> REVIEW
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Prometheus (2012)
Before Alien…
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By Helen Adkins | June 2012
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
WRITER(s): Jon Spaihts / Damon Lindelof
Thirty-three years on and Ridley Scott’s Alien is still widely regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. Yet in an era when audiences were clamouring for the genre – Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released in the same year, while The Empire Strikes Back followed less than twelve months later – Alien was a markedly different creature. Arguably more horror than sci-fi, Scott turned the Nostromo into a haunted house in space, barely revealing its diabolical antagonist until the final scenes and ramping up the sense of dread and terror with a skill worthy of Hitchcock.
James Cameron went for all-out action in Aliens, which was followed by a further two sequels of varying success, but nothing came close to the visceral menace and skilful pacing of the original. So when Scott announced he was working on the prequel Prometheus, few films could have been quite so hotly anticipated. With the director back at the helm and with access to superior 21st century visual technology the weight of expectation became immense.
And Prometheus has buckled under that weight. As expected, visual design and special effects are nothing short of spectacular. Dazzling opening scenes shot in Iceland recreate the location of the birth of humanity, while the interiors of both the ship and the alien pyramid are awe-inspiring, worthy of the many huge themes Scott attempts to deal with – evolution, the vastness of space, God.
Sadly, what’s left behind in the wake is the script. Ideas heavy, unwieldy themes, clichéd characters and overly contrived narrative strands have turned this ambitious reunion into a bloated mess.
The story begins in the Isle of Skye, where Dr Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her unfeasibly handsome boyfriend, Dr Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a cave painting that corresponds with other pictograms from various ages and cultures signifying early alien visitation on earth.
Years later, they board the Prometheus, a corporate ship that has bankrolled Shaw’s scientific mission to track down these early invaders. Joining the crew are the gruff but heroic captain Janek (Idris Elba), android butler David (Michael Fassbender), haughty corporate ice queen Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) and other sundry and expendable members. Locating the destination planet, the ship lands opposite an immense constructed pyramid that’s full of all manner of nasty and incredible discoveries pertaining to the origins of man and the universe.
Part of the success of Alien was in its purity of ambition. Sigourney Weaver played a cool, clear-cut protagonist with no backstory of note and a single goal. She had none of the emotional burdens that Rapace is forced to shoulder here – a dead father she needs to make proud, her Christian faith and her convenient fertility problem, which inevitably leads to one of the better but entirely predictable action sequences.
And make no mistake, the action set-pieces are consistently excellent, heart in mouth events. But they’re also wildly predictable and often the result of clumsy seeding or painful verbal exposition. Then there’s the inadequate characterisation, inexcusably silly character actions (petting an alien life-form, really?) and the minor sub-plots spun between Vickers, the crew, David, the two-timing android and the big boss, the 90-year old Peter Weyland who pops up (inexplicably played in heavy prosthetics by Guy Pearce). Getting all these threads established and tied up, Prometheus quickly starts to feel more like like a TV pilot for a twelve part series. The result being a film that’s high on action but lacking in heart or resonance.
There are good performances from Theron and the red-hot Fassbender in particular, but the others, including the usually excellent Rapace and ever reliable Elba, merely come across as bland and forgettable.
As a standard sci-fi action film, Scott has excelled, but as a worthy contender to Alien, it lacks any of the haunting atmosphere, menace or longevity of his classic original.
Script…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Spaihts and Lindelof match huge ideas and themes with familiar genre staples,
whilst wistfully neglecting characterisation and credibility leaving little space for
atmosphere or heart. 2
Direction………………………………………………………………………………………..
Faultless in terms of design and visual ambition, yet let down by a messy and
painfully expositional narrative. Scott’s [re]creation of the world is absolutely
awe-inspiring, it’s just a shame he didn’t pay as much attention to the story. 4
Verdict…………………………………………………………………………………………..
A beautiful disappointment. 3
