Prometheus (2012)

Ridley Scott’s big talking point leading up to Prometheus is that it is meant to be standalone film with “strands of Alien DNA.” Watching the finished film, it’s easy to see what he means; even if it overlaps far more with his sci-fi horror classic than he’s led us to believe. While Prometheus quite plainly exists in the same universe as Alien, its subject is related to the first series only tangentially. The focus of this film is not on the slimy, deadly creatures that haunted Sigourney Weaver through four films, but rather another alien race entirely. Only these aliens may be responsible for the existence of humankind. Prometheus has a lot on its plate, but above all it is an exciting and gorgeous sci-fi film that feels like it is operating on a higher and more assured level than most of its modern brethren. There are plenty of minor flaws in the final act, and the ending is open-ended to a fault, but it never fails at being superb entertainment.

Prometheus attempts to separate itself from the Alien films early, as we a see a large, pale humanoid stranded by its species on Earth. What happens next is slightly mysterious, but it seems as if his actions lead to the creation of some form of new life. Fast forward a handful of millennia, and we find a group of archaeologists led by Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green). They find a series of cave paintings that suggest humanity was created by an alien race. Using this evidence, they are able to kick-start a mission to a faraway planet. It is there they believe they will find out where we all came from. At first, their argument seems to be looking up. Then things go south in a hurry.

Their ship, conveniently called Prometheus, includes other crew members such as the android David (Michael Fassbender), the captain Janek (Idris Elba), and Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), a representative of Weyland Corporation; the company that funded the interstellar expedition. The Weyland Corporation is run by Peter Weyland, as played by Guy Pearce in many layers of aging makeup. (I’m not entirely sure why they couldn’t just get an actual old person to play Weyland, but alas.) There is some tension during the trip, as it seems everyone involved has a different agenda. Shaw and Holloway want to make contact; the former in particular has essentially made this her religion. Janek just wants to keep everybody safe. Meanwhile, David and Meredith seem to have an entirely different endgame in mind.

The film’s first half focuses not on the horrors of outer space, but rather the thrill of discovery. I was struck by how genuine the characters’ reactions felt as they were exploring this new planet. There is an appropriate mixture of awe, fear and excitement, and each character seems to react appropriately to the gravity of their situation. Scott doesn’t go into full-on horror movie mode until he has to, and once that comes there is a pretty terrific escalation of violence and terror until it becomes wonderfully overwhelming. The third act may consist of a lot of action and chase scenes, but they work because the film took its sweet time getting there. Scott isn’t in a hurry. He earns just about everything that happens during the climax.

I’d be lying if there weren’t a few bumps in the road along the way. A key development about halfway through the film is a little too reliant on a few characters making unusually dumb decisions, but while all of them strained credulity it wasn’t distracting to a crippling degree. It helps that all the performances work so well—Fassbender’s David outright steals the movie—and that Scott’s direction is as assured as it’s been in a while.

Above all, Prometheus is a brilliant visual film. I saw it in IMAX 3-D, and I could have watched it on mute and still had a great time. If you are going to see this film, I’d highly recommend seeing it on the largest screen possible, and in 3-D. I’ll still need some time to fully decide this, but Prometheus may be my favorite 3-D movie. By that I do not mean that it is the best movie that happens to have been released in 3-D. I mean that in this case the third dimension is so much of what makes the film a tremendous experience. It is so beautifully done, and so integral to what Scott is going for, that I’m not sure I’d suggest seeing it in any other way. I bet it would still look great in 2-D, but I fear it would be lacking that extra kick that makes the IMAX screen so engrossing.

If only the film had a slightly more confident ending, then Prometheus might have been just about perfect. While the third act is executed well, it makes an error far too common in modern blockbusters: instead of finishing its own story, it leaves the door open for sequels that I’m really not all that interested in. (Even The Avengers—ostensibly the culmination of all the Marvel films we’ve seen in the past half-decade—wouldn’t let us leave the theater without setting up the next installment.) Prometheus is so much better than other blockbusters for so long that when it tries to set up Prometheus 2: The Spacening it briefly takes you out of the experience. Can’t you let the audience feel like they’ve accomplished something when they’re done seeing your movie, or do you have to alert them that in another two-to-three years you’re going to be asking for more money? I have no problem with leaving things open-ended, but Prometheus would have been better off focusing on the now rather than the later. If you want to be better than other blockbusters, then rise above them.

As virulent as that may have sounded, the ending is the only real aspect of Prometheus that bothers me to a significant degree. Others seem to have been frustrated by the film’s decision not to answer some of its larger questions, but that did not bother me very much at all. The screenplay was written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, and a lot of Internet-ers have been quick to blame the latter for once again not following through on the mysteries that he set up. (See: Lost.) In my opinion, that’s kind of ridiculous. This isn’t really Lindelof’s movie, so I fail to understand why he’s the villain here. Also, some folks’ incessant desire for answers to everything confounds me. If the movie were to explain every little detail, it probably would have been horribly uninteresting. No, withholding answers isn’t inherently “deep.” I get that. But, frankly, Lost “fans” carrying over this whining from the finale is starting to nauseate me. Also, it's strange to me that the consensus re: the Lost finale has become so negative. I was not a Lost viewer, but I recall people generally liking the finale when it aired. What's happened since? And why are people dragging their Lost baggage into Prometheus? I honestly don't get it.

Anyway, I digress. There are plenty of rational arguments to be made against the ending. And yes, I would agree that in a handful of ways Prometheus doesn’t follow through on all it promises. I just refuse to let that take away from what was an overall great experience. (If you’d like to argue about certain aspects of Prometheus, fire away in the comments. I’m considering writing a spoiler-centric post next week where I can get specific and give you my take with regards to a couple things.) As a large-scale sci-fi thriller, there isn’t a whole lot wrong with it. It aims higher than most science fiction films, and while Scott doesn’t hit every last target it’s a whole lot of fun to watch him take his shots.

Grade: A-

(Perhaps a bit of a curve, but I can’t overstate how awesome this movie is in IMAX 3-D. In 2-D it might be more of a ‘B+,’ but I’m here to evaluate my experience, and that is reflected in the grade above.)