However, even after so many sequels and spin-offs, there has always been one mystery that's remained unsolved:. Near the beginning of the original Alien, the crew of the spaceship Nostromo stumble upon a monstrous dead body, sitting in a giant chair, wearing a bizarre-looking suit- a being known to fans as the "Space Jockey". But, almost as quickly as it appears, the Space Jockey is forgotten, tossed aside in favor of the film's titular beast. Who was the Space Jockey? What was he? What was he doing there? What was the purpose of his chair, and what was he going to use it for?
After a mind-boggling 33 years, we finally have all the answers, thanks to none other than Ridley Scott himself, in Prometheus.
The spaceship Prometheus has arrived at the planet known as LV-223, after a long voyage of over two years, during which the 17-man crew has been in a state of hypersleep. Prometheus is on a mission, led by scientists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway, to investigate the source of a series of cave paintings discovered on Earth. The paintings have been found far and wide, throughout all sorts of cultures who couldn't possibly have had any contact with each other, yet they all depict the same image: humans worshipping a giant figure, along with five mysterious dots. Shaw and Holloway believe that LV-223 is the key to uncovering the secrets of these paintings, and - so they hope - meet the possible creators of the human race.
Prometheus is not technically a sequel or prequel to the Alien films, as it lacks the series' title characters, but they are heavily connected in ways that anyone who's seen the prior films will recognize. The production itself has many callbacks to the original Alien, such as the same iconic opening sequence (where the opening credits run at the bottom of the screen, over a series of scenic images, while the film's title very slowly fills itself in above them), similar set and costume design, and some clever parallels in camera shots and lines of dialogue. The protagonists are clear analogues for those from the original, as well: the resourceful female scientist (Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace, and clearly channeling Sigourney Weaver's Ripley), the skeptical leader of the operation (Charlize Theron), the businesslike captain (Idris Elba), and the unfortunate unexpected victim (I'm not giving it away!).
Though the many parallels are fun to see and act as nice nods to fans of the prior franchise, Prometheus is very much it's own story, and the story is rather interesting even without its famous connections. On the production side of things, everything works incredibly well: the notorious artist H.R. Giger, designer of the Aliens, has returned to create a whole slew of new beasties, and they all look straight out of your nightmares. Refreshingly, a large majority of the effects are practical, made with conventional set construction and mechanics, rather than overusing green-screen and CGI. The primary characters are all interesting and well-acted, and the dialogue is written properly.
Yet for each thing it does well, Prometheus does one thing wrong. One of the more obvious (if less damning) flaws is that of its own script: the earlier drafts of the film have been described as being "more directly connected" to Alien, and you can smell the rewrites from a mile away. Numerous separate monsters and deadly creatures appear, connected to each other in vague, confusing ways, and it's rather clear that they were meant to be the Aliens, plus their "facehugger" mamas, before the rewrites came in. In addition, the movie tries to juggle too many characters at once, and it really should have known better. When I said that the primary characters were interesting, I did mean only the primary characters: of the 17 crew members of the Prometheus, a good 6 or 7 are completely tossed to the wayside. They have a few lines of dialogue, and make for decent background dressing, but have no concrete role in the story. I'm betting that they were more important at one point in time, but fell to the might of the movie's editor.
Prometheus is a strange enigma: simultaneously the most flawed and most interesting film I've seen all year. Don't go in expecting greatness, and don't go in anticipating a wholly satisfying ride- but, by all means, do go in.
All Right
The promotion for this film made it look freakin’ awesome but also, a lot like Alien and I think that’s the big problem with the film. It’s pretty much the same formula used over again and even though Scott tries his hardest to get our heads past that, it’s too obvious, too quick. Good review Luke.
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