What has been seen cannot be unseen. Here we have Prometheus, the science fiction thriller consisting of quite a few astonishingly distressing scenes, the most disturbing being an automated procedure to a main character’s mid-section.
Despite my attempts not to, I admittedly went into Prometheus with high expectations. Did those high expectations help lead to director Ridley Scott letting me down? Probably. Did I leave Prometheus feeling short-changed with no real answers to the questions the story presented? Absolutely.
But it would be unfair to discredit how exciting and aesthetically pleasing Prometheus is as a whole. Those two qualities are no surprise, considering how much Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator) has excelled in these areas for much of his career. Even for a movie over two hours, Prometheus packs an abundance of action and drama into the fold. While that drama does go underdeveloped and becomes convoluted as the movie heads toward the finale, I rather have too much plot than too little.
Disappointing, though, is the lack of answers provided by film’s end. I suppose Prometheus could stand alone as its own movie and make some sense, but it more than suggests there will be a second act (read: I bet we’re getting a sequel) to the story. After all, that’s precisely the impression you get from watching Prometheus—a very entertaining, very long first act with the show ending at intermission. It still manages to be quite good for being such a tease.
Scott and co-writer David Lindelof (also a co-creator of Lost… Someone involved with Lost not providing answers? Go figure!) have treaded lightly when considering this movie a prequel to the 1979 classic Alien and the others that came after it, qualifying it as taking place in the same fictional universe but not with a direct correlation. But it’s difficult to view Prometheus as anything other than a prequel when such familiar pieces are present from the onset.
To start, in the near future it’s again the Weyland Corporation funding the trip to an unknown planet for two romantically involved scientists (Noomi Repace as Elizabeth Shaw, Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway). And along with the crew is an android, this one named David, played by Michael Fassbender. There are a couple other noteworthy characters on board the Prometheus—the power hungry Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron, superb as usual) and spacecraft captain Janek (Idris Elba).
They’re taking flight to this distant planet because of Shaw and Holloway’s discovery. These brainiacs (apparent geniuses, they don’t exactly make the smartest decisions in space) found a cave painting left by the makers of human life (Engineers, they call them) that signals for us to come find them. So, that’s what Shaw and Holloway do, looking to literally meet their makers and ask a few timeless questions about life and creation. This is all intriguing stuff that makes us think.
As you’d expect, once they begin probing the planet, things get out of control. What starts as a slow burn of tension becomes full-on mayhem; it’s like Alien turning into Aliens mid-stream, just not as exceptional (how could it be?). The mayhem is good fun for the not-so-squeamish, and that along with the visuals and score keep the intensity pumping.
Prometheus is a very involved, full-of-itself blockbuster which tries to do too much and yet manages to conclude with too little. More prominent, however, is how excellent the action and performances are. You may leave the theater feeling like you deserved more answers, but you certainly won’t be deprived of top-notch entertainment.
Critic’s Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Daniel Feingold can be reached at dfeingold91@gmail.com.
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