PROMETHEUS C+
USA (124 mi) 2012 ‘Scope d: Ridley Scott Official site
Life on earth began in Iceland, if you believe the Ridley Scott lore that is this movie, which actually has the audacity to re-invent the beginning of the world in science fiction terminology, using a variation on dozens of movies that have come before, but this one pays homage to THE TERMINATOR (1984), as an interplanetary traveler consciously chooses this planet to create a new human species, spawning generations and centuries of life, yet humans remain clueless to their origins. Instead, after a brief prologue, easily the most impressive piece of filmmaking overall, shot in actual Icelandic locations, the film begins in 2093 as a prequel to the original ALIEN (1979), presumably searching for the origin of life, setting into motion a series of outer space disasters that remain tightly under wraps for their next mission (with Sigourney Weaver, et al) nearly 30 years later. While the sense of largesse is well established from the grandiosity of the opening shots, where it’s clear the story has interplanetary implications, what’s missing is any kind of interior development of the characters, where a few interesting people might have helped. ALIEN worked because each of the characters onboard the space vessel became familiar to the audience “before” anything unusual happened, creating palpable suspense when they were suddenly threatened, where it was easy for the audience to identify with each character. Not so here, where characters are gone before we even know who they are, feeling totally dispensable. In fact, the person in charge of the mission comes into question almost immediately, where the unflappable ice queen, Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers, is supposedly in charge, the daughter of the corporate CEO of Weyland Industries (who appears in the form of a hologram) that’s financing the journey, the emotionally void boss handing out instructions, condescendingly treating everyone as inferiors, but she is undermined almost immediately by the android on board, Michael Fassbender as David, who appears somehow to answer directly to her father. Clearly there are secret issues that are not shared with the rest of the crew, or even each other. This tends to complicate the mission, which is undermined from the outset, with so much intentional back stabbing and behind-the-scenes secret motives, where it’s never really clear what they’d be capable of achieving if they all worked together.
So rather than focus on the exhilaration of space exploration and the spectacular discoveries at hand, Scott seems more inclined to draw attention to the inevitable human failures, as if there is a flaw in the production design of human DNA. This goes hand in hand with the title, as the mythological Prometheus created man from clay, then stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humans on earth, which enabled their progress and development, but it angered the gods, putting humans on the same level as the gods instead of inferior creatures that worshipped them. In the grand design, it’s a question of balance, and when there’s an obvious imbalance, disaster follows. Prometheus strove to improve human conditions, but his overreach resulted in tragedy, much like Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, which is subtitled The Modern Prometheus. If this film suggests anything, it’s about God’s wrath instead of God’s existence. While initially, there may have been a search for the origins of man, finding the original DNA that can explain the secret behind man’s existence, but by the end it’s all about the power of retribution and doom, a naïve curiosity venture that turns into a grandiose, operatic opening of Pandora’s Box. Much that happens on the new planet is inexplicable from a rational standpoint, perhaps most perfectly expressed by an endless series of questions posed by this bemused viewer Red Letter Media talks about Prometheus - SPOILERS YouTube (4:00) that leaves his stunned friend in a kind of dazed, mental stupor. This may be the effect the movie has on most viewers, as proceeding onto the planet without the slightest evidence of cautionary scientific protocol unfortunately defines human behavior in this picture, which instead turns into a whirlwind of disasters, many of them man made and self inflicted. And while David is a perfectly created robot in man’s likeness, kind of a walking HAL computer who strictly obeys his designer and creator, he’s allowed to separate from the group and explore on his own, where it’s clear he has a completely separate agenda, as the android did in the original ALIEN, which eventually turned out to be their undoing.
But it’s not Vickers in her virtual world that takes center stage, as she never leaves the ship, instead every step of the action on the planet is led by Noomi Rapace as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, a science expert who’s able to confirm the DNA discovered on the planet is human, so there is an inevitable link, but no one can figure out how or why. Typically, everyone’s mission would be defined ahead of time, where each person has their own specific duty to perform, for which they received extensive training for months and years. But the haphazard way this group separates and splits into utter chaos and disorganization leaves them continually susceptible to surprise attacks from unexpected and often unseen sources. Their cavalier arrogance is laughable, as they mostly get what they deserve, all except Shaw who is a one woman wrecking crew, whose survival instincts are off the charts and remain impressively on display throughout, as she’s the only kick-ass character onboard that bears any resemblance to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley character, but unfortunately all the feminist implications in her role have been removed, turning Shaw into little more than an action figure. With such standard Hollywood character portrayals continually undermining the overall interest, retreading many of the same ideas and material, kept alive only by the often dazzling set pieces and special effects, it comes down to a battle of wits by the human (Shaw) and the android (David) against a ferociously crafty monster, where the story within the story seems to be their separately defined internal missions which are continually at odds with one another, where the exploration team is allowed to run roughshod over whatever planetary evidence exists without realizing the negative repercussions, leaving huge gaps in their eventual comprehension of how humans came from this strange and lifeless planet filled with peculiar signs of an unknown entity they cannot grasp, where both end up irreparably harmed beyond belief. Only David appears to have the ability to unlock secret codes, discovering strange new conceptual designs of the universe, a colorful phantasmagorical virtual world, but as quickly as it appears, it instantly shuts down, leaving him in the dark about why a higher life form would both create and destroy life in the same breath, why such a strange and mysterious dual planet evolution, where after all is said and done, this is largely an overblown space adventure with people we barely know or care about, who behave in a heavy handed War of the Worlds manner that continually gets them into trouble—serious trouble—where it’s a miracle the human species survived. However, as evidenced by this film, perhaps that’s only temporary.
