Anyway, Prometheus is a movie by Ridley Scott, who directed the first Alien. That film was original, groundbreaking, and exceptionally scary in every way. And Alien also explored the notion of "the company," where human life is weighed against profit and become expendable.
Prometheus tries to do this. It tries to be as scary as Alien, as action packed as Aliens, and as philosophical as 2001: A Space Oddysey. It fails on all counts. To explain why means there are some spoilers to follow.
First, it simply isn't scary. Sure, there are a few times where you jump simply because there is a BANG and something leaps out of the dark to hit something. But that's not really the terror that comes by knowing you are being stalked on the Nostromo. Simply put, I'm still not sure what the real danger was in Prometheus. Was the danger the black goo, or was that only a medium to transmit some biologic virus or something? Was the danger the alien worm/snake/squid thing? What was that thing? Was the danger at root the Engineers? The writer seems to have the smug idea that because we don't have a clue what is actually going on that we'd be even more scared. Sorry, not working. Because I really didn't know WHAT was supposed to be scary, I failed to become scared. Aliens? They are scary, with the face-huggind and chestbursting and two sets of jaws. Black goo? not scary. Not even a bit.
Second, it fails to be action packed. Another lesson Hollywood today needs to learn: it doesn't qualify as exciting action if we fail to care about what is happening. See, we need to like the characters to be invested in their survival. We need to know WHY someone is acting as they do to desire them to succeed. Simply having stuff happen on screen is not action; without a good narrative it is just noise and confusion.
Third, it isn't philosophical. Boy, this movie really wants us to think. But only at a third grade level. It begins to scratch the surface of issues like "why do we exist?" and "what's our purpose?" and "is there a God?" and so on. However, most of the deeper questions are left unanswered and even largely unexplored. A character, when asked "How do you know?" responds in all seriousness, "Because it's what I choose to believe." Really? That's how you know? Because that's idiotic. That kind of philosophy only satisfies those who are on rather large doses of "medical" marijuana. Someone needs to tell these post-modern armchair philosophers that knowing a question doesn't make me think you are smart. Being able to formulate a more or less sensible answer to the question would be a lot better. But Prometheus isn't a movie about answers; only questions. This movie had potential; but in trying to do too much and appeal to a broader audience it just falls flat.
Ah well, now that my gander is up I might as well rant about the characters. I didn't particularly care for the people on board the Prometheus. In Alien I cared. In Aliens I cared. They were great characters; well written and acted. The audience connects with them. Not so much in Prometheus. None of them are particularly well developed, except perhaps the one that isn't even human. But what really kills their chances of having me care for them is how galactically stupid they are.
Shall I list a few of the stupid things the characters do? (I'm doing a bit of mind-reading here)
“Hmm, I’m on an alien world that could conceivably be full of dangers beyond imagining. But my instruments tell me that the air is breathable. Time to take off my helmet and expose myself to all kinds of possible contaminates! I’m a scientist, but by jove, this proves I’m a wacky one! Won’t my fellow space explorers think I’m fun and exciting! Oh look, they’re all doing it too! Yay for reckless stupidity!”
“Oh look, a little space cobra. That can’t be bad or evil! I was afraid of a very dead alien only a few hours ago, but now I’m gonna try to pet a very live one that is acting in an obviously hostile way. I just want the audience to know that I deserve my horrible pending death.”
“Behold, a perfectly preserved dead alien head! We’ve just begun to examine it, but I think we should shock its brain to stimulate the cells that appear to be still alive for inexplicable reasons. I don’t know what we hope to accomplish by this. Oh look, the head is now undulating –it’s a phrenologist’s dream come true! Well, let’s put it behind glass before it explodes for uncertain reasons.”
“I don’t know what kind of disease I have, and I don’t know if I could be cured, but kill me anyway so we don’t need to find out.”
“Wow, that’s a big donut shaped ship that is rolling toward us. We’ll get squished like ants beneath it’s presumably glazed surface if we don’t do something. I know, let’s run the same direction it’s rolling, rather than turning to run out of its path!”
“Ok robot head, you and I don’t see eye to eye. I mean, you poisoned my boyfriend (husband?), cared more about the alien that was growing in me than you did about my life, and you even seemed ambivalent about the fact that all life on earth is targeted for horrible biological death. But now I’m gonna team up with you and trust you to steer me where I want to go. Yay teamwork!”
I don't think I need to go on. Things happen all the time that just seem to defy explanation.
Of course, not everything is bad. This was a very well-presented film. Ridley Scott sure knows how to make a movie that looks phenomenal! The acting is good, the effects are good, the editing and sound and all aspects of the film making process is well done. And I know I'm being hard on some aspects of the movie than others would be. I was entertained. I enjoyed quite a bit of it. I loved many of the small details that referenced the other Alien movies. But this is an average movie, but in my book that isn't good enough. When you have a director as good as Ridley Scott, with a rich world in which to build your story, average is disappointing. I went to the theater hoping for a doctoral thesis, and got cereal box philosophy.
All things equal, it is certainly the third best movie in the Alien anthology. On the other hand, being the third best film in that series isn't such a mark of greatness.
Entertainment: 4/10
Artistic value: 3/10
Technical merit: 6/10
Overall: 4/10
P.S. Here's my take on the "meaning" of the film, for those who want to know.
Prometheus was the titan in Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans, thus making them equal to the gods. For his crime he was horribly punished. Why this title for this movie? Keep that question in mind.
We see first an alien who dies on a barren world, and his body breaks down to be the seed of life in that world. Presumably, we are to understand that this is the beginning of life on earth, that we were "engineered" here in that event. Skiping ahead, we learn of the cave drawings, from which our scientists deduce the location of the planet to which they travel in the film. They thought it was an invitation to go there, but then they discover that this is basically a biological weapons factory, and earth was targeted for destruction. Before life on earth could be destroyed, however, the weapons factory itself had an outbreak that shut it down. Then when an engineer is reawakened, he resumes his original intention of destroying life on earth before being stopped.
Here's my thought: what if the cave drawings were not an invitation, but a warning? As in, beware what comes from there? What if some of the engineers wanted to help the humans, to keep them alive and allow them to discover "fire," that technology that would make them equal to the "gods," the engineers? What if the outbreak on the planet wasn't an accident, but a sabotage?
That's my take. Life on earth was an experiment, meant to end. But Prometheus stole the fire and ensured the survival of humanity.
Sound complicated? Sure, but in a good way. The background plot, and the way it allows a variety of explanations, is probably the main strength of the movie. Whether you love it or simply tolerate it, Prometheus is fun to think about. Too bad none of the characters were thinking.
Ridley Scott is hit or miss, remember Domino. Great post man! So was the goo that the guy ate at the beginning a form of the WMD goo that makes polymorphs or was it the same stuff?
ReplyDeleteI think we're supposed to understand the goo at the beginning is the same goo later. Which makes you wonder if the engineers regard the goo as destructive or constructive. Also, what is their view of life, given that one willingly gave his life at the beginning? What if they thought they were being benevolent in wanting to kill everything on earth?
ReplyDeleteI took Prometheus to be the beginning of the alien species as much as the idea of life on earth. I thought that it was not until the end of the movie, after the alien had taken some from the 'engineers,' that it began to resemble the creature that plagued the Nostromo.
ReplyDeleteI think I get what you're saying, except that I'm pretty sure the wrecked engineer ship the Nostromo found could not possibly be the one in Prometheus. First, Dalas says in Alien that the engineer they find is fossilized, ancient, practically "growing out of the chair." The events in Prometheus didn't take place that long before those in Alien. Plus that one died via chestburster while in the pilot chair, while the one in Prometheus died in that lifepod.
ReplyDeleteI certainly do think that Prometheus intends to let us know that the Aliens are an engineered species, and not one that is tied to any particular form but rather takes the genetic characteristics of its hosts.