Prometheus (2012) Review
Written By: CM
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Ridley Scott
Producers: David Giler, Walter Hill, Ridley Scott
Writer: Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof
Cast:
Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw
Michael Fassbender as David
Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers
Idris Elba as Janek
Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland
Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway
Sean Harris as Fifield
Rafe Spall as Millburn
Rating = 2.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Set in 2089, humans are slowly unraveling the answer to the creation of mankind. Specifically, two archaeologists discovered a star map present in ancient drawings that led them to an expedition of a lifetime–a chance to meet their creators. Sponsored by Weyland Corporation, the doctors and a team of scientists including a reliable android set out on this journey. When they step foot into the planet, however, things turn out to be not what they expected.
Gore Factor
Amid the stunning visuals that even went viral in 2012, Prometheus can be subtly gruesome. Don’t be fooled by the clean 3D camera effects. It gets chaotic towards the middle. Unlike the past movies, you won’t really catch a glimpse of the xenomorph and its cocooned humans. Instead, it provides more slow-burn, unraveling new scary tricks–melting humans, zombie astronauts, alien babies in vases, and Dr. Manhattan disguised as a humanoid.
The Grave Review
Ridley Scott finally takes full control of the Alien franchise he initiated three decades after its first release. His comeback Prometheus is meant to explain where it all started and give more information on the xenomorphs Ridley had been battling for four films. The prequel, however, provided even more confusion than clarity.
Introducing a completely new cast, enlisting Michael Fessbender as the infamous droid David and Noomi Rapace as the lead heroine Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, Prometheus had a lot of winning over to do to be able to live up to the original cast and storyline. As Ripley has become a cult sci-fi character, Rapace had big shoes to fill. Despite this, the absence of the original cast is not what brought the film down. It’s the story that made it less exciting than the original Alien universe.
In fact, Rapace’s and Fessbender’s performances are two of the only things that made the film actually good. Dr. Shaw is a perfect counterpart for Ripley. She’s another breed of sci-fi heroines, stemming from the mad genius trope as opposed to Ripley’s kickass stoic character. This new look of brave female protagonists was definitely welcomed. The series of scenes where Dr. Shaw performed her own C-section with the help of Vickers’ high-tech surgery pod was the best in the film. Rapace’s performance was exceptional and definitely helped keep the film afloat.
Aside from the performances, another thing to note is its over-the-top visuals. Prometheus looks like every sci-fi fan’s dream. The vast landscapes shot with 3D cameras, the hyper-realistic “engineers” reminiscent of Watchmen’s Dr. Manhattan, and the gore that managed to fit in all the clean, futuristic visuals–these are just some of the displays that made the film feel more like a true sci-fi experience. Stripping down all the faults in the plot and the ineffective storytelling, the visual is worth giving the whole film a shot.
Scott’s comeback was ambitious, but his attempt at widening the Alien universe did not pay off in the first installation of this prequel series. Perhaps this is a strategy for people to keep tuning in for the sequels, but his decision to add all of these unfamiliar, unexplained elements–the hologram tracing, the old Weyland CEO, and even the humanoid themselves–just ended up becoming a hodgepodge of sci-fi tricks that did not make sense.
Perhaps focusing on the parallelism between the Greek myth of Prometheus would’ve been more interesting. The dynamic of the “engineers” being defeated by their own gods, the xenomorphs, could’ve been a chilling angle to explore more.
Overall, Prometheus just ended up being a menagerie that most Hollywood sci-fi films fall under. Sacrificing plot for grandeur is never a good idea. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened in the film. Fans could only hope to finally get the answers in the next one.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Prometheus (2012) two and one-half graves out of five graves.
Do you agree with our review? Comment below.
Ridley Scott’s ambitious quasi-prequel to Alien may not answer all of its big questions, but it’s redeemed by its haunting visual grandeur and compelling performances — particularly Michael Fassbender as a fastidious android.