Prometheus

            It’s been 15 years since the last Alien film.  With Alien Resurrection, it looked like all the stories were told in that particular universe, however unsatisfactorily it may have been for some fans.  Then came the news of Ridley Scott making a prequel film and exploring the origins of the Space Jockey.  People were excited, to say the least. 

            Of course, dreams were meant to be shattered, and over the last year Scott has waffled on his claims, alternately claiming that the movie was going to be a direct prequel, then not a prequel so much as exploring the same universe, then nothing like the Alien films at all, then back to a universe exploration.  I stopped paying attention to the chatter about three months ago in an effort to keep my sanity.

            So what does Prometheus ultimately have to do with the same universe that saw Weyland Corp. tampering with alien life forms at Ripley’s expense?

            Everything.

            On to the review!

            The gist of the story is that a pair of archeologists developed a theory that we were created by an alien race.  They manage to convince Peter Weyland of Weyland industries to finance an exploratory mission.  Thanks to him, the ship Prometheus sets its sights on a distant planet.  Almost three years later, the crew comes out of cryo-sleep just in time for Christmas Day, 2093. 

            The crew is divided evenly into two groups.  The first group is made up entirely of redshirts.  These are the guys that were put here just to pad the death toll.  Some of them don’t even have speaking roles.

            The second group make up the meat and potatoes of our story.  The two archeologists are Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green).  They love the shit out of each other, and they’re the driving force behind the initial expedition on the alien planet.  These are our two protagonists.

            On the antagonist side are two fascinating characters.  Charlize Theron is Meredith Vickers, the Weyland Corporation’s expedition leader.  She is, of course, not happy about the entire thing and frequently attempts to put Charlie and Elizabeth in their place, convinced that she is the one in charge.  Yes, that’s right.  Charlize Theron is playing the bad guy in two hit movies simultaneously.  I won’t be surprised if Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman are the top two movies in America this weekend, both fueled by Theron’s amazing ability to play a total bitch.

Additionally, we have our legally-required android, David (Michael Fassbender).  He’s far more enigmatic and potentially deadly than Lance Henriksen’s Bishop.  He ends up driving the plot to increasingly deadly effect.  All the while, his creepy, emotionless-yet-slightly-smirking smile is perfect.  You’re never sure if he’s a psychopath or just poorly programmed.

The fleshed-out neutral characters include the captain, Janek (Iris Elba), who provides much of our comedic relief, a geologist, Fifield (Sean Harris), a biologist, Milburn (Rafe Spall), and a medic, Ford (Kate Dickie) who at no point breastfeeds a 12 year-old boy.  (Yes, that was a Game of Thrones joke.)  While the IMDB cast list has a few other main characters, I recommend you not check it out if you haven’t seen the movie, as the cast list is a spoiler in of itself.

The beautiful part of Prometheus is that it feels like a throwback film.  It’s not a 2012 blockbuster movie by any stretch of the imagination.  It’s pacing is slow and deliberate.  The movie builds upon itself over time, often content to let the camera linger over gorgeous scenery or amazing, expansive set pieces.  Yes, the film eventually becomes an action-packed extravaganza, but that’s the second half.  We do not get to that until after we’ve been enveloped by the universe that Ridley Scott created.

Yes, the Space Jockeys are explored and explained, at least a bit.  Yes, there are strange biological goings-on here, and yes it is very much an Alien prequel.

That being said, here is a word of warning.  Don’t go into the movie expecting fan service.  There are many dots to connect between this and the other films, but it’s not done in the same manner as, say, The Avengers, where there was a certain amount of fanboy catering.  These connections are often subtle.  Some are simply lost in the background.  It’s also much more similar to Alien than it is to Aliens, as the crew has no idea what’s going on, and the mystery is just as dangerous as the world itself.

I’m just glad that Ridley Scott’s universe is fictional, because every other life form in the universe is Goth as fuck.