There's certainly a reason why I don't traditionally follow the hype of a new product, be it a movie, game or breakfast cereal. It's the mentality behind keeping an open mind before entering a new experience, so that my perspective can't be tainted by false promises or speculation. Yet from time to time, there'll be such a forceful wave of excitement radiating off something new that I can't help but be swept along with the flow as such, so much so that I feel as if I know the experience before, well, experiencing it firsthand.
This was, unfortunately, the case with Prometheus,
Ridley Scott's eagerly awaited return to sci-fi, a genre he defined with great
movies such as Alien and Blade Runner. There seemed to be a
new trailer or piece of promotional material out every week, revealing a horrific
number of details about plot (see this poster to see what I mean – it goes
without saying that this is a spoilerific piece of marketing). And it eventually
became impossible to avoid the sensation, the breaking point being interrupting
Homeland's ad break to show us a "world premier" of the trailer, for Christ's
sake. I found being told to tweet "#areyouseeingthis" borderline offensive – yes,
I'm seeing this. I'm seeing an overlong trailer interrupting one of my
favourite television shows to spoil the plot of a movie I don't want to learn. Now
leave me alone.
However, like the fool that I am, I
eventually succumbed to Prometheus' hype, and I'm afraid that this made my
viewing experience all the more painful. For you see, in my honest opinion, I
do not rate Ridley Scott's new movie very highly – in fact, I found it to be a
tremendous disappointment.
Let me start by engaging in specifics as to
why I rated the movie this way. It was not the fault of the highly attractive
cast – no, most were cast well and acted well, namely Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba
and an excellent Michael Fassbender as a David Bowie-esque android. Nor was it
totally the fault of the direction of Ridley Scott himself – the CGI was (for
the most part) beautiful, and the man always knows how to draw a viewer in with
awe-inspiring cinematography. No, I believe that the downfall of Prometheus
lies within its plot and screenplay, and overall structure as a 2-hour long,
self-contained film.
The plot concerns an interplanetary spaceship
called "Prometheus", which is sent to explore an unknown planet which may
contain the creators of human life. Once there, ancient ruins are explored,
mysterious alien artefacts are discovered, and – spoilers – everything goes
wrong. Upon first glance, this may seem like standard space opera affair, which
would be a reasonable conclusion to draw from not only the trailers but also
the fact that the film takes place in the same universe as the Alien franchise, and has been (rightly) touted as a prequel to the films.
Yet, somehow, Prometheus manages to defy
expectations and come up with something completely different. Rather than
providing a clear, consistent narrative, the film instead meanders somewhat
and, having set up its premise, never truly delivers. The key theme behind the
movie appears to be psychological horror as opposed to its physical counterpart
in the form of Alien, and it also enters philosophical territory when
contemplating the origins of life itself. These kinds of ideas could certainly
work on a film such as this, but unfortunately they are poorly executed by the
movie's screenplay. Scenes will go on between characters for too long, and then
the action will uncomfortably change to sub-par survival
horror. Characters act far too stupidly in dangerous situations, and are unconvincing in their roles as supposedly smart scientists. There is far too much unnecessary deliberation and dips in
momentum between set pieces, and the movie cannot for the life it decide
whether it wants to be metaphysical or not – it swings between two ends of a
spectrum throughout its running time, ultimately settling on the metaphysical
but far too late for its own good. A superior movie would support its themes
and ideas with a strong plot, but in this case the plot simply buckles under
the tremendous pressure.
If I had to sum up my rambling thoughts
about this movie with one word, I would probably describe it as either "incomprehensible", "convoluted" or "inconsistent". I realise that that is three words, but in
terms of structure and narrative one hour or so into the movie this is how I
find much of my thought process. Undoubtedly, the movie has its strengths, and upon
viewing Prometheus one should expect to be surprised, as the movie goes places one
would not expect – though how positive this aspect truly is is debatable. Also,
despite my earlier criticism there are several exciting moments during the
feature, although a viewer with an aversion to blood and gore would do well to
avoid this one, as there are some truly horrific scenes throughout the movie.
However, do not expect to walk out of the cinema feeling satisfied, for this is
not a movie which provides answers – it ends with (what I found to be tedious)
inevitability, and there is a plentiful population plot holes which I continue
to puzzle over. One could say that it simply does not live up to the hype.
★★½
★★½
