Review: Prometheus

 

In 2089, archaeologist couple Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a star map among several unconnected ancient cultures. This is interpreted as an “invitation” from the creators of humanity known in the film as the “Engineers”.  Peter Weyland, the very elderly founder of the Weyland Corporation, finances the creation of the scientific vessel Prometheus in hopes to follow the map to the distant moon LV-223.  The ship’s crew, composed of scientists, engineers, and biologists travels aboard “Prometheus”.  David, (Michael Fassbender), is an android that monitors their voyage. In 2093 the ship arrives and it’s crew, a sleep during this time, is told their mission is to find “the Engineers” by Director Meredith Vickers, (Charlize Theron), ordering the crew to not contact them.  The mission is to find them. Some things are discovered in the cave like structures, which for the sake of spoiling will not reveal any further details of the plot.

 

 


After speculation and an aggressive innovative marketing campaign, Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” is a glorious sci-fi adventure horror treat for the fan boys. If one is able to tone down the hype to a rational level then  audiences will at least be captivated by the visuals of your smarter-then-your-average summer blockbuster. If you were one of ‘those people’ who dissected the trailers a few dozen times then the shock and awe might wear thin on you and you could possibly be let down. For me, who avoided trailer saturation, there’s so much more in Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” then I was expecting.

 

Ridley Scott pours his talent and filmmaking experience into all of “Prometheus”. With stunning cinematography, captivating visual effects, crisp sound, thrilling intensity, and the dreary atmosphere Mr. Scott manages to configure all these fantastic elements into top-notch. The climatic shuttle launch and planet split, (as seen in the trailer), was a special effects bonanza and the use of 3D was astonishing and impressive especially during two scenes when you see the ships traveling in space and during the wind storm on the planet. The one characteristic which doesn’t deliver like all the other technical aspects is the screenplay. Fanboys who were drunk on hype could be hungover with disappointment in this area. Co-written by Damon Lindelof, (co-creator and executive producer for the television series “Lost”), “Prometheus” covers deep existential and philosophical possibilities on the creation of man without revealing a core theology.

 

The two best performances in the “Prometheus” came from the scene stealing Michael Fassbender and rising star Noomi Rapace. Fassbender has the benefit of more of a ‘character’ to play with as he portrays the android “David”. His motives are impure being the one character who is guided purely by a curious mind and has no sense of moral compass. Noomi Rapace is exploring on  a different level and is guided by her faith coupled flash back memories of a relationship with her father. Rapace plays a tough heroine extremely well and she is featured in a scene so shocking, and somewhat sickening, that it might be the most memorable moment in the film. I kept thinking back to that gruesome moment days after my screening of Prometheus and realized it left a long term impression. Without spoiling the ending, it seems obvious a sequel is pending and how the origins of other creatures came to be. As David the android says, “Big Things Come From Small Beginnings” indeed.

 

I have a feeling the “Prometheus” has enough plot twists and lingers enough unanswered questions that it will confuse and possibly alienate some audiences looking forward to a gory “Alien” movie. This is a shame. There are obvious moments where references to other “Alien” films and in a summer with dumb sequels, stale CGI, and weak scripts “Prometheus” sets the bar pretty high for technical wizardry for 2012 and maybe even the next few years beyond.

 

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

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About Kenny Miles

Whether something is overlooked by Hollywood or whatever business trend has captured the Entertainment Industry’s attention, Kenny Miles loves to talk about movies (especially the cultural impact of a film). He covers various aspects of movies including specialty genre films, limited release, independent, foreign language, documentary features, and THE much infamous "awards season." Also, he likes to offer his opinion on the business of film, marketing strategy, and branding. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado and is a member of the Denver Film Critics Society critics group. You can follow him on Twitter @kmiles723.

10 thoughts on “Review: Prometheus

  1. Over all I thought this movie was good. Am I the only one who thought it would have been so much better if Charlize Theron’s (Meredith) character was just not in it? The whole strange family dynamic seemed really forced. I think I would have liked it so much more if it was just David who was in charge. Oh and not to spoil but when you do get the key reference to “Alien” i really think that it should have been on the ship with David and Elizabeth.

  2. I like all the Alien and Predator movies, even the AVP movies. I am OK with suspending a certain amount of reality. But, this movie expects one to leave all reality expectations at the door. Where do I begin? Right, at the beginning. Now, some alien guy takes some body destroying pills/crystals/organisms and it breaks him down to his DNA and it floats in the water and starts replicating on a Proto-Earth. I am not sure if he is some criminal alien and they have left him to commit suicide or if they are purposely implanting DNA. I guess they are trying to implant humanoid life because they must come back and have contact with ancient humans who do the drawings. Unless we assume race memories implanted in the DNA that drives humans of divergent cultures to draw this solar system and tall alien. If they are creating us, then why do they want to subject us to the Aliens. I guess we are just cattle to incubate Aliens. That is a lot of effort, over thousands of years, to produce cattle. If not, then what did we do to be guinea pigs, especially if we know about the aliens through race memories. This is non-sense for a movie sold as a deep thinker.
    The movie has so many silly moments that it is laughable. No protocols or procedures for much of anything. These are scientist and spaceship operators, but seem to have no organization. Heck, some of them have no idea why they have submitted themselves for 2-plus years of hibernation, and that is just one-way on this trip. I love the race to buckle-in at the last second when they are entering the atmosphere. Reminds me of the lack of seatbelts on the old Star Trek shows. No specimen viles or containers, just a bag for the alien head. Of course, the 100+ mph winds lift the rover, but the driver just jumps out to the ground. Stuff, like rocks, are flying at 100+ mph, but nobody’s space suit is worse for wear. Every scenes has some non-sensical action by allegedly well-educated and well-trained people. Heck, the non-scientists in the original Alien movie knew more about how to deal with an unknown organism than these people. The guys on Big Bang Theory have more sense, and that is a comedy show.
    Don’t get me started on the lack of any actions that would give rise to any belief that the main character is a Christian. That’s right, Hollywood has no idea about prayer or anyone that actually carries a Bible. This movie is a mess.

    1. @Bendej The Engineers are not using our bodies to cultivate aliens, they were sending them to Earth to kill everything (you must destroy to create type term was said by the robot), but I guess the creatures overtook their masters and killed all but one. The engineers were going to kill everything on earth due to an event that happened 2 thousand years ago (christ?) I do not agree with the rating of this movie, it should be a 4-5. The story was awesome but it seems that 1/2 – 1 hour of the movie is missing to expalin numerous plot holes. There are rumours that there are numerous extra scenes in the DVD release, plus it is supposed to be a trilogy. Anyway the movie was beautiful, but wait for the Blu-ray release.

  3. I just saw Prometheus. I went into it expecting it to combine the worst elements of Mission to Mars and the first Alien vs. Predator, and you know what? It was even worse than I expected. Oh, sure, the cast is solid and there are some very leet grafix along the way, but the plot sucks. From the android’s motivations to the monsters’ lifecycles, nothing that’s presented here makes any bloody sense at all. This is probably because it’s literally the exact same plot as the first AvP, except that instead of Predators, there are Space Jockeys, and instead of investigating a pyramid in the hostile alien environment of Antarctica, the characters are investigating some anthill-like buildings on a hostile alien planet that looks suspiciously like Iceland. In both movies, they’re investigating these structures because someone found identical markings on ancient ruins all across the planet (which will bring up bad memories of not just AvP, but Revenge of the Fallen and probably whatever the History Channel is showing nowadays as well). Naturally, the characters who were smart enough to bring weapons in AvP were among the first to die, so the character in Prometheus who thinks that a gun might come in handy when exploring some dark spooky tunnels on a freaking alien planet is also among the first to die. Hell, both movies even have a Mr. Weyland who comes along on the expedition because he’s dying. What are the differences? Well, in AvP, the Predators’ motivations and the Xenomorphs’ lifecycle are pretty well-established (we see the queen laying eggs, we see what hatches from the eggs, etc., so you know how things work even if you haven’t seen the previous four films), whereas by the end of Prometheus, we still have no idea why the Space Jockeys want to kill us or even how many different kinds of monsters are running around, much less what their relationships are to each other. Pretty much the only one who knows anything is the android, who apparently learns all about the Space Jockeys, their language, their machinery, etc. after sticking his fingers in some sparkly slime and wiping it all over the nearest alien control panel he can find. And you know what? It STILL doesn’t explain anything about the ship that the Nostromo crew found or how those eggs got there.__________________ “Don’t mess with Texas. Texas, however, clearly reserves the right to mess with you.” – Ayatollah So

    1.  @jhonny Ferrozy What da heck are you talking about you cheap bastard? I didn’t understand anything you said in ur review. It seems like you copied and pasted the whole thing. The movie was AWESOME!!!!!!!!! What did you expect to see? Pea soup?

        1.  @jhonny Ferrozy You sound so cute. My name is Ricardo but my friends call Rrrrrricky. Call me sweetie. Dele dele dele dele papi dele ;)

    2.  @jhonny Ferrozy
       Whithout going into a long paragraph, I’ll just sum up that this was a begining of the Alien universe.  This movie wasn’t supposed to end right where Nostromo began.  I can’t speak on the AvP references because I avoided that train wreck.  It’s true the movie did not spell everything out for you.  Some of us like it that way.

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