Review #495: 'Prometheus' (2012)

In the past fifteen or so years, there has been plenty of talk of Ridley Scott returning to the world he created in his masterpiece Alien (1979), be it a sequel, a prequel, or a spin-off of some manifestation. Since the early 2000's, Scott has had a script entitled Prometheus, a story that would set out to depict the origin of the Alien species, but along came the dire Alien Vs. Predator (2004) and the project sort of went out the window. But Scott's interest was never completely lost, and in 2009, the script was re-written to form a plot that would be set in the same universe, but following its own story and mythology, and would attempt to delve into humanity's creation, taking inspiration from wall paintings, ancient scripture, and the religions of ancient civilisations.

Archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover an ancient cave painting in Scotland that they believe as final proof of alien astronauts visiting the planet, to be received and worshipped as gods by long-dead civilisations. Forming a map to a distant constellation they believe to hold the answers, Shaw, Holloway and a crew of geologists, soldiers, corporates, and android David (Michael Fassbender), set out on a two-year trip to reach it. When they awake, they wander into a large structure where they find the dead body of a large alien, lying untouched for thousands of years. They believe this to be an 'Engineer' - one of our creators. Unbeknownst to the crew, David takes a sample of a strange black fluid they find covering a set of strange cylindrical blocks and begins his own secret research.

While this has received general unfavourable reviews from the critics, I have admire Ridley Scott's decision to avoid the obvious and tackle a much more existential, thoughtful approach to an ambitious story. After the massive success of the Alien franchise (now a mockery of itself with recent ...Vs. Predator incarnations), expectations would be that the famous beasties would make an appearance to appease fan-boys and audiences wanting to be spoon-fed shit they've seen before. But Prometheus is very much a completely new vision, and Scott has created an old-fashioned space opera that harks back to the philosophical pondering of the golden age of sci-fi, and one that opts for suspense and atmosphere rather than blood, guts and killer aliens.

Yet while the approach is extremely admirable, the film over-reaches itself, struggling to contain the massiveness of its ambition into a feature-length running-time (I would have much preferred a patient, three-hour film), and inevitably becomes a bit of a bumbling mess. It asks far too many questions that it can't (and doesn't) answer, leading to many scenes and occurrences that become downright confusing, and makes some plain odd decisions (why employ Guy Pearce to play an old man? What's with the Janek (Idris Elba)/Vickers (Charlize Theron) sex-talk scene?). Things becomes so baffling, that during its sagging middle section, I found it difficult to work out exactly what the film was trying to be, as the action ground to a halt and Scott's attention goes from one thing to the next, never really falling on a subject as its focus.

If the film has one ultimate saving grace, it would be in Michael Fassbender's phenomenal performance as the android David, who styles himself on Peter O'Toole after spending two years watching Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and appears to know far more that he is letting on. He is so good, that his co-stars suffer in comparison. While I found Noomi Rapace's career-making performance in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009) to be as excellent as I was made to believe, here, she struggles to make an impact. Her character is bland, and doesn't have the charisma or the action-hero chops of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley to be a credible lead, and Charlize Theron, playing the corporate bitch-in-charge, can't raise her character above that of a faceless stereotype.

However, I found the films philosophical aspects irresistibly fascinating, and Scott takes ideas and theories published in the 1968 novel Chariots of the Gods? by Erich von Daniken, that attempted to apply scientific research to the author's own theoretical studies to argue the existence of alien visitors, documented in artifacts such as the Egyptian Pyramids and Stone Henge, ancient artwork from many global civilisations, and texts including the Bible. It's just a pity the film can't hold this plus the many other plot strands together to make a coherent movie. The visuals are absolutely stunning however, from the cold interiors to the even colder alien landscape, Scott blends gaunt, minimalistic restraint, with stunning explosions of CGI wonder. Hardly worth the wait, but certainly worth your time.


Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Guy Pearce
Country: USA/UK

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie