Movie Review: Prometheus
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[/media-credit]Question: Do you know who Prometheus was and why Ridley Scott’s latest film might have used his name for the title of the film? [FYI: There may be a spoiler in this review.]
Prometheus: a Greek hero, a Titan, whose story may have inspired the core of the film. Now if you know about Prometheus and his mythology you might guess at what the film is about. However, if you don’t, I will keep quiet except to say it has something to due to with the creation of mankind.
I went in knowing little about the movie, on purpose. I avoided every preview, commercial, tweet or facebook status about the film. Why did I do that? Well, if you read my reviews regularly you already know why. If you don’t know, well bottom-line, I like to be surprised when watching a new film, especially when it is part of a historic film legacy. Yes, Prometheus is part of the Alien story-line. Shocked, I know. I just told you some vital information but hear me out as to why. I kept hearing this was AND it wasn’t a prequel. That bothered me quite bit. Why such a cluster of misguidance? Was it on purpose so people wouldn’t go in comparing Prometheus to one of the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time? Well, I suppose I understand that because as I was watching it I was automatically thinking about Alien.
Now if you are a huge Alien fan you may argue with me on my logic above. That’s okay. I have seen Alien, Aliens and the other two films. (To be honest, I can’t really remember the fourth one at all for some reason.) I loved the first two, although the first one took me years to see as I was young when it came out and then too scared for years. I read the Alien picture book that my brother owned many times. It was a book of the entire film but with pictures and the dialogue. (It was a great way to prepare oneself, when one is 13 years-old, to be able to tough out a horror film.) Of course I saw all the bloody scenes, but I viewed the book to see all the incredible art direction and set design, inspired by H. R. Giger, the surrealist artist. However, I saw Aliens in the theatre when I was 15 and felt elated to have made it through a horror/sci-fi flick without going into a total panic. In fact, I really, really enjoyed Aliens. Saying I’m a fan of Alien and its sequel would be very accurate.
The stunning visual aspect was just one of the reasons why Alien and the franchise initially caught my interest. Then there was having a kick-ass female as the hero of the story. A strong woman represented like that wasn’t the norm then (and Ripley was first supposed to be a man in the original script, for your information). She did not cower or need a man to rescue her. As an adolescent that made a huge impact on me.
Anyway, back to Prometheus. The movie started and I was clueless as to what the first scene was trying to convey, and even after seeing the entire film I have a theory what its meaning was but still nothing concrete. I don’t mind a mystery but in this prequel there were just too few details or the exact opposite. Sometimes the scene was filled with too much information. Confused? Me too. I left the film wondering what the whole point was to this film. Sure, Prometheus provided how certain elements began so the other films made a little more sense. Then adding mixture of religion and science interpretations in this film baffled me.
Also, in Alien and Aliens, there were certain characters you cared about: Ripley, Dallas, Newt and even Bill Paxton’s character kept my interest in Aliens. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a single character all that interesting in Prometheus. First, there were a few too many and not enough storyline about them, and the main characters had so much mystery about them (i.e. Charlize Theron’s character) that I couldn’t figure out whether to care about them or not. Michael Fassbender was probably my favorite character and I felt he did a good job, but no one else stood out for me.
Then there was the dialogue. So much of it was overly descriptive and patronizing to the audience as if the filmmakers thought we wouldn’t get what was going on in the story. Perhaps there were some very cryptic parts to the film but why the writers went over board on the other parts annoyed me. Films, especially ones that are visually stunning, should show more than tell.
Lastly, I will admit I did not see it in 3D. I keep hearing now that the visuals were spectacular in 3D, but for me, if the story isn’t there I really don’t care about how great the visuals may be in 3D. So, with all that said, I did not care for Prometheus. Many disagree with me and that’s fine. Everyone should have their own opinion on film, and I am glad to know that others enjoyed it.
Directed by Ridley Scott, Brandywine Productions, 2012
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Emun Elliott, Benedict Wong, Kate Dickie and Patrick Wilson
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
My favorite thing: Seeing some glimpses of the Alien set and knowing a bit more about the origin.
My least favorite thing: That’s easy: the operation and the very end.
Rating: R
Length: 124 minutes
Review: 4 out of 10
Movie Review: Prometheus,
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Tags: 3D, alien, Aliens, Charlize Theron, film, H.G Giger, Michael Fassbender, movie review, Noomi Rapace, Prometheus, R rated, Religion, Ridley Scott, sci-fi, science.
Katy,
Thank you as always for a reasoned, informative, useful review. I think I will wait for the DVD given that there are other films I wish to see more than this one.
You make me feel as if something other than your opinion is conveyed with each of your reviews. You make intelligent commentary that generally leads me to believe that your evaluation is worth considering. This is not typically the case with other more widely publicized and heralded reviewers.
As ever,
Larry
You’re welcome, Larry. And thanks.
Katy: I agree completely. I was clueless as to the meaning of the first scene, it didn’t really work with the rest of the film. I didn’t care about the leads (I heard Charlize Theron was supposed to take the part of the archaelogist originally, that would have made a better movie, I think)
And the little homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey was interesting, …but didn’t go very far! Could have been much better-as to the opening sequence-I still haven’t figured it out yet-Wikipedia has something about the plot that talks about the DNA, but it still is pretty vague to me!
Thanks Mary.
I am a little confused by so many people’s love of this film but maybe it was their expectations for greatness which may be clouding their judgement. That happens and will admit I am guilty of from time to time. Perhaps I should have seen it in 3D as I hear that it was quite good.
I have read there is probably a sequel in the process, which may clue us in on some of the mysteries…But maybe it will be another prequel because so many of the characters were a mystery to me (Charlize’s and Pearce’s relationship)…haha
Funny, I found my ticket stub for this “4″ (I actually gave it a “5″ on the drive home from the theater) today while in my car and promptly threw it away.
The ticket stub was merely a reminder that I DID spend the extra bucks for 3D.
I don’t know if you’d be with me on this thought -- but if the movie had kept up with the intensity and visual awesomeness of that opening scene and that wind-storm, we’d have a winner.
As it stands, there’s too much lacking and will go down, for me, as the film letdown of 2012.
Good review, and I concur with most of it!
Sam:
Let down of 2012 is accurate. I am clueless as to why some found this so great. But as I said before expectations can be skew people’s perspectives.
On to the next film
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