It’s been something like a year since I did a movie review on this blog, there’s no particular reason for this slack but here’s a movie that I thought deserve one – Prometheus (2012).
The movie is sort of a prequel to the Alien series that many of us grew up watching, and in a way, an integral part of our childhood’s formation years. Prometheus is directed by the same Ridley Scott that made those classics the original Alien and Blade Runner.
I watched this movie in TGV’s IMAX screen at Sunway Pyramid, and it utterly blew my mind away – the IMAX theater that is. It was crisp, clear, and sounded superb. Not entirely unlike switching from a 21″ old tube TV to the latest 55″ high definition LCD panel with a beefed up sound system to boot.
So much so that I want to watch every movie that’s release on TGV IMAX from now on, and I am not getting paid to write this. 😀
TGV IMAX completely ruined my “normal” movie experience.
Anyway back to the movie that scored a (I think) very overrated 7.8/10 at IMDB.
The storyline:
A team of scientists travels through the universe on the spaceship “Prometheus” on a voyage to investigate Alien life forms. The team of scientists becomes stranded on an Alien world, and as they struggle to survive it becomes clear that the horrors they experience are not just a threat to themselves, but to all of mankind.
The movie has really excellent visuals with some scenes rival that of Avatar, pretty good pace, with rather decent acting (Michael Fassbender was excellent), and on top of that, you have Charlize Theron, that is always a bonus.
However, what I thought made it very disappointing are the things left unexplained and many that never make any sense. I know it’s essentially a sci-fi and you should be able to get away with many things, but consistency is key to any good story.
From here onwards it’s all spoilers, and read only if you have watched or are planning to watch.
Now here’s a list of problems I have with the movies:
- How could biologists violate all the health code there is? Taking off the face mask = risking potential alien virus/bacterial infection
- The same guy (Fifield) who deployed the navigational bots is the same guy who gets lost afterwards…
- The same paranoid guy (Milburn) somehow wanted to play with alien snake
- What are those black goo that kept flowing out of the vase?
- What is David’s motive in “poisoning” Charlie?
- A far superior civilization, the Engineers, didn’t even want to talk and just starts killing everyone in sight, that doesn’t seem very smart
- Charlize Theron’s character was smart enough to lead a space expedition, but couldn’t figure out running side way will save her life
- That almost Star Wars “father” line was utterly unnecessary
- How did the face hugger grew to be the size of Kraken in the medical pot without food?
- Why would the Engineer head to human’s escape pod when they have many other space ships of their own? If he wanted to kill all human on the planet first he’d have done it before the first attempt to fly off anyway.
OK I’ll stop here.
so aside from the problems, do u still enjoy it? i personally do and hopefully a sequel might clear all the doubts
nic: I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more, I enjoyed the visual lor.
Agree that Prom was super disappointing
Started off well until alien tentacles started showing up
Tim: ya, all went downhill from there.
I didn’t expect the movie to turn out like that, super overwhelming!
Nevertheless, enjoyed it despite some gory scenes. 🙂
Ken Wooi: good that you like it then. 😀
after reading your blog only I realize that. But enjoyable lo~hahaha~
Futsal Kaki: haha ya, I’m a huge fan of Sci-Fi and thus probably a lot more critical
Yes, the motive for poisoning is what bothered me the most.
Other issues that bothered me:
– No explanation on the the holographic recordings
– What the hell was that first scene all about, where that Engineer commits suicide?
– Character development anyone?
Gosh. Such potential. Wasted.
Marcky: I think the first scene was when they “kick start” human race on Earth, but wasn’t explained properly. Agreed with you on other points
That is what I guessed but there was too big a gap to make guesses, even when the viewer is one as smart as I am!
Marcky: it’s a leap of faith. hehe
ridley scott is the director of only the 1st alien movie in the alien franchise 😉
delia: ops you are very right, I missed that out. and he did Blade Runner too.
Movie may have plot holes but to answer Marcky, Engineer suicide so his dna is used to seed life on the new planet.
Some engineers want to kill humans because that was their mission originally.
Not all engineers are in the same camp. Some wants us to live, some wants us dead.
It is connected to biblical storyline plot but told in a ‘scientific’ way.
If you do not have background knowledge of bible, evolution, etc, it would be hard to like this movie.
erm: ah, I realize that there are biblical references, but still some of the “decisions” by the characters..
too many plot holes IMO.
anyway, speaking of imax…i had the same feeling! already looking forward to the movies to watch in IMAX (spiderman, dark knight rises).
heck, i was already sold while watching the IMAX 3D countdown and promo video before the movie even started!
howzan: haha yah, I felt exactly the same, already damn stim from countdown
– How could biologists violate all the health code there is? Taking off the face mask = risking potential alien virus/bacterial infection
They trusted Charlie who is technically their boss and who knew the most (a daredevil, true-believer sort) who believed the atmosphere was fit for human, I think it’s fair to say that they had enough gadgets to figure out that there wasn’t any risk of contracting diseases…from earth that is. Also, they went there thinking they’re invited & welcomed, which explains the lack of thought process allocated to “Will these aliens kill us?”
-The same guy (Fifield) who deployed the navigational bots is the same guy who gets lost afterwards…
He’s a geologist, he tests rocks. He doesn’t do maps lol.
-The same paranoid guy (Milburn) somehow wanted to play with alien snake.
They were rather cute and he’s probably an animal lover lol.
-What are those black goo that kept flowing out of the vase?
Biological weapon made from some kinda DNA that’s designed to interact with human DNA.
-What is David’s motive in “poisoning†Charlie?
Charlie was an asshole to David the entire time. And David has signs of having developed sentience from early in the film, cue: how he’s obsessed with Holloway’s dreams.
-A far superior civilization, the Engineers, didn’t even want to talk and just starts killing everyone in sight, that doesn’t seem very smart.
-I believe this scene confirms that Engineer was on a mission to kill humans. It was speculated at first but it’s confirmed by the scene. Also, I think it is on purpose that we don’t know exactly what humans have done to piss them off.
-Charlize Theron’s character was smart enough to lead a space expedition, but couldn’t figure out running side way will save her life.
Can be easily explained by panic. But ya, it’s dumb lol
-That almost Star Wars “father†line was utterly unnecessary.
No comment lol.
How did the face hugger grew to be the size of Kraken in the medical pot without food?
– Elephants are big from birth also what.
-Why would the Engineer head to human’s escape pod when they have many other space ships of their own? If he wanted to kill all human on the planet first he’d have done it before the first attempt to fly off anyway.
The human ship was kinda embedded into the alien ship. He probably stumbled into there.
IMHO…
Kim: well the face hugger grew 20x the size in half an hour. but 10/10 for effort in the comment. hahahah.
it was already growing extraordinarily fast in her belly. and it’s not like you can argue about alien’s growth rate 🙂
btw u should put in your title that your review contains loads of spoilers la!
kim: i did write maa spoiler from that paragraph onwards. hehe.
I think all Charlize Theron contracts specify that she must do a nude scene in every movie she appears in. Happened again, no? (Have not watched yet…)
suertes: no idea if it happened, would have been cut anyway.
WHAT IS THE BIG GIANT HEAD FOR!!???!!!?????
Enlil, their supreme leader. Aka YahWeh…
Yes, but what is the BIG GIANT HEAD FOR?
That probably symbolize their leader Enlil. I wasn’t talking about the exploding head btw.
Need to read up on Sumerian Mythology of Enki, Enlil, and others.
Abrahamic religions plagiarized from the oldest known and recorded civilization, Sumerians.
Incoming message from The BIG GIANT HEAD. Come in, Big Giant Head.
erm: ya that giant head twitching around and exploding.. wtf was that…
Incoming message for Big Giant Twitching Head exceeded memory allocations.
Exploding head was to show what was gonna happen when black goo infects the host. They wanna know what happened to him before decapitation. Reanimating the head also reanimates the black goo to complete the process, similar to what happened to the ‘sacrifice’ engineer.
Black goo is like your computer program, designed to change your dna, speed up evolution either for good or bad. I guess the engineer got infected.
My real curiosity is how did the bio-weapon black goo escaped? They can’t be that careless. My only conclusion is, sabotage. The engineers are not all from same camp. Typical ‘God’ politics.
Let’s hope the sequel, address this internal politics of the engineers.
erm: that is a lot of assumptions.
Btw, to better understand this movie, it is vital to know about Sumerian mythology, the original one that was ‘pirated’ by other religions today. This whole movie is rooted in that era and along with Ancient Alien stuff like those from Erich Von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods.
Sitchin’s work is also a huge influence to Ridley Scott. So before anyone diss this movie or insult Ridley Scott, you gotta understand you need to do your own homework first.
erm: then imho, they need to have a bit of back story to build that up. then again they didn’t even bother to have any character development..
You are correct, but recently US tv channels have been showing all this Ancient Aliens series and getting hollywood stars to host these types of subjects to make it easier for the public to accept the ‘propaganda’ of Prometheus.
Except not many have seen those ‘history’ channel Aliens are Gods type of documentaries yet. You also have to understand it would be difficult preaching the theory to Atheists and even those with organized religion background.
This movie caters to a very selected/unique crowd (including me) that appreciates it and it is either a love it or hate it thing.
Hence, I tend to ignore the character flaws of the script and focus on the big picture, so I found the movie enjoyable. (Since I am already familiar with Sumerian Enlil, Enki, planet Eridu, Tiamat, Epic of Gilgamesh thingy.
erm: you can’t honestly call those history, or documentaries. those programs are prime example of junk tv. history channel was once awesome, now .. urghhh
I consider them ‘propaganda’. Whether it’s true or not, it’s up to one to interpret.
I did say it would be difficult selling these to Atheists and those with religion.
I’ve always considered Lord Of the Rings to be an accurate history of Earth. Elves rule.
1) How could biologists violate all the health code there is? Taking off the face mask = risking potential alien virus/bacterial infection
OMGOMGOMG I’M ON AN ALIEN PLANET I MUST OFF MASK AND BREATH ALIEN AIR NOWNOWNOWNOW!
2) The same guy (Fifield) who deployed the navigational bots is the same guy who gets lost afterwards…
GPS doesn’t work underground kot…
3) The same paranoid guy (Milburn) somehow wanted to play with alien snake
OMGOMGOMG ALIEN SNAKE I MUST PLAY WITH IT NOWNOWNOW
4) What are those black goo that kept flowing out of the vase?
Oil. Because Engineers need fuel to fly them spaceships.
5) What is David’s motive in “poisoning†Charlie?
Because Charlie is a dick.
6) A far superior civilization, the Engineers, didn’t even want to talk and just starts killing everyone in sight, that doesn’t seem very smart
ENGINEER SMASH PUNY HUMANS!
7) Charlize Theron’s character was smart enough to lead a space expedition, but couldn’t figure out running side way will save her life
Maybe that spacesuit made it difficult to execute corners while running…
8) That almost Star Wars “father†line was utterly unnecessary
“But you told me an Alien-Predator hybrid killed my father!” “No, silly. Those AVP movies never existed.”
9) How did the face hugger grew to be the size of Kraken in the medical pot without food?
That’s hardly a face HUGGER anymore actually. more like face SUCKER.
10) Why would the Engineer head to human’s escape pod when they have many other space ships of their own? If he wanted to kill all human on the planet first he’d have done it before the first attempt to fly off anyway.
He wanted to use Vicker’s spa?
eyeris: I really hope there’s that captain & Vicker’s scene, that would have made the whole thing worth watching.
“Are you a robot?”
“10 minutes, my room.”
Best pickup line EVER.
eyeris: but then they cut the next scene (i’m assuming there’s one!)
You think they did it in the Med-Pod?
I want my 12 bucks back Ridley. Consumer Claims Tribunal. Haha
Deep: sign me up.
I paid RM26. I want it back.
Suanie: oh wait me too!
Haha.. I got more to add.
1. why in the opening scene did the engineer drink the black muck
2. why did they have to kill of CT’s character -eventhough she was stupid and didn’t know how to run sideways
3. why did they have to show that stupid sex scene where the black guy challenges CT if she’s a bot and she takes the bait like a stupid hussy
OK thanks.
ciki: I would love to see the sex scene, but they didn’t show!
was going to watch it… but now… lol!
George Lim: save money hahaha
charlize theron died in the movie??? blooper!!!
connie: heeheehee, already warned ma
I prefer quiet Bishop over pestering David. Remember the knife game?
Ford_GT: I can do without them. haha
With patching 10 hanseplast.
The choice of shots were amazing at the start, and for the most part throughout. The start really has a bang feeling to it, with how it’s shot (I really could talk about the start of this movie forever but its a two hour long movie so I’ll move along). Throughout the film we are taken to many different places and shown many different things, the way it’s introduced in this film seemed very natural, and when you think of where we are with technology, it seems very practical that you could believe some of these things would exist (the technology anyway) . This was probably the best horror movie we will get this year. It’s not overly gory, but just terrifying in the sense that it has crazy looking aliens that do some crazy stuff.
Sugel: yep, i do agree that the start was amazing.