It isn't a horror film (although some seriously horrific things occur). It's (semi) hard Sci-Fi. My own private definition of hard Sci-Fi is that it takes place in an environment where I have few references, whether due to the advancement of time, future evolution, drastic geological or technical change, or that is concerned with issues too abstruse for most viewers/readers to fully understand at first, myself included.
As Prometheus begins, an alien (someone who looks similar to humans but clearly isn't human) walks to the edge of a huge waterfall on what appears to be an unpopulated planet (not Earth). He drinks something and begins to die, dissolve, disintegrate.
His remains flow into the water, spreading his DNA everywhere...
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A few zillion years later, human space travelers are awoken from cryo-sleep by an android named David.
David is cute, quirky and seems obsessed with Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, whom he fancies he resembles.
The exploratory vessel Prometheus has arrived at the far side of the galaxy on a moon called LV-223, where answers to the mysteries about the origins of life on Earth may be discovered. The remnants of the "Engineers" are apparently on the surface, which is why the crew are awakened by David.
Archeologist Elizabeth Shaw is among the scientists on board. She's extremely intelligent, kind-natured and takes her Christianity seriously, just a wonderful character.
With her is her boyfriend Charlie Holloway, also a scientist and quite the hunk.
Although he loves Elizabeth, he's also cynical and occasionally unpleasant to the others on board, including David (not that David's offended by this--being offended isn't in his programming). The rest of the crew is also made up of fun, goofy scientific braniacs, aware that they are on the threshold of discovering something important about life, where we came from, why we humans are here.
The sense of wonder is tangible, even to David.
And then there's Meredith Vickers...
She's smart, tough and cold, and as Mission Director, she is in complete control. She initially seems like a Human Resources manager but gradually it becomes obvious just how powerful she is. To Elizabeth and Charlie, before they even touch down:
"You will not speak to the Engineers, if they are still alive. You will not engage with them. You will report only to me...remember, you are nothing more than employees." (kinda paraphrasing, I can't remember her speech word for word but that's the gist of it).
Some of the crew members (including Elizabeth and Charlie) descend to the surface of LV-223.
Some great discoveries are made.
And some bad stuff happens.
The Engineers were capable of terra-forming planets (introducing chemicals/molecules into barren environments to make them capable of supporting life) but something went terribly wrong on LV-223 and they died in horrifying ways
(the archived holograms of the Engineers racing terrified through the enormous halls, pursued by...what??? are discovered by the crew, and these are some of the most astounding visuals in this movie).
But are the Engineers really dead?
And is whatever it was that killed them still loitering around quiescent, just waiting for contact with any living beings?
Gee, guess.
Of course it all goes to hell.
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Saw this with one of my best friends. She loves the Alien movies (which this is a prequel to) as much as I do, but discussing it on the way home, she had mixed feelings. She felt there was too much talk and that it really didn't kick in until the last half hour, when everything went nuts. But like me, she thought it was visually astonishing (there were a few moments where I wondered if we'd accidentally wandered into the 3-D version).
Overall, her opinion was positive. On the other hand, I completely, mostly unreservedly loved it!
Some people have said it's too talky. Well, tough-I've watched way too many movies where nobody talks about anything important. At least Prometheus, unsatisfying as it occasionally is, goes exploring uncharted territory and makes you think.
To the critics who find the "Science" part of the Sci-Fi here not particularly plausible, my only response is it takes place in the future so deal with it!
And as for the final--er-- emergence of the prototypical alien near the end?
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And the cast is spectacular! German actor Michael Fassbender is equal parts charming and threatening as David, and honestly...he deserves an Academy Award for his performance. Yes, he's that good here.
As a major character describes him, the android David is 'the closest thing I have to a son'
Swedish actress Noomi Rapace is intelligent and loveable as Elizabeth Shaw (I've never seen her in anything else, but apparently she's well-regarded as an actress).
But my favorite actor in the bunch is Charlize Theron, a South African performer who won the Best Actress Oscar for Monster.
(she was also in the enjoyably bad sci-fi bomb AEon Flux).
Theron seems like one of the few actresses working at present who calls to mind the classic old-school movie stars of the 30's and 40's.
Theron seems like one of the few actresses working at present who calls to mind the classic old-school movie stars of the 30's and 40's.
She makes some good movies, some not so good movies and often it seems like only her presence makes some films worthwhile (in other words, she's a blonder Milla Jovovich). She's smart and funny and likeable off-screen and she's terrific in Prometheus.
(and of course it doesn't hurt that she can be glamorous whenever occasion demands)
Her Meredith Vickers isn't always a particularly likeable character (at one point, she makes a judgement call involving a flamethrower that really didn't sit too well with most of the audience in the theater, but it seemed completely logical to me) and Meredith's (barely sublimated) rage throughout the movie is understandable only after certain pivotal points in the plot:
'A king has his reign, and then he dies. It's inevitable.'
The single funniest scene in Prometheus is of the ice-cool, brilliant Ms. Vickers calmly negotiating a tryst with a crew member. It isn't a romantic situation, far from it-Meredith simply seems to realize that she has some stress that needs to be released, and takes appropriate steps.
This woman is totally competent, this woman is fiercely competitive, this woman is dangerous.
(hey, you know I had to tip my hat to Joan Crawford, didn't you?)
Another great moment that had everyone in the theater chuckling was when an awestruck crew member sincerely asks her:
So, to sum it all up, yeah...I really enjoyed Prometheus. It isn't a perfect film (in fact, I'm seeing it again tomorrow because I found it confusing at some points) but sometimes it's just cool to see something that at least tries to raise a few questions and make people think.
That doesn't happen too often with Hollywood films, so I'll settle for imperfection. And I've read online (maybe it's just rumors) that hours of deleted footage will be included in the DVD release, scenes that had to be cut because the movie ran too long. I never buy a DVD unless I'm definitely going to watch it a few times, explore it a little bit and in this case I can't wait!
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