Review: Prometheus
Overview
Genre(s): Horror, Science FictionThings We Liked:
New Addition to the Alien Franchise I David the Android I Well-Crafted NarrativeThings We Hated:
Leaves a Number of Puzzling Questions in its Wake I Creator's Last SceneInitially I was struck by the tone of Prometheus. I had, I think, gotten caught up in the whole marketing campaign. I was expecting a little more from the action, a little more from the storyline and overall a little more in the way of answers for the questions posed by the film. In a strange [...]
Initially I was struck by the tone of Prometheus. I had, I think, gotten caught up in the whole marketing campaign. I was expecting a little more from the action, a little more from the storyline and overall a little more in the way of answers for the questions posed by the film.
In a strange way Mr. Scott makes the viewer very much like Mr. Weyland. I admit, somehow I misplaced the gobs of money that Mr. Weyland has but, I wanted answers. Peter Weyland’s ultimate goal was to change the world. His dying wish is to understand why and how we came in to being, something that, were he to find out, would shape and reshape life more than any other technology we could ever imagine. He is not alone in wondering where we have come from, what our purpose is. Though it could very easily be said that this movie is 100 percent about man’s greedy search for meaning, I didn’t want to go down that path. I didn’t want to heap heavy meanings on a movie that had only just been released. Sure, the original had all sorts of symbolism and meaning, but I hadn’t wanted to lay the gravity of all that down, 15 minutes in. I wanted to take this movie in as a science fiction gem, I had my own questions and I wanted to believe that this movie had answers for me.
It was already too late.
Prometheus was presented perfectly. It assumed the audiences intelligence as high, even as David licked his tongue and touched an access panel that could only be activated by his saliva. The tone was evident from the beginning. This was Mr. Scott’s picture. His homage to the first Alien was quaint and for any fan, nostalgic. The android David walks around an empty ship as the lights come up, just like the opening scenes of the Nostromo in Alien. Even the ending has a similar, not-quite-safe sequence.
I suppose that There should be a little background, right? Going in to this film unprepared might be a little jarring. If you don’t know what you are getting in to then, you probably won’t appreciate the end product. The fact that this was an Alien prequel was widespread and should be well-known. As soon as the character for Mr. Weyland was announcing his intentions at the TED talks about changing the world, it was fairly obvious.
For fans of that franchise, this movie had a lot of interesting topics. I won’t give too much away but suffice it to say that this one is truly about beginnings. At the start of the film a muscular, pale, almost albino man sacrifices himself by drinking what looks like an oxidizing metal substance that tears his DNA apart. His DNA reforms with the help of water, a life-giving medium and were are to believe that all life on earth has come from this event.
That event shapes the rest of the story. The main plot arc of which is that a couple of scientists have found images referring to a star map of some sort from different time periods in Human history. They all have the same pattern of stars and so with the technology presented to the, they find the gathering of stars that are indicated and make their way to the. Presumably they are under the impression that the ones who left the star map are creators of all life and actually want to be found.
Interesting thought, not so much of a reality.
Much of the action that is predicated by the advertising campaign is pretty low-key. By that I mean it happens and then it’s done. There is not a lingering sense of violence around every corner. Of course there are parts where suspense is prevalent but you don’t feel like aliens will burst through everyone chest at every turn of the film. As a matter of fact there is not even one green egg that slowly opens only to reveal its precious face-hugging cargo.
Mr. Scott truly had original ideas for this film. He does not dwell on his past, and instead takes what worked for him and for the franchise previously and reshaped it, gives it legs, starts at the beginning and shows us the very stark beginnings of the race movie-goers began to fear years ago.
However, logistical questions linger and remain. You want to know a little bit more about this overly muscular, creator race, you want to understand why their own creations, if indeed they are such things, produce such heinous effects when combined with their DNA.
It is suggested by one of the characters in an off-handed scene that these ‘creators’ have created something like a super-biological weapon and that their means of delivering it is to drop a ship in to an atmosphere unload canisters that oxidize and destroy and reform life. Within the frame-work of the movie and the universe that does make sense. However, since we don’t have any real clue as to what the creators want to do, other than create, that one attempt at figuring them out doesn’t seem adequate.
There are more circumstances such as this that serve to take away from the film when thought about. The bottom line however is that Prometheus entertained. It did so with an intelligence reserved generally for drama while maintaining a sense science fiction danger.
About the Author
