Prometheus (2012)

Release date: May 31, 2012
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay by: Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Rafe Spall, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Emun Elliott, Benedict Wong, Patrick Wilson

Prometheus, the long dormant project in the Alien franchise, finally came to pass. Although not exactly an Alien movie, it does happen in the same universe where later the Nostromo will experience that terrifying contact with the (by now) well-known Alien creature, or xenomorph for friends. That said, Prometheus stands well on its own.

The movie starts with gorgeous views of different landscapes that look deserted, almost prehistoric. And then, some very weird stuff happens. Cut to the not-too-distant future and Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Rapace) and Dr. Charlie Holloway (Marshall-Green) find a star map that is common to many ancient civilizations. Having caught the interest of the (frankly ancient) Peter Weyland (Pearce), and with the funding of Weyland Corp, they embark on a scientific journey aboard the Prometheus, to follow the map to a distant moon for reasons as much as philosophical as they are scientific. It turned out to be a very bad idea.

Prometheus is a good movie, not without its flaws, but a good movie. How does it fare in the Alien universe? Almost as good as Alien and Aliens, and better than all the other movies, obviously including the AvP ones.

The flaws are the script’s fault only, particularly the way it handled the motivations and decision making of certain characters. It wasn’t done in the “open to interpretation” way, but rather in the “plot device” way. And, of course, like in movies of this kind, there were a couple of characters that were too stupid to live.

But, of course, the main aspects of these kinds of films, production and acting, were excellent. The designs and visuals were so great and fascinating to watch, including the lovecraftian horrors. Oh yeah, that R rating? Totally deserved for a certain character’s badass surgery scene. The music and sound effects deserve extra kudos as well.

Acting-wise, like we all suspected, especially those who watched the viral videos [1], Fassbender and Rapace were going to be the ones who moved along the film, and they sure delivered.

Fassbender as David the android was fascinating to watch, very efficient but also having a subtle immature streak that made him a bit creepy. And he was the catalyst of many things that happened in the film. But hey, I got to watch his face in the one scene that made great use of the 3D that almost made it Kubrick-worthy.

Rapace, for her part, showed a woman who was vulnerable yet with a core of steel. Dr. Shaw could become a great representative of the action heroine archetype as Ellen Ripley was. By the end of the movie you would ask yourself if this woman is just indestructible.

And then, there was Charize Theron’s Meredith Vickers, whose reasons for being in the mission, as well as her relationship with both Peter Weyland and David, were a family therapist’s dream. She was pragmatic, insecure and always wanted to be in control.

From the Prometheus crew, Captain Janek (Elba) is the one who stood out. He was also pragmatic, but in a different way than Vickers. Mostly because he was basically a good man. He also delivered the small quantities of humor of the movie without being comic relief.

Prometheus had an open ending, and there are two ways this could go. A total reboot of the Alien franchise or something else entirely. Or it could also take the middle ground… that’s three ways then. All in all, in the words of Thor: “This movie, I like it! Another!”

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

mirella

YAM Magazine geek resident. Cloud Cuckoolander. Seldom web developer. Graphic designer.

8 Responses

  1. Rodrigo says:

    I enjoyed this film.

    Fassbender as David was stellar. His character was fascinating to watch, but at the same time he reminded me of Caesar (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory). Lol.

    • amy says:

      @Rodrigo, question. Is this worth a 3d ticket?

      • Rodrigo says:

        @amy, I’m not really a great judge when it comes to 3D viewing, but when I saw it with Mirella, Prometheus was visually stunning. I’d say Tuesday 3D ticket because regardless of 3D or not, most reviews for Prometheus seem to be different depending if you saw Alien or not.

  2. elba’s character left me wanting more, ut he has great presence on screen. the performances from everyone were quite great though especially rapace and fassbender (and i’d even throw theron and Marshall-green in there too)

  3. The flaws are the script’s fault only, particularly the way it handled the motivations and decision making of certain characters. It wasn’t done in the “open to interpretation” way, but rather in the “plot device” way. And, of course, like in movies of this kind, there were a couple of characters that were too stupid to live.

    I agree. I’m a little less kind to this movie but I blame the writers. There were some faults I noticed similar to co-writer Damon Lindelof’s worse work on Lost. But everything else was alright to great. I didn’t watch it in 3D, but I think that particular scene was amazing to see on any cinema screen.

  1. June 11, 2012

    […] The first teaser trailer looked really exciting enough to make me finally watch an Alien film. But as a standalone film, Prometheus works very well. Also, I watched this with a friend who saw all the Alien films and she approves of it too (you can read her review here at YAM Magazine). […]

  2. August 3, 2014

    […] Prometheus […]

  3. April 2, 2016

    […] Superman-sized chip on his shoulder. The monster Lex creates – on a ship straight out of Prometheus, fittingly enough – extends the film for far too long, and is neither needed nor […]

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