Prometheus (2012) - Review
- Sam Bateson
- Apr 22, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 20, 2023
Director: Ridley Scott | Written by Damon Lindelof, Jon Spaihts | 124m
Legendary director Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) returns to his sci-fi origins in this epic adventure bursting with spectacular action and mind-blowing visual effects. A team of scientists and explorers travels to the darkest corners of the universe searching for the origins of human life. Instead they find a dark, twisted world that hides a terrifying threat capable of destroying them...and all mankind!
The Alien franchise kicked off in 1979, with the classic Alien directed by Ridley Scott (the review for which you'll see on Saturday). A straightforward horror/creature-feature, the movie never seemed to have any grand ambition beyond being a visual feast of claustrophobia, gore and suspense. But apparently, Ridley had other ideas whirring in his ever-rumbling mind. The closest the film ever came to grand space-opera was in the chilling exploration of the massive Derelict, the H.R. Giger-designed spacecraft. The mysterious Space Jockey, or Pilot, hinted at a higher intelligence that none of the original four films ever explored; the Derelict would see a cameo appearance in the Director's Cut of Aliens.
This one scene became the jumping point for 2012's Prometheus, Ridley Scott's long-awaited return to the universe he created. With three sequels, none of which exploring the Space Jockey's origins, the original film finally got a bit of backstory with Prometheus and... well... the results were...
Let's take a look, shall we? On the face of it, the movie has a great premise; after finding the same star map amongst several otherwise unconnected ancient civilisations, Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her moody lover (whose name I actually can't remember, but I do know he's played by Logan Marshall-Green) convince head of Weyland Industries, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) to mount a mission to the distant moon LV-223, where they hope to uncover the makers of mankind, or Engineers as they're dubbed in the film. On the face of it, it doesn't sound particularly Alien like - and you'd be right. The film was marketed as a quasi-prequel, 'sharing strands of Alien DNA', without being directly connected. It's clear why they decided to go down this route - it appeared to be Ridley's desire to create a series that ran parallel to Alien, sharing the universe so to speak, whilst exploring themes like the origin of mankind, the nature of death and the existentialism of faith. What results is a muddled film that struggles to balance out the horror, action and high-minded questions it posits without actually mastering any of them.
Under the penmanship of Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts (whose original vision for the film was much more Alien like and did not include the religious subplots), the film struggles under the weight of a story that raises questions it appears to have no interest in answering, but this is largely through no fault of its own. It's been reported that the original prequel series would have been more faithful to the ideas raised in Prometheus, but as we'll discover in my Alien: Covenant review, things didn't work out that way. As it stands, the movie, in its noble bid to try something new, raises questions that, in retrospect, it hasn't had the chance to answer. It's attempts to give the Space Jockey a backstory by retconning them into pale humanoids that simply wear skeletal-exosuits is downright offensive and makes no logical sense; it's this to-ing and fro-ing, this treading the line of pushing the boundaries and remaining true to the series that has the net result of verging on becoming a parody rather than a serious piece of filmmaking. Not only that, but the film struggles under the weight of numerous, superfluous subplots; there's an unconvincing relationship drama between Shaw and Whatsisname, a secret character reveal towards the end that has no business being a secret and the possibility that Vickers is a robot (though I'm certain that's something that sprang from the inevitable online analyses that the internet likes producing). Combine that with plot holes big enough to land a spaceship in and pacing issues that go from fervent action to chill moments of beautiful landscapes, and you end up with an overcomplicated, overloaded plot that's more of a distraction than the main event it's meant to be.
The ensemble cast including Michael Fassbender as the android David, Charlize Theron as the icy Meredith Vickers and Idris Elba as the doesn't-give-a-shit captain Janek do the best with the characters - as two dimensional as they are - that they can. Side characters exist only to be killed in gruesome ways, so becoming attached to them is as difficult as figuring out what the muddling plot is actually getting at. Whilst the film can't really figure out what to do with its characters, they do they jobs excellently - thanks in part to Ridley Scott's practical approach to filmmaking; he realises that the only way to get the right reaction from an actor whose character must set fire to another is to set fire to the actor - it's a technique that works well. Michael Fassbender is the standout here, portraying the android with an attitude, David, who catalyses much of the misery the plot inflicts on it characters. Quiet, softly spoken and creepy (though sporting a fabulous head of hair inspired by his favourite film, Lawrence of Arabia), David is the AI that knows he is an AI; his role as the android amongst his creators lends a great perspective to the humans amongst their creators story Prometheus tries to tell; one of the best lines in the movie is after being told that humans made him because they could; he coldly replies that it would be disappointing "to hear the same thing from your creators". All very thought-provoking.
Prometheus is excellent in many regards; once the creature fun begins, it is fun; the overt sexual imagery is here in full, perhaps almost as much as the original film; phallic aliens force themselves into the throats of their victims, and there's even a massive proto-facehugger creature the has the most orifices I've ever seen on an alien design.
These aliens squirm and lash from the shadows, and with the exception of an underwhelming mutant-human that kills off most of the side-characters in one cut-to-death action scene that exists only to trim the character count before the big finale, they're all memorable and genuinely creepy; particularly the Hammerpede, an oversized worm with an interesting face.
All that's missing from the aesthetic is the bio-mechanical elements that H.R. Giger brought to the series back in '79 - where these creatures squirm and are generally slimy and biological, the trademark look is gone and sadly missed. Here, otherworldly has been replaced with realism. Believe me, Neal Scanlan has some truly awesome creature designs up his sleeve, but they're not a patch on Giger.
At least the movie takes place in some out-of-this-world (pun very much intended) environments; the outstandingly realised Prometheus vessel is as believable as the Nostromo, if just a little more plastic-looking and the labyrinth of underground tunnels provides the same sense of tangible horror as we've come to expect from a series that was born out of a 'haunted house in space' adventure. The aesthetic is mired slightly by failures in production value; sets and doors that clearly don't fit together properly; hypersleep-pods that, whilst in the same shot, are very obviously more cheaply built the further from the camera they are, and heart-beat graphics that are identical across people and don't change based on physical exertion. Small grievances, but they're the things you notice and don't expect from the perfectionist that is Ridley Scott.
Where the film succeeds is in the genre-master himself providing some awesome set pieces (as few and far between as they are...). There's the ultimate in body-horror sequences in an emergency alien c-section that's all tentacles, slime and blood (it rivals the famed Chestburster scene from the original film in terms of grotesque horror) that showcases Scott's delight in terrorising the audience. His eye for grandeur is presented in an excellent orrery sequence that is visually stunning and shows his willingness to go all-out sci-fi.
The film ends twice; the first ending promising answers in the future, and the other teasing the larger Alien universe. Whilst the latter was included to satiate fans and was not intended to lead anywhere, with the former being the prelude to the future of the prequels, the confusion was already there. The film is too Alien to allow fans to see it as anything but, whilst also being too non-Alien to keep them happy. In its efforts to try to be two things at once, it failed at being both.
As an Alien film, Prometheus succeeds in the ways we expect; the scares are there, the atmosphere is nightmarishly crushing and the creatures are fiendishly evil. But it's mired by an ill-thought out, high-minded plot and the two are just too different to be reconciled into a coherent production. Rather than the simple, tight storytelling the series has become famous for, this film is muddled, frenetic and disappointing at best. But under the watchful eye of Ridley Scott and aided by some impressive lead performances, the film is at least a feast or the eyes and a capably acted instalment.
Sam's Score: 5
Prometheus is available on home media and most video streaming services.
All images © 20th Century Studios
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