Prometheus Review

Michael Fassbender looking bewildered in Prometheus

Prometheus

B+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

After a little bit of a cold streak of late (can anyone say Robin Hood) Ridley Scott returns to the genre that launched his career, Sci-fi. Both Blade Runner and Alien (which this film is a quazi-prequel to) have set people’s expectations super high for Scott’s return to the genre. While unfortunately Prometheus doesn’t live up to the legacy of his prior classics Scott still manages to deliver an intense sci-fi thriller and a solid piece of blockbuster entertainment.

The premise is fairly simple; two archeologists Dr Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) have found similar markings written by different ancient civilizations. They embark on a journey to the only system that seems to match the ones found in the carvings in a ship called Prometheus. The ship is run by an emotionless android Dave (Michael Fassbender) and is moderated by corporate stickler Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron). They soon land onto a mysterious planet, looking for keys to the creation of humans, only to have disaster strike.

Where Prometheus falters is in the human characters. All of the human characters in this film are flat and uninteresting. I never cared for any of their non alien related problems and I even found myself zoning out a little during very small character portions of the first 30 minutes. This doesn’t help in some of the earlier action sequences either as when most of these characters are in peril it could be hard to care.

That being said when Prometheus is in full on sci-fi thriller mode it is near perfect. These sequences are intense and wrenching and provide many moments of fear and tension. As well the mystery itself is an interesting, multi layered investigation that did manage to pull me in. Well some of the events could have been explained a little better the little things never managed to take me out of the overall atmosphere of the film.

Forget Lisbeth Salander (which when someone in the film called Dr Shaw Elizabeth instantly came to mind) Noomi Repace gives a different type of strong female lead (think more Ripley less Goth). Despite not given much character wise, Rapace is solid in the role of the Ripley replacement. Logan Marshall-Green is the most annoying of the bunch as his character seems to always be complaining or doing something stupid. Charlize Theron is fine as the mean corporate executive with money and safety on her mind. The most interesting of the bunch goes to Michael Fassbender’s Dave whose shady intentions, backed by the very solid performance from Michael Fassbender, make for an interesting emotionless character and arguably the most developed person in the entire film.

What Prometheus lacks in human characters it certainly makes up for in the visual and audio department. This film is absolutely gorgeous throughout and every shot taken with extreme care and provides for some great jaw dropping visual moments. When the tension and action kicks in Scott uses the right amount of close ups and medium shots that give the scenes perfect amounts of intensity. The score is ominous as it begins the film with a slightly wondrous theme before having the theme slowly diminish throughout the film in change for a darker heavier theme. The score is fantastic and adds overall to the atmosphere of the film.

 

While it’s not as strong as prior Scott films Prometheus does bring it when it comes to pure Sci-fi horror. Intense, gut wrenching sequences bring out some of the best of Scott’s filmmaking that, while hindered by the lack of strong human characters, do provide for one solid summer blockbuster.