5. The Engineers?
My immediate reaction at the end of the movie was just what the hell was it we did as a species to annoy The Engineers so much? At the beginning of the film, they came across as quite philanthropic, even generous. Granted, they were clearly an ugly bunch with no sense of style in hoodies or any kind of tolerance for a sunny day, but that kind of intelligence really should not, on an apparent whim at least, set about in motion the destruction of a species it itself created just because it turned out to be significantly better looking (not to mention a good deal less aggressive) than they were. Secondly, just why did the holographic recording of the Engineers show them running away from something? What were they supposedly running away from? Was it one of those aliens that ruined the whole film for just about everybody in the final scene? Was it one of those slippery buggers that Shaw inexplicably managed to remove from herself, that somehow grew to unfeasibly outlandish proportions in an unfeasible amount of time? Odd that one god-fearing human could manage to stop what all of these albino hulks could not, even with technology vastly superior to our own. All of this pales into insignificance, of course, when you consider that the Engineers were planning our destruction, but only decided to do this after they had already been back to Earth at least half a dozen times to talk to the Mayans, the Babylonians, the Sumerians, even the Scots etc, in order to encourage these civilizations to scribble their knuckle-dragging monkey paintings on the walls of some insignificant caves. Now call me old-fashioned, but I was under the impression that as a film-maker you should at least attempt to tell an entire story in one sitting. We all know there's going to be a sequel, Ridley Scott admitted as much even before we sat down to it in the UK on the 1st June, but is it fair that we have been left with many more questions than answers? Many people have said that the film suffers because it is all but incoherent. I understand their concerns. On the first viewing, I was left scratching my head like a gibbon presented with a Rubik's Cube, but my faith in Scott as a storyteller was still grounded and solid. By the end of the second viewing, my resolve was shaking a little, less confident but more hopeful that Scott hadn't made a complete turkey. By the end of the third viewing, I have to admit my confidence has returned, though I am a little aggrieved by such an obvious attempt to part me from my hard earned folding money a second time, to achieve closure on a story that should rightfully be over already. Let's be honest about it though, you know you're going to be champing at the bit when the next one comes out. Like it or not, you want the answers, just like I do. Perhaps Scott is not the fool everybody suggests he has become....