Prometheus (2012)
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 124m
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce
Synopsis:
Depictions of stellar alignments from a variety of archaeological sources send scientists on a mission to discover the home of the human species's supposed creator, but they find only death and contagion.
Review:
Opting for an alternative point of entry into the Alien universe - in this case it appears that they have stumbled across the same ship as the crew of the earlier film - was always an intriguing prospect for genre fans. The problem is that, once we have got beyond the cave paintings and so on, whose existence is never fully explained, we are left with a string of imitations: hyper-capable, and malign, android, hidden agenda, tentacular eruptions, body horror, etc. More frustratingly, the events of the movie's narrative are not satisfactorily placed in the context of Alien (1979): for example, this is presumably before, but the eggs are at this point canisters for biological warfare, and the pilot will not be in his cockpit any more when the crew of the Nostromo arrives. These weaknesses do not quite take away from the pleasures of Rapace's committed performance or the extremely handsome production design, but the film ultimately leaves one wanting more, never a good sign after two hours. One final thought: as well as being the creator figure, the Titan Prometheus (Gk. 'forward thinker') was also the one responsible for saving Man from despair, and potential suicide, by including Hope in Pandora's Box. The ironical implications of this coincidence, with the film's hominids inspiring the drawing of maps to Man's own eventual destruction on cave walls, are never explored.
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 124m
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce
Synopsis:
Depictions of stellar alignments from a variety of archaeological sources send scientists on a mission to discover the home of the human species's supposed creator, but they find only death and contagion.
Review:
Opting for an alternative point of entry into the Alien universe - in this case it appears that they have stumbled across the same ship as the crew of the earlier film - was always an intriguing prospect for genre fans. The problem is that, once we have got beyond the cave paintings and so on, whose existence is never fully explained, we are left with a string of imitations: hyper-capable, and malign, android, hidden agenda, tentacular eruptions, body horror, etc. More frustratingly, the events of the movie's narrative are not satisfactorily placed in the context of Alien (1979): for example, this is presumably before, but the eggs are at this point canisters for biological warfare, and the pilot will not be in his cockpit any more when the crew of the Nostromo arrives. These weaknesses do not quite take away from the pleasures of Rapace's committed performance or the extremely handsome production design, but the film ultimately leaves one wanting more, never a good sign after two hours. One final thought: as well as being the creator figure, the Titan Prometheus (Gk. 'forward thinker') was also the one responsible for saving Man from despair, and potential suicide, by including Hope in Pandora's Box. The ironical implications of this coincidence, with the film's hominids inspiring the drawing of maps to Man's own eventual destruction on cave walls, are never explored.
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 124m
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce
Synopsis:
Depictions of stellar alignments from a variety of archaeological sources send scientists on a mission to discover the home of the human species's supposed creator, but they find only death and contagion.
Review:
Opting for an alternative point of entry into the Alien universe - in this case it appears that they have stumbled across the same ship as the crew of the earlier film - was always an intriguing prospect for genre fans. The problem is that, once we have got beyond the cave paintings and so on, whose existence is never fully explained, we are left with a string of imitations: hyper-capable, and malign, android, hidden agenda, tentacular eruptions, body horror, etc. More frustratingly, the events of the movie's narrative are not satisfactorily placed in the context of Alien (1979): for example, this is presumably before, but the eggs are at this point canisters for biological warfare, and the pilot will not be in his cockpit any more when the crew of the Nostromo arrives. These weaknesses do not quite take away from the pleasures of Rapace's committed performance or the extremely handsome production design, but the film ultimately leaves one wanting more, never a good sign after two hours. One final thought: as well as being the creator figure, the Titan Prometheus (Gk. 'forward thinker') was also the one responsible for saving Man from despair, and potential suicide, by including Hope in Pandora's Box. The ironical implications of this coincidence, with the film's hominids inspiring the drawing of maps to Man's own eventual destruction on cave walls, are never explored.