There are a fair number of people who’ve been doing anything and everything in their power to avoid any information about PROMETHEUS. They know the absolute bare minimum, and they’d like to keep it that way, so, as a result, there’s definitely some spoilers contained ahead. I really can’t talk about the movie without getting into some of what happens, so, if you want to know nothing until you get to see it and experience it for yourself, turn back now. But, before you go, let me give you one piece of advice. The less you have in your head of ALIEN and ALIENS before you sit down to watch PROMETHEUS, the better. This isn’t either of those films nor does it try to be. Therefore, if you were hoping that the “ALIEN DNA” Ridley Scott was talking about all those months ago meant you were getting a movie along either of their lines, you’d better temper those expectations right now. PROMETHEUS isn’t a horror flick. PROMETHEUS isn’t an action flick. PROMETHEUS is an exploration in philosophy and religion under the guise of science fiction. If that’s not what you were hoping for, then I get the feeling you may come away disappointed. Otherwise, there may be hope for you yet. With that warning, let’s move into some more spoiler territory.
PROMETHEUS is an incredibly ambitious film that gives Ridley Scott the means to ask the questions that we, as humans, are naturally curious about. What is our purpose? Where did we come from? Who created us? What happens when we die? Using a pair of archeologists, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway (Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green), who found identical pictograms from several ancient civilizations with no other connections, Scott is able to connect Earth to creatures from somewhere in deep space as the beings that may have created mankind. Taking these images as an invitation to find these beings, a crew is rounded up and funded by the Weyland Corporation to seek the answers to these deep questions concerning the origins and very nature of humanity. As you’ve probably already guessed by now, that journey isn’t going to go according to plan or produce the results they’re hoping for. On board, we have Captain Janek (Idris Elba), their corporate benefactor Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), David the android (Michael Fassbender) and a few other people you’re aware have no chance of making it out of this situation alive. After all, the ship is named PROMETHEUS, and, if you have any sense of Greek mythology, you’ll know why. (Note: Prometheus stole fire from the gods for human use and progression and was severely punished for it).
Shaw and Holloway believe that these “engineers” (that’s what they call them) are the source for the creation of life on Earth and, in the event that they come across them, they’re… well, they’re not to do anything, per the orders of Vickers. Right around now is where the ideas of some type of corporate agenda similar to that of the first ALIEN – return the findings to Earth, even at the expense of the crew – but PROMETHEUS only teases with such premises, similar to what the film does with David. There’s a clear correlation between David and Ash from the first film in the series, only this time, we feel much smarter as the audience, because we’ve seen these events unfold once before. It’s quite obvious that David is a little bit off, and he’s holding back some secrets from everyone else that could come to put everyone in danger, operating under different orders than the rest of the crew. However, once again, Scott fails to deliver on what feels fairly obvious, and it’s not to swerve us in any way. These are elements that are borrowed from ALIEN that feel used against the audience to get them to think one way, when it’s all for a hollow misdirection that doesn’t point us in any other direction.
This is a recurring problem with PROMETHEUS though. Scott and co-writers Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof are so enamored with these big ideas of faith and science that they can never wrap their heads around how to present them in a complete story. I love the debate a film like PROMETHEUS can set off, but, while it may be prompted by the questions the film asks, it’s not fueled by its events. In fact, by the end of PROMETHEUS, we’re not closer to any answers than we were at the start of the film. We’re left with an incomplete story that looks to offer up answers in a sequel if that ever comes around, but why should I trust that’s going to be the case when I just watched two hours of set-up? Who’s to say that a next film wouldn’t just push me further down the line, still seeking explanation and definitive answers, per Scott, Spaihts and Lindelof?
PROMETHEUS barely even gives you hints as to what the end game might be. Instead it leads you on with clues that maintain no consistently between them. This dark liquid on LV-223 (nope, there is no LV-426) is at the root of it all, but there’s really no telling what it does. In some ways, it creates life. In others, it results in death. As a result, you have a rather confusing element that can be so many things, but not one thing. That’s a problem when an entity that’s at the heart of your story is so ambiguous as to its use and purpose.
One drop of the liquid can transform a man, but when transferred to a woman, it impregnates her with some type of alien being (an intense C-section sequence is easily the film’s most notable and memorable set piece). What makes the liquid react differently to different hosts? Who knows? PROMETHEUS never takes the time to bother with an explanation, relying on that “The sequel will take care of it” solution as a crutch for its rather lazy storytelling. I have no problem with PROMETHEUS leaving the story open-ended to continue to explore these questions and move into deeper answers potentially down the line… but you have to at least give a story that feels like it’s whole in and of itself. The good sequels – the BACK TO THE FUTUREs, the STAR WARS trilogy, Nolan’s Batman flicks, for example – all connect to each other brilliantly, but you never get the sense you’re being cheated from one story to the next. Each chapter can stand on its own as an individual piece, as a singular story. The same can’t be said for PROMETHEUS, which probably needs a few more hours to really rein in all of the grand ideas it wants to discuss. What I welcome is PROMETHEUS’ risk in dealing with such grand ideas. I love a movie trying to go above and beyond in generating intelligent discussion about things we have very limited understanding of beyond our personal beliefs, but when its characters and stories can’t do anything to really further those ideas, that’s where the film disappoints in a major way.
Fassbender is excellent as usual, turning himself as cold and robotic as possible to pull off his David. There is this air of superiority to him as if he thinks he’s better than the humans he serves, because of what he can do and know, not dealing with the limitations of being a human, and Fassbender plays this arrogance well. However, there’s a sense of “been there, done that” to his entire existence that makes you hope his role expands moving forward in order for him to stand on different ground from Ash. Theron also turns in a strong performance as Meredith Vickers, moving the character through a believable character arc from this confident and in-control arm of the corporation to someone who quickly realizes the dire nature of their circumstances. Bold quickly turns fearful, and Theron does it with such subtlety that you can sense the worry of Vickers that her handle on the expedition is slipping away.
PROMETHEUS is a beautiful film to look at. Right from the start with its sweeping looks at nature to its impressive displays of suits, vehicles and spacecraft later on, the film is a visual marvel. But having cool things to look at can only go so far when you don’t have a story to support them and characters to make them matter.
Scott’s film is by no means bad. But it’s not very good either. The visuals are stunning, and the ideas are thought provoking, but my eyes and brain are doing most of the work, while the story being told in PROMETHEUS just falls flat. I think repeat viewings of it may yield better results, as you clear out your expectations as to how it connected to ALIEN and get a better understanding of what Scott is trying to accomplish here. I don’t know that it will become that much of a better film the more you experience it, but you may be able to delve deeper into finding your own speculative answers to the questions being asked. In that respect, PROMETHEUS succeeds in at least having the balls to challenge you to think. It just doesn’t have the goods to be part of the very discussion it introduces.
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
Follow me on Twitter.
