Prometheus (2012) Review - 7.3

Prometheus - 7/10

Prometheus has been highly anticipated for many years now and much of this anticipation has arrived from speculation that Prometheus is part of the popular Alien franchise. Alien was first brought to screens in 1979 by none other than Prometheus director Ridley Scott. Questions have unsurprisingly been formed as to where (If any) Prometheus' role in the Alien series is. Scott himself helps categorise it in an interview when he says "though the film shares 'strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak', and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas". Scott clearly aims to derive away from the Alien franchise, the idea is supposed to be that audiences can enjoy and understand Prometheus without any knowledge of the Alien quadrilogy. So therefore the film can be taken from a critical review on its own rather than needing support from its Alien friend. So this review will be of Prometheus alone and how with no help from other films it can be observed.

Prometheus is a Sci-Fi, thriller film set in 2093 following the journey of the Prometheus and its crew. Links found in archaelogical digs on Earth by Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) and Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), suggest that human origins cans be traced across the universe. This is where the story launches itself into space in search of how humanity began. However what they find may not be what they were looking for, as twists and discoveries make life very difficult for the Prometheus crew.

Prometheus' Visuals Open a Whole New World 

Amongst the casting in the Sci-Fi adventure that is Prometheus, is a boasting of some big names. These include Guy Pearce (Memento), Michael Fassbender (X-Men First class), Idris Elba (Thor) and Charlize Theron (Italian Job), not to mention the previously mentioned Ridley Scott who has previous works including Blade Runner (1982),Gladiator (2000) and American Gangster (2007). Scott certainly puts his experience of the Sci-Fi genre to good measure as he provides striking visuals amongst what can only be guessed as an accurate and futuristic setting. The mixture in setting is charmingly simple yet highly complex. Incorporating visually pleasing aesthetics in technical areas gives the film a "wow" factor in terms of what is being displayed, yet the simplicity of it allows the indulgence in something new and fresh. It becomes evident that the film has held a high regard for its visuals and technology to be at its up most best, to ensure that everything within the film is displayed in a realistic fashion rather than being cheap and cheesy.

The setting and narrative of Prometheus follows ones of Sci-Fi, mixed in with thrills, drama and elements of horror, all of which can be heard and seen throughout the film. Prometheus is cleaver in how is indulges in these different genres and uses the futuristic themes and setting to its advantage. Notably the lighting has a noiresque (low-key black and white visual style) feel about it in places, making use of shadows and limited lighting to add to the tension throughout Prometheus' narrative. Along with lighting, music, which arguably is found in different genres such as horror and drama, plays a clever role in understanding and representing the hybrids that Prometheus offers itself to being a part of.

Noir styled lighting setting the mood. 

So visually stunning and technically clever in what it attempts to do should set up the opportunity to develop and witty and memorable narrative right? Well this theory is somewhat questioned in certain stages and events through film. The film has a loosely based idea on that carvings and paintings found on Earth brings the fact that humanities creators exist somewhere across the universe. Surprisingly this works rather well as the facts and thought that have gone into insuring the believability of this notion and deserve credit as it maintains logic and method behind its madness. The story itself is intriguing and although it may be easy to dismiss its absurdity from the start, it continues to distract from the norm and build a filmic world in which anything could be possible.
As the narrative progressed and tensions became higher some sense and believability seems to droop out of the films continuity. Characters actions seemed to go unanswered or unpunished, events seemed to be ignored rather than resolving them and at times the story seemed to completely forget about other characters or dismiss events without a blink of an eye. Excuses such as "allowing the audiences interpretation of the scene" go pretty much out the window at times as there seems to be more room for bewilderment than thought. Even some characters seemed pointless and even lacked depth in places. Protagonist Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) was one that stood out for both positive and negative reasons. She showed clear emotion in scenes which helped denote mood and seriousness thanks to her emotion but was rather lacking when interacting with most characters. As far as her role in the film is concerned is the less she spoke the better as she shined when scenes involving herself solely. However, even though there are absences and a lack of depth in both certain characters or scenes, it still it successful in it methods of creating a brand new dimensional world for both characters and audiences to indulge in.

To sum up, Ridley Scott dismissed the film from being a part of the Alien series and aimed to please audiences on the films individual accord. If this is the case then although the films visuals and technical aspects are stunning in places and narrative sets itself up to deliver, it lacks depth and understanding. This allows some scenes to become pointless and others unexplored, forming questions that would go unanswered. There are evident links back to the first Alien film throughout, which left it screaming "I'm the prequel to Alien but I just can't admit it!". This left the assumption that for spectators who haven't seen Alien then these brilliant links of reminiscense are somewhat wasted and don't bare the same effect that they do on those who are familiar with the 1979 Sci-Fi film. More enjoyment can be gained from the connection and reflection to those of the first Alien film which would allow the film to be more creditable if it called itself the prequel. The feeling that the film lacks a certain factor will be one that is apparent whether or not you have seen Alien but overall the film offers enjoyment of a world otherwise unattainable outside of the filmic world and boasts some of the best CGI scenes in cinema. My personal opinion is fully worth the watch but make sure you see Ridley's 1979 Alien to gain a certain 'special feeling' otherwise inaccessible.