Saturday 9 June 2012

Film Review: "Prometheus" (2012)




"The search for our beginning could lead to our end." This is at the center of Prometheus. This science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. Set in the late 21st century, the story centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as they follow a star map discovered among the remnants of several ancient Earth cultures. Led to a distant world and an advanced civilization, the crew seeks the origins of humanity, but instead discovers a threat that could cause the extinction of the human race.

The film began development in the early 2000s as a fifth entry in the Alien franchise, with both Scott and director James Cameron developing ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Scott's 1979 science fiction horror film Alien. By 2003, the project was sidelined by the development of Alien vs. Predator, and remained dormant until 2009 when Scott again showed interest. A script by Spaihts acted as a prequel to the events of the Alien films, but Scott opted for a different direction to avoid repeating cues from those films. In late 2010, he brought Lindelof onto the project to rewrite Spaihts' script, and together they developed a separate story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to that franchise. According to Scott, though the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak", and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus will explore its own mythology and ideas.

The central theme in Prometheus concerns the eponymous Titan of Greek mythology who defies the gods and gifts humanity with fire, for which he is subjected to eternal punishment. The gods want to limit their creations in case they attempt to usurp the gods. The film deals with humanity's relationship with the gods—their creators—and the consequence of defying them. A human expedition intends to find God and receive knowledge about belief, immortality and death. They find superior beings who appear god-like in comparison to humanity, and the Prometheus crew suffer consequences for their pursuit.

The film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba and Charlize Theron. The cast gave compelling performances. As continuing the tradition of awesome feminine strength, Noomi Rapace's performance as the film's female heroine. Michel Fassbender's performance as the fastidious android David was compelling. His character is the modern equivalent to David Bowie’s character in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1987) and Ian Holm’s Ash in Alien. Guy Pearce's performance as the aged trillionaire founder and CEO of Weyland Corp Peter Weyland was very brief but fascinating. Idris Elba, as Janek: The captain of the Prometheus, gave a commanding performance. Finally Charlize Theron, as Meredith Vickers, gave a cold and methodical performance.

If you want cinematic kicks this year, Ridley Scott's highly anticipated Alien prequel Prometheus will give you them in profusion. A near perfect roller coaster blend of horror and science fiction. Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender were amazing. However, it can’t help being an empty bag of tricks whose production values and expensive trickery cannot disguise imaginative poverty. As well as being basically a modern remake of Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires (1965).

Simon says Prometheus receives:


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