Stoked by publicity over-kill and panting fanboy scribblings, the slavering anticipation generated by Ridley Scott’s prequel to/re-boot of the Alien series reached stratospheric levels. No film, however extraordinary, could have hoped to match these over-inflated expectations. Now Prometheus is here, and all these blue-sky fantasies have crashed, Icarus-like, to Earth. There’s no denying that the film delivers on the level of spectacle, but its sieve-like storyline, muddled mythology, deja vu-inducing creature designs and under-fuelled emotion are as empty as an undiscovered cave.
Originally conceived as a prequel to Scott’s 1979 film, Prometheus later mutated into something far more ambitious, a hard-core science fiction film that explored philosophical ideas about the origins of human life. That said, the now 74-year-old Scott acknowledges that it shares “strands of Alien’s DNA”, which means that an awful lot of the themes and imagery will seem over-familiar to fans of the original. The script, written by Jon Spaihts, has been extensively re-worked by Scott and Damon Lindelof, and now concerns a search for what might be called The God Planet.
In the late 21st century, two young archaeologists, crucifix-wearing believer Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and scientific sceptic Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), discover wall paintings in a remote Scottish cave. Like similar paintings found in diverse parts of the world, they feature a pictogram of what they believe to be a star map. This, the pair claim, is the work of alien beings, genetic engineers who – as suggested by Swiss author Erich von Däniken in his mad, speculative book The Chariots of the Gods – may have created human life. Years later, an expedition financed by Weyland Industries, supervised by tight-arsed corporate ‘Ice Queen’ Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) and captained by the matter-of-fact Janek (Idris Elba), lands on The God Planet and finds the ‘Space Jockey’ from the original Alien. So the enigma at the heart of the story has now become, in Scott’s own words: “Who was he? Where was he from? What was his mission?”
Thanks to Darius Wolski’s cinematography and Arthur Max’s production design, the scenes inside the futuristic yet utilitarian spaceship and the evocation of the planet’s hostile environment are both spectacular and convincing, although the director’s surprisingly unimaginative use of 3D is a great disappointment. The real problem with Prometheus is that the story is full of planet-sized plot holes and logical inconsistencies, and that nobody – except Noomi Rapace’s naïve, God-fearing Shaw and Michael Fassbender’s effete android, David – exhibits anything resembling sentient human life. The ship’s small crew is made up of disposable ciphers seemingly left over from David Fincher’s Alien3, played by British and American actors who deserved more fleshed-out roles and far better dialogue.
The best one can say about Prometheus is that it will introduce a new generation of cinema-goers, who have grown up with post-Terminator futuristic movies propelled by action, to a science fiction driven by ideas. For die-hard Aliens fans, there is only the opportunity for animated discussions about the nonsensical mythology, the missed opportunities and – since the film will make a fortune at the box-office despite its myriad failings – the inevitable, depressing possibility of yet another sub-standard Alien movie.
Nigel has awarded Prometheus 2 and a half torches of truth.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Saw it last night at a 12:05am showing (yawn!) in a cinema with exactly the demographic one would expect (25-35 year old fanboys).
Straight up, it looks spectacular, the hardware (suits, ships etc.) is very well done and just …real. The 3-d while quite dark in particular scenes is well used. added to this, the pre launch viral videos and Weyland website certainly added a sense of verité to the Promethues universe as well.
And now the “but”….note spoilers ahead.
I’m still reeeling from the narrative and structural gaps and inconsistencies. This film just makes no sense to me on so many levels. The future vision of our current level of science is very well done, and yet on others, the gaps would make a 12 year old blush.
If the opening scene was set during the primordial period then how did all the ancient societies know about the planet’s location? How did the “engineers” not evolve themselves in the intervening half billion years? How is their DNA an exact match over this period when ours don’t even match the great apes from which we evolved less than 5 million years ago.
Even ignoring this, why did the engineers leave a starmap for us to a military facility? And then decide 2,000 years ago to decide to wipe us out? Why not 100,000 when it is clear that humans had evolved as sentient beings. Or 60 years ago when we got atomic power?
The urns make no sense. Are they a bio-weapon or a religous device? They appear to stable on the ship, yet all organically convert when the temple/lab is unsealed. And David’s one opens like a standard container with a sealed glass tub on the inside. Where’s the logical continuity in this?
Why does David attempt to infect the crew in such an uncontrolled manner? Firstly via the activated head (and when Weland says “try harder”) via Charlie. Is his purpose to seek an immortality vector for Weyland and if so it’s being done in an haphazard and amateurish manner. Or is he just bitter and jealous and desires no more than to kill his makers?
The end is insane. Given that the wakened engineer’s first action is to kill everyone on sight, why would Shaw want to actively seek out the engineer planet. For “parlez”??
I enjoyed the film, but there were plot strands that could have gone in so many other more profound, logical and interesting directions. Maybe the house can be put in order for the Prequal Part Deux…
I was unimpressed with the film, I found it boring, confusing and pretentious. There were far too many unanswered questions (or even questions the director had forgotten to ask – or was too scared to ask) undisclosed facts, and details left unexplored..
A far more interesting film could have been made which would have explained the events leading up to the voyage of the Prometheus…because it’s certainly implied that there’s a lot we don’t know.
It appears to be merely a marketing ploy to launch another movie franchise.