The clue is in the title: this is not an Alien movie per se, but echoes of the original film resonate loud and clear in all sorts of ways, making Prometheus a fan-boy pleasure as well as a solidly-crafted tale in its own right. As expected, the film looks stunning, with plenty of sci-fi-eye-candy and stunning on-location 3D work. A surprisingly elegiac score gives the film an almost optimistic air of wonderment as the titular spaceship takes up the 'invitation' left to earlier civilisations, one of many manipulations of the audience by Ridley Scott as this tale of exploration, faith and (familiarly) family unfolds. There are problems: the script constructs an effective story but gives the actors little dialogue of substance with which to work, plot-holes become increasingly evident as the film progresses, and there are stretches when it feels like little is happening. Nevertheless, the strong cast delivers, with good work by Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Logan Marshall-Green, Idris Elba and especially Michael Fassbender as chillingly cool android David, and Ridley Scott brings back some of the audacious energy he can show as a director, resulting in this slightly uneven but always interesting addition to the Alien universe and canon.
2 comments:
Nice review Mr. P. I was entertained, to say the least, but I think I was expecting something so much better after all of the promotion for this flick. Maybe it was too much like Alien.
Thanks for your kind words, Dan. It seems that Prometheus just can't please people - it's either 'too much like Alien' or 'too little like Alien'! It will be interesting to see the Extended Cut on DVD later in the year.
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