An "Alien" prequel… I mean, semi-prequel… I mean…
“Prometheus” is the latest film from director Sir Ridley
Scott, and, as geeks everywhere know, it takes place in the same universe as a
little movie called “Alien”, one of the greatest science fiction movies of all
time. Needless to say, there were a lot of
expectations for this film (especially since the third and fourth films in the
franchise were pretty bad), and I had my doubts about whether or not it would
live up to the hype.
Before I go into details, I want to make it clear that this
film follows closely in the footsteps of “Alien”, and not its action packed
sequel. You aren’t going to find any
marines going at it with extraterrestrial monsters here, so if that is what you
are looking forward to, this is not the movie for you. However, if you are looking for one of the
best science fiction movies in the last few years, then you certainly don’t
want to miss this.
“Prometheus” opens up with a group of archeologists
discovering a star map in multiple, unconnected ancient cultures. They believe these to be an “invitation” to
meet the makers of humanity, which they name “engineers”. Peter Weyland, founder of the Weyland
Corporation (wink, wink “Alien” fans) funds an exploration journey for two of
the archeologists (Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green) and fifteen other
crew members aboard the vessel Prometheus to find these engineers. Of course, not everything goes as planned,
and then we have our movie.
The cinematography in “Prometheus” is absolutely
gorgeous. The opening credits contain a
montage of landscapes that look absolutely breathtaking. The special effects are flawless as
well. This is easily one of the best
looking films of 2012 so far. As far as
acting goes, the entire cast does a great job, but Michael Fassbender as the
ship’s android David knocks it out of the park.
The movie is not without its flaws, however. My biggest problem with “Prometheus” is its
plot. The overall story is fantastic:
scientists searching for life’s beginnings.
However, as the film moves along, it becomes much more than that, and
becomes a little too much for it to handle.
It is only two hours long, which may seem like an adequate amount of
time, but there is far too much going on in the movie to cram into 120 minutes. It isn’t as cluttered as, say, “Spiderman 3”,
but it definitely felt like some plot points were introduced and never really
concluded.
My second problem with the film has to do with its relation
to the “Alien” movie. One of the major
reasons I was looking forward to “Prometheus” so much was because I thought it
was going to answer a lot of questions about the “Alien” universe. Instead, it answered about two, and raised
twenty more. The film sets itself up for
a sequel, but I don’ know exactly where they would go with it. My final gripe is just a nitpick, and
contains a spoiler, so I’ll just say there is a pretty big continuity error
towards the end of the film (can you guess what it it?).
Despite these shortcomings, I really enjoyed “Prometheus”. While it didn’t exactly live up to the hype,
it was far from a disappointment, and definitely one of the best science
fiction movies I have seen in the past few years. Fans of sci-fi should definitely check this
movie out, as you will not be disappointed (the final shot is a nerdgasm
waiting to happen).
A-
