Prometheus

Hype can be harmful for any film— it clouds judgement and invariably only leads to disappointment. And whilst Prometheus isn’t wholly disappointing, the feeling it leaves you with is somewhat distanced from the giddy buzz which surrounded its release. Nevertheless, it does entertain and keeps you involved thanks to stunning visual effects and a haunting performance from Michael Fassbender who plays the mendacious android David. There are some great cinematic set-pieces on offer, in particular a scene involving an automated surgical table and an unwanted guest, will, I am sure, go down in movie history. This is all expounded by stellar set-design: the central space which contains that sculpted humanoid head so publicised in the marketing posters, drips with foreboding, tension and beauty.  

The crew of Prometheus commit to an expedition which hopes to find the origin of life on earth. Based on the hypothesis of two archaeologists, a ship consisting of a world-class crew is commissioned  to explore a planet 34.5 light years away which, so the archaeologists believe, is home to the creatures who made us. It turns out to be slightly different to what they had hoped to find, and things start to go wrong very quickly. As is inevitable for a film with this sort of premise (that creatures from outer space ‘engineered’ human life on earth) the script is loaded with ambitiously philosophical themes which ricochet throughout the narrative in terms of children struggling against fathers, and creations battling with their creators. Things become very oedipal very quickly. This is not necessarily a bad thing- creation myths from all cultures and times burst with this sort of primitivism and Prometheus handles these themes with intelligence. I would explore these more deeply, but to do so would give away too many spoilers.

It seems wrong to judge Prometheus against Alien. The 1979 film is a modern classic that redefined the Science-Fiction genre and spawned a billion-dollar media franchise which consisted of not only the three movie sequels, but also numerous books, comics, and computer games. Yet, the only reason Prometheus has been hyped so much is because of its relationship with that film. And the fact that Ridley Scott was set to direct it, made for a fan’s wet dream. It is in this respect that the film can feel less than satisfying, it opens more question than it answers, and the whole ‘quasi-Alien prequel’ seems more like a marketing ploy than anything else. Yes, there is something in the last few minutes which directly links the movie with the Alien series, but it appears more like a customary add-on, rather than a poignant climax to a narrative that drives towards it. As a stand-alone film Prometheus is entertaining, visually stunning and more often than not, well executed. However, if we consider it as the father to the Alien franchise, then it fails to deliver anything special, perhaps fittingly so, for as the film shows, children will inevitably destroy those who created them, and Alien far exceeds anything that Prometheus achieves, even if the 2012 film is three-dimensionally spectacular.