I would say Prometheus was a good, but not great film. It was well crafted, beautiful, well paced, and thoroughly entertaining. But the moment one walks out the theater, all you have are questions. And the more and more I think about the film, the more and more upset I am with it.
The group I saw the movie with all stood around for a bit afterwards. We discussed the parts we thought were awesome, but we drifted more and more to the plot holes, unanswered questions, and logic problems in the film. There were more questions left than answers, and while this can lend a mysterious quality in a film, here it was just frustrating.
Before I begin my nerd rant, let me preface with my belief that Ridley Scott is a masterful director with and incredible visual style.
First I am going to let my Nerdy logic side out, cause he has been dying to tear into this film.
Screaming at me was a overwhelming sense of unprofessionalism by the crew of the Prometheus. Most of the crew only get briefed on the mission, after waking up from two years in cryo-sleep, as they approach the planet. Perhaps this is part of some in-universe back story were Weyland Corp just has an assortment of frozen Geologist, Biologists, Pilots and Doctors in some warehouse being ready to ship out on a moments notice. Really? This was Peter Weyland's personal, trillion dollar mission to explore space. Would they not hire people who knew what they were getting into? Maybe find the best and most qualified people for the job? Every Academic seemed completely incompetent. The male anthropologist / archeologist is a not only kind of a douche, he is impulsive and kind of worthless. The Geologist, has some cool scanning gadgets, but really doesn't do much else other than be the asshole punk character. The Biologist, aside from one "don't touch that" line, never has the slightest clue about protocol with a new biological creature. His demise pretty much comes from trying to snuggle with an Alien Cobra. Way to go jack ass. These characters are clearly only on the ship to die.
I'm no scientist, but wouldn't the ship orbit the moon (LV-223) and map the entire surface to find the point of interest? The Prometheus lands and just luckily finds an interesting point by chance. Rather than survey the entire area and map the several buildings and Nazca like lines, they impulsively go right in the first domed structure forgetting all the other locations. Yeah, this is a movie, we have to get to the good stuff, but I at least wanted to feel like the crew carefully followed all the necessary protocols. Vickers, is the Company woman played by Charlize Theron. I'm happy she isn't as slimy as Burke in Aliens, but again she only has the Company's interest in mind. She tries to make sure the crew follows orders, but then again we go back to fact that the crew is comprised of incompetent jack asses. She is instantly unlikeable, Concerned only about the companies bottom line. She comes off so harsh that no one wants to follow her orders, defeating the purpose of her character. The Pilots and captain are one exception. They fly the ship just fine, a rare bit of competence in the crew. Idris Elba played the captain, and his cool character was under used. Noomi Rapace plays Shaw, the spirited archeologist who convinces Peter Weyland to fund this mission. While she is a likable character, she doesn't seem like the most empirical of scientists. Jumping to wild conclusions and more compelled by faith.
These are my very, anal, logic rants. Most people would not be bothered by such technicalities. I'm not a scientist, but it bugs me when, even from my perspective, the science, logic and protocols are completely missing.
The film is about ideas, philosophy and religion, sadly not really about science and exploration. The film also hammers you with old clichés: Robots can't be trusted, The Corporation has some other agenda, and any extra terrestrial life is only bent on destroying us... even if they originally created us.
At least this point gets a line to question it. When it is understood that these aliens engineered, or at least seeded, life on earth; why are they now bent on destroying it? Shaw wants to know why and David, the android played by Michael Fassbender, questions why she needs to know. Shaw just needs to understand, as does the audience. There is a delicate art to leaving tantalizing questions open, versus leaving plot and logic holes to cover for lazy writers.
For a film that was, then wasn't supposed to be an Alien prequel, it still felt way too much like an alien prequel. While the movie sets up an amazing premise of exploration, crew stupidity is written in the story to make a string of gruesome deaths. I thought this wasn't supposed to be a horror movie? Somehow it still has to end with everyone but the strong female lead dead. Instead of a room of face hugger eggs, we get a room these metal cylinders set up in similar manner. And again, this is also the plot device which dooms the crew. There are mysteries that are never solved, like just what exactly happened to the aliens in this structure? We see these tantalizing holographic recordings of the last moments of the crew, never to find out what happened. Exploring this mystery could have been fascinating. Who or what were they running from? Few things are revealed about the mysterious Aliens. These Engineers apparently create and destroy life on other planets, and for no apparent reason. The big cool reveal is that the Rocket Jockey from Alien is a Suit that is integrated into the Captains Chair. Just like Ash in Alien, the David can't be trusted. Again, the milk bleeding Android will purposefully put people in danger to serve a secret directive. Worst of all, they even have a proto-xenomorph chest burst at the end of the film, lest we forget that this isn't supposed to be an Alien prequel.
A few lingering questions:
-Why did the aliens have a vast depot of biological weapons that seem to do randomly different things depending on the script? Do they have an Alien Enemy? Do they just go seeding and exterminating other worlds pointlessly?
-Why was this alien site pretty much abandoned for thousands of years if this was such an important military site? Was that alien civilization wiped out?
-Why did the cylinders in one room bleed black metallic goo, but in the other room, stay perfectly fine? And why did one Alien run to this room for safety, when it was this room where the danger first came from.
-After waking up from Cryo-sleep, why doesn't he Alien even ask a question or try to communicate before killing everyone? What did David Say to him?
-Why after being asleep for thousands of years, with his species possibly extinct, would the alien mindlessly go back on his pre determined course to eradicate all life on earth?
-Why was the Alien Rocket Jockeys so much smaller than the one in Alien? All be it a minor question.
- The Geologist is the one who has the robots that make the maps, Why he can't find his way out of the structure?
- If the Geologist and the Biologist are scared of some dead aliens, Why the fuck did they spend the night messing in the Creepiest Fucking Room in the Fucking Ship!?!
-What was in the other room, where the pile of alien bodies were found piled up on the door?
-What was the significance of the emerald stone seen on a altar in the one room with the Face sculpture and the goo containers? This is a fun question. There were specific shots of Holloway looking at this object.
-The Xenomorph mural in the same room. What does it tell us about these creatures? And what other stories are hidden in this room?
-Was Vickers an android, or just around androids too long that she even acts like one?
The movie passed the point of return when the lone, surviving alien woke from cryo-sleep. At that point, when you would think there would be some kind of answer, or at lest some dialogue, there was just a big albino alien killing everyone. Next we are told the alien is going to kill everyone on earth. The reason, cause it was the next planet on his two thousand year old to-do list. The trailers and commercials prepared me for this finale, but it didn't feel right for the film once I got there. It was exciting with a lot of sound and fury though. The aliens were merely a plot device, not the character some hoped for.
For a movie to disappoint, it has to fill you with high expectations. The notion of Ridley Scott doing a film in the same universe as Alien, set before the xenomorph discovery on LV 426, sets the bar very high. The first Alien came out in 1979, and is one of the most iconic Sci-Fi movies to date. Gigers Alien is one of the top Movie monsters of all time. So when I am upset at this film, it is only because I had high hopes. It is still one of the best movies to come out this year. I include it with films like Inception, a film that was terribly flawed, but amazing at the same time.
There were so many things to love in this film, the sets were immaculate, especially in IMAX 3-D. The tension every time a door is opened and a new room is seen was fantastic. I wanted more exploration, I wanted to learn more about this planet and the aliens who built all this. I was absolutely riveted the whole time. That C-Section scene was intense. And the biggest success of the film has to be Michael Fassbender's excellent performance as the android, David. Even though he is a bastard, you kind of love him. I don't need to go into too much detail, it is his performance that is getting so much of the press already. In a film about Alien gods and Humanity, the Mankind and Android comparison is fascinating. The film is all about finding your creator, but David knows his creator, and he isn't impressed. He's almost disappointed, as I was after thinking about this film later on. Its almost a cruel joke by the writers in a way. Maybe the film is all about failed expectations. Peter Weyland thought meeting his maker would be like finding his fountain of youth. Instead of getting more life, found quite the opposite.
This film can maybe be seen as a success just for how passionately people are talking about it. Debates will continue as to what the film's message was, and the idea that, while we yearn to meet and talk to our creator, maybe our creator does not want to meet us. There were so many ideas and questions left, savy sci-fi geeks will be thinking about it, and trying to fill in the gaps and plot holes for a long time.
In the end this stands as a filmmaking achievement. Just not an achievement for screenwriting or plot. But this film is still a spectacular visual treat and I still recommend it and will likely see it again and again.
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