CONTAINS SPOILERS
Prometheus was on my top 20 most anticipated movies of the year and is getting mixed reviews from fans of the Alien franchise and critics.
I was really excited to see Scott get back into his element- His last few films
have not been the Scott as we know him for; Robin Hood and American Gangster
were bores, A Good Year was a love story that I could barely get through and
the last enjoyable Ridley Scott movie was made over 12 years ago; Gladiator. What
made Prometheus so interesting was the mystery behind the giant Space Jockey
that we were introduced to in Scott’s original Alien movie. So many questions
arose from the gigantic dead being, and Scott even provided some insight in the
2003 DVD commentary of Alien Director’s Cut.
“The space jockey is the pilot and he is part of a military operation, if that's the word you want to apply to his world. And therefor this is some kind of carrier, a weapon carrier, biological or biomechanoid carrier of lethal eggs inside of which are small creatures that actually fundamentally integrate in a very aggressive way into society or any place you drop. So if you land on a human being you have a resemblance to a human being, if you dropped on an ostrich it would look like an ostrich. And there is a fundamental connection in nature," ... Then he goes on to explain how there is an insect that has the ability to sense when there is a grub behind a piece of bark on a tree. “When the insect walks over the bark, senses the grub and stabs into the bark piercing the grub and lays the eggs inside the grub so the grub become the host.”
The problem with explaining this on the DVD commentary and
not in the movie is it left too many questions and not enough answers as
portrayed in this comical video.
One of
the problems with Prometheus is there is too much Lost-like story going on.
Damon Lindelof has created the same problems that led to the mixed reaction
of J. J. Abrhams’ Lost ending. Too many
motifs, too many unanswered questions, too much confusing (and misdirection) logic
that it takes away from that great stuff that is put on screen. The second
problem was FOX- We already know FOX wanted Prometheus to be PG-13, but somehow
Scott convinced them to keep it R. FOX wanted to cut out the best scene in the
entire movie; an abdominal surgery scene.
But
what Scott does do well is setup another universe within the Alien universe and
the possibility for another trilogy. Prometheus is based around the origin of
the human race; the mystery that could have started life on Earth. Elizabeth
Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) are
archaeologists who have discovered star maps in ancient civilizations across
the planet, which suggests beings from another world have traveled to Earth
giving these civilizations an invitation to humanity’s ancestors. They dub
these aliens as “Engineers” and suspect they are the reason life began on
Earth. A team is assembled to explore a distant moon, LV-223 (not to be
confused with LV- 426 in Alien) on the ship Prometheus. We know Prometheus was
a titan from Greek mythology who not only created man out of clay, but gave
them fire. This angered the Gods and they chained Prometheus to a rock and
condemned him to have his liver eaten out by an eagle every day for the rest of
his life. (his liver would grow back) Prometheus the film, and the rest of the
Alien franchise, returns to this torn abdomen motif on a regular basis as we
all know well.
The
film narrates in a way that does not particularly come out with precise
explanations for the events that transpire on screen. The opening shot of the
movie involves one of the Engineers performing a ritual as a spaceship flies
away. The Engineer drinks from a small cup of black goo that subsequently
dissolves his body into a river as his body is broken down into individual DNA
sequences. Is this Earth? We don’t know. And it doesn’t matter. The point Scott
is making involves the building blocks of another world. Remember, Prometheus
the Titan’s name is derived meaning “Forethinker” being a man of great
foresight. Prometheus also approached Zeus with a choice of two animal
sacrifices which his decision would set a precedent for future sacrifices. The
Engineer in the opening scene of Prometheus is clearly sacrificing himself for the
birth of man. What is the black goo? We don't know for sure but in theory the
Engineers weaponized the xenomorph genetic material. We know what happens when
you are exposed to the black goo as Prometheus plays out.
Prometheus
is not perfect, but Scott does create two of the most refreshing horror
sequences I have seen in quite some time. When one of the scenes finally ended,
I realized had squeezed my popcorn bag crushing the popcorn inside and my legs
were twisted in front of me. I tried to imagine myself in the same situation of
the character on screen.... I’m not sure I would have made it.
What
goes unnoticed are the bread crumbs Scott leaves, foreshadowing certain events
that are not directly explained but opens the area for discussion which I find the
most fascinating and clever portions of the film. For example, the final shot
of the movie with the xenomorph had people rolling their eyes. Was this
inserted because FOX pried it into the movie? Did Scott want to give Alien fans
a link to both stories? Probably not.
The creature was known to
exist by the Engineers as shown by the mural and the theory of the base being a
military facility. Based on Scott’s comments in the Director’s commentary
above, I believe the Aliens change based on the species they come in contact
with. This would also explain why the face huggers that come out of the eggs
are different than the one Shaw gave birth to.
Theron's
character (Vickers) was pointless. I didn't say the film was without flaws, but I still
believe they are easily ignored flaws. Why do we even care that her character
is pointless? Does it bother viewers who were expected her to have a bigger
role in the premise? I think if anything her character serves as an opposite to
Dr Shaw's character; she was a cold SELFISH human being (and arguably non-human),
which is proven towards the end when she escaped the ship to save her own life.
This was well represented in the motifs of the notion of self-sacrifice of “Prometheus”,
which Vickers has no interest in partaking. If anything, her fate was well
depicted. Shaw on the other hand is a believer "in God" with a
"very strong faith". Her personality evolves through the film as seen
with the discovery of the star map and then later with an internal conflict of her
belief system and then a physical conflict fighting for not only her life, but
all of Earth. And even when the battle is over, she still has the determination
to continue to question her beliefs, to find more answers.
Prometheus
is not to be part of the Alien universe. It was made for different reasons and
Scott pulls it off. It will not end up considered an instant classic, but it is
a great way for Alien and Scott fans to rejoice to what is an interesting
concept manufactured inside an existing fictional universe. I'm on board with
this new storyline and I await the sequel to help quench my thirst for more
Space Jockey.
Grade: 91
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