Ridley Scott’s much-heralded visually stunning return to Sci-Fi asks grandiose questions about the nature and premise of our existence.
And fails to answer them…
Let’s get one thing straight before we begin. Expectation for Prometheus is gargantuan, like the eponymous Titan himself who, according to Ovid in his Metapmorpheses, is credited with the creation of human-beings “in god-like image” from clay. It is this story, and the better known myth of Prometheus giving early man a push up the technological ladder by providing us with fire pickpocketed from Zeus, that provides the philosophical framework for the film.
One more thing too: Ridley Scott promised big for this movie, with guarantees that it would be “epic”, “original” and imbued with an elaborately constructed mythology which, though it would not serve as a direct prequel to the director’s seminal Sci-Fri horror mind-fuck Alien, would be set in the same literary universe, and would “share strands of Alien DNA so to speak…” The Jon Spaihts/ Damon Lindelof script would explore the civilisation and advanced technology of the ‘Space Jockey’- the giant extraterrestrial humanoid who appears- momentarily but very memorably- in Alien, as the long-dead pilot of the derelict spacecraft on LV-426, sporting a xenomorph shaped cavity in his not so small chest.
And therein lies Ridley’s first key challenge given his assertions about Prometheus- to set the film in the same universe as the Alien films and satisfy the die-heard fanboys who will undoubtedly thrash themselves into a frenzy over-analysing every potential connection to his much-lauded classic, yet at the same time produce something for the newbies that would require no prior knowledge of the franchise. Not an easy task- but this is Sir Ridley Scott, right?
Move to ‘Page 2’ to continue…
Thats right, sir! Full acknowledge – anyway, i also enjoyed it though this big logical holes, damn lindelof and his kind of storytelling, i even dont understand why scott agreed to this screenplay at all!
Thanks Spacy.
Kinda agree.
Loved the film but left me feeling like I ordered second best of the menu.
Direction:
Little tension/ little use of lighting/ steam and shadow as I had grown to love.
Weak characters with no motivation just acting as if they were paid for the day as temps..
Hi! An articulate and very well written critical review…
From the forum fanboys you therefore can expect abuse, as well as accusations of ‘not understanding it’ and ‘overhyping it in your own mind leading to diminishing viewing returns’!
I liked the literary references, which will no doubt be LOST on the AVP fans, hahaha
Dan, appreciated… Yes indeed- for some people, if you find fault with the movie then you “just don’t get it”…!!!
Wow, that was a wonderful review! I really like your writing style, it was almost academic in a way. Great stuff!
Thanks Zoo!
Hey there, I saw this link on the forum- it’s a beautiful review and I admire your honesty. Your sense of humour weighs in well against the canny and scintillating prose.
As you say on the forum you left out a lot of comments for the sake of brevity, and producing a review that was normal size length.
But perhaps you can add other points here as comments… What other plot-holes are there, what issues did you have with the script, can you tell us more about the theological and literary symbolism (since you obviously know your stuff in this area).
Many people are coming away disappointed with this movie- we expected so much more!
Thanks for that Krishna!
Yes I wanted to keep the review down to key points and not turn it into a rant against Prometheus, because there was much to enjoy in the movie.
My other key issues were as follows:
- Other plot holes (let me caveat this by saying that I am all for some artistic license being taken with a sci-fi movie- but not so much that I have to try to consciously suspend my disbelief at times):
– The mission briefing for this expensive expedition takes place when they arrive at the moon, not beforehand
– It’s a trillion dollar mission but there is no established protocol on how the crew should act if they encounter any alien life
– Shaw gives birth and to an alien-hybrid and no-one really seems to bother too much
– Vickers and Shaw attempt to outrun the falling Engineer ship when all they need to do is run a few feet horizontally to the side to get out of the way
– Use of ‘tresure-chest’ plot devices set-up early in the movie to shamelessly move the plot along at a later time- the medic-bay, the self-contained lifeboat for Vickers
– Cringe-inducing dialogue at times: eg, Vickers: “Father!!!”
– Bunch of amateurs sent on the most important mission to the stars of all time- we get that they were blue-collar in Alien, but here…? Don’t they pre-screen applicants in 2093?
- The pacing was off in the 2nd half, massively, and the narrative tried to squeeze in too many under-developed plots
-Eg – Fifield comes to the ship as a mutant to kill a few people, then dies, so what?
- Music
- Other points related to the movie:
-trailers revealed far too much, including Weyland’s presence, and the fact that David gets decapitated
-trailers contained different scenes to final cut, eg Fifield being grossly mutated
Anything I missed?
great review. i agree.
anyway, why not just send a bunch of davids there?
“wasted eurasian credits and tertiary education”, lol!!!
oh, review said ‘fuck” a bit too much for my liking, but i am old
“why not just send a bunch of davids there?”
We’re busy designing the next generation of IPOD(s).
Is Apple the future Weyland Industries?!
Thats a very well written article, buddy. Is it for print? If so, I’ld remove the phrase “retaredly awesome”, but I wish I could write this eloquently.
On the content, I feel you’ve been a touch harsh on old Ridley, the sort of mythology he is , maybe, building here cannot be revealed in two hours of an action/sci-fi, and let’s face it, we have been left wide open for a prequel sequel.
I was satisfied with the amount of background revealed into the Alien universe, and I felt the genetic gods concept was brilliant. I am happy not to know “why the engineers created us?”. As JJ Abrahams proved with his post TED talk Lost Finale, somethings cannot be explained without dissapointment. I thought this was a great job, well executed and my fan boy lust has been temporarily sated.
But I do have anumber of questions.
Why was the proto-face hugger a 300kg bohemoth? The final Xenomorph shot was obviously studio insisted and the Alien was total weak sauce. But more importantly, why the Live Birth? Weve only seen that once and that was because the Alien was inutero. And my biggest gripe, and its a biggy, is that in the year 2094 our creating race, imperially better equiped that us, boot their computers using electronic Pan Pipes. Fuck off Ridley. What do you take me for?
PS Milburn was a total jackoff, they exist, thats not a scripting error.
@hector
I did wonder how a 10ft Engineer gave birth to a 6th fully grown Xeno.
At the rate the Xenos grow, in about a week it would be 300ft tall.
Thanks Hector.
I agree it was tough to squeeze in all he did in just 2 hours but some of what he did squeeze in was wholly unnecessary and meant that other areas of the film suffered as a consequence.
I also thought many of the ties and homages to Alien were spot-on. But the ending- also unnecessary and, as you say, probably Fox insisted on it. But surely Ridley packs the credential clout to tell them to let him roll with it? That’s why in my mind Ridley cannot get off ‘Scott-free’ for the cut that hit the cinemas…!
The flute…. Oh dear the flute! Bad-ass lord of men (“…a superior species, no doubt!”) boots super-computer with musical instrument borrowed from the pied-piper of Hamelin! I get that RS wanted to make us think ‘ok, these guys may make use of technology in more abstract ways than we have discovered’ but that scene played out bad… A shame, as in my opinion- the hologram scene was beautiful other than that.
Milburn- he may be an idiot but come on you can’t go petting alien space cobras!
Prometheus asks a lot of questions but it is so poorly put together the only questions that you’ll ask yourself is why. Why would an alien species leave directions to their top secret military base. Why was there so many people on the ship who seemed to have no purpose or story line.
Some of the dialog requires you make amazing leaps of faith. For example, as soon as they get back from the first trip to the pyramid the capitan decides that it was a military base where the creations got out of control. Exactly what part of the film supported that thesis? David randomly decided to put a bit of black goo into Holloways drink, why would he do that that, there was zero evidence that it would affect his DNA. Then suddenly Shaw is pregnant and they want to freeze her. Did we enter the twilight zone? How could David possibly know that putting goo into Holloways drink would result in an alien pregnancy?
Prometheus was a huge disappointment with more plot hole that a teabag and unbelievable characters. It tries to be an intellectual thinking mans scifi but ends up being poorly executed. Some of you will no doubt love it and good for you. I’m sure if you can look past its numerous flaws it’s a thing of beauty but for me, having watched it I am in no rush to watch it again. I’ll wait for it to come on TV because I wont be paying again. 4/10
“…more plot holes than a teabag…”
Haha!
well David was probably instructed or suggested to do so off screen by Weyland. I can see how the captain think something is out of control because of the holographic recording of the engineers running and one of them being left out to die + the ceiling movement they saw. Since David is a robot, he probably knows what the container contained before he fed it to the doc or he is instructed to do so to see what would happen. The doc gets preggo and they want to freeze her because David knows it is not a human baby and wants to study what is in her so they need to freeze her in order to do surgery or testing later OR he wants to freeze her because that’s his programming since there is no equipment to do the procedure there they have to take her back, so they have to freeze her to take her back without her giving birth.
David might not of known what would happen if he drank the goo but why not find out
Your review is the closest one I’ve read to the way I feel about this film. I enjoyed it, but…
Thanks Barrie…!
Thanks for taking time to say it how it is:
With so much time, money, great talent, technology…I am hugely upset at the outcome here. After the second viewing with my son, and with vastly reduced expectations, the best I can say is that it’s a great romp with stunning visuals, some pockets of great dialogue. But Fastbender and the ship Prometheus steal the show….anything to do with the Engineers / Aliens is completely lame. There was no terror or dread and the opportunities for it were “legion”. Especially with the two guys left in the temple over night when Elba tells them about that “ping”…..or when the engineer is after Shaw at the end…a chase that lasts a few seconds before squid boy gets in on the action.
I hope people spending their cash enjoy it…life’s to hard and money to scarce to not have fun at the cinema.
Just my opinion.
Thanks again for the review
M
Thanks Mithra. I was at San Clemente in Rome a few weeks ago. Saw some dedications to you
You are in the wrong job! X
You are too kind!
Very good review. Agree with a lot you spoke of. I thought it was a great film but few rough edges. I’ll still be buying it on Blu Ray ha.
Let’s hope it’s a better cut on blu-ray!
Can’t remember exactly but I read somewhere there is 20 – 30 minutes cut. I think this is what will make the difference. Like you said let’s hope.
Good write up, very eloquently put
I admit that i was awestruck with the visuals, but i am also unnerved with the timeline of the writing/screenplay
Scott wanted $250 million dollars, and hired Speight to write the first draft (which once Scott read it Scott returned it to Speight for a minor rejig)
Speight had to rejig it and had to reign in some of Scotts big ideas, then he returned the script to Scott.
Movie was scheduled to start filming
Here’s where it gets bad…
Studio sends Speights script to Lindelof for rewrite due to concerns over high budget. Lindelof rewrites script, studio loves it as it fits their plan, Scott hires Lindelof and $120-130 million is given.
In conclusion, if i was Speight i would be saying “i told you so”
Sounds to be like Scott got blackmailed into either hire Lindelof who will do it cheaper, or the movie gets shelved
Interesting. I am sure that we will get to know more of what went on behind the scenes in coming weeks…
great review and i completely agree with ya…but how can you not mention the FLUTE?!?! as ludicrous an idea in a movie in 25 years!!!
Agreed. See my comment to Hector above!
Yabadabadoo
That’s a great review
And because of this
I’ll subscribe to you
Hmmm my poetry used to be better than the above!!!.. Great review, you should write more buddy. More blogs to follow?
Thanks Dan.
More blog-posts are en-route!
niiiiiiice review. i appreciate it’s difficult to say something new about Prometheus besides ‘fassbender was great’! you nailed the existential paradox presented by david, humans and the jockeys.
so i checked your ‘ABOUT’ section and you’re damn hawt for a writer!
Too kind!
Great review.
Nice SOH- especially using the word RETARDED in a pejorative and superlative sense?!
More posts please to follow!
Interesting ABOUT section- you don’t look like an accountant?!
Thanks. Inbetweeners fan perchance?
One of the best reviews on Prometheus I have seen.
Highbrow and hip!
Why thanks David. I saw the movie twice in quick succession prior to writing the review to solidify my thoughts. Fortunately as I am based in NL we were one of the first globally to have the movie screened. I still can’t believe it’s only released today in the States!
Fantastic blog!
I totally agree that there are are many plot holes to this film. Not the best film I have and won’t be rushing out to buy the DVD.
Hope to read more of your blogs in future.
Thanks Scott. Perhaps a better cut of the movie will be released on DVD? According to some post-release interviews that are filtering through there is a lot of unused footage…
Exciting piece of writing Taylor, good sense of humour, nice references! Defo not an accountant
Too kind.
OMG! (can I still say that in public?)
Ben, Sir, you are a writer! I had my suspicions before but now it’s confirmed. You are silver tongued for I ate up all you wrote and ended wanting even more.
I agree with it all, including each and every comment that followed. I switched to ‘bubblegum for the brain’ mode to enjoy it when the first plot/story irritations started to affect me. God, I’m an idiot, I know that, but even I would do a better planning job on a trillion dollar mission!
I look upon you with new eyes Benji.
“Smith will suffice…”
Ray thanks for the comments. I see that you’re a pilot, perhaps you could have flown the Prometheus?! You’re probably over-qualified for the job! Nah, to be fair, flirtatious and matter-of-fact captain Janek ["Vickers... Are you a robot?"] was one of the characters I actually cared for. He added some levity to proceedings and I actually gave a damn when he died. Elba is one great actor. I wish he’d had a little more screen time.
Hi, I arrived here as it as it was one of the ‘growing blogs – blogs of the day’ on WordPress and as a massive ALIEN fan I had to check it out. It’s a great article and I actually agree with everything you said. I’d like to see more posts from you so maybe see more from you soon.
Thanks a bunch – many more posts to follow!
Great review, Benji. I think you’ve summed up the film brilliantly.
Looking forward to more from you.
I think there are plot-holes as this film is a tangent point, showing the links with Alien and introducing where the series will go to in future: The Engineers. In terms of the plot, the flute is a great idea, acting as a complex form of password.
humanity were directed to the moon as i think they created us as a weapon. They created the infamous ‘xenomorphs’ and made us to be their hosts, hence the similar DNA to recreate what the effects would be on the engineers themselves; in the same way we study pigs and chimps as they are similar to ourselves. Ok, there were some plot holes, such as the idiotic biologist, but differences in the face huggers and xenomorph itself all show how the alien gradually developed in the 30-40 year gap between Prometheus and Alien. For all we know, the xenomorph shown may be a juvenile Queen, which has a different birth from the normal ‘drones’, as do Queen bees from their workers. All in all, i think they film existed to introduce a new series of films focusing on the Engineers whilst being a prequel of sorts to Alien, so i believe those questions will be answered in the future films. Is that such a bad thing?
Yes you are a wonderful writer and I look forward to more.
Eloquent stuff and funny!
“from her womb untimely ripped and now grown into a Lovecraftian tentacled atrocity of monstrous proportions”.
Awesome! Macbeth plus Mountains of Madness in one sentence. Epic phrase.
Please write an article on answers please.
Amazing. Can we have a ‘Prometheus: the answers’ now please?
SPOT ON.
Wow GREAT article and review!
What do you think of the Engineers wishing to hit back at humanity for crucifying Jesus who they had sent as a wiseman in order to correct the tragic course of the Roman empire?
Hi Josh,
Regarding the ‘Jesus was a spaceman’ theory it was considered by Ridley and co. but they didn’t run with it in the end. Thank god- I have too may issues with this.
BUT – Shaw’s carbon dating of the decapitated Engineer chronicles its demise at around 2000 years prior to the mission, which places the Engineers wanting to set out to Earth to just after the time of Christ. The 2000 year timeframe is unlikely to be insignificant…
It could mean that the Engineers took offense to the spread of monotheism (and the possibility that we had stopped worshiping them as gods), and decided to destroy us. Or was this a preventative attack to save the universe from the fanaticism that we know from history often went hand-in-hand with uncompromising monotheistic devotion?
“Tom Hardy, sorry I mean Logan Marshall-Green”
Hahahaha! Too funny! I get it- they REALLY do look alike!
Great review!!!
Really liked this.
Loving your WhatCulture articles and Prometheus analysis.
Amazeballs review!