The long, strange march toward the opening of "Prometheus" has ended. After months exhaustive advertising and speculation, director Ridley Scott has released his first science-fiction film in more than 30 years. The result is a film that raises the broad questions of "where did we come from?" and "why were we created?"
The film balances its heady, intellectual brand of sci-fi well with the spectacular visuals of the film. "Prometheus" is a very memorable film that aims high and hits its mark, astonishing viewers even from the very first scene.
The film's opening sequence feels like what would happen if Terrence Malick and Lars von Trier ever teamed up to make a short film. The shots are simply gorgeous as we lead with establishing shots of a planet - perhaps a very young Earth - until we eventually follow a cloaked figure standing next to a waterfall. The cloaked figure then removes his rope and drinks from a canister he brought with him. This leads to the figure decomposing before our eyes and crashing into river below the waterfall.
It's hard to tell exactly what this all means, my thought was we were witnessing the birth of life on Earth, though I'm sure there are dozens of theories attempting to break down what it means.
We move on to follow two scientists who discover drawings across the planet that are identical, yet were drawn thousands of years apart. This leads them to explore a desolate planet that they believe holds the secret to the creation of life on Earth. A crew is assembled and the trillion-dollar budget is backed by the Weyland Corporation.
The crew arrive and begin to explore the planet, finding what could be our origin, but also stumbling upon what could be our destruction.
"Prometheus" has a great story, but also boasts a strong cast and spectacular visuals to boot.
Michael Fassbender is great as David, the android who accompanies the crew on their mission. Fassbender is doing some of the best work of anyone in film right now and he is downright creepy in this movie. He manages to embody both the sinister undertones and inherent innocence that make up his character.
The rest of the cast is very strong as well; Idris Elba and Charlize Theron are both interesting as the ship's captain and the company who is financing the trip's representative, respectfully. There are a few stock characters present, but they aren't bad enough to actually hinder the film.
This film is endlessly interesting and completely engrossing and I can say without reservation that it is the best science-fiction film since "District 9," and possibly is the best since "The Matrix" was released in 1999.
This is a film that combines two of Scott's greatest strengths as a director: 1) great handling of space in his shooting, creating creepy and atmospheric areas and 2) his ability to create an interesting motif that creates a strong theme for the entire film.
Since Scott's "Alien" was released in 1979, a lot of scholarship has focused on the use of images of the body in the film, particularly violations of the body and how it affects the female characters. One great article I read was "Representations of the Body in 'Alien'" by Daniel Primley.
When critics and scholars begin extensive breakdowns of "Prometheus," I believe a lot will - or should - focus on the relationships between creator and creation in "Prometheus." The title is obviously the first clue, as Greek mythology tells us the titan Prometheus gave fire to man in order to put man on the Gods' level.
In this film, I was under the impression that the creators were constantly at war with their creations, as they seek to prove their existence. For instance, David gets into several tense moments with the crew as he tries to behave as a human, but often appears to be working from a different frame of mind.
"Prometheus" ultimately raises the question of "what if we were created solely because our creator's had the ability to and little else?" And what if our creators cared little about us and actually wanted little more than to destroy us? I find this to be both a very intriguing and unsettling thought. "Prometheus" challenges to consider that maybe we are not part of some divine plan, but instead merely an evolutionary footprint in the grand scheme of things.
The film's ideology doesn't end there, though, as it allows its characters enough agency that we still feel hope for humanity's existence in the galaxy. "Prometheus" shows that even in the most dire situations, humans have the choice to believe what they want in order to survive. It's that level of thinking that makes this such a great film.
"Prometheus" receives a 4.5/5
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