Movie Review: Prometheus

I know this isn't the movie poster,
but I just wanted to squeeze in a
pic of Idris Elba! Mmmm, good!

If you ever wondered (and I never did) where those weird-looking extra terrestrials in the Aliens series came from, you’ll get your answer in Prometheus, the prologue to the series. After two decades and a boatload of other movies ranging from Thelma and Louise to Gladiator to American Gangster, director Ridley Scott returns to the genre that he helped define: science fiction. The auteur who gave us Alien and Blade Runner returns to give us the prequel to Alien, Prometheus.

The film begins right here on planet Earth where a pair of scientist/lovers (Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw and Logan Marshall-Green as Charlie Holloway) have uncovered a series of ancient cave drawings from a variety of disparate civilizations that all point towards the same visitors from outer space. They convince Peter Weyland of the Weyland Corporatation (played by an almost unrecognizable Guy Pearce), to fund a trip to the planet they believe started our civilization. Led by icy and robot-like Meredith Vickers and her android counterpart David (Michael Fassbender) with a shuttle driven by Janek (Idris Elba – my reason for seeing the film. LOL!) his crew and a few scientists, they hope to learn about humanity's true origins.

 I don’t want to say too much more for fear of giving something away, so I’ll get on with the review. Ridley Scott has made a visually-compelling film. I would definitely see it at a theatre. I didn’t see the 3-D version and almost wish I had. I'm sure it would have looked amazing.

As a prequel, it also explains the origins of the alien we came to know, and not love, in 1979’s Alien. The film also grapple’s with one of life’s largest questions, like, “Why are we here?” and “Where did we come from?” The answers it poses are provocative at best and sacrilegious at worse (at least to those who believe in God or Darwin for that matter.

 However, what was missing for me was connection. I didn’t feel connected to any of the characters. I wish they had spent more time on character development because I never really felt invested in this heroine, this pair of lovers or this crew. So as the body count rose, my concern or interest in their fates didn’t rise along with it.

 It’s taken me a couple of days to write this because I wasn’t sure how to rate it. I’m going to give it a lukewarm Liked It mainly for the visuals and special effects.