Prometheus

The biggest mistake I made before seeing this movie was watching Alien.

I had been told not to do so, and even director Ridley Scott went on record saying that this movie barely ties into that classic film. " Sharing DNA", as he put it, is quite apt. Unfortunately, I did not listen and instead of getting one thing I got something completely different.

Again, part of that is my fault, and it's an issue that's caused me to struggle with my feelings towards the movie. Actually, there quite a few issues that have caused me to struggle. First, there were my expectations, which like I said, I should have tempered. Second, there are a lot of problems with the movie such as bad characterizations and poor plotting. Finally though, the movie has the balls to not only ask big questions, but to do it as a big budget, major studio film. Unfortunately, the film runs away from those questions in hopes of answering them in a sequel, a move that comes off as a bit dickish.

The film opens with an "engineer" sacrificing himself in order to create life on what looks like an awful lot like Earth. Cut to 2080 something, we have scientist Noomi Rapace discovering pictographs in a cave that are identical to others found on opposite ends of the earth and is convinced that they are an invitation by our "engineers" to come and find them. Somehow this is enough to convince Peter Weyland to spend a trillion dollars ( TRILLION!) on a mission to seek out our makers and ask them what their deal is. But of course, shit goes oh so wrong.


What's frustrating about this film is that I know there is a good movie in there somewhere. If more time had been spend on the script and replace a few of the actors and this easily could have held itself in great regard with Ridley's other Sci-fi ventures. That didn't happen though. Instead we have a film full of non-answers and supposed scientists constantly making decisions that any level-headed human would call shitty. Also, there is no feeling of consequence in this movie. Insane stuff happens, characters die in gruesome fashion, but nobody stops for even a second and react believably. At one point, our heroine gives herself a C-section, one of the few highlights of the movie, and it's mentioned in passing once and never acknowledged again. If the characters don't even care about themselves, how the hell are we supposed to?

Also, I don't get Noomi Rapace. I've seen her in this and the Sherlock Holmes sequel and she really doesn't bring anything to either movie. She looks interesting, I guess, but otherwise is just there.

Oh, and don't put Idris Elba in your movie and then completely waste him. Not cool.

It might be hard to believe after all that, but there are some bright spots here. Michael Fassbender steals the show as the robot David. There's an early sequence where David is trying to keep himself busy for the two years that the crew is in hyper-sleep while en-route that is fascinating. Fassbender plays him with just the right amount of coyness so that we the audience are never quite sure of his intentions. Easily the best part of the movie.

Charlize Theron is also very good here. In fact, I'd argue that her character is one of the most reasonable in the film, even though the movie tries to brand her a bad guy. Like Ripley before her, Theron forbids to let a fellow scientist back on the ship after he has been infected by something. It's one of the few character beats in the movie that makes sense, but like everything else, is instantly tossed aside and forgotten.

Of course being a Ridley Scott picture, the visuals are stunning. In fact, if your curiosity gets the better of you and you absolutely have to see it in theaters as I did, see it in IMAX 3D. Scott uses the extra dimension expertly and is further proof that only the masters should be allowed to use it.


Prometheus is a frustrating movie. If it had absolutely no ties to the ALIEN universe I don't think my reaction would be as negative, though it also wouldn't be amazingly positive. Even with all my frustrations, the movie has stayed with me in the days since I viewed it and I'll eventually watch it again, albeit with lowered expectations. If anything though, Prometheus should be considered a success if only for the fact that a major studio was willing to make an adult, R rated science fiction film with an actual budget and fantastic marketing campaign. And it worked! The movie $50 million in its first weekend. Granted, it's proving to not have very long legs at the box office, but still, it shows that people will show up and hopefully we can see more popping up in the future.


Alright dudes, tomorrow I'm gearing up for My Mission again. So until then, suck it.