I promise there won't be any spoilers in this revue. I also promise to be upfront with you on one thing. Prometheus IS NOT a prequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 Alien. However what it does do is sets up not only a sequel to itself, but it also forms the framework for the Alien series.
Prometheus is set in the near future and does well not to make the viewer feel completely out of touch with it. Much like Blade Runner, the future and the forces behind it are all to familiar to us in the present day. The main theme is not one unfamiliar to cinema, why and more recently how are we here. While Scott gives us one possible answer to that question he also does well enough to leave it open ended enough for many possible conclusions to be drawn. But philosophical arguments aside, lets get down to it.
Scott reminds us of how he changed this genre in the first place with Prometheus. Excellent camera work, sweeping landscape shots and claustrophobia inspiring tight ones keep you from getting too settled in your seat. Haunting interior and beautiful, yet alien exteriors provide excellent contrast in the film along with the medical grade sterility of the ship Prometheus itself. Camerawork was excellent and the use of 3ality's (James Cameron's Avatar co-conspirators) 3-D camera technology resulted in one of the least hokey and smoothest film uses I have seen thus far. The vision of the movie was never lost on special effects or slow motion camera work as in some recent films. This film was made in a old school way using new school tricks designed to make it feel real, not extraordinary.
Casting was superb. Simply put, every actor carried their weight, and with the possible exception of Noomi Rapace, no one "stole the show" so to speak. Noomi's child like Shaw and Charlize Theron's Vickers served as a perfect hot and cold balance between curiosity and guarded isolationism that is sciences love affair with extraterrestrials. There is in particular one scene with Rapace which left me almost breathless. I'd tell you all about it, but... yeah i'll just make you go watch it for yourself. Michael Fassbender (who apparently has been in half of the movies released this year) plays perhaps the most interesting role of the film and serves as the android David. The quirks of an artificial life form are not lost on Mr. Fassbender who will leave you guessing as to what his true motives are up until the final frame of the film. I particularly liked Idris Elbas Captian Janek, who perhaps most embodies my own feelings about the discovery of life on other planets. Janek had a scene with Vickers halfway through the movie that shows the humanity (and humility) of the two.
The writing was very good and pacing was spot on. Damon Lindelof (of Lost fame) helped flesh out the characters and made it so no characters were particularly flat or well... cannon fodder (hopefully that isn't too telling). While it's hard to completely place the film in either the horror or action genre, it is definetly one thing, terrific science fiction. The music was good, not too ominious yet just the right ammount of suspense.
All in all the film was SOLID. It's hard for me to find much about the film that I didn't like. That being said it wasn't perfect. There were some scenes that i felt needed either more lead up or more follow through. Some of the departures were less than dramatic (lets be real folks, alot of people did not make it). Action and suspense were in wonderful balance with plot twists and holy &%$@ moments. Ridley scot has reminded us once again why he is a fantastic film maker.
Prometheus - Overall Score (1-100) 83
