By Kieran Majury | Follow on Twitter
Director:
Ridley Scott
Cast:
Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Guy Pearce
Synopsis:
A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.
Review
You’re only as good as your last film. Ridley Scott’s previous effort, Robin Hood, was one of the most boring films of recent years.
I had my reservations about Prometheus. I can confirm that I was wrong. Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, while nowhere near as perfect as Alien or Blade Runner, has made an intriguing, at times philosophical science fiction film. If the first Alien film was Scott emulating Star Wars then Prometheus doffs its cap to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a flawed film but unlike Robin Hood, it is definitely not boring.
The first hour of Prometheus, aside from a superfluous flashback, is very strong. There is no time wasting, it moves along quickly and while it isn’t action packed it is loaded with incident. The questions that the film puts forward are a science fiction fans delight. It is clear that Ridely Scott wanted to make an intelligent science fiction film and for the first hour it works really well, this is probably the closest you will get to an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama.
The film is beautiful to look at with the sterile interiors of the Prometheus to the gothic catacombs of the alien structure. The ensemble element of the ship’s crew works well together, there are even elements of humanity and humour which I don’t expect from a Ridley Scott film.
The 2nd Half Cram
Guy Pearce makes an early appearance as an old aged Peter Weyland, they should have saved money on prosthetics and cast Michael Rooker. Noomi Rapace’s character is the focal point, she began the film as the weak link, annoying by tearing up at any opportunity but there is a development of restraint and strength so that when things go wrong we are firmly on her side.
After the hour mark there is a moment that it becomes a bit more standard. It is not so much that the film loses it’s nerve, it feels that the filmmakers realized they had time constraints and there was still much that needed to happen. If the first hour moves along quickly then the second moves so fast it felt as if they skipped a necessary scene or two. There are several leaps in logic and people doing dumb or bad things because it says so in the script.
After this point the film that it reminded me of the most was Danny Boyle’s Sunshine. I mean that both as sincerest praise and harshest criticism. It is one half philosophical science fiction dealing with big questions and the other half is watch out for the space monsters.
Unlike Sunshine I find it more forgivable in Prometheus because at least I am expecting the space monsters to show up. The second half is not without it’s neat set-pieces that are genuinely tense, it utilizes it’s ambiguity in regard to the Alien timeline well but after the bravery of the first half it was disappointing.
Prometheus Is Like A Night Out With Dr. Brian Cox
This film is the equivalent of a night out with physicist Dr Brian Cox. You begin the night having intelligent conversation but as the night goes on he gets progressivly more drunk, “Dr. Cox could you please tell me more about the Large Hadron Collider?”, “Let’s do karaoke!!”, “Dr. please put your trousers back on”.
Prometheus begins interesting and intelligent but then descends into something else. The descent doesn’t spoil the experience but you wish you could of had a bit more of the intelligent part and having a little less of the other. You’re only as good as your last film, I am looking forward to Ridley’s next project.
Tags:
charlize theron,
guy pearce,
idris elba,
logan marshall-green,
michael fassbender,
noomi rapace,
prometheus,
ridley scott
