It's been a while since I last saw any film associated with the Alien franchise on the silver screen. I recall having seen the second AvP movie back in winter of 2007, at the time loving it, then developing something called taste when I saw the brilliance that was the first two Alien flicks. When it was announced that Ridley Scott, the director of the first Alien along with Blade Runner, was returning to the genre that he helped define by making an Alien prequel, I was at first skeptical then pumped. However, I was a little confused when Scott announced his film wouldn't be a direct prequel, but instead have "Alien DNA", as he put it. Now that "Prometheus", this so-called prequel to Alien, is finally out, how good is it? Is Prometheus actually tied into Alien? Does it work better as a prequel or a standalone story, which Scott clearly wanted due to his attempts to distance this film from the Alien series?
In all honesty, Prometheus is connected to the Alien series and for all intents and purposes is a prequel, but the connections to Alien are only there for those who wish to point them out. For people who grew up not watching any of the alien films, Prometheus comes off as an imaginative standalone sci-fi/horror story complete with amazing visuals, genuine scares, and even philosophical questions to boot.
Scott has assembled a top-notch cast here, with Noomi Rapace as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, Logan Marshall-Green as her boyfriend Charlie Holloway, Idris Elba as the ship Prometheus's captain, Charlize Theron as corporate agent Meredith Vickers, Guy Pearce as Weyland Corp CEO Peter Weyland, and Michael Fassbender as the android David. All of the cast members give off great performances, but I have to give specific praise to Rapace and Fassbender especially for their characters.
Rapace's Shaw is no Ripley, but luckily she doesn't need to be. She's a scientist, albeit one still convinced that there is a God. She is seen throughout the entire film wearing and treasuring a cross that belonged to her father, and still convinced God exists even if her discoveries point to humanity's creation at the hands of alien beings. Her steadfast conviction to hold onto her beliefs is admirable, and is conveyed brilliantly by Rapace. Not only that, but she certainly holds her own during scenes of action and terror, particularly in a scene where she is forced to surgically remove an alien parasite from her own abdomen. However, Rapace pales in comparison to the film's most compelling character, who is by far Fassbender's android David.
David is interesting, to say the least, mainly due to his childlike innocence. His performance stood out to me the most. He reminded me a lot of the HAL 9000 from 2001, in that he was an A.I. simply created to fulfill a mission and puts others in danger to carry it out. He has no feelings, yet hopes to model himself after humanity, and clearly tries to understand it. The beginning of the film has him watching clips from Lawrence of Arabia, and modeling himself after Peter O' Toole both in looks and mannerisms. Another scene where he finds the Engineers' star map and gazes at it in childlike wonder speaks volumes of his attempt to comprehend the world around him.
But what of the plot? The plot is both the film's strength and its greatest weakness, as there are times when the film doesn't seem to make up its mind as to what it wants to be. Does it want to be a straight up horror story, modeled after the original Alien? Does it want to have its characters blasting at alien creatures while fighting for their survival, like in Aliens? Does it want to explore deep philosophical questions about the nature of God and creation, kind of like in Blade Runner or 2001? The film goes for a little bit of all three, and while it was interesting to see these themes come together, the film would have done better to pick a central premise and stick with it, instead of coming off as wanting to be intelligent the first half and then abandoning this premise for scares in the second half.
The basic plot involves the scientists of the ship Prometheus discovering evidence that a race of alien beings called Engineers created life on Earth, and head there to meet them only to discover that they intend to utilize a black mutagen they created to wipe out humanity. The mutagen mutates creatures it comes into contact with while killing those who ingest it. It is never stated exactly why the Engineers suddenly changed their minds about us, their creation. Why did they want to exterminate us? Did we do something wrong?
Personally, I'd like to think that it was all a big experiment to them. The running motif throughout the film deals with creation and destruction, God and man, man and A.I., parents and children. When David asks Holloway why man created robots, Holloway replies "because we could". Therein, I think, lies the motivation of the Engineers. They had the means to create life, so they did. A suicidal Engineer on ancient Earth did what he did so his race could see a new species grow, one which they could then influence. But then, once that species had grown to a specific point, they created the mutagen to wipe us out, just because they could, and maybe because they wanted to ensure that their "children" did not become a threat. Allusions are even made to the original Prometheus myth, implying that the gift of fire is creating life, and that by manufacturing artificial life in David, humans (as Prometheus) invoked the wrath of the Engineers (the gods), who seek to punish us by destroying us. At least, that's my theory.
The fact that I didn't even come out of this film with a lot of answers, just theories, speaks volumes as to why I enjoyed this film, despite its flaws. The film doesn't resolve any of the big questions it raises, which may piss off some viewers wondering how everything is resolved and how it directly ties into Alien. But that's the joy of the film. When dealing with questions of "does God exist?" or "why are we here?", we're never going to get straight answers. The film raises them, and even implies solutions, but it's all guesswork. The audience can either infer answers for themselves, or wait until a sequel is made to get more direct answers (the film does set up for one).
I'm not going to lie here, though: the end of the film does reveal that, given enough hosts to gestate in, the black liquid creates a creature that resembles the original Alien. And yes, the Engineers here are the species the Space Jockey hails from in the original film. However, this is an entirely different planet, and the one Engineer is not the one encountered in the first film. Like I said, the film only makes references to the original Alien. It is not a straight up prequel that bends over backwards to stuff in cameos to create connections, the way the Star Wars prequels did. For all intents and purposes, Prometheus is it's own beast, just as Ridley Scott intended, but it does exist in the Alien universe and does reveal the origins of the Xenomorphs, even though the point of the film is to raise more questions than it answers.
The fact that we even have a science fiction film that wants to raise these questions, and spark philosophical debates among filmgoers, makes this film unique. Going in expecting this to be a full blown Alien prequel will warrant disappointment. But viewing it as a sci-fi/horror story with ambitious questions makes this a damn good movie, one of the best science fiction films I've seen in quite a while. If you want to compare it to the first few Alien films, fine, it's not as good, but it's far beyond Alien 3, Ressurection, and the AvP films. But like I said, don't compare this film to them. The references are there, but this film works best by viewing it as related to the Alien series instead of being a direct part of it.
In the end, I'd highly recommend this film to any die hard science fiction fans who are impressed by stunning visuals, impressive characterization, genuine scares, and intelligent questions about human nature. Speaking of visuals, the ones in this film are absolutely breathtaking, with H.R. Giger's work being as great as in the other Alien movies and several wide shots of the alien planet being just gorgeous. In the end, Prometheus was definitely worth watching, whether you are familiar with the Alien films or not, and it more than earns a spot as one of the best films of the summer season.
No comments:
Post a Comment