Ridley Scott's most recent foray into science fiction -
Prometheus- is in many ways different then its predecessors and in many ways the same. As I'm sure many of you know, Prometheus is a prequel to Ridley Scott's own
Alien (1979), the film that redefined sci-fi films and kick started the whole alien franchise and it's the first science fiction film from Ridley Scott's since he made
Blade Runner (1982). It's interesting how Scott denied that this was a prequel for a while, only to later admit that the film does in fact take place within the same universe. That's right my friends, Scott is playing on familiar ground here. The art design for the interior of the spaceship looks like something that might have come out of
2001: A Space Odyssey (1969) or Scott's own
Alien; you know, lots of white corridors, very cramped, very claustrophobic. Same as all the other films in the
Alien franchise, The Wayland Corporation is the company that oversees space exploration; and same as all previous
Alien films, every spaceship gets an android to accompany them. So yeah, this film has a certain familiarity to it for fans of the
Alien franchise; the question on my mind was what was going make this one different?
To me, Ridley Scott is this cinematic god, he makes movies that I end up falling in love with and can watch over and over again; so of course, seeing this movie in theaters was a major event for me! Like the Greek story of
Prometheus, Scott's films feel like stolen fire from the gods themselves. The worlds Ridley Scott creates are so rich and detailed that he can make a fantastic setting a reality;
Blade Runner (1982),
Legend (1985) or
Gladiator (2000), no matter how fantastic the setting, these worlds feel real, complex and intricate. Another thing that distinguishes Ridley Scott's films is that they have the highest production values. He makes sure he's working with the best of the best in order to produce a high quality film. This is also the case with
Prometheus, one look at the film and you can just tell that the people that were behind the cameras knew what they were doing. For example, the visual effects work in
Prometheus is flawless. This time though, I have no idea who the conceptual artists behind
Prometheus are; I don't know who's handling the visual effects or the make up effects; to me
Prometheus is Scott working with a whole new generation of creative talents; which of course is great, if you've seen
Alien, then you'll feel a familiarity with this world, yet at the same time, it will feel new and fresh. I love how Scott's approach towards visual effects is "if you can do it live, do it live", an advice given to him by fx guru Douglas Trumbull while filming
Blade Runner. This is the main reason why Scott doesn't overdo CGI; if he can build a set, he will. This kind of filmmaking adds a level of realism that is quickly disappearing from today's films, where sometimes they construct only half a set, or only the floor is real; not so in Prometheus where Scott spent a large part of his budget on good old fashioned set construction.
Both
Alien and
Prometheus have certain similarities, but the differences are evident as well. For example, while
Alien was a straightforward horror film and for all intents and purposes a monster flick,
Prometheus is more of a philosophical film. Like many of the best science fiction films, this one explores the bigger question that humanity asks itself like for example: where the hell did we really come from? And therein lays the crux of this film. It questions religion; it questions the existence of god. Should we believe in life after death? Why are there so many different beliefs on the matter? Could it be that no one really knows the answers to these questions and so we simply choose to believe what we want about the after life and God? This is the main reason why I loved this movie so much; it asks these big questions and actually attempts to answer them.
Prometheus basically summarizes where humanity stands with regards to these questions. Yet the film doesn't eschew the Christian angle of things, actually, Christianity is represented through its main character Elizabeth Shaw as played by Noomi Rapace. Interestingly enough, I wasn't expecting for
Prometheus to touch upon some of the themes that
Blade Runner plays with, namely, why we die. This is the reason why I love
Blade Runner so much. It has its android protagonists ask their creator for more life.
Prometheus also plays with these ideas, which I found fascinating considering Ridley Scott himself is getting pretty old. I'm sure this is a theme that matters to him as a filmmaker now more than ever; so he touches upon it yet again on
Prometheus. This is probably why we have characters addressing the issues of life after death, or characters simply wanting, searching to elongate their lives, this once again, and same as
Blade Runner, is a film about accepting death. "A King has his reign and then he dies, it's inevitable" says Meredith Vickers to her employer Peter Weyland; by the way, to me, Scott expressed a lot of his concerns about death through the Weyland character. After all, Scott was 74 at the time of making
Prometheus!
The great thing about
Prometheus is that even though it tackles all these philosophically heavy themes, it does not forget to entertain. We get some awesome looking aliens and creatures on this one! Fun stuff! A bit gruesome at times, but then again this is probably why the film earned (thankfully!) its "R" rating. Yet, when compared to
Alien,
Prometheus feels sometimes a bit constrained on this department, you can tell times have changed, there's not a lot of blood on this one. But things do get gruesome, and gory believe it or not, the film plays a fine balance in my book between showing you just enough mayhem. Finally, I will say that I was not one bit disappointed with this film. I don't get why people are saying that it's flawed? Flawed how? I guess comparing it to
Alien is the reason, but we have to remember, that even though
Prometheus is obviously linked to the
Alien universe of films, it's still its own beast. It's obvious that Scott was aiming for a film with its own personality and uniqueness, not a film that felt like it was walking on tired ground. Maybe the scientists don't act professional enough at times and get themselves into peril too easily? Almost as if they were asking for it? Maybe…but then again, we have to remember this is also a horror film; characters have to put themselves in peril! Highly recommend it, in my book this film was nothing short of epic, amazing, thrilling…top notch, cutting edge filmmaking at its best. This is Scott showing us he's still got it! I can't wait to see what he'll do with that
Blade Runner sequel he keeps talking so much about.
Prometheus gets the highest possible recommendation from this Film Connoisseur!
