Prometheus

Prometheus, at its core, really is just Ridley Scott's attempt to make another film like Alien for a modern audience, using the same tricks that made Alien so successful. The strong willed female lead. The guys you instantly know will be the first to die. The android. The shock scene. The ending even closely mirrors Alien. But does this really matter? Does Ridley bring enough new material to make Prometheus worthwhile?

Short answer, just about, yes. Visually Prometheus is stunning. From the grand landscapes and vistas to the small details on the ship and technological advancements its a beautiful but believable immersive world. Apart from taking an impressive leap visually from the days of Alien (although that is expected), it takes an intellectual step too. Prometheus stirs a flurry of questions about our existence. Eventhough it leaves many questions unanswered it provided enough interest to spark lots of thoughts and debate after the credits rolled. The characters and basic narrative may remain largely similar to the groundbreaking (and one of my favourite films of all time) Alien but visually and intellectually Ridley Scott's sci fi universe has taken a big enough step in the right direction.

Unfortunately the predictability does reduce the amount of tension and scares to be found in Prometheus. The shock scene is also very unnecessary and adds nothing to the plot unlike Alien's chest burster scene. However, the new alien designs are just as organic and evolutionary intriguing providing an interesting link to the Alien films. I think its the organic nature and base upon biology that makes Ridley's sci fi's more interesting than most. It's a shame it has to deter so often from this theme for cheap thrills and scares, even if they are good fun.

The acting is mostly satisfactory but Michael Fassbender as the android and lead woman Rooni Rapace are especially interesting. Charlize Theron is good as the evil corporation representative but she's underused and underdeveloped with a strange and forced twist towards the end to somehow explain why she's such a bitch. As already mentioned the characters and story add nothing new to the genre but its very acceptable and does a decent enough job. 

So, whilst Prometheus isn't nearly as ground breaking as Alien and lacks a lot of the originality Ridley Scott gathers his sci fi directing experience and shows us how it should be done by the book for a modern audience - and when he was one of the people who wrote the book in the first place it seems very forgivable. Above all I was thoroughly entertained. 8