Prometheus (2012) – Review

Where to watch Prometheus

2 1/2 Stars

Ridley Scott’s much-anticipated return to the sci-fi genre and the Alien franchise specially are the main selling point to the prequel/reboot Prometheus. A modestly entertaining thriller with a gripping first half that ultimately leads to a disappointing finale. As with much of Scott’s work, Prometheus is a marvel of visual effects, set and production design, and acting. The opening scenes are so promising, nothing that follows lives up to the awe-inspiring moment of watching a Humanoid-being disintegrate into a genetic soup that may have led to our species beginnings. Heavy stuff, too bad the screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof (the guy who gave us the wtf?! moment at the conclusion of Lost) is all tease and no payoff.

A team of scientists travel across the universe on the spaceship ‘Prometheus’ to investigate a mysterious life form on a distant planet. Noomi Rapace, is the closest thing to the Ripley archetype. Her character is arguably the protagonist but she is written so blandly that she is expendable like the rest of the cast. Only Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce seem to be playing on the right tone for the material.

The film feels redundant from the Michael Fassbender android, who we know has an ulterior motive and is prone to violent spasms. Add in the ship’s captain played by Idris Elba (in perhaps a nod to Yaphet Koto in the original), a man who just wants to get the job done, get his check and go home. Even the soaring score from Marc Streitenfeld feels borrowed from Vangelis’ work on Blade Runner.

I had such mixed feeling about Prometheus, that I went back and viewed it again to see if there was something I had overlooked the first time. No such luck, I find myself wanting to give over to the film and story but continually am left cold. As I revisited the film I couldn’t shake the notion that Scott and his team set out to make a project that nobody had fully realized in the scripting stage, thus crippling a film that had everything going for it.

Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron