Prometheus (2012)

Prometheus is not Alien. It seems necessary to make this clear. In fact, thematically it bears more relation to Ridley Scott's own Blade Runner. Both films ask what it means to be human. Blade Runner asks these questions indirectly, and even comes close to giving answers; Prometheus goes straight ahead and asks the questions, then never fully answers them. In this case, they are raised by a team of scientists travelling to a distant planet to find the beings responsible for life on Earth. The name of their ship is Prometheus, and the implications are clear: you don't mess with the gods. Whether or not you like the film will probably depend on how much you care about it's lack of satisfying answers.

Speaking for myself, I have no problem with remaining mystified. Too many films are lacking a sense of awe and mystery, and in several key scenes Prometheus delivers just this. The breathtaking design of the film alone is worth the price of admission; it has to be the most visually beautiful film I've seen all year. The problem lies with it's failure to succeed on a human level. The embarrassingly weak script and a disjointed story struggle against a strong cast who have to work hard to keep us interested. Noomi Rapace is a strong leading presence in her first English speaking lead role, with Scott opting for more than a simple Ripley re-tread. Her unshaken religious faith, even in the face of possible answers to life's great questions, is surprisingly original and refreshing. She's helped by a solid supporting cast, but even their combined strengths are overshadowed by the presence of Michael Fassbender. His performance as David, the ship's android, has been receiving so much acclaim that praising him has almost become a cliché. It's justified however, and in many ways David is the central crux of the movie, providing the same function as Rutger Hauer's Roy Batty in Blade Runner. They both share an Aryan flawlessness that manifests as veiled contempt of the humans around them, as well as a vague yearning to be as 'human' as them. There is a nice touch as David is seen modelling his appearance and speech pattern on Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. Later he offers a quote from that film to hint at the futility of the mission: “There is nothing in the desert, and no man needs nothing”. 

Ultimately, Prometheus doesn't hold together. It's fails to come as close as Blade Runner to answering any of it's central questions, and to describe the plot and script as messy would be far too kind. It is so staggeringly ambitious that it's failure to succeed is almost inevitable. It never works as a whole, but there are several moments when it soars.