Prometheus (2012)

Dir: Ridley Scott

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy

Two things the readers must know before going further into this post:

1) I liked “Alien” (1979). For all it’s worth, I think that “Alien” is an excellent movie. But…I like “Aliens” (1986) best.

2) My personal opinion towards the director, Ridley Scott. He is an irregular director with an inconsistent work portfolio. He can easily deliver an outstanding piece of work (“Alien”, “Blade Runner” (1982), “Gladiator” (2000), “Black Hawk Down” (2001)) and also deliver sub-par works that have bombed with the critics and the audiences alike (“1492” (1992), “Kingdom of Heaven”(2005)). He fails to connect with general audiences most of the times and while some of his earlier movies now-called all time classics, such as “Blade Runner”, which initially underperformed at the box office, have manage to evolve into becoming fans and critics favorites, the same cannot be said about most of his recent body of work. That being said we now move to the review itself:

Plot: A trillion dollar worth expedition led by the Weyland Corporation takes a team of scientists across the universe on the spaceship “Prometheus”, on the search for alien life form who is believed to have contact humans throughout the ages.

“The truth and nothing but the truth”: After a tremendous hype, assumptions and connections with the original Alien saga and even a remark from Scott himself, who stated the idea of filming “Prometheus” as a two part movie the expectations were huge.  The movie itself tries to be a stand-alone work and for most of its run it actually achieves it, but throughout the movie several moments recall you of the first time you actually watched “Alien” and that actually hurts the movie, as for example in several shots Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw actually passes by as an Ellen Ripley 2.0 (BTW, pay special attention to the fact that the two aforementioned movies take place in completely different planets, a fact that was wildly ignored by several viewers and critics alike). While the polarized masses state there are plot holes, I can’t help but feel that those were deliberately put there by Ridley Scott as a “food for thought” device, and while this allows viewers to individually experience the movie in different ways it would be nice to actually have a few more hints on how to guideline our thoughts and avoid over-analyzing and seeing things that aren’t actually there. “Prometheus” is a movie about aliens as much as “The Deer Hunter” (1978) is about Vietnam. The movie is about beliefs, creation, faith and God and well…a bit about aliens as well. 

(SPOILERS AHEAD!) The Engineers themselves are pretty much human-like in the same fashion that Bible states WE were created in GOD’s image. The final confrontation between the superior beings and the Nostromo…ermm….Prometheus crew, in which David (Fassbender) actually talks to one of the Engineers is, in my opinion, a remarkable scene, where according to my interpretation the creator sees the creation achieving an equal level breaking the stipulated hierarchy and disrupting the power balance, implying that the creation has actually become too powerful and therefore must destroyed.

A “Deckard is a replicant or not?”-like debate also arises in this movie, this time about Theron’s Meredith Vickers. My opinion: No, she isn’t a robot (and No Deckard isn’t a replicant in “Blade Runner”).

(YOU MAY RETURN TO THE READING!) Regarding performances, kudos to Michael Fassbender, who is able to deliver an excellent performance standing out from the rest of the cast. As this is a plot-driven movie, not much character development occurs within the movie (pretty much like in “Alien”). Still the overall performances aren’t passed on as dull or static with some considerable interaction occurring between some team members.

The atmosphere seen back in 1979 was a dark, claustrophobic and deep down scary, with the Nostromo commercial carrier being the perfect set for the action. The combination of Dan O’Bannon’s screenplay, Scott’s direction and Jerry Goldsmith’s soundtrack were perfect and are the reason behind the movie’s success (See the teaser for “Alien” below)

“Prometheus” doesn’t replicate the same atmosphere and all in all isn’t able to present a hostile environment that leaves you on the edge of your seat, but a more calm and less threatening environment oriented towards exploration and not towards escape. Still the slow-paced development seen in “Alien” is clearly witnessed here.

A proposed sequel would actually be a problem: viewers complain about lack of information and apparent plot holes and lack of sense. A sequel would either:

     a)      Ram down explanations at a fast pace that would stupefy the first movie and audiences (and not necessarily by this order)

      b)      Leave more questions unanswered (recall that the script was written by Damon Lindelof, the guy from the TV Show “LOST” (2004-2010) and we all know how that turned out to end)

Either way, a sequel is a bad idea. The point is: the movie has flaws and one of them is actually leaving the audience to guess much of the movie. But viewers cannot expect the “Meaning of life according to Ridley Scott” in less than 3 hours, so any addition to what has already been done would actually ruin not only one but two movies.

“Money-Shot”: In my opinion, the defining moment of the movie lies in the opening scene, which sets the tone for the whole movie, and leaves you wondering right before the credits have started to play.

“Show me the Money”- Regarding the US box-office performance, with a somewhat strong opening weekend ($ 51.050.101, source: boxofficemojo), at par with your typical summer season opening and benefiting from the overcharged 3D tickets, the movie still didn’t manage to hold the top spot losing it to “Madagascar 3”, a heavy decline of about 45% can be expected on the second weekend and with the openings of the R-rated comedy “Ted”, Pixar’s “Brave”, and the latest “Spider-Man” entry all premiering until the end of the month the following weekends won’t be kind on “Prometheus”, as the summer audiences aren’t looking for a head scratcher unless there’s a Christopher Nolan tag associated to it (See “Inception” (2010)).

My final number guess is: Between $ 95 mil. - $ 120 mil. on US box office (with a long-shot of actually breaking even with its estimated $120 mil.-$130 mil. budget) with an additional $ 120 mil. - $ 150 mil. on Overseas Revenue.

Bottom-Line: 7/10. A movie that will generate discussion for years to come and will polarize audiences on a worldwide scale. While I found it a thrilling experience, a bittersweet taste at the end and the feeling that the movie was 10-15 minutes away from excellence led me to give this movie a solid "7". A clear division between viewers who have actually watched “Alien” before “Prometheus” and those who have watched it after it. My advice is to you consists in watching the original “Alien” while at the same time avoiding (if possible) any trailers or teasers or even clips of associated with this movie. Then, gather all your friends and discuss away the movie (specially with a drink or two on the table).

But of course, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong…