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Ridley Scott, the undeniable genius, who has made films like the first Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), and Black Hawk Down (2001), is also the author of some unfortunate, downright terrible films like Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and American Gangster (2007).
Nonetheless, his place on the list of groundbreaking, exceptional filmmakers is guaranteed due to his astonishing contributions to cinema. Blade Runner is a science fiction classic, beautiful to look with a heart-breaking examination of what it means to be human. As for Alien, well, any sci-fi film you'll see today has been influenced by its sets, its combination of action and horror, and of course by the casting of the iconic Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the first female action hero that can hold her own. And then we have Gladiator, a breath-taking action filled epic that is as close to perfect that an action film can get.
It's no surprise, therefore, that Prometheus has been anticipated for so long and with such bated breath. It's storyline was held close to the vest by the production team, and after Alien spawned three other sequels (none of which were directed by Scott) and acquired an avid cult following, Prometheus – marketed as its prequel was bound to be the movie of the summer.
The film is stunning to look at. Shot with proper 3D cameras and with the epic and archetypal sets that one has come to expect from Scott's aesthetic, the film is a glorious visual wonder.
It is hard to relate the story without the inevitable 'spoiling' of the plot, so let me just say that the film centres around the discovery of a cave painting dating back more than 35,000 years ago that reveals a large figure pointing to a star map also found in other caves across cultures. The discoverers, a husband-wife scientific team with Noomi Rapace (of the Swedish version of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) as Elizabeth Shaw, and Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway are working in the not so distant future of 2089 AD when space travel is already possible. Convinced that human life was created by these so-called 'Engineers' from another planet the scientists, in true scientific form, are determined to visit our creators.
Three years later, in 2092 AD they wake up on board the Prometheus, a ship funded by the possibly nefarious Weyland Corporation that has reached the said star system. On board are the couple, an assortment of other scientific weirdo nerds, many of whom are unpleasant and highly forgettable, the captain, Janek, played by Idris Elba, Charlize Theron as the cold cyborg-like Meredith Vickers – an employee of the Corporation bent on making sure things get done the 'right' way, and 'David' – a highly sophisticated man-made robot played by the ever-exceptional Michael Fassbender.
While the premise of the film is wildly promising, things devolve soon enough – mainly due to sloppy dialogue, irritating characters and strange casting decisions. It is a mystery to me why one would choose an incredibly annoying, swaggering, hip-hop type to be the scientist husband of a religiously inclined Noomi Rapace.
Elizabeth Shaw's character provides the perfect foil to start a clever dialogue about the origin myth that lies at the heart of the film, but Scott bungles the opportunity to make a sci-fi masterpiece underlined with clever philosophical themes by allowing Shaw - a reportedly exceptional scientist - to blindly 'believe' without a modicum of real analytical questioning.
The Internet has already spawned numerous blogs trying to answer some of the more obvious gaping holes in the narrative (read Open questions after watching Prometheus). But the question that bothered me the most was why do supposedly 'smart' people in films do really stupid things like pump electricity into an alien head till it explodes?
The film is worth watching, however, mainly for its visual qualities, and one mind-blowing scene involving Noomi Rapace performing self-surgery. Despite its obvious weaknesses though, the end of Prometheus left me yearning for its sequel. Especially since the last two people left alive are the two most enigmatic and captivating.
Prometheus is currently playing at QFX Cinemas.
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