Review: Prometheus

Note: This is my weekly review from the print-only TV guide of The Marshall Independent.

Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” is a prequel to the “Alien” series of sci-fi horror films, but stands alone so those who’ve spent the years since 1979 in cryonic sleep can enjoy it too.

For those already familiar with the Aliens, “Prometheus” reveals the origins of that nasty species with the breeding cycle of the ichneumon wasp, and our own as well.

The basic plot has an acknowledged debt to Erich von Däniken’s theory of ancient astronauts bringing civilization to humankind.

I personally and professionally (if you concede that I’m an anthropologist) find Von Daniken and his ilk intensely irritating. The stated rational is that “primitive” humans couldn’t possibly have built the pyramids and other megalithic architecture, so aliens must have shown them how to do it.

Nonsense on stilts. Of course they could have, and any number of historians and engineers have shown exactly how they could have.

It does admittedly make for a pretty good plot device though, most notably used in “Battlestar Galactica” of fond memory.

“Prometheus” also has an unacknowledged debt, or perhaps just coincidental inspiration, to a 1941 short story by by Alfred Bester “Adam and No Eve,” where the last survivor on a devastated Earth realizes his rotting corpse will reseed the Earth with life.

The film starts with a giant human-like character standing by a waterfall in a desolate landscape (filmed in Iceland) with a flying saucer hovering overhead.
The humanoid drinks a potion, and dissolves, seeding the earth with his DNA.

Cut to 2089 when archeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover one of a series of cave paintings/carvings on the Isle of Skye showing a giant humaoid creature pointing at a star cluster.

They surmise the design found in many places around the world, is both a map and an invitation from “the Engineers” to join them. An expedition is funded by The Weyland Corporation, one of the common threads running through both the “Alien” and “Alien vrs. Predator” franchises. The movie is about what the expedition finds.

Like the rest of the “Alien” films, it’s a horror story that goes for the gross-out. Subtle it’s not. It’s all here, with some redesign. Horrible creatures stuffing ovipositors into people to lay eggs which hatch into chest-bursters, plus new wrinkles like space-zombies reminiscent of the 1965 Italian sci-fi/horror “Planet of the Vampires” (“Terrore nello spazio.”)

There’s also some thoughtful stuff about God, the Universe, and Everything for those who like their entertainment heavy.

If the Engineers, not God, made mankind, then who made The Engineers?

And why are they disappointed with the result? Shades of Genesis 6:6, “and he repented that he had made man on the earth.”

There’s a rather engaging android David (Michael Fassbender) who makes you wonder whether he wants to be human, or despises us.

There’s a band of heroes leading an inspiring doomed charge to save us all with with a quip on their lips.

There’s the standard head-of-the-giant corporation villains Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) and cold corporate suit Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) so beloved of Hollywood where they toil in humble cottage industries.

There’s plenty of standard horror movie chills that make you want to shout, “Don’t go there!” “Don’t touch that stuff!”

And there’s an ending that very satisfactorily doesn’t wrap everything up, and leaves you with a sense of mystery, wonder, and hopes for a sequel.

And yet…

“Prometheus” is getting generally favorable reviews, it seems Ridley Scott can’t make a really bad movie, but there are some aspects to this that are frankly overrated.

They “reimaginged” the aliens. Big deal, they’re still just gross-out acid-for-blood critters who reproduce by laying eggs in their prey. They’ve got another way of infecting people, which is a straightforward steal of “the black oil” from The X-Files.

Yes it brings up some heavy conversation starters – but doesn’t have the conversation because it’s too busy being a horror flick.

Shaw has issues with the idea of creation because she’s evidently barren. Except once mentioned, nothing is done with the idea.

Don’t get me wrong. I did enjoy it. Visually it’s stunning and if you have a certain bent you should see it. But I also think Scott has painted himself into a corner. It’s going to be tough coming up with a sequel that doesn’t disappoint.