Saturday, June 09, 2012

Prometheus (2012) - Movie Review



What begins as an expedition for the creation of mankind in the furthest depths of outer space becomes a nightmare of apocalyptic proportions.

Prometheus was originally intended to be Ridley Scott’s prequel to the Alien franchise, but from one innocent concept, as it occasionally tends to happen, spawned a much larger undertaking than previously imagined. Anyone venturing into Prometheus expecting a full-on prequel may be disappointed. While there are elements relating to the popular franchise, a new door is opened for an entirely different adventure and, potentially, an entirely different franchise.

Ridley Scott’s return to epic science fiction storytelling is a visual marvel. It is one of the cleanest meshing of live-action and CGI that I have ever seen, and the set pieces are immaculate as they are gargantuan and the maestro makes it look so simple to maneuver within the world. The performances feel natural, particularly Guy Pearce (and if you guess who Guy Pearce portrays, you win a cyber beer). Prometheus’ main problem is the script, filled with so many illogical errors, it’s a wonder why writers are the least respected creators in movie making.

John Spaihts, whose only other credit is the ill-received The Darkest Hour, and Damien Lindelof, co-creator of Lost and the screen writer of the ill-received (notice a pattern) Cowboys & Aliens, co-wrote the film, with Lendelof actually jumping on after the script was partially completed. How Ridley Scott didn’t take these two behind the woodshed and beat them to death with decomposed skunks is beyond me. Perhaps there was some studio interference, I don’t know but the more I thought about the lack of common sense in the story and dialogue the more I laugh.

Does that mean I disliked the film? I enjoyed it greatly in spite of the bar napkin they wrote the movie on. Prometheus made me anxious to watch Alien all over again. Ridley Scott’s direction was impeccable and the story (what they did do well) struck a fine balance between science fiction and horror and I would recommend this movie to anyone that likes the Alien series. If someone LOVES the series, they might look too deep into the story and wind up hating the movie. I took it for what it was and had a great time. Hopefully, should you choose to watch Prometheus, you can do the same. 


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