Prometheus

An archaeological find leads a team of explorers to follow clues left over the course of human existence to the possible origins of the human race. The quest leads them to the far reaches of the universe to find the answers to questions that plague mankind. However, all they find are more questions, and a threat to themselves and possibly to Earth itself.

Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw
Michael Fassbender as David
Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland
Idris Elba as Captain Janek
Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway
Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers
Rafe Spall as Milburn
Sean Harris as Fifield

Directed by Ridley Scott

Who will like this movie

If you are a fan of Sci-Fi visual effects, this movie has some great, stunning scenes to look at. This is certainly something you have to pay attention to, as there are many things that are left for either your own interpretation, or for future sequels. Fans of the "Alien" movies will recognize certain aspects and tie ins to the original "Alien" movie, however they may be disappointed in what direction it is taken to.

Phantom Thoughts

It has taken me a few days to create this blog because I just have so many questions and different thoughts about this movie, that I needed time to get them together properly. Here's what I have come to find out:

Ridley Scott, who did the first "Alien" movie was set to create a prequel to the franchise. He got Jon Spaihts to write a screenplay for this movie. It was finished and set to begin production when, somewhere along the line, Damon Lindelof  was brought in to re-develop the screenplay. This was by far the biggest mistake they made. Lindelof used some kind of mind-numbing agents on Scott and the Fox executives to convince them that they didn't need to make a prequel, they could just do a separate storyline altogether. Then, in a moment of self-gratification, he came up with the brilliant idea that they could do BOTH!

Looking back on the movie with this knowledge, I see that they failed miserably in creating either. It is not a stand-alone Sci-Fi movie because it has too many "Alien" tie-ins and it is not an "Alien" prequel, because they have gone so far off course with that as well. In the interview I saw, Lindelof talks about "Prometheus" as a story that takes place within the same Universe as the "Alien" series, but runs parallel to it. WTF?

See, his problem was that he didn't like what the franchise had become. Where "Alien" was something that was unique and special, some of the sequels that followed lost the soul of the original. OK. I can agree with that. I mean, how do you fuck up such an awesome premise such as "Alien vs. Predator"? Well, they found a way...TWICE!
Lindelof also didn't want to just make a prequel that transitioned right into where the original picked up. He was looking to make 2 sequels to "Prometheus". Poor, brain-washed Ridley Scott stated that "by the end of the third act you start to realize there’s a DNA of the very first Alien, but none of the subsequent [films]".

Sigh. My only hope is that the hallucinogens that Lindelof used on Scott wear off in time that he can somehow guide the next two films into the prequel it SHOULD be. There are way too many holes in the script and questions I have to go into all the things that I found wrong. However, some of the things that I felt they got right were:

The android David. He was brilliantly played by Michael Fassbender and a truly interesting character. (I loved the small detail that on a close-up shot of his finger, the Weyland insignia was put into his fingerprint)

The 3-D. They didn't go for the cheap "here's something in your face" 3-D effects that just makes it look gimmicky. Instead, it was very submersive, where it was used to put you INSIDE the movie, much like they did in "Avatar".

The "Why?". With the viral videos that were released before the film with a young Peter Weyland talking about how he was gonna change the world, and the "commercial" for the David android becoming available from Weyland industries, it starts to set up the back story for the big, bad corporation that becomes part of "Alien" lore. I also like the idea of finding out where we come from as a species, and how they went about putting that possible explanation that we had help from an alien race to become who we are into the plot of the film.

Obviously, this was a major disappointment that left way too many questions to be answered. I understand the "leave them wanting more" school of thinking, but when you leave us feeling confused, it turns into a negative reaction. And you never want that to be what your audience walks away with.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.


11/12/12
UPDATE:

The original Jon Spaihts screenplay has been leaked. I have read it and will say that although it is not as impressive as I would have liked, at least I was not confused and was an actual true PREQUEL to the original Alien movie. If you would like to decide for yourself, you can read it here:

http://www.prometheusforum.net/Alien-Engineers.pdf