If there are two consistent villains in the history of cinema, they are the Nazis and evil corporations. From the Umbrella Corporation (“Resident Evil”) to Omni Consumer Products (“RoboCop”), Cyberdyne Systems (“Terminator”), Buy N Large (“Wall-E”), the Tyrell Corporation (“Blade Runner”), Silver Shamrock (“Halloween III”), and LexCorp (“Superman”), there is nothing more evil in the eyes of many filmmakers than the corporate bottom line.
Among these evil corporations, none is so evil as the “Alien” franchise’s Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Over the course of nine films, the company has sent its employees to be killed by parasitic alien monsters, cloned those same employees, and repeatedly attempted to weaponize the most dangerous beings in the universe for profit. In “Prometheus,” the company’s founder even gets the Earth nearly destroyed by an interstellar biological weapon after asking an alien demigod to give him eternal life.
“Alien: Romulus,” the newest film in the franchise, is no exception to this, but in its more salient moments, it expands upon the personal realities of these evils. As we discover, our lead characters are enslaved on a mining colony that continually extends their contracts and debts to the company against their will. These characters sold their souls to the company in exchange for a brighter future that will never come due to alleged “worker shortages.”
When our heroes discover a space station infected by Xenomorphs, the needs of the corporation constantly interfere with their ability to survive. Throughout the film, it becomes clear that the company is prepared
