Movie Reviews: Prometheus - English
Prometheus Movie Synopsis:
Nearly 23 years after being left in the dust, Ridley Scott has returned to blow it off with another piece of the puzzle in the "Alien" universe with "Prometheus". To answer everyone's first question, this movie is very much built in the style of Ridley Scott, who self-directed and self-produced this prequel to the "Alien" franchise. The word prequel here is used because it does predate the movies of the franchise. But just as cryptic as Scott was about its placement in the big picture of the "Alien" universe, "Prometheus" does feel and is a standalone narrative that delves on a different direction in the same universe.
"Prometheus" in set in the near future of 2091, when a scientific expedition onboard the spacecraft of its namesake, funded by the Weyland Corporation, arrives on a planet in search of answers to the creators of mankind, based on archeological evidence from ancient civilizations found on Earth. When the rag-tag crew of scientists finds and explores an alien structure, they discover that it holds more questions than answers to the creation of mankind, and different wheels of intentions among the crew start to turn that could spell its unmaking.
The spectacularly rendered backgrounds are as eye-popping as a darker tone of "Avatar", and this compliment can only be given to a rare few instances so far. The production design reminds audiences of the architecture and props in "Alien", but intentionally and fittingly more primitive and cruder looking, which adds a layer of verisimilitude that can only come from Ridley Scott's attention to detail, that made "Alien" a defining spearhead of its genre.
The pacing does start off slow to rightfully build the suspense, but accelerates beyond acceptance as it rushes towards the climax, which crashes much of the high anticipation by the end. The smooth flow from the beginning fails to make the transition and gradually breaks into being disjointed and chopped up,. Sadly, this did left some uncovered plot holes along the way and the pretense of any exposition is too insufficient to be ignored.
All in all, "Prometheus" is a must-watch for anyone who is a fan of the "Alien" franchise and the universe it had created. It does have some answers for those who are a little knowledgeable of its lore and they may be rewarded for recognizing some of its hidden references and their significance. However, whether you are in-house expert of all things to do with "Alien" or the clueless one, you are leaving the hall with more questions than answers.
Scott & Co. have innovated on these stolen ideas is by making their characters ,who are all bizarrely unfazed by the philosophical weight of their mission and discoveries, do ridiculously dumb things. When they see black alien ooze, they touch it. When they find a giant severed alien head, they bring it on the ship and perform inexplicable experiments on it in an open environment with no protective clothing. When the answers Charlie seeks are not immediately offered by the alien temple, which would be an earth-shattering discovery in its own right. he foregoes further inquiry and gets drunk.
When members of the science team are lost in a gigantic, danger-filled alien structure, the mission leaders all go have sex. When a giant wheel-shaped object is rolling toward a couple of characters, they don’t run right or left, but stay directly in its path, like the security guard and the steamroller in Austin Powers. There isn’t a moment in the film where the human characters do something that humans would actually do, and the laughter of the audience in the screening I saw confirmed this.
But, the humans aren’t the only dummies here. The aliens–who all resemble buffed, albino Woody Harrelsons–are just another version of the brutish, humanoid killing machines we see in garbage like this year’s Battleship. You would think that aliens who engineered human beings–and who have some unstated reason for wanting to wipe us out–would be smarter than the Xenomorphs from the Alien series. They aren‘t. Apart from having spaceships–and technology that conveniently shows pixilated holographic recordings of their fate to people who happen to drop in and push the right buttons–there is nothing advanced about them. They weren’t even smart enough to keep their deadly bio-weapons safely locked-up, choosing instead to keep them in jars on the floor. This is the equivalent of keeping buckets of poisonous snakes, viruses, and toxic waste in your family’s minivan. What advanced race would be that careless?
Some may argue that this is the point of the film–the cynical notion that all civilizations, on Earth and elsewhere, ultimately become warlike and self-destruct. Open up a history book and turn on the news, and I can see their point. I would suggest, though, that in the case of Prometheus, what’s responsible for the vacant barbarism of the aliens is merely the limited imaginations of their authors.
"Prometheus" in set in the near future of 2091, when a scientific expedition onboard the spacecraft of its namesake, funded by the Weyland Corporation, arrives on a planet in search of answers to the creators of mankind, based on archeological evidence from ancient civilizations found on Earth. When the rag-tag crew of scientists finds and explores an alien structure, they discover that it holds more questions than answers to the creation of mankind, and different wheels of intentions among the crew start to turn that could spell its unmaking.
The spectacularly rendered backgrounds are as eye-popping as a darker tone of "Avatar", and this compliment can only be given to a rare few instances so far. The production design reminds audiences of the architecture and props in "Alien", but intentionally and fittingly more primitive and cruder looking, which adds a layer of verisimilitude that can only come from Ridley Scott's attention to detail, that made "Alien" a defining spearhead of its genre.
The pacing does start off slow to rightfully build the suspense, but accelerates beyond acceptance as it rushes towards the climax, which crashes much of the high anticipation by the end. The smooth flow from the beginning fails to make the transition and gradually breaks into being disjointed and chopped up,. Sadly, this did left some uncovered plot holes along the way and the pretense of any exposition is too insufficient to be ignored.
All in all, "Prometheus" is a must-watch for anyone who is a fan of the "Alien" franchise and the universe it had created. It does have some answers for those who are a little knowledgeable of its lore and they may be rewarded for recognizing some of its hidden references and their significance. However, whether you are in-house expert of all things to do with "Alien" or the clueless one, you are leaving the hall with more questions than answers.
Scott & Co. have innovated on these stolen ideas is by making their characters ,who are all bizarrely unfazed by the philosophical weight of their mission and discoveries, do ridiculously dumb things. When they see black alien ooze, they touch it. When they find a giant severed alien head, they bring it on the ship and perform inexplicable experiments on it in an open environment with no protective clothing. When the answers Charlie seeks are not immediately offered by the alien temple, which would be an earth-shattering discovery in its own right. he foregoes further inquiry and gets drunk.
When members of the science team are lost in a gigantic, danger-filled alien structure, the mission leaders all go have sex. When a giant wheel-shaped object is rolling toward a couple of characters, they don’t run right or left, but stay directly in its path, like the security guard and the steamroller in Austin Powers. There isn’t a moment in the film where the human characters do something that humans would actually do, and the laughter of the audience in the screening I saw confirmed this.
But, the humans aren’t the only dummies here. The aliens–who all resemble buffed, albino Woody Harrelsons–are just another version of the brutish, humanoid killing machines we see in garbage like this year’s Battleship. You would think that aliens who engineered human beings–and who have some unstated reason for wanting to wipe us out–would be smarter than the Xenomorphs from the Alien series. They aren‘t. Apart from having spaceships–and technology that conveniently shows pixilated holographic recordings of their fate to people who happen to drop in and push the right buttons–there is nothing advanced about them. They weren’t even smart enough to keep their deadly bio-weapons safely locked-up, choosing instead to keep them in jars on the floor. This is the equivalent of keeping buckets of poisonous snakes, viruses, and toxic waste in your family’s minivan. What advanced race would be that careless?
Some may argue that this is the point of the film–the cynical notion that all civilizations, on Earth and elsewhere, ultimately become warlike and self-destruct. Open up a history book and turn on the news, and I can see their point. I would suggest, though, that in the case of Prometheus, what’s responsible for the vacant barbarism of the aliens is merely the limited imaginations of their authors.
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