Movie Review: "Prometheus"
Ridley Scott's revisiting to the world of Alien is a much welcomed, much better film that his original, in my opinion. In lieu of a pure horror film, we are treated to a film that's part horror, part science fiction, and part philosophy. The story involves two scientists undertaking a mission to discover the origin of mankind after discovering ancient paintings across the world depicting a tall being with six circles suspended in air. After finding a star cluster with a similar appearance, they head to that system, funded by the Weyland Corporation, precursor to the Weyland-Yutani corporation of the older films. They discover an ancient civilization there, headed by the space jockeys, until it turns out this was likely a scientific or military outpost hiding some big, biological weapons of mass destruction.
The film attempts to start asking where we came from, and why we are here. It opens these questions, but does not answer them. We learn that the space jockeys, who are larger humans with identical DNA, created and then intended to destroy us. We learn that Mr. Weyland wants to live longer and cheat death, and thus funds this expedition, only believing at the end that there's nothing. David the android, played so well and believable by Michael Fassbender, follows orders from Weyland and infects Dr. Holloway, one of the scientists, with a black goo from the jockey ship, which causes him to turn into some weird creature, but not before he impregnates his scientist partner and lover, Dr. Shaw (Noomi Rapace) with what can best be describes as a womb-buster. And said womb-buster grows into a massive face hugged, which kills the last surviving space jockey at the end, only to give birth to.... an alien, and a xenomorph to be more specific.
I felt this film was so well done. The cinematography and set design was so reminiscent at times of the original film, I felt like parts of it could be attached to the original and we may not even know the difference. The acting was excellent, and they assembled quite a good cast of supporting characters, including Weyland's daughter (Charlize Theron) and the captain (Idriss Elba). But it left us with answers. We assume that in this world, the jockeys created us, but why? And why did they later want to destroy us? And who created them? Dr. Shaw sets out with David at the end, in a jockey ship no less, to help answer that question. One wonders if maybe an alien is on board.
This was an excellent prequel. It stands well on its own, and does not bind itself to connecting to the other films in the series. Sure, we got the space jockey, we w inside their helmet, and we saw the birth of an alien. But the film didn't feel the need to service the other story. It told just enough to make Alien a better film, but told little enough to hel it stand as a fantastic story in its own right.
The visual effects here were also stellar, especially the galactic map in the jockey ship control room. The aliens were also inventive, like the arm cracker. Is unfunny how these aliens can have such aptly descriptive names. Big human, arm cracker, face hugger, chest buster, and perhaps the best of all, womb buster. By the way, that medstation was so cool, performing surgeries and whatever else may need to be done on the fly. Must cost a fortune, which would explain why there's only twelve made thus far.
Overall, a film I think will stick with me for longer than any of the, in my opinion, subpar and overhyped Alien films. And a film wholly deserve of a sequel, I think, if only to explore more of the themes we only got a taste of at the end here. I saw this at the new RPX screen on Staten Island, by the way, which wasn't nearly as nice as the AMC equivalent in Manhattan. The screen didn't seem much bigger, but the seats were nice.
The film attempts to start asking where we came from, and why we are here. It opens these questions, but does not answer them. We learn that the space jockeys, who are larger humans with identical DNA, created and then intended to destroy us. We learn that Mr. Weyland wants to live longer and cheat death, and thus funds this expedition, only believing at the end that there's nothing. David the android, played so well and believable by Michael Fassbender, follows orders from Weyland and infects Dr. Holloway, one of the scientists, with a black goo from the jockey ship, which causes him to turn into some weird creature, but not before he impregnates his scientist partner and lover, Dr. Shaw (Noomi Rapace) with what can best be describes as a womb-buster. And said womb-buster grows into a massive face hugged, which kills the last surviving space jockey at the end, only to give birth to.... an alien, and a xenomorph to be more specific.
I felt this film was so well done. The cinematography and set design was so reminiscent at times of the original film, I felt like parts of it could be attached to the original and we may not even know the difference. The acting was excellent, and they assembled quite a good cast of supporting characters, including Weyland's daughter (Charlize Theron) and the captain (Idriss Elba). But it left us with answers. We assume that in this world, the jockeys created us, but why? And why did they later want to destroy us? And who created them? Dr. Shaw sets out with David at the end, in a jockey ship no less, to help answer that question. One wonders if maybe an alien is on board.
This was an excellent prequel. It stands well on its own, and does not bind itself to connecting to the other films in the series. Sure, we got the space jockey, we w inside their helmet, and we saw the birth of an alien. But the film didn't feel the need to service the other story. It told just enough to make Alien a better film, but told little enough to hel it stand as a fantastic story in its own right.
The visual effects here were also stellar, especially the galactic map in the jockey ship control room. The aliens were also inventive, like the arm cracker. Is unfunny how these aliens can have such aptly descriptive names. Big human, arm cracker, face hugger, chest buster, and perhaps the best of all, womb buster. By the way, that medstation was so cool, performing surgeries and whatever else may need to be done on the fly. Must cost a fortune, which would explain why there's only twelve made thus far.
Overall, a film I think will stick with me for longer than any of the, in my opinion, subpar and overhyped Alien films. And a film wholly deserve of a sequel, I think, if only to explore more of the themes we only got a taste of at the end here. I saw this at the new RPX screen on Staten Island, by the way, which wasn't nearly as nice as the AMC equivalent in Manhattan. The screen didn't seem much bigger, but the seats were nice.
posted by DarthDooku at
6:21 PM
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