Prometheus (R)

Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof

Sorry about the hiatus, but we're back. Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator) returns to the genre that made him famous in this sci-fi epic. It follows the story of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her partner Dr. Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) in the year 2093 as they explore a planet to meet our makers. The theory is that humans were engineered by a faraway species rather than evolved from apes. Once there they discover a little more than they bargained for. They are accompanied by an android named David (Michael Fassbender) who has an affinity for Lawrence of Arabia, a pilot named Janek (Idris Elba), a robotic supervisor from the Weyland Corporation named Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), and several other barely important characters. The film itself has what you'd expect from a sci-fi film like this, which is marvelous special effects. The art direction strongly resembles the brilliant art direction of the original Alien. Michael Fassbender's robotic performance is the brightest light in the acting realm, with Noomi Rapace giving a strong central performance as well. Ridley Scott directs it wonderfully and the writing is strong as well. The film itself is an experience. There is one scene in particular that is one of the most unwatchable and yet watchable scenes I've ever seen on film. The most frustrating thing about this film is that it doesn't tie as tight a knot as you may want. It leaves many questions unanswered, and some of those questions are big ones. It decides to be a completely ambiguous film and leave it up to the interpretation of the viewer. Viewers who do not like to think may find this a negative aspect, but as I discovered on the car ride home, it promotes a lengthy discussion with questions flying everywhere and theories about what it means in the fictional universe that the film (as well as the Alien series) takes place in. It incites interesting discussion and that's exactly what an ambiguous film needs to do to go from frustratingly bad to good or great. Very little actually gets fully answered in the film, but there are enough half-answers and clues to make you think that the filmmakers have provided enough for you to get the answers yourself. Who knows if they actually have or if it's just an illusion, but it's wonderfully perplexing. And as for it's proximity to the Alien franchise, the cameo you're all waiting for does happen and received an ovation at the midnight premier I attended.

Scores (out of 10)
Acting: 7.5
Directing: 8
Writing: 7.5

Overall: 8