Review: Prometheus

Posted by Ali at 07:00 on 31 May 2012 Reviews A-Z

For all the talk of Prometheus "sharing the same DNA" as Alien, Ridley Scott's prequel doesn't bear much family resemblance to its granddaddy. The economy of horror that served his 1979 effort so well is replaced by a big-budget, star-gazing sci-fi that wants you to know it has size on its side. Hugely ambitious and staggering in its grand designs, Prometheus is almost hamstrung by the fact it is an Alien movie at all – the mishmash of grotesque body-horror and chin-stroking existentialism does not always make for the most coherent movie, but it is at least an entertaining one and certainly no black mark on the franchise.

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15 comments.

Posted by Nick at 22:28 on 09/10/12

4 out of 5, pretty good, really don't understand all of the criticism it's getting.
Any film that concerns itself with the search for God has to be ambiguous, otherwise not only do you bring epic themes down to a banal human level but you're committing philosophical suicide with an ending that everyone would hate.
I particularly liked the 2001 Space Odyssey switcheroo

*In that film the black monoliths (read cave paintings) actually are an invitation, placed on the moon so that when humans have evolved enough to find them, the next stage of human evolution (the starchild) can begin.
In Prometheus they're a trap, setup so that when humans have evolved enough to use the cavemap, they're lead to their death.

The only thing I really wanted clarity on was how The Engineers fucked up (if they did at all) with the creation of the bioweapon. I'm a bit confused about why they decided to go to sleep instead of flying immediately off to earth. Quarantine?
*

Posted by Goatboy at 21:17 on 10/06/12

Enjoyed once I stopped expecting an Alien film.
Sure there are plot holes, but I wanted Ridley Scott sci-fi and that's what I got once I adjusted my personal hype-meter.
Will buy on bluray and watch more than once
4/5

Posted by Ali at 12:27 on 10/06/12

Apparently there was a scene in the movie where you see David jet-skiing towards a big yacht with a woman on his back (in a dream, natch) and he goes up to a character who turns out to be Guy Pearce as a young man, who tells him to "try harder". Turns out it's Weyland's dream. Except there would have been no shock whatsoever when they revealed that Guy Pearce was Weyland because everyone already knew it.

Posted by Ed at 10:36 on 10/06/12

Oh, did he? Right - I deliberately avoided watching the virals. Didn't even realise it was him under the make-up until yesterday. He looked like old man Biff Tannen in BTTF2. Kept expecting him to call Shaw a butthead.

Posted by Matt at 08:44 on 10/06/12

He played a younger version of himself in the virals (ie sans make-up) and I suspect there's a longer cut of the film that may have some flashback scenes or something otherwise it literally makes no sense.

Posted by Ed at 20:51 on 09/06/12

Have just remembered my chief complaint: why Guy Pearce in terrible old-man prosthetic make-up? Why not just hire an old guy? Give it to Chris Plummer; he's in everything these days.

Posted by Matt at 22:49 on 05/06/12

Not even sure what's a spoiler any more but *have you read the theory/parallels between the story and the Adam & Eve/Garden of Eden? Very interesting read and it makes you realise that the script is a lot smarter than it first appears, but now I get the impression that Lindelof just sculpted the script around these ideas and that's why a lot of bits don't really add up*.

Posted by Ali at 20:40 on 05/06/12

That's sort of what I meant. Why go to the bother of setting it on a planet two towns over from the one in Alien?

Also, there's a behind the scenes video in which Ridley Scott calls the planet Zeta 2 Reticuli (not the moon, which is where they are), which is the name of the nearest planet mentioned by Lambert when she picks up the distress call in the Nostromo at the beginning of Alien. Never mentioned by name in the film though and there's seemingly no reason they're connected, other than the fact that they are.

The most annoying bits for me are still *Fifield being infected with goo that makes him a superhuman rage monster and Millburn going from being pussy scientist to curious explorer at the drop of the hat. Seriously, it looked fucking TERRIFYING. Why would you try to touch it?

Not keen on the Engineer going all rage at the end too (why hunt down Shaw to kill her instead of going to the other ship and finishing the job?).

I am enjoying reading some theories on why everything is as it is (the David being the architect of destruction stuff is quite interesting) but it's almost all complete conjecture.*

Posted by Matt at 20:12 on 05/06/12

It is actually already set on a different planet. This isn't really explained enough in the film though and is probably the cause of most of the continuity confusion.

Still a shedload of plotholes and stupid script moments though.

Posted by Ali at 19:51 on 05/06/12

Second time round today, still enjoyed it, still not convinced it's a great work of genius. There are simply too many large plot holes and moments where mad shit happens just for the sake of excitement.

More evident on a second viewing that it would have been a 100% better film if it had nothing to do with Alien whatsoever. Replace the Space Jockeys with something else, set it on another planet but keep the main themes and it'd be brilliant. As it is, it keeps using Giger design elements and nods towards the franchise, without ever actually delivering anything relevant.

Posted by Pandaemonium at 08:43 on 02/06/12

Awful.

Looked amazing, but the screenplay was terrible. There were at least 4 times I wanted to shout "You're supposed to be scientists, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

*Running around with a few "ohh, my sore tummy" moment after major surgery. Bollocks. I know it's SF, but ffs, all it showed was her being stapled up. That was the killer for me.*

*The crowd I was in actually turned, as in voiced their displeasure at the final shot. I've never been in that situation before, it was weird. One lad behind be was repeating "that was shit, just absolute shit. I'm devastated"*

Even for a genre movie (where you expect these things to happen) it was marred by retarded decisions and "because its in the script" moments. 1/5 stars

Edited at 08:44 on 02/06/12

Posted by Matt at 10:13 on 31/05/12

It's a four star film for me. Despite the head-scratching logic and unfortunate characterisation, it still looks stunning and was really enjoyable to watch.