Prometheus - Review

It's been nearly a week since I saw Ridley Scott's Prometheus at the cinema, and since then the film has occupied that vague part of my mind, somewhere between 'enjoyment' and 'disappointment.' It's taken me a while to find myself in a position to write a fair review, and that's primarily because the film did not meet my expectations, for positive and negative reasons. Infact, I imagine many viewers will find themselves surprised by the product of Scott's much publicised return to science-fiction, and without a doubt, the film will divide audiences quite decisively. It's the type of movie that ignites interesting debates across the board, but sadly for Prometheus, I can't imagine all of those debates will positively reflect the film.



I'll start by saying something definitive. Prometheus is not a bad movie. It's a pretty good one, if you can see past its flaws. In modern cinema, it's so rare we see a science-fiction film of any considerable scope with its own scientific and religious concepts. It's also rare to see a film of this type shot on genuine, large-scale sets, and the tangible sense of reality this sense of scale lends to the film cannot go un-appreciated.
And to those wondering about the placement of Prometheus within the mythology of Scott's own sci-fi universe, this is definitely an Alien prequel. But for those hoping to see a genuine Alien film, you will certainly walk away disappointed. The Space Jockey race (or Engineers) are most certainly the focus here, and the references to the original monster are purely that - references.
Even more confusing is the fact that, although the last act of Prometheus plays out almost exactly like you might expect an Alien setup film to be, the planet here is LV-223, not LV-426, so it's a different group of Space Jockeys entirely. Basically, you will not see the big guy in the chair from the 1979 movie, but instead other members of his species. It's utterly puzzling to say the least, and for me it points to the fact that Jon Spaights' original treatment of this screenplay was indeed a straight up Alien prequel, and then Lindelof made subtle changes to open it up for Scott to make the inevitable sequel.

The positive features of the film are numerous. The design of the Prometheus spacecraft itself is full of peripheral details that barely register in the narrative, but are there to add a sense of real, practical technology in a lived-in world. The design of the alien 'structure' and the Engineers themselves is beautifully realised - being a notable extension of H. R. Giger's work from the first Alien movie - and their integration into Scott's new mythology is admirable. The atmosphere is at once tense, eerie and spectacularly epic, and Marc Streitenfeld's score is sufficiently grand and suspenseful enough to compliment the visuals. The moments of horror - while infrequent - are as intense as anything yet seen in the Alien saga, with one scene possibly topping the chest bursting sequence by manipulating the series' consistent themes of forced pregnancy and childbirth.
Michael Fassbender gives an amazingly realised, three-dimensional performance as David, (ironically) the only artificial person aboard the vessel. We watch his character develop throughout the opening scenes. While the human crew members reside in their stasis tubes for the journey to LV-223, David models himself after T. E. Lawrence from Lawrence Of Arabia, giving him the sense of curiosity, rebelliousness and the tendency to manipulate people to his own ends that he displays later in the film. While having a hidden agenda of his own, rather than be controlled by the company like Ash was in Alien, David is driven almost purely by his own desire to learn and succeed.
Noomi Rapace is great as scientist Elizabeth Shaw, giving a vulnerability to her character that makes her believably reactive to her surroundings. I was at one point concerned that her Swedish accent might affect her ability to deliver heavy dialogue scenes, but it actually gives the character a refreshing spin on the typical American in space. In one or two scenes in particular, she sells the drama (or horror) of the scenario utterly convincingly. Scott was wise to choose the up and coming actress for this potential breakout role.
Charlize Theron and Idris Elba are brilliant in their roles as the Weyland Company representative and the ship's Captain respectively, but they are given relatively little to work with. And this is where Prometheus' problems begin.

The cast in Prometheus consists of a handful of lead characters, and a large number of secondary characters. While the leads are substantial enough to engage with, the secondary characters are little more than caricatures of 'scientists' or 'tough guys,' with little else to do in the film but wait for their grisly demise. At points in the film, secondary characters were killed, and I didn't have a clue who they were, or if I'd even heard them utter a line of dialogue up until that point. Unlike Alien, this prequel is on a much grander scale, and as a result, depth and complexity are often sacrificed in exchange for expositionary dialogue, fast paced scene transitions and illogical leaps in narrative. Perhaps the fairly inevitable Director's Cut will resolve these issues within the freedom of an extended running time, and as fans of Scott will know, it often takes a number of cuts before the true potential of his films is realised. But judging from the cinematic cut of Prometheus, the film feels rushed and narratively flawed, and definitely suffers from some rushed editing. For a Ridley Scott film, the rapid pacing feels strangely out of place, and I hope this will be rectified for those who are willing to sit through a more drawn out, contemplated version of this story.

Those wondering about the other, somewhat familiar extra-terrestrial organisms in the film might be disappointed to hear that, while the life cycle of the creature in 1979's Alien was fairly distinguished and memorable, the origins of this parasitic life-form are muddled and somewhat random here. I've spent the past week trying to understand how exactly the life-form gets from A to B throughout the course of the film, and no matter which way I look at it, the life-cycle doesn't really seem to have a definite purpose. Is this because the concept was poorly integrated into the screenplay, or because the life-cycle is supposed to be random and inconsistent at this point in the creature's evolution? I honestly don't know, but I'm eager to hear someone clear that up. At this point, all I can conclude is that the Alien came about almost entirely by accident, and once you've seen the film you'll know that's represented very literally.

This leads me to my biggest gripe with Prometheus - the script. The entire film feels like two different stories fused together into one awkward whole. One script is Ridley Scott's epic space opera about the theories behind creation and the universe, and the other is an Alien prequel. And it's fairly obvious that Ridley was much more interested in exploring the new concept than the old one, as this element of the film is far more interesting. It seems like he intended to make an original sci-fi movie, but the studio wanted an Alien film, and the final product is a result of them meeting halfway. If you go into this expecting an Alien movie, you'd surely be disappointed by the lack of relevant content. If you went to see it seeking a sci-fi epic about the creation of humanity, you'd most definitely be distracted from the core subject by so many obvious nods to the sci-fi horror genre and the obligatory fan-pleasing Alien moments. So essentially, unless you really can accept the film as a whole, everybody seems to feel a bit short-changed by the experience.

Additionally, the film raises dozens of questions throughout, and by the time the end credits roll, only a handful of them have been answered. Maybe this was Scott attempting to emulate the success of Bladerunner - a film that's left audiences scratching their heads at it's vague and suggested subtext for thirty years? Or perhaps an intentional move on the part of Lindelof, choosing to leave various narrative hooks unanswered in order to draw crowds to the upcoming sequel? But rather than come across as mysterious, it's just head-scratchingly vague. It's almost like someone tore up several pages of the Prometheus script before they started shooting, and then forgot to explain away inconsistencies in the resulting narrative. But then, this is the guy who co-wrote Cowboys & Aliens and penned the final, nonsensical season of Lost, so no further explanation should be needed. It's the far-fetched leaps of logic that really damaged Prometheus for me, and it should be clear that the majority of problems with the film originated at the screenwriting stage.

Overall, the film was disappointing in terms of delivering something worthy of its Alien prequel status, and the muddled narrative has glaring faults. Many have compared its bewilderingly negative critical response to Scott's previous sci-fi entries Alien and Bladerunner, and that Prometheus will likewise be re-evaluated over time. But I disagree. The problems with Prometheus are nothing to do with artistic interpretation, existentialism or a case of it delivering content which is 'ahead of its time' - Prometheus is fundamentally flawed on a technical level, and no amount of time will disguise the fact that it's overcomplicated, overwrought and underwhelming.
Having said that, I'm actually looking forward to watching it again. Having been captivated by the mood and aesthetic of the film, the grandeur of the Engineers and David's programmed ability to develop his own personality, I await the opportunity to re-experience the film (possibly an extended version) and absorb more information than I did the first time round. It's certainly a film that warrants a re-watch in order to provide a more accurate judgement, but in this case I'm concerned a repeat viewing might further illustrate its flaws.

For many cinema-goers, it's the deceptive marketing campaign (which did infact show far too much) that ruined Prometheus for them. Prometheus was touted as an Alien film by Fox from the very outset, but in truth it was always intended to be something considerably different. Unachievable expectations can seriously damage a film, and this 'prequel' should never have been judged against such cult masterpieces as Alien or Bladerunner. When it's compared more broadly to mainstream film, Prometheus is a definite highlight of current science fiction, atleast when compared to what's currently showing at your local cinema.