“PROMETHEUS”
Screenplay Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof
Directed by Ridley Scott
**** (four stars)
“Did You make disease
and the diamond blue? Did You make mankind after we made You?”
-XTC ("Dear God")
Leave it to the masters to get the job done!!
“Prometheus,” Director Ridley Scott’s return to the science
fiction universe, which he has not visited since “Blade Runner” thirty years
ago, is sensational! For all of the ink spilled about whether this film is a
prequel or side story set in the universe that gave birth to Scott's “Alien” (1979), I will neither confirm nor deny, as I want for you to head out
as soon as you are able and experience this film for yourselves. But I cannot express enough what a
hell of an experience “Prometheus” happens to be as this is science fiction
performed with a brain, heart, inventiveness, imagination and a feral
intensity. While I have not necessarily
been eagerly awaiting Scott’s return to outer space, what I have been anxiously
awaiting is his return to creating the type of excellent, visionary films that
have creatively eluded him in recent years, in my opinion. That said, it is obvious the return
to the stars and far away planets has rejuvenated him heroically and most surprisingly, for a film that contains
such a bleak and even fatalistic view of humanity and beyond, it is amazing how rapturous the
experience actually is.
For the purposes of keeping a conceptually tight lid on the
proceedings, I’ll be brief. “Prometheus” is set, very appropriately, near
Christmastime in the year 2093. Focusing entirely upon the 17-member crew of
the eponymously named spacecraft, we follow the shared scientific journey of
Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr. Charlie Holloway (Logan
Marshall-Green), lovers who seek the answers to our existence but through
fundamentally different ideological beliefs as Shaw is driven by her faith
while the skeptic Holloway is fueled strictly through science. In addition to
Shaw and Holloway are Janek (the smoldering Idris Elba), the ship’s captain,
Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), the embittered icy corporate suit and David
(Michael Fassbender), the ship’s android with his own agenda.
Following a star map made from cave drawing from ancient
civilizations, the Prometheus is led to a distant and advanced world hoping to
discover our origins but instead find the deadliest threat to humankind of all.
That is actually as far as I feel that I can go with the
plot description without producing spoilers. But, I will say this: “Prometheus”
is thankfully yet another big budget Hollywood feature
released this year that is focused upon story and storytelling, characters and
performances, and combined with supremely delivered sound and vision. While the
film more than fulfills any sense of scares, thrills and excitement,
“Prometheus” is not designed to be a soulless, bludgeoning movie going
experience. This film sets out to give you nothing less than awe, and while
some of the pieces do not fit together entirely smoothly, the overall effect
was blistering and boldly operatic. This particular stylistic tactic feels more than
appropriate as Scott and his screenwriters have hefty philosophical issues and
debates on their minds from man’s sense of uncontrollable hubris, our
simultaneously joyous and terrifying desire for discovery and dead center is an
emotional and intellectual war between science and faith.
In many ways, “Prometheus” reminded me very much of science fiction films
from the pre “Star Wars” past, that were devoted to ideas rather than
interstellar bombast and to that end, Scott has envisioned an extremely
unforgiving existence. For the characters, who are hoping to find a discovery
meant to uplift and explain why we exist, Scott counters those sentiments with
a cruel world of duplicitousness, destruction, death, and the potential for
absolute nothingness after we pass on.
“Prometheus” illustrates a world of unrepentant
meaninglessness where in one’s potentially final moments, you can find yourself
literally watching your dreams projected upon a video screen while your most
horrific nightmares are hunting you down in the flesh. The mass of ironies pile
upwards throughout the film, yet wisely, “Prometheus” provides no absolute
answers and frankly, how could it really? But, the feverish pursuit of answers
is highly effective and deeply compelling and I will offer the following: I did
love how “Prometheus” not only shared but merged themes he previously explored
in both “Alien” and “Blade Runner” in regards to our relationship with machines
and whether machines possess any sense of soul at all.
Yet, for all of the philosophical debates, Scott certainly
does not skimp with giving the audience a fantastic post “Star Wars” bang for
its collective buck. One sequence, which finds Shaw trapped inside a pod with a
nasty invader, is flat out jaw dropping. A battle inside the ship’s loading
deck area between crew members is a true pulse pounder. And the film’s mammoth climax
shakes the theater valiantly. Ridley Scott executes a first rate production
with gorgeous set design, crisp visual design from ace Cinematographer Dariusz
Wolski, top of the line special effects, and a propulsive music score from
Composer Marc Streitenfeld.
The casting, overall, was terrific as well. Theron and Elba
made the very most of their archetypal characters and injected true moments of
realistic human behavior. Michael Fassbender, as the android David, who
fashions himself after Peter O’Toole from David Lean’s “Lawrence Of Arabia” (1962),
gives one of the film’s finest performances as his motives are understandable
but not always readable. He is sinister yet sympathetic and provides the film’s
best counterpoint to the woman of faith, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, as they both show
unstoppable survival instincts, for surprisingly similar reasons.
But the true star of the film is Noomi Rapace and kudos to
Ridley Scott for giving her an avenue to show American audiences, who may have not
seen her in the original Swedish “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” (2009) and
it two sequels, what she’s made of. Scott beautifully rights the cinematic
wrongs done to Rapace in Guy Ritchie’s underwhelming “Sherlock Holmes: A Game
Of Shadows” (2011), where he had someone as formidable as Rapace relegated to
just playing “the girl sidekick.” For “Prometheus,” Rapace is front and center
and her performance is a marvel physically and emotionally. This is how you
utilize someone of Rapace’s voluminous talents in a film and she shows again that she
is a force of nature. Noomi Rapace will blow you over!
Oh, but enough from me for now. “Prometheus” is the real
deal, an awesome roof raising ride into the mouth of Hell. And it was a
spectacular reunion for me with the artistic vision of Ridley Scott who has
truly not impressed me with a feature since his iconic “Thelma and Louise”
(1991). Here, Ridley Scott is ready to shake you up again. To give you even
more than you may be expecting. To forge ahead into the darkness completely unafraid
and armed with a malevolent grin, testing us to see if we can handle what he’ll
dish out for us.
Not only will you be able to handle “Prometheus,” you will
most likely ask for seconds!!
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