Reviews! (of Movies) | Prometheus (2012)

Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by Jon Spaihts & Damon Lindelof

 

 

 

This one was on my list for a while for the must-see summer movies. Even a prospect of an in-universe Alien prequel dumbfounded me when the initial rumours came out -- personally, I'd have no idea how to start or where to begin with broadening the story more so than it should.

But, this is a Ridley Scott film, so it's got some expectations. And it's his core universe, through and through, so I had ample faith that whatever it was, they'd be able to pull it off. The ultimate outcome? They had all the pieces there, and the slate was clean, and the puzzle was put together well. It just didn't shine as much as I think it could have.

Does that mean the film didn't shine (in a tense, brooding and horrific sort of way)? Not at all. The film's great, I think more as a stand-alone than and outright prequel in-universe with the trilogy, and maybe even all those ridiculous AvP movies that are actually included in the canon. Which is actually kind of awesome. But to that point, this movie carries the weight of the three before it and puts it all over. Has a patch on its shoulder parading it around throughout the film, like it wants to be established as the next saga in the stories to tell about the universe.

But that note I feel was misplaced. It kinda skewed the purposes of this movie for me. My main gripe is that I didn't really feel like it knew what it wanted to be. I'm talking about it as if it's a five-year-old child that's confused about life because it may be a little premature. If it had another year of pre-production, brought in some story consultants, could this have been a pit full of terrifying awesome? More after the jump.


That's a question that we can't seem to have an answer to. A notion that the themes of Prometheus give the audience. A bit heavy-handedly--that's where the film's existentialist confusion comes in for me--but it delivers. And it combines the right amount of blockbuster quality in reference to the worlds that Scott and his followers have built.

THE SPECIFICS

I'm gonna run through these. Acting? Superb, especially Rapace, Fassbender and Theron. Casting was important to this film, and both provide nuanced performances with what they're given that harken back to a lot of what makes the Alien franchise so amazing.

The visuals? Oustanding. Everything from the different styles of spacesuits they were wearing to the vehicles and the look of the bridge on the ship, it was a lot to take in. But the style was swift and it was impactful. As the visuals change and contrast, it fleshed out a lot of the story for me. Gave it a lot of life, which is important to a science fiction.

How it was shot was a big part in making it as successful as it was. Some parts were suspense, other parts straight up action sequences, and a lot of tension was established consistently throughout. The drawback is what I mentioned earlier--that thing where I feel like it doesn't know what kind of film it wants to be goes deep into a generic level. Science-fiction, sure, but is it more horror, thriller, suspense? It jumped around a lot, and not to say that's a bad thing. Even if it's a mixed bag, it was one that kept my heart racing and feet anxiously tapping all the way through.

And: THE ALIENS. Weird choices to me. It's a weird movie all around. But they handled it with care and specificity. It's hard to pull off what they did, conceptually and visually, to this scale. That 'fleshing-out' business, that takes a lot of work. Using real constructed sets and maintaining a production design to that level is a testament to the dedication Scott, and the whole science fiction world takes to a franchise like this. There's some surprises in store too in the 'aliens' category, wonderful, geeky surprises.

Noomi Rapace, best known for her Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, did an amazing job as this generation's Ripley. A tall order to fill, but her characterization was strongest by far. She's got gross moments, awesome moments, scary moments, and hard moments and it's pretty easy to feel them along with her.

Fassbender plays David the Android with convincing creepiness. His character study is a great way to delve deeper into the proto-story of before androids were just normally crew members on space-faring ships. He represents the bigger questions more clearly than anyone of them, and I feel like he understands them too, ironically enough. It's fun to bang your head and think about David's role in contrast to everyone else's, which makes him stick. Great performance.

Theron is just incredibly hot, and incredibly intimidating in this one. It's a guaranteed good time for any movie with Theron in it, from the high concept sci-fi to the chick flicks. And given her role in this film, she did much more with it than I think any other actor would have. Her role as Meredith Vickers was a challenge--to me the character fell flat at some times, became inconsistent, and took some away from the story. But her presence is so strong on screen it makes you forget those flaws and focus on her intensity. She brings a lot to the table. If anything, watch it for Charlize Theron.

The rest of the cast, perfect casting and a perfect distribution for the characters that mattered. The balance was well done, there wasn't too much to clutter the screen, and the ensemble was played with just enough to invest yourself in these characters, which makes the last act the best part. Idris Elba is always fun to see in his roles, and he's making his rounds as a go-to guy for a lot of action films. The smaller roles were filled with cast familiar to sci-fi/fantasy, which I thought was fun.

I'm spending so much time on the cast because I feel like that's the strongest part of making this film so watchable. The gripes I have are overshadowed by the amazing world that the actors lived in for the audience. They playground for horror, suspense, and thrills are already in the sandbox, and cast and crew just had to play inside it.

FINAL THOUGHTS
For the franchise fan, there's enough easter eggs in there to make you smile for ear-to-ear. As a science fiction film, it's fresher than anything else that was there, cause Scott's a vet in the industry and the casting was incredible. Bit spotty at points, but it doesn't lose points on effort or ambition. If this is your kind of film, a lot of things will please.

I'm a huge body horror fan, the Cronenberg and Carpenter movies are my favourites. I'm glad Ridley Scott went back to his roots and gave some treats to feast your eyes upon. It's gnarly stuff.

Great blockbuster fun. Great super-fun nods. Worth the theatre watch. Go check it out!