Sweeping landscapes, light, no Xenomorphs…no cats. All contrasts to the original genre bending introduction to the Alien franchise in Ridley Scott’s original Horror/Sci-Fi classic ‘Alien’ brought to us by this week’s newest release, Prometheus.
Despite living in an era where repetitive story lines, churned out, thoughtless sequels are both the norm and viciously criticised by today’s cinema-goer and reviewer, in regards to Prometheus the issue seems to be that it isn’t like its predecessor. Ironic really isn’t it?
It is by no means the main consensus; the film has received glowing reviews from many areas of the cinema world yet a recurring theme is people stating that it doesn’t work in conjunction with the other Alien films and it makes the film weaker for it. I’m here to say that, in no uncertain terms, these people are idiots.
Where Alien melded the worlds of Science and Horror, Prometheus sees the opportunity to bring life back into a genre tired with expensive CGI effects which, although they make money, deaden any sense of real mind expanding spectacle, Ridley Scott here takes Sci-Fi back to the era of Star Wars where it’s not just a film set in space, it’s a journey of discovery.
However where genre classics like Star Wars and Alien saw fit to stick to a simple plot as well as breaching the grounds of what we thought possible, Prometheus brings in themes of creationism, discovery and the human condition to strengthen this film to not just being a brilliant Sci-Fi entry, but the best one of its kind.
It’s true, Prometheus couldn’t be the masterpiece it is without the Alien franchise there to springboard it, the intrigue of the Space Jockey narrative keeps you hooked through the films more drawn out discovery sequences and its ability to ask just as many questions as it seems to answer continues to tantalise until the very conclusion.
Despite this needing the original Alien DNA to strengthen its narrative that does not inherently mean it is required to be of the same ilk as Alien. Where the original took a claustrophobic, tense scenario and added only the inclusion of an Alien, this prequel of sorts frees itself from those constraints to be a film of its own.
That idea begins by the people behind the film consistently reminding us that this is not a remake or direct sequel to Alien, but also the nature of the topic and the story being told is so different to that of the original Alien DNA that any comparisons as a form of criticism is both lazy and juvenile.
Ridley Scott uses the basic story of his original creation to leap into a whole new universe which melds mystery, deep themes, intense action and the first truly intriguing sci-fi film in years.
Recent entries do little compete with this, Avatar was a lovely bit of decoration but failed to truly encapsulate anything bigger than one of its big trees in its massively expensive, environment preaching scope, whilst films like Star Trek 2009 was an adventure filmed but once more didn’t deliver on the sense of scale and intrigue that Prometheus gives around every corner; and the less said about Transformers the better.
If this film has a flaw it’s that its third act somewhat underwhelms after the long winded build up, sporadic stabs at action end quickly and before they truly get to raise the stakes of the situation, although this inherently leads to Prometheus’ greatest success of transcending what are now genre expectations of the quality action elevating the quality of the movie, it could be without it and still be just as good.
This movie does what we thought not possible, breach the sci-fi bubble of effects equalling excitement and through its mystery and spectacle reinvigorate a genre that was tired and lazily jumping through self imposed hoops of cliché.
The springboard of Alien is required to make this film what it is, but that doesn’t stop it from being something new, something different and something better than all that has come before.
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11 Comments
Great to see another positive piece. There’s just as much love for Prometheus as there is hate, the haters are just shouting louder at the moment – so this is a refreshing piece. I loved it, and completely agree on it being the best science fiction film for a while.
Though, I do think there have been more great examples in recent memory than you are suggesting. Duncan Jones’ ‘Moon’ and ‘Source Code’ were particularly brilliant, especially the former. Also worthy of more than a mention are District 9 as well as the most recent ‘Apes’ film and Children of Men (if you consider those last two sic fi). In my opinion anyway, and you must at least agree those are of a higher pedigree than the lacklustre Transformers and other examples you mentioned. There’s even a few more I’m forgetting to mention. I’d definitely say ‘Moon’ and ‘Prometheus’ are the two greatest pieces of science fiction film making over the last 5 years.
Anyway, as I said – completely agree with your main point, I adored Prometheus. And this is coming from someone with sky high expectations. Ridley Scott is one of my favourite directors, Alien is a film I love and most importantly, Blade Runner has been my absolute favourite film from the moment I started to take the medium seriously. Well done!
Both Moon and Source Code were captivating and highly entertaining SCI-FI with “Moon” being the thinking mans Sci-Fi.. I would argue Moon was also a better continuation of 2001.. just my opinion..
As far as Prometheus goes I was highly entertained but I was left wanting more. It was nice to be able to think about certain parts of the movie without being told but that same formula is its deathnell.
Why do the engineers hate us now? Why did the engineer just attack the humans rather than communicate. what were davids real motivations. etc etc etc.. Lindoff’s trademark give some take some style was evident but I dont think they gave enough back.
Still a really good movie. I hope it makes a lot of money so we can see more of Shaw’s story so we can see if she makes it to their planet..
Also I am very happy the connections to ALIEN were miniscule. Those movies are way overrated sorry people I dont see the fascination with the “space jockey”..sorry.
“the haters”
^^
And this supports my theory that only 14 year olds or people with the minds of 14 year olds could like this tvrd of a movie
How old are you, Luke? Fourteen? Have you ever watched a real science fiction film other than parts of Alien Vs. Predator while playing Mass Effect?
PROMETHEUS barely passes as a MOVIE, let alone a science fiction film. What you have written here is ejaculatory fan-boy nonsense. Alex Billington, you now have some stiff competition.
I would say there’s no need to be so rude as we all have opinions, but to be fair Luke did call a group of people ‘idiots’ for not sharing his opinion – so I guess he should’ve seen this one coming. I’m having no part in it if it blows up.
Connor I wasn’t calling people idiots for not sharing my opinion, I was calling people who use the original Alien as a stick to beat Prometheus with idiots because they are completely different animals of film. People can dislike Prometheus all they like, but I think saying it sucks because it isn’t like Alien is stupid because those will be the same people to complain if it was a carbon copy of Alien.
Luke, in that case I completely agree with you. Sorry I couldn’t see what you were getting at at first. I’m quite content with the mixed section to the film, I don’t need a film to have unanimous praise, I don’t need a film to be widely loved to validate my own enjoyment and appreciation for it – which can’t be said for everybody. People going into it electing Alien will be disappointed, because it isn’t Alien, it is a different beast. With similarities, yes, and obviously with massive connections (same universe, first face hugger, space jockey, first xeno) but it is completely different in most ways. Those connections and the structure are its similarities, but it’s themes, ideas, scale, story and general tonality are almost completely different. This is why Ridley has been playing down the idea of it being a prequel so much – not because it ISN’T a prequel so to speak, but because it is more than a prequel, and very different to the original film on which it has been spun from.
Sorry, ‘section’ should be ‘reaction’ and ‘electing’ should be ‘expecting’.
People have no concept of expectation management. The flaws in Prometheus were so limited and nuanced, and it had elements of greatness. Yet people celebrate mediocrity when it works after they’ve expected it to fail… just look at Avatar, The Avengers, etc.
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol is a great example. It’s not a bad film, and it does exactly what it sets out to do, but its not particularly special. Even in its own franchise it’s kind of vanilla. Yet because it’s a non-franchise with a lead star we all feel ambivalent about, when it’s NOT crap everyone gushes. Then they slay Prometheus for muddy pacing and thematic confusion in the last third.
Some people are also getting really angry about the ‘creationist’ slant. Let me tell you, if you thought that film was pro-creationist, you need to think a little bit more about what the film says about creation…
I was personally a little disappointed with the way different plot elements were kind of halfheartedly thrown into the film to set up a possible sequel. Did anyone else get that impression?
Agree with Connor on ‘Moon’. One of the best Sci-Fi movies in a long time.
“Point Break goes to Mars.” Luke, If you don’t feel comfortable calling people idiots, I do. I just walked out of this film after trying to stomach an hour of it. Science fiction blended with creationism (which is what the writers tried to do) is still just creationism. Despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the production no thought whatsoever was put into the script. Of course the characters behave stupidly and do nothing but shout at each other, the writers have clearly never even spoken with a real scientist! Is it any surprise that people who are stupid enough to believe in creationism CANNOT write science fiction? The greatest sci fi film in years? Tantalizing? Philosophical? Anyone who finds movie so, isn’t deep, they’re dumb. It’s amazing that any of you can feed yourselves.