Prometheus Review

Movie: Prometheus
By: Maniac E
Date: May 31, 2012

They went looking for our beginning. What they found could be our end.

After a long time FOX finally decided to bring back the Alien franchise in a high budget way. Ridley Scott was back on board and he had some ideas for the space jockey to be the main part of this new movie. While it is presented as the prequel to Alien, Ridley wanted to go more into the universe of the Alien mythology and explore what hasn't been explored yet. Is this a true beginning or a false start?

The story:

In the late 21st century, a star map is discovered by archeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) among the remnants of several otherwise-unconnected cultures. On the back of this discovery, the Weyland Corporation funds a scientific expedition to follow the star map aboard the Prometheus. The crew of the ship is kept in hypersleep while an android named David (Michael Fassbender) monitors the voyage. Once awakened, the crew of the ship are informed by Shaw and Holloway of the mission to explore the world of the ancient aliens, called "Engineers" by Shaw. They are overseen by mission director Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), who orders them to avoid any direct contact and return if the aliens are found. Vickers and Captain Janek (Idris Elba) monitor the expedition from the Prometheus bridge as the expeditionary discover a temple and explore its interior. There they find several ampule-like artifacts, a giant humanoid monolith, and the corpse of a giant alien that is presumed to be one of the Engineers. The team of scientists becomes stranded on an Alien world, and as they struggle to survive it becomes clear that the horrors they experience are not just a threat to themselves, but to all of mankind. And all hell breaks loose.

First off, the movie looks and sounds stunning in every possible way. What we got served up is an excellent sci-fi movie in its true meaning. The ships look amazing and the environments are gorgeous. This is a movie that was made for details and it shows if someone has looked at the art work done for the movie. Effects wise, action-wise, technically, visually and in terms of sense-of- wonder, this is exactly the movie we all hoped it would be. The whole set-up for the Weyland company is perfect and serves the first two original Alien movies extremely well. I would love to mention more, but it would be spoiling. With all the CGI it looks like it fits the new age of film making. In this case the CGI really helps with bringing the environments to life.

As this prequel is disguised to be an Alien movie it is first presented to us as a zero episode of the saga, that later on evolves into a much bigger sub-story as a sci-fi original movie. And this is how people should look at the movie. The first hour into the movie its development is slow which isn't a bad thing at all in my book. Prometheus ends up being a lot more of a side story or better said a new saga. Prometheus makes sure you get a new view on things but also makes sure a lot of extra questions will rise up. The first part of the movie just makes the movie feel bombastic and epic in every way possible. But...

The movie does have imperfections, though. Some salient points of the plot are never revealed (but left for a sequel, which, again, I hope gets made, as it will make a big difference as to how much sense this movie ends up making), and the motivation of the robot also remains enigmatic. The part I found most disappointing, however, is that there isn't much depth to the characters. The onslaught of the action doesn't leave them the necessary time to become properly human to us, and their various beliefs are not at all described in sufficient detail - although we do hear a bit about Shaw. Besides her, Idris Elba's captain is the best character; he is human, he has failings, he's a charmer, he can think and he understands sacrifice. Most of the other significant characters are scientists (finally, a sci-fi movie with more than one of those!), but, sadly they don't act like it. One is depressed and drinking for no good reason, one is just obnoxious, and one is apparently not interested in his own field of science. Luckily each will meet his or her end quickly.

Did Ridley Scott really capture the feeling of a true Alien movie and delivers a true masterpiece? I would have to say no. The movie doesn't explain enough to be a true backstory for the Alien movies. The space jockey isn't really explained at all and the ending just leaves you hanging. The ending could have just been so much bigger and more! 2/3 of the movie is just perfection the 1/3 left just make the movie feel rushed and mediocre which is a shame. The feeling of the"to be continued ending" a prequel to a prequel you may say. It just doesn't float my boat since this is heavily depended on how much cash this movie will bring in. But you do get a great sci-fi movie with excellent acting from Fassbender and Rapace, mix this with the Alien backstory (and don't reflect everything to the Alien movie) and solid CGI parts and you won't be disappointed. Watch this with the right mind set and you will enjoy it otherwise this movie will leave a bad taste. Let's just hope a second movie Prometheus will rise anytime soon!