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Tuesday 5 June 2012

Prometheus: the review


Marvel’s Avengers, the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Sam Mendes’ apparently not controversial take on Bond: three films heavy with expectation and subject to intense scrutiny.

Trumping all of them is of course Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s return to the film that made his name. Blessed with the best trailer of the year and a level of secrecy that served only to heighten expectations, Prometheus (arguably like The Dark Knight Rises) is surely condemned to fail – it simply cannot be as good as the fans and critics want it to be.

And this fan and would-be-critic had lofty hopes for the film, given the astonishing trailer and Ridley’s own pronouncements on the theme(s) of the film. Of course the film falls short of my imagined benchmark – but that does not make it a bad film.

I must be clear: I’m a huge fan of Alien, every single aspect of the film is exquisite; I love Aliens, quite simply one of James Cameron’s best films and a worthy sequel (by dint of being entirely different to its predecessor); and I enjoyed Alien3 for it contains much to be admired. Clearly Alien 4 adds little to the canon.

Indeed ‘canon’ is the crucial element here and the hook to Prometheus: we all witnessed the so-called Space Jockey skeleton in Alien shortly before John Hurt came to face-to-face with a face-hugger, and if not the biggest cinematic question of the last 33 years, there’s always been that nagging doubt – who or what is the Space Jockey and how and why did it die?

Prometheus’ basic premise hinges on that question and then expands on it to provide a direct link into Alien. The characters in the film ask several different questions, many of which go frustratingly unanswered. A key plot point effectively established in the trailer is confirmed for the viewer in the opening scene – so that’s a big narrative shock that is simply dismissed – but why the antagonist in that scene does what he does is never revealed.

Indeed, the ‘why’ question is the one question to virtually every topic raised in and by the film and yet it goes consistently unanswered. Why did our creators create us and why do they seem intent on destroying us?

Those interested in the alien’s biology and its life-cycle will find themselves confused by Prometheus: yet more questions are raised than answers given.

What Ridley does give the audience is of course a fully realised future – and much more so than James Cameron’s Avatar. There’s nary a shot that’s not sumptuous nor studiously yet effortlessly composed. The design of the Prometheus and its descent through the clouds are pure sci-fi porn. All the tech and hardware is utterly believable, the CGI almost impossible to spot, and the 3D imaging frequently breath-taking. Frankly, it destroys Avatar.

The film’s story being what it is, we know from the start that no character is likely to meet a happy end, nevertheless this is no body horror/frightfest. There are scares – the first appearance of the antecedent of the face-hugger and the removal of the first alien insemination, the latter of which had me squirming out of my seat, for example – but Prometheus has not been created to be the lean, mean machine that Alien was.

One of the elements that raised the original above its B-movie story origins was the time it took to establish its characters and the stunning cast in place to bring them to life. Prometheus fails to reprise this success: Charlize Theron convinces in her ice queen role, but I’m not sure her character is convincing; ditto Noomi Rapace as one of the scientists leading the expedition (her journey from hippy space cadet to lab rat to Ripley-esque jars); and Idris Elba is under-used as Prometheus’ captain. Almost inevitably what acting honours available go to Michael Fassbender as the impossible-to-read android David, who in a nod to his maker’s favourite film, adopts the hairstyle, tone and cut of Peter O’Toole’s TE Lawrence. David is the film’s stand-out character and is an intriguing addition to cinema’s rich robot history.

And to an extent here is one of the film’s weaknesses: the first three Alien films are three-way confrontations between the alien’s pyscho-sexual assault, the men who would seek to control it or kill it, and the one woman who must overcome the latter before she can conquer the former – namely Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley. Without her, an Alien film is inherently weaker.

I will see the film a second time, so the score below may yet change.
Score: 7.5/10