Released: June 2012
Director: Ridley Scott
Rated R
Run Time: 124 Minutes
Distributor: Fox Studios
Genre: Science Fiction
Cast:
Noomi Rapace: Elizabeth Shaw
Logan Marshall-Green: Charlie
Michael Fassbender: David
Charlize Theron: Meredith Vickers
Guy Pearce: Peter Weyland
Idris Elba: Janek
Sean Harris: Fifield
Rafe Spall: Millburn
When Alien debuted in 1979, it not only launched the career of Sigourney Weaver as an actress, but it also put Ridley Scott’s name on the map as a legitimate director. It took a while for him to find his groove. The film that he did right after Alien was Blade Runner. While that film bombed at the box office, it wound developing a strong cult following. It actually ended up being one of the best science fiction and detective stories ever made. Even at his worst, Ridley Scott’s films are still entertaining. However, Scott would not return to the science fiction genre until 2012 with Prometheus.
Prometheus opens as two scientists, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a cave with paintings on the wall in Scotland. One of these paintings features a giant pointing to the stars. It seems that this was not the only cave painting to feature this image. 2 years later, a scientific research vessel, Prometheus, arrives at a planet in a distant solar system. After waking from hypersleep, the crew of the Prometheus land on the planet to discover a mysterious structure. After breaching the structure, the crew discovers a secret that could destroy mankind. The initial drafts of the script for Prometheus actually had the film being a direct prequel to Alien. However, Ridley Scott and the higher-ups at Fox Studios decided that may not be the best idea, so they retooled the script into what would become the film that we got. It’s not unheard of. Scripts often change a lot before they’re finalized, and sometimes the final draft is vastly different than the initial draft. That’s part of the process. Always has been, always will be. The problem is, is that people were led to believe that we were getting another film in the Alien universe, but Prometheus wound up being a very different beast than what we expected. While the film is definitely set in the same universe, it’s not an Alien movie, per se. Like everyone else, I wanted a prequel to Alien. That being said, I was actually pleasantly surprised at the film we got. It was definitely different.
Before I get into the things that I loved about the film, I want to talk about the stuff that went wrong. This is a film that has an identity crisis. It doesn’t know what genre it wants to belong to. Is it a science-fiction adventure or is it a horror/monster movie? This clash is present throughout the entire experience and it’s hard to gauge what kind of audience would enjoy this movie. The reaction to the film was split right down the middle. People either loved the film, or they hated it. While the performances were mostly strong across the board, and I while get into that later, special mention has to be made for Charlize Theron as Vickers being the worst performance in the film. I’m not necessarily blaming Theron for this, however. The character comes across as your typical corporate sleaze-bag that you see in movies like this: Skeptical and business-minded scumbags. Theron’s performance is….off. I like the actress, she’s a great actress, but this was not one of her best roles. The last problem is also the film’s greatest strength: The connection to Alien. The connection is a huge problem, because people had expectations of what the movie was going to be. Some of the connections were blatantly obvious: The Weyland Corporation, the derelict space ship, and some of the murals in the main structure were pretty obvious. Considering the kind of movie that Prometheus is, all that could have been cut out, and the film probably would have been better for it.
Now, let’s get to the good stuff. Holy shit, this movie is beautiful. The cinematography is second-to-none. The opening credits of the film feature some really spectacular scenery. The visual effects are some of the finest I’ve seen in years. The set designs and the character designs are absolutely phenomenal. This is also where the connection to Alien is a good thing. The design of the alien ship is exactly the same as it was in the original Alien. The Space Jockey that we got a glimpse of in the original film comes to life here as an Engineer. The Engineers, according to Dr. Shaw are a race of super-intelligent alien beings that created mankind. It was a very interesting concept that worked fairly well. With the exception of Charlize Theron, the acting is actually pretty good all across the board. The real standouts here are Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender. These two actors put everything into their respective roles. Noomi Rapace has some scenes that look really painful, and the amount of physicality that she has to display is exceptional. Fassbender is equally interesting as the android David. While the character was programmed a certain way, you can’t help but notice that there is something sinister going on with David. Idris Elba is always fun to watch, especially as Janek, the ship’s pilot. The music by Marc Streitenfeld has a very unique quality to it that makes it both epic and intense.
At the end of the day, Prometheus is a pretty divisive movie. As I said before, when it was released, reactions were split down the middle. I fell on the side of the people who loved the film, but I definitely understand why some people didn’t. This was not necessarily a film that people were expecting. The concept of the film changed so much before production began, it felt like there was going to be serious problems behind the scenes. The film didn’t do well enough to really warrant another film in the same universe, but now we have Alien: Covenant coming out tomorrow as of this writing, and it seems like it’s going to be the prequel that people were wanting Prometheus to be. There IS still some life left in the Alien universe, and hopefully Covenant will keep it going. The Alien franchise is in my top three favorite film franchises. Prometheus was an interesting experiment that didn’t always pan out, but I honestly loved it. The visuals, the music and the performances of Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender help elevate a film that could have been a pretty dour experience. I enjoyed it and I definitely recommend it.
Final Score: 8.5/10