Prometheus - Review

Prometheus promised a hell of a lot just simply with its existence, a prequel to Alien? That’s big stuff especially with Ridley Scott at the helm. As much as Scott tried to convince us otherwise in the build up there is no way this film is not a prequel, there’s just far too much content that links it to Alien, some of it works and some of it falls short.

As a standalone Science Fiction movie, Prometheus delivers, its big, its bold, it’s full of suspense and action, but as a prequel to one of the most famous and iconic Sci-Fi’s ever made? It doesn’t cut it for me, of course the story is not yet complete, 2 more films have been announced to complete the Prometheus story, which I find somewhat odd and frustrating. Does that mean we have 2 more films until the chest-burster bursts its way out of the Space Jockey in the seat in Alien? I suppose it does, maybe mine and others negativity towards Prometheus is because we didn't get that money shot at the end? Quite possibly.

The acting is so-so, I like Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw but I have no idea where her character was supposed to be from?! Sometimes she sounded like she was English, then French then a mix between the two… hmm it doesn’t really take away from her good performance but does blur the lines a tad.

Michael Fassbender is brilliant as David, the ships android. Maybe too much of a mirror to Ash in Alien in terms of his motives aboard the ship but still played brilliantly by Fassbender. His portrayal as an android is great, the emotions (or lack of) and his robotic movements all seal it for me, especially his stare; he was my highlight of the film. The writing for David is somewhat back and forth, his allegiances change a few times during the film, which makes you constantly wonder what his motives/orders are. Not necessarily a bad thing but it does make you think twice about most of his actions.

 Everyone else is  kind of meh for me, Charlize Theron plays a bitch in Meredith Vickers very well but there’s not much else to her character, they try to shoe horn in some standard parental issues that tries to explain whys she’s an icy bitch in the film but it didn't really work for me. Charlie, played by Logan Marshall-Green is Rapace’s love interest and science partner in the movie. He is an odd one, one minute he comes across as a nice guy and the next a complete douche bag, which makes you not give a damn about him. That is my main issue with most of the cast, I simply didn't care for 80% of them, whether they lived or died. For a film about Human survival on a remote planet you should care for these characters, Prometheus fell short there in my opinion. Idris Elba was decent enough as Captain Janek, he offered some comic relief but again, I didn't really care too much for him.

The story is ambitious, engaging but still very mysterious and Scott allows you to make up your own theories for stuff that will likely be addressed in sequels. After Alien we were treated to Aliens, which James Cameron, not Scott took control of and turned into a more action packed sci-fi, expertly I might add. With Prometheus I get the feeling Scott is telling the story he wanted to tell years ago. I won’t go too much into the story for the sake of spoilers but I did enjoy it, the new ideas and back story Scott has brought into the Alien universe is compelling and creative. But, there are holes in Prometheus, glaring holes that many have pointed out in their reviews and across internet message boards as far as the finger can click.

Prometheus is set in a galaxy far, far away, our characters follow a star map to a remote moon where they search for their answers. The film is mainly set on the ship Prometheus and a moon. There are a few things that annoy me about the ship… when you watch Alien (I hate to keep mentioning Alien but the film is set in the same timeline after all) Ripley uses computers with keyboards, not a big deal to some but it really annoys me that a film set before Alien seems to have superior technology? Touch screens, holographic computers etc, can we not get a prequel that actual feels like one anymore or has Star Wars just wiped that logic away? That aside the settings are cool, the planet feels like a remote planet in the middle of the galaxy, it has an eerie atmosphere to it,  the caverns and tunnels our characters find themselves exploring all have that same atmosphere. The ships are cool, the 3D works well for the locations and ship sequences, but did it sell 3D to me? NO, but no film has yet to do so.

You get some good action and suspense, but then that should be pretty easy, some humans far from home on an unknown planet shrouded in mystery, that’s easy stuff right? The film has some awfully gory moments that are pretty great! You get your quota of weird aliens attacking humans, some pretty disgusting surgical scenes are thrown in too! Some aliens attack in a way we’ve seen before, which was pretty cool to see, maybe it needed more gore? hmm not sure, probably got the balance just right with the story and other new characters and theories the film introduces.

Prometheus promised so much, in the end did it deliver? Hmmm I’m still not sure, I've seen it twice now, the first time I left the cinema me and a friend (who like me was very hyped for the release) used the journey back to our cars to discuss what we believed were the movies flaws, it’s holes and where the film left us, not the sign of a great movie I guess? But that was a discussion between two massive Alien fans. The second time I saw it, I enjoyed it much more, this time I went in looking for some wholesome Sci-Fi fun, and this is the best way to enjoy Prometheus. Try to ignore Alien, because if you go in with that in mind I think you will be a little disappointed. Sure there are some great nods to Alien but there isn't enough for me, now there have been sequel announcements I guess we wait for them to deliver more prequel goodness. Hell, maybe we’ll see some more recognisable characters from the Alien franchise in the upcoming Prometheus films? That wouldn't surprise me one bit.

6/10

R

@reece_bird