Prometheus

Dir: Ridley Scott

2012

***

The argument over which Alien film is best (and which is worst) is on-going, and a little tiresome if I’m being honest. I like all of the four originals and even think 3 and Resurrection are of a high quality. The Alien vs Predator films however were a warning that you should be careful what you wish for. Don O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett changed the path for science-fiction films, horror and the alien sub-genre for good with what is still the only film about aliens that really matters. It didn’t need a prequel – Alien vs Predator proved that when they stumbled into a half-idea that was based around an abandoned set (Stargate 2 was dropped after the set was built, that film was to be based on the Egyptian-looking planet Abydos, so they sprayed it all white and suggested it was Antarctica). Ridley Scott took most of the credit for the success of Alien – which is fair – but many others, including O’Bannon and Shusett are often forgotten. It really isn’t for him, or James Cameron for that matter, to decide the future/fate of the Alien franchise but that seems to be the way it has turned out. With Prometheus, it suggests to me, that Scott isn’t a great writer. He’s a phenomenal director but when it comes to story ideas, he is standing on the shoulders of giants a lot of the time. There was a lot of chat about whether or not Prometheus was going to be an Alien film or not, the truth is that it is and it isn’t. Personally, I think that in giving a big scary monster a back story – and in doing so, explaining how it came about to the audience – makes it a bit less big and scary. Knowledge conquers fear, so in order to write a really successful origins story, you have to make it pretty dark and ‘orrible. That’s what I think anyway. Is there anything more scary than not knowing the answer to the question ‘why’? Isn’t that why we came up with religion? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why did that car run over my dog? Why is that Alien eating me when I’ve asked it not to? ‘Just because’ is the worst answer in the history of asking questions, no matter how true it might be. I digress. As interesting as evolution is, I’m not sure I care that much when it comes to scary aliens in space. I want to go forward with this story not backwards, but I guess that’s the thing. How do you follow Alien: Resurrection? There are plenty of talented writers/directors who could, they just haven’t been given the chance and by now everyone knows that the Alien franchise is a poisoned chalice. The point is, you cannot remake Alien or any of its original three sequels, even though that is essentially the sort of film audiences want to see. You need to do something else entirely different – which Scott has done in fairness – it’s just that it looks back rather than forwards. Prometheus has a spaceship, a female hero and an android – the essentials of a true Alien film – but after that it’s a bit of a clichéd colour-by-numbers horror/sci-fi. The bit about the Engineers is interesting but it’s only really a half-idea based on further drawings of the original Alien designer H.R. Giger. It’s a long and formulaic film that seems to exist purely for the last two minutes of the film. It doesn’t stand on its own or as part of the bigger Alien series. It’s a bit mindless but not mindless enough to be able to switch off to, so its hard to tell who the film is really for – the thinkers or the people who like explosions. The special effects are fine and the direction is okay but it was only really H.R. Giger's designs come to life that ever got me excited. It’s average. However, two things made me dislike it more than most average films. Firstly, Guy Pearce plays Peter Weyland. Why on earth didn’t Lance Henriksen play him? Okay, so Henriksen played Bishop who was based on the likeness of Michael Bishop Weyland (as seen in Alien 3) who I believe is the Grandson of Peter Weyland. Henriksen also plays Charles Bishop Weyland in Alien vs Predator. I have no idea how he is related to any of them and I know the film isn’t cannon but why couldn’t he have played Peter Weyland anyway. He’s an old man now, he would have been perfect for the role and it would have tied the films together rather nicely. Max von Sydow was Scott’s first choice, so I’m not sure how Guy Pearce was second? The other thing I hated about the film – and what really made me angry – was the scene whereby the Engineers’ circular spaceship crashes on the surface of the planet. It rolls along like a giant hoop towards one of our main characters. She could step to the left and avoid being squashed or she could step to the right and avoid being squashed but in true cartoon style she keeps running forward and gets squished. It’s one of the stupidest things I have ever seen in a film that asks the audience to take it seriously at all times. Ridley Scott’s reputation is based on five truly great features, Prometheus is his twentieth, and joins his other fourteen average films.