Hi all, I recently got to watch the movie Prometheus. For those of you who don't know (being about 5% of you), it's the prequel to Alien. Really its the start of a prequel series but it does also work as a standalone title.
I walked into this movie expecting the general theme Movie Bob's review described. Which was: God is apparently an alien civilization and as a result is kind of a dick. The reality is, it is as far from that as possible. In fact, the movie goes out of its way to emphasize a superiority in faith and belief over science. Almost everything bad that happens is in the course of scientific discovery whereas everything done by those with faith seems to turn out at least a way that lets them succeed. The heavy metaphors and the deep undertone of "yeah, aliens made humans, but that doesn't make an all powerful creator of the universe a nonexistent entity" is very refreshing. Like with Dead Space, I find that Sci-Fi survival horror is actually a good genre for Christians. Go figure.
The movie itself even without this is brilliant. The three acts do have this awkward sort of feel and there's a few side plot moments that just don't seem to line up but my guess is there's an unspoken reason for it or it's just a heavier handed metaphor misinterpreted. The ending feels appropriate and unlike most viewers I did not feel myself left with more questions than answers. There still are some questions worth answering but I can work with what we've got. Why the Engineers made the Xenomorphs never gets answered but I'm fine with not knowing that. Still, Shaw is a great protagonist and the supporting cast primarily does a good job. Shaw's boyfriend feels a bit one-note (he's so focused on one emotion at every point that it's like he's a five year old), the Weyland executive lady could use more development, and some characters just seem to pop in and out of existence for no reason.
All in all, it's good movie. It's an impress feat and has some of the best camera and effects work I've ever seen. The locations look so familiar yet alien that I had to remind myself that they were on Earth. Also, there isn't really any main antagonistic force -- rather there's just people and they do some good things and some very very bad things. Believe it or not, the Weyland executive is probably a more protagonistic character than the android. David, the android... I wouldn't trust that guy even if my life depended on it.
So yeah, go see Prometheus. And try to read between the lines, Ridley Scott hid that extra subtext there and it's worth finding it.
Cheers,
Fallen
