Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof
Directed by Ridley Scott
Rated R - Sci-fi violence and brief language
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Trailer
Several years later, Shaw, Holloway and a team of explorers and scientists arrive on LV-223 via the starship Prometheus. Along for the ride is ship's captain Janek (Idris Elba), icy Wayland Corp. representative Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), android David (Michael Fassbender) and a handful of scientists, doctors, and ship's crew. Shaw and Holloway explain their theory that a race of beings they call the Engineers are actually responsible for the rise of human life on Earth, and that the cave paintings were an invitation to come and meet them.
On LV-223, Shaw and the others discover a massive hollow structure full of corridors and a breathable atmosphere. Further mysteries compound: the human expedition soon finds that the Engineers within are all dead. A series of containers seems to be leaking black, organic material of unknown composition. The crew brings some samples back to the ship to examine as a storm closes in, but soon things begin to go very wrong. Two of the scientists are trapped in the alien structure, and they are not alone. Some kind of creature lurks within the black liquid. Back aboard the ship, David reveals that he has ulterior motives as he begins to experiment with the liquid himself.
As Shaw learns more about the creatures and the fate of her vaunted Engineers, she begins to realize just how wrong she was about them. And if she can't stop what's happening on LV-223, the Earth may just suffer the same horrific fate as the Engineers.
"Prometheus" is the long-awaited return of director Ridley Scott to the "Alien" franchise. Though it takes place in the same fictional universe, "Prometheus" is not quite a prequel to the first films. It shares a number of characteristics, and by the end of it I wanted to leap right into watching "Alien," but it presents a story that goes off in a different direction.
This return to that universe, exploring a different corner of the same room, so to speak, is fascinating. On a purely technical level, "Prometheus" is a gorgeous film. From the sets to the costumes to the gorgeous effects, everything is perfect. The interior of the Prometheus itself looks very much like the ships from Scott's own "Alien" and James Cameron's follow-up "Aliens." Even though there are lots of floating holographic screens, the ship still feels very real and has lots of small details that make it look futuristic but lived-in.
The designs of the various creatures is also excellent, what little we really get to see of them. The alien Engineers (the so-called "Space Jockey" from the original film) are revealed to be much different than we thought from the short previous glimpses, but far more sinister. The revelations regarding their true nature, and their true appearance, are key to the plot of "Prometheus," and add a fascinating new layer to the franchise.
The performances of the cast are uniformly first-rate. Noomi Rapace isn't quite the heroine Sigourney Weaver was, but mostly it's the script that doesn't allow her to perform similar functions within the film, even though the climax seems to recall the ending of "Alien." Still, she has many fine scenes, and she really sells the idealism of her character, the drive to meet the Engineers and ask important "meaning of life" questions.
The standout in a film already loaded with good acting is Michael Fassbender as David. Every scene he's in, he takes command of with subtlety and grace. When his actions are sinister, his innocent, almost child-like manner becomes all the creepier. His performance seems informed by the artificial life forms in "Alien" and "Aliens" played by Ian Holm and Lance Henriksen, but he doesn't copy them. Ultimately, those performances are even closer to human than Fassbender's, which makes the precursor concept of he character fantastic in execution.
For all this praise I've heaped upon "Prometheus," the film is not without its problems. Its pace is rather slow, and at times the narrative seems a bit unfocused. Occasionally, the characters' motivations aren't particularly clear, either. A noble sacrifice late in the film by several of the ship's crew rings hollow - people who earlier in the film said they were in this for the money suddenly decide they want to do the right thing, but we're not really sure why they did such a thing instead of just running away and saving their own asses. Other times, a character's motivation is revealed late in the game and suddenly their seemingly complex behavior beforehand seems... unjustified. Overall, the script asks a few too many questions that it doesn't answer, and some of the concepts it presents just aren't explored deeply enough.
And, now, this may simply be a personal thing, but I didn't find the film particularly scary, save for a few brief moments. While I was entertained and fascinated by it, I didn't feel the terror I think I was supposed to be feeling. Other reviewers have talked about how relentlessly scary this film is, but I didn't see it. The violence in "Prometheus" is much more obvious and straight-forward than in "Alien," which almost makes "Prometheus" feel more like Cameron's take on the story. Again, that's just me... other people seem to be responding more to the horror aspects of the film.
I need to see "Prometheus" again. I need to temper my expectations and look past all the glossy window trappings at what's really going on. I want to look into it and have more than just these impressions to share. Right now, my feelings are that the script is the weakest point of "Prometheus," but I suspect that a second or third viewing might help me solidify my feelings on the whole enterprise.
And I need to see the last minute again.
See Also
Alien
Aliens
The promotion for this film made it look freakin’ awesome but also, a lot like Alien and I think that’s the big problem with the film. It’s pretty much the same formula used over again and even though Scott tries his hardest to get our heads past that, it’s too obvious, too quick. Good review Ben.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
ReplyDeletePart of the problem is that it does seem unfocused. In "Alien" there was just the one creature that was taking out the crew one by one, in the dark, barely seen. In "Prometheus," there's a bunch of stuff happening that doesn't seem entirely connected. There's the snake creatures that kill two scientists, and then one becomes some kind of zombie/mutant thing, then there's the facehugger that Shaw gives birth to, and the Space Jockey/Engineer itself. I kept waiting for the film to settle on one idea, and it kind of didn't.
I'm really hoping a second viewing gives me some clues that I missed to bring it all together a little better. I have to admit I spent a ton of time during this movie just sort of staring at the images, because it is a gorgeous film, and I loved all the sets and costumes.
A lot of it makes more sense after reading this article: http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html
ReplyDeleteI never found the different forms that the fluid used to destroy to be inconsistent - the "zombie" form was an attempt to get onboard the ship and destroy the humans there, and/or to get off of the moon and destroy life back on Earth. I think Holloway would have turned into the "zombie" form if he hadn't antagonized Villers into frying him. We saw three (maybe 3.5) versions: mutated worm form; "zombie" form (I think we can safely speculate that the guy trapped in the pyramid got a much bigger dose of the fluid than Holloway); human hybrid "facehugger" version. Which, by the way, follows along with the later movies which showed the Xenomorphs taking on traits of other creatures used to spawn.
As the article stated, when the fluid was reactive to psychic states: when used with an attitude of self-sacrifice, it creates life using the building blocks of something that came before. When infected by self-interest, it turns destructive.
The fact that it's psychically reactive was established on-screen. Notice that when humans were around it, the stuff was active and started flowing, but it did nothing when David was messing with it.
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