remain unconvincing and uncanny, failing to fully encapsulate the realism of the original actors. Every attempt to de-age or digitally recreate actors brings attention to its artificiality on screen.
In a striking instance within “Romulus,” the introduction of Holm’s character Rook cleverly obscured his face, leveraging suggestion to evoke a sense of eeriness without relying on CGI resurrection. However, as the camera eventually revealed his digitally altered visage, the artifice became apparent, prompting thoughts of executives insisting, “This time, we’re going to make it work.”
