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Prometheus Reviews
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Prometheus
Posted : 5 months ago on 18 December 2012 03:49
It’s a Ridley Scott film, so right off the bat we know it’s going to be a meticulously composed, lit, shot and edited beauty. But Prometheus is a maddening movie which poses questions that it doesn’t even bother to answer, or even bring back up after throwing them out there, and can’t make up its mind over whether or not it’s a companion piece of the Alien franchise or the long-gestating prequel. It’s a schizophrenic film in which various plot points, devices and characters change on a whim with little-to-no regard for what has come before. The film begins its story with a gigantic white Engineer swallowing a black liquid and promptly dying/decomposing before our eyes. Where he is exactly is never explained, nor is what he’s committing ritualistic suicide for. It’s all a load of vague but beautiful images. Even if the makeup job on the Engineers is distracting on how rubbery and synthetic it looks, never fully convincing us that this is a creature to be amazed and silenced in the face of. No matter. We rush forward to 2089 and meet our two opposing scientific minds – atheist Darwinian evolutionist vs. Christian creationist believer – and, of course, they’re lovers too. Anyway, they keep finding these same cave paintings/stone engravings from ancient times with a figure pointing towards a group of three stars. They gain backing through a privately funded trip by a believed dead eccentric billionaire’s company, and we’re off to explore the universe in the Alien mythos. And for a period of time, it all plays out in a completely fascinating way. So, Prometheus ISN’T the long-awaited prequel to the whole thing, but a separate entity that expands upon the same universe? Interesting, I enjoyed it. But then the references to Alien come in, and lead to a conclusion that I can only describe as the filmmakers suddenly going “Oh shit! We need to make this a prequel and tie it in after all!” midway through production. Because it’s right around the midsection of the film that things begin to go flying off the rails at an ever quickening speed. It took enough of a leap for me to buy into a highly expensive space mission being funded on the slimmest of hunches with little-to-no empirical evidence, but once we get into the mysterious black ooze, David’s twisty-turny machinations and the Engineers having a gloriously bloody freak-out, I was ready to get off this space ride. You see, while digging around in the bottom levels of the space caverns, they discover a throne room with a moving painting featuring an Alien Queen in the crucifix position, a giant statue of a head and hundreds of containers of black ooze. It’s all appropriately atmospheric and unnerving, but once the black ooze is unleashed to wreak havoc upon the world things just get confusing as the film cannot decide to stick to what it is exactly that this stuff does. It changes willy-nilly depending on what they need it to do. One moment it transforms a tiny worm into an albino space-cobra with a vaginal opening for a mouth, the next it’s able to turn a dead member of the crew into a contortionist zombie who attacks them, and yet still it transforms another member into a diseased humanoid who looks like he’s suffering from a kind of super-AIDS. And so it goes. This black ooze does whatever the plot requires it to do and never sticks to the logistics that had been established when it was first introduced. So this black ooze can kill the Engineers, but it can also transform someone into a chalky, sore-ridden mess AND impregnate someone who was sterile with an octopus-like creature? Sure, why not, I guess. And then there’s David, beautifully portrayed by a glacial Michael Fassbender, and Charlize Theron’s Meredith Vickers, two characters who change personality stripes at the drop of a hat. David, like most androids in the Alien universe (Bishop and Call being the exceptions), cannot be trusted on the basis that he’s an android alone. And that he has an secret submission isn’t surprising. What’s surprising is how quickly he betrays that submission and manages to stay active for an incredibly long time without a power source. And he somehow has all the knowledge of the Engineers after stumbling across their layer on his own and spending a few hours there. I’ll grant that an android can assimilate data at a far quicker rate than a human ever possibly could, but the sheer amount of information he would have had to assimilate wouldn’t have taken so quick a time. And Theron’s character is introduced as a remote Hitchcockian blonde, complete with own secrets and agendas, with a splash of the tough-girl/riot grrrl-power ethos of the original franchise. A subplot about her possibly being an android is brought up, never answered, and forgotten as quickly as it was presented. Her descent into screaming, useless, helpless female is embarrassing. Not for Theron, who plays it all incredibly well, but for the inconsistent writing. This leads us back to the Engineers, and the faux-profundity of the whole Science vs. Religion debate at the heart of the film. It’s a fancy window dressing that means nothing more than that. The debate is never fully engaged, nor does it really go anywhere besides one character eternally believing and getting her belief reaffirmed through her horrific travails, and the other dying off at the expense of magical black ooze. If the Engineers are gods, or the creators of mankind, and the one we saw at the beginning was giving of itself to create life on earth, why are they so intent on bringing us back to kill us off? And, if this isn’t their home planet, why are they stuck here? Of course these questions are never answered. They’re only brought up for the inevitable franchise they were hoping to spiral off of this film. The film begins by exploring another pocket of the Alien universe before devolving into a proto-facehugger and Engineer battle that gives birth to an early form of the xenomorph we all know and love. So now we’ve got Prometheus telling us that the Alien franchise was actually symbolic of the Big Issues in life. What? The xenomorph is actually a symbolic form of a hellish demon unleashed upon unsuspecting masses to horde more souls for its dark master? Ha! As someone who grew up on the Alien franchise I can say this, yes, there was symbolic characters and story lines to real world issues: Ripley being shunned out for being a crazed woman in Aliens by the patriarchy at work in both the military and big government should feel real enough to anyone who has had to face the glass ceiling, or the racism/prejudice involved with androids throughout the franchise, learning to accept and trust the “other.” But the films were mostly well-made and well written exercises in haunted house terror and intense military carnage wrapped up in a sci-fi bow. For all its posturing to Big Issues and Ideas, Prometheus can’t seem to make up its mind about what the Engineers are, or why. By the time an Engineer straps itself into a gun turret and launches the spaceship which we once thought was a cave or dwelling into the air, we know that all of those big questions were just silly mysticism trying to make the film seem deeper than it was. During, roughly, the first hour when Prometheus focuses in on creating an intense, exciting horror/thriller/action film that it’s at its best. Right after the abortion scene (which is probably the best sequence of the whole film until she keeps running and banging her stitched together stomach on sharp or jagged objects, performing feats which should have ripped the staples out and caused her to bleed to death, but I digress…) is when the hysterical mumbo-jumbo kicks into overdrive and the plot threads unravel at a rapid pace, and it’s all over. In the theater, much like in space, no one could hear me scream.  0 comments, Reply to this entry
Prometheus review
Posted : 6 months, 3 weeks ago on 29 October 2012 06:57
Despite stunning effects, a solid and capable cast and a huge fan base of the alien movies, Prometheus fell short of being what everyone had hoped it would be, great. Why? Because it failed to answer the questions that the movie itself posed. Instead of making us contemplate whatever idea it was supposed to share, it just confused us and left us hanging. In my opinion, the movie felt like it was just the backstory of the actual movie. A good, unfinished story. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Bluray review
Posted : 6 months, 3 weeks ago on 28 October 2012 07:57
(huge spoilers ahead) Prometheus is a very interesting film. Not just because it's very vague, and mysterious, the audience reaction of this film is as fascinating. Honestly, I really like this film. Beautiful cinematography, stunning visual effects, strong main cast performances and an overall intriguing science fiction film full of ideas and imagination. Prometheus is set in a not too distant future, years before the events of Alien and follows a group of scientist on a remote planet seeking the mystery behind the origin of life. As they explore a cavern, they discover something more sinister than they have expected it to be. I saw this film in a gigantic screen and I am so glad that I did. The film is a visual marvel, one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen and on a very huge cinema screen, it really shines and it is also one of very few films where 3D enhances the film rather than being a gimmick. It also contains in my opinion, one of the best performances of the 2012 and that is Michael Fassbender's portrayal of Dave the Android and the rest of the main cast is great too. Noomi Rapace does a great homage to Ellen Ripley, Idris Elba is as cool as he has ever been and the oh so gorgeous Charlize Theron gives her usual cold performance which she does so well. While I do like this film, there are some problems and certain things that I didn't like. The plot execution is quite cluttered though it didn't bother me as other people were and there are good amounts of plot holes here and there. While the main cast is great, the majority of the supporting cast are hit and miss; some are likeable, some are quite dumb, some are hugely forgettable. I also found Guy Pearce's casting as the 100+ year old Peter Weyland quite strange as they could get a much older actor to play as him (though later, I'll explain why) like oh, I don't know, Mickey Rooney or Robert Duvall. The first time I went into this film, my expectations was that it is set in the same universe as Alien but I didn't know it was a slight prequel until the end. The expectations from Alien's reputation is most likely to blame for Prometheus' mixed press. It didn't surprise me the least bit when Prometheus gained a mixed-mostly negative reaction from people. The overall consensus was that it had a very confusing plot, lack of character and contained numerous amount of plot holes. Well, I kind of agree to an extent. Rather than confusing, I found the plot more mysterious and the plot holes, while some are a bit of an annoyance, became more of a puzzle to solve but I generally agree that the plot is the film's weakest aspect. Although, I think the mysterious plot adds to it as it asks more questions than answering them and bolsters the ideas it conveys. Ridley Scott's two other science fiction films, Alien and especially Bladerunner are films that lets the audience speculate what all the themes and ideas meant and personally, that's what makes a great science fiction film. Watching it again, the second viewing made the film better to a good degree. Anything that I missed the first time in the cinema, I quickly got most of it. The plot made more sense and some plot holes were filled because you knew what was going to happen. Of course, having the bluray copy, it is a necessity to watch the deleted and alternate scenes and some special short clips. These extras made the film more fascinating than it already was and some scenes made some characters more interesting. The alternate beginning and ending scenes will either answer or add more questions to the film's plot but are overall not that necessary and some deleted scenes could have change some aspects of the film, the most striking example is Charlize Theron's character, Meredith Vickers. In the film, she is portrayed as a cold, serious and seemingly heartless character in the film and while I enjoyed Charlize's portrayal, her personality made me dislike her and didn't care much when she gets crushed by a crashing ship but in the deleted scenes, she is a lot more sympathetic. The first deleted scene, after she kills Elizabeth's (Rapace) boyfriend because of his mutation, she breaks down, guilt stricken later in her chambers and the second deleted scene where she interacts with her father, Peter Weyland, she begs him not to go to the cavern and after he gets killed, she breaks down in tears. The film shows none of these seemingly important scenes, overall making her a bit of a bitch and I really hope Ridley Scott adds if he does an extended/director's cut. Commentaries are available in all scenes and it shows from Ridley's and the crew's comments that the film had some constraints in runtime as well as trying to make the film as mysterious as possible. There are also clips that act as a prologue, introducing characters and explaining their origins. There are also clips of Peter Weyland when he was younger and is played by Guy Pearce without the prosthetic wrinkles so it felt more appropriate than strange since this was before but they still could've gotten a much older actor. I predict, and some people are predicting that in years time, this will be regarded as a classic as Prometheus is in the same spotlight of criticisms Alien and Bladerunner were when they came out. The bluray version of Prometheus is a recommended buy, especially if you are fascinated by the film's ideas and sense of mystery. Certain clips add to the character's origins and while some of the alternate scenes are not really needed and some deleted scenes should have been added to the film itself, it gives the film more content and a bit of depth. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Good special effects, poor, poor writing
Posted : 6 months, 3 weeks ago on 27 October 2012 11:49
I must admit that the special effects and overall scale of the film is epic. But for crying out loud the plot is thin as paper and the writing is very very bad. None of the characters are acting in a logical way. There is no explainable motivations behind their actions and the story behind the alien race contradicts itself. After watching it I have a feeling it's just a collection of cool ideas put together without any logic to link them. The film pretends to raise some philosophical questions but it's done in a very childish way and in the end you can "choose to believe" whatever you want despite the evidence to the contrary. ****************************SPOILERS***************************** They come to this alien planet (not Alien alien, just extraterrestrial) and decide to land immediately without any surveillance from the orbit. Luckily out of the whole planet the place they happened to fly over had alien structures so they land there. Only then the scientists learn from the mission director what they are allowed to do. They go to this alien structure with their hi-tech equipment and an android. The android presses all the buttons he can find like 5 year old and nobody's surprised that he doesn't explain anything. Apparently he mastered a couple of ancient earth languages but that's no explanation to why he understands alien writings. The guy operating the hi-tech probes that map the structure suddenly flips out when he sees an alien corpse while everyone else is cool, decides to go back to the ship and gets lost in the tunnels. In the structure they decide that the air is breathable on the basis of it's chemical composition and take off their helmets. Who in their right mind exposes oneself to an alien environment. You don't know what can be in this air especially that you're looking for alien life. Then out of nowhere a sand storm appears as if triggered by their actions. So they retreat and they take the alien head with them to the ship while the geo-expert most competent on finding his way back gets lost in the structure. In the ship they do decontamination of the alien head but they fail to decontaminate their own heads after the exposure to the alien environment. And now the best happens: The paleontologist/archaeologist suddenly becomes an expert on alien physiology and just by looking at the head decides that there are some new cell outgrowths on the forehead. They decide to reanimate a 2000(?) year old head by using electroshocks after which the head explodes. (What was the point of that scene? To show their incompetence?) Then they examine the alien DNA under the microscope(!) and the analysis tells them it matches human DNA. (Wow really? After millions of years of evolution of human species it's still the same? Oh wait, you can "choose to believe" so. Yet the opening scene of the alien committing suicide and dispersing in the water with cool particle effects suggests that he initiated all the life on the planet. But then again the ancient cultures worshipped the solar system the alien structures were on. So maybe we are their direct descendants. But it's not where the alien race comes from. It's just a storage place for biological weapon. Why would the aliens leave an "invitation" to their military base?) Meanwhile the android opens one of the vases they found in the structure like he knew exactly what he's doing. All in his room without any secure containment. He brakes open a vial of unidentified liquid which for all he knows could be kryptonite or cool-aid and decides to roofie one of the scientist with it. Meanwhile the guys that were afraid of the alien corpse and got lost in the structure decide to make friends with a snakelike life form that emerged from a puddle and get raped by it. The roofied scientist gets sick but before that he manages to have sex with his colleague (Elizabeth) and impregnate her with an alien life form. Then the android scans the Elizabeth on the next day like he knew what he was looking for and tries to restrain her so she will give birth to an alien. (Why would he want to do that???) She escapes and uses automated surgical chamber to remove the alien from her belly. The procedure cuts through her whole abdomen and then staples it back together. From now on she runs around in all action scenes with her severed abdominal muscles. (The least they could do is show some hi-tech quick healing procedure or something.) She escapes and finds Wayland to be on the ship and he's looking for cure to old age. No one is surprised she has a gushing wound across her abdomen and they embark on another trip to the alien structure which turned out to be a spaceship. They revive one of the alien crew members which goes on a killing rampage after a chat with the android (no explanation why) and decides to fly the spaceship to eradicate life on earth. Fortunately after a quick chat with the female protagonist the pilots enthusiastically decide to go kamikaze on the alien spaceship and die with smiles on their faces. Then there is the nerve wrecking scene of the doughnut spaceship rolling and chasing Elizabeth and Meredith in a straight line when all they had to do to avoid it was to step aside. The alien pilot somehow survives the crash and comes back with a revenge on his mind. It is defeated by the foetus Elizabeth gave birth to which grew to a gigantic size on absolutely nothing in a matter of hours closed in the operation chamber. In the end Elizabeth joins forces with the android who poisoned her lover and tried to kill her as well and they fly off to find the home planet of the alien race. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Alien 2012.....
Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 4 October 2012 11:59
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Prometheus review
Posted : 7 months, 3 weeks ago on 22 September 2012 10:24
Scott's movie Prometheus is amazing and very nice. I love Sci-fi. However for those who have seen "Alien" will find out so many similarities as the Robot scene, the big eggs and the space ship format. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Prometheus review
Posted : 8 months ago on 17 September 2012 09:32
Prometheus, for me one of the promising Sci Fi movie of 2012, a sci-fi experience and story that is nearly unmatched in a modern movie theater experience. If one has not seen this movie yet,i would recommend to have a go at it ASAP. The story line is about finding the origin of life form at earth. A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. The way the movie ended prompted for a sure short sequel to follow and I am sure the movie lovers would be waiting for it, being the origin of life form is always a million dollar question :0) 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Prometheus review
Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago on 13 September 2012 04:18
I thought that this film was really good, really interesting and i love sci-fi stuff so i knew i was bound to love this. the scene with noomi having an alien in her or whatever they were that scene was brilliant thats why she is such a brilliant actress, she was amazing in the scene and she did the scene so well, it was very good and it was interesting the rest of the cast were also good. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
How far would you go to get your answers?
Posted : 8 months, 2 weeks ago on 3 September 2012 11:53
''War, poverty, cruelty, unnecessary violence. I understand human emotions, although I do not feel them myself.'' A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. Michael Fassbender: David After many years the masterful film visionary Ridley Scott has returned to where some of his original talents for capturing storytelling, inspiration and escapism originally lay: Science fiction. Upon seeing his latest work I was impressed at the detail, the pace, the sheer audacity he displays in his end result. It's mesmerising and upon a personal note it makes a striking impression not just with it's immense cast and dazzling effects but with the most important aspects: The art and storytelling entwined in this particular medium.  It hits home from the addictive cast, one of my favourites from legendary new comer Micheal Fassbender to energetic chameleonic Guy Pearce injecting the film with pure professional believability and talent. Prometheus is a science fiction piece. It is also a philosophical study capturing the fragility of human nature and our physical existence. The film whispered to me that Weyland offer, ''If you'll indulge me, I'd like to change the world.'' We are insects becoming Godly within a rather large spherical universe where discovery and understanding collide at every moment. Nothing seems to be certain but changing... What I am definitely certain of, when it comes to Prometheus is that the film stimulates us as well as entertains the audience. It gives us something deeper for our minds to feed upon. Gives us questions to play around with and then smacks us with a few answers. ''T.E. Lawrence, eponymously of Arabia but very much an Englishman, favoured pinching a burning match between his fingers to put it out. When asked by his colleague William Potter to reveal his trick, how is it he effectively extinguished the flame without hurting himself whatsoever, Lawrence just smiled and said, "The trick, Potter, is not minding it hurts." The fire that danced at the end of that match was a gift from the Titan Prometheus, a gift that he stole from the gods. And Prometheus was caught, and brought to justice for his theft. The gods, well, you might say they overreacted a little. The poor man was tied to a rock, as an eagle ripped through his belly and ate his liver over and over, day after day, ad infinitum. All because he gave us fire. Our first true piece of technology, fire...'' At times the nostalgia elevates back to the days when Ridley was giving us Alien. It almost feels like being back home with Ripley with the female heroine Noomi Rapace playing Elizabeth Shaw. She makes the role faceted. So we have a historical, prequel feel to proceedings while we are taken somewhere new and exciting which explores our origins. It is an imaginative game in the fashion of HG Wells, ''What if?'', regarding where we came from or where we are going. Our creator: Was it an accident? Would they regard us as inferior? Would an extraterrestrial presence be hostile or peaceful? The truth is both possibilities are quite obviously correct. The other interesting study and insight is with artifical intelligence and the robotic android David played by Micheal Fassbender. What would our creation think or feel or do if put in the same situation as us? Would our creation be disappointed to find out the limitations and flaws contained in its creator. Of course it would. How this being would react to such discoveries and revelations seems to faintly echo the days of Blade Runner. You can almost hear, ''Revel in your time...'' and when we come to the ageing Wayland played by Pearce we have the stabs at mortality and our quest to either accept it or overcome it. Is death avoidable? Are we talking about the physical or metaphysical? Or is it something which remains unknowable until we arrive at the destination? My answer is the journey is what matters. If you spend all your time wondering about the destination how can you enjoy the journey? Prometheus is a very enjoyable, thought provoking film. However you take it or experience it, whether the action or effects or horror elements are your cup of tea. Whether you value the storytelling or being transported to another time and place which in ways mirrors our own World, whether you enjoy asking questions and not being able to answer every single one. Despite all this to contemplate if you want a piece of deeper stimulation at a pace which isn't in a hurry, where the end is a beginning of sorts, Prometheus is worth the ride and is waiting for you. Ridley Scott returns from his historical pieces and gives us his science fiction taste of a brave new world. The best is surely to come. ''How far would you go to get your answers?'' 0 comments, Reply to this entry
Prometheus review
Posted : 10 months, 4 weeks ago on 24 June 2012 06:08
Quick review: Overall I found this to be an appreciated addition to the "Alien" universe. Though it got a lot of mixed reviews, and did have a few over-the-top moments, if you are a true fan of the Alien franchise, it is a definite must-watch. Would like to see a director's cut. 0 comments, Reply to this entry
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