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Many have described Prometheus as Ridley Scott's attempt to take Alien to the level of Kubrick's Space Odyssey: 2001, and I think that's broadly a good assessment. However, while I found the film enjoyable, it never quite reaches the heights of either of its spiritual predecessors.
MINOR SPOILERS BELOW
When I first heard about the concept of aliens creating men, I was worried. However, it's important not to take the science in the film too seriously. Even Ridley Scott says this isn't a science class. It is kind of silly that these large humanoid aliens called the "Engineers" (or Space Jockeys for fans of the original Alien) created humans. The film even points out the ridiculousness of the concept when the biologist jokes it would throw out "300 years of Darwinism." In watching the movie, it becomes clear pretty quickly that the plot is a device to answer philosophical questions about the nature of God, creation, and death. The atmosphere and story during the first half of the movie is great.
The acting is also surprisingly good. Other reviewers have gone on about how good the big three - Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, and Charlize Theron - are, so all I'll say is that I really enjoyed their performances. Fassbender's performance as the android is stunning in how calmly chilling he is. Some of his lines were so cruel, yet so innocently recited, that I want to rematch the movie just to see him. Most of the other characters I thought were fine, with some exceptions (particularly Noomi Rapace's character's husband who came off as a lame Ashton Kutcher wannabe).
The problem with the movie is that its exploration of these themes and acting are hampered by action/horror scenes that clearly weren't well thought out. As other reviewers noted, many of the deaths are caused by characters making stupid decisions. Many reviewers have criticized the crew for taking off their helmets, which at first is fine because one would expect that alien microbes would not be able to infect humans. However, once it was apparent that the Space Jockey DNA was the same as humans AND that one of the crew members was infected, they still continue to take their helmets off! Other stupid decisions include the biologist's attempt to pet a snake; the captain's decision to open the ship's door when a crew member's signal is detected without receiving audio confirmation from him; and the fact that the characters can only run straight to avoid a rolling ship. Overall, the action scenes seem like they were a symptom of today's brain dead Hollywood.
For me, the biggest drawback to the movie was pacing. The beginning was slow, which was fine by me. However, when the action starts, it never really slows down. The audience isn't given time to breathe and absorb. The tension never really builds. For example, after Noomi Rapace's infamous scene, she runs down the hallways and has a conversation with the crew, and then they go try to communicate with the Space Jockeys. First of all, the fact that Rapace's character doesn't even inform the other crew members about what happened to her is ridiculous. But then the movie switches gears so quickly that it's like it never happened. Rapace's character is clearly hurting from the encounter, but not as much as she probably would in real life.
Another major problem is that the film leaves a lot of questions unanswered. I'm not an Alien fanboy - I don't need to know every detail about the Space Jockey's origins. However, major plot points that are (deliberately) left open, setting it up for a sequel. I like some mystery, but for most viewers the movie will seem incomplete or ridiculous. For example, as many other reviewers have noted, it seems pretty stupid for one of the Space Jockey's, presumably an intelligent alien species, to simply start killing humans, arguably an intelligent species, when he wakes up after sleeping for 2,000 years. The film hints that there might be a reason why the Space Jockeys hate humans so much, but you'd think he would at least be confused at seeing humans or worried that they were able to travel so far. As it is the Space Jockey's actions look more like Hollywood's attempt to throw in some mindless violence. Maybe it'll all make sense after we see the inevitable sequel, but too much of it just doesn't seem to have been thought through very clearly.
Overall, if you like sci-fi, especially the Alien franchise, Prometheus is well worth seeing. Don't set your expectations too high, and be willing to accept some thoughtless plot points. I'd give the movie 3 stars. If Ridley Scott and his scriptwriters had put a bit more thought into the plot, it could have been so much more.
UPDATE on Blu-Ray (10/15/12):
My initial review was a bit harsh, but upon rewatching the movie I think it was eminently justified. While there are some interesting philosophical concepts, they're buried deep beneath stupid characters and poor scriptwriting. The contrast with Scott's Alien, which I also recently rewatched, is telling. Alien never pulled me out of the movie and the characters seemed utterly believable. It's just a shame Prometheus didn't quite work on that level.
The blu-ray set comes with all the standard deleted scenes, making-of documentaries, and commentaries. The deleted scenes are definitely the highlight. As happens so often, I wonder why they were deleted. The deleted version of the Fiefield fight uses a much more interesting Fiefield monster concept than the ugly guy we saw in the film. Also, Vickers has a few compelling character moments in the deleted scenes. Even the Engineer has more character. The deleted scene gives him a very compelling reason for attacking the Promtheus crew, whereas in the finished film he seems like a mindless brute. In short, Prometheus would have been a much better movie with these scenes incorporated.
The 4-disc set comes with even more impressive special features, particularly the 3-hour "The Furious Gods". This is the documentary that the ads claim will "answer" the questions left from the film's plot holes. While that goes a bit too far, "The Furious Gods" is rich in content. I enjoyed hearing about the making of the movie, from beginning to end. It is definitely revealing, both in good ways and bad, However, I really don't like the idea of "enhancement pods", which essentially require you to interrupt the documentary in order to watch shorter featurettes. I'd have preferred if the short featurettes were simply part of the feature documentary.
| Additional 3D options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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September 8, 2015 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $10.41 | $3.74 |
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April 8, 2013 "Please retry" | — | 3 | $25.67 | $23.05 |
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Quality not bad for the price. Just wish case was harder and not softer towards the center. But other than that good movie and dvds are separated good
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