{"id":22024,"date":"2012-06-24T21:12:36","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T05:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=22024"},"modified":"2012-07-02T19:15:37","modified_gmt":"2012-07-03T03:15:37","slug":"prometheus-ridley-scott-2012-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=22024","title":{"rendered":"Prometheus (Ridley Scott, 2012): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Viewed at the Arlington Theater, Santa Barbara, CA.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 The discovery of an ancient star map left by celestial beings,\u00a0compels an\u00a0archaeologist (and believer), Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) to accept\u00a0an offer by deceased corporate philanthropist Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), to lead a mission in space for the discovery of our “creators,”\u00a0referred to\u00a0as\u00a0“engineers.”<\/p>\n

Aboard the spacecraft Prometheus<\/a><\/em>\u00a0is an average motley crew <\/em>consisting of:\u00a0 an\u00a0obnoxious\u00a0close-talker\u00a0Fifield (Sean Harris),\u00a0a matter-of-fact droid named\u00a0David (Michael Fassbender), Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) a\u00a0hard-nosed corporate exec., Shaw’s impulsive and highly unlikeable partner, Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), and the ship’s practical Captain Janek (Idris Elba).<\/p>\n

After landing on moon LV-223 and\u00a0entering a cave-like fortress,\u00a0the crew stumble upon a\u00a0pre-recorded holographic scenario,\u00a0displaying\u00a0giant, ghost-like figures,\u00a0in a\u00a0panic-stricken state and running for their lives.\u00a0 As one creature\u00a0is decapitated, Fifield and\u00a0his buddy get\u00a0freaked out and return to the ship,\u00a0but the remaining few recover\u00a0the actual skeletal remains,\u00a0with the head remarkably\u00a0still intact.\u00a0 They decide\u00a0to tow it back to the ship for analysis, while someone secretly absconds an organic liquid substance, which sets off a fierce dirt storm.<\/p>\n

Now for some unknown reason, Fifield and\u00a0his buddy don’t make it back and\u00a0are forced to bivouac in the cave overnight, while on board the ship, Shaw and Holloway are ecstatic to retrieve proof of the existence of their “engineers,” but now must find out why they’ve been systematically wiped out.<\/p>\n

***SPOILER BELOW***<\/p>\n

A sinister plot begins to unfold when one crew member is slipped a hyperspace mickey, another is impregnated with a life form, and surprisingly Peter Weyland is not deceased, but alive and intent on negotiating with the engineers for a longer life (?)<\/p>\n

If you’ve hung on this long, you’ll be rewarded, because the character of Elizabeth Shaw begins to emerge from a boring, one- dimensional science nerd, to an adept, no-nonsense\u00a0multi-tasker, slightly reminiscent of a certain Ellen Ripley.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0the official prequel to 1979’s\u00a0Alien, <\/em>Shaw and her crew not only encounter a highly aggressive organism\/species, but also\u00a0their said\u00a0“creators,” or “engineers.”\u00a0 When the idealistic\u00a0Shaw realizes her error in judgement – her creator is really\u00a0her destroyer – she must horrifically conduct a spontaneous, self-surgical proceedure, in order to undue the damage she has contributed to, and\u00a0from here on\u00a0the audience surges\u00a0into a white-knuckle, adrenaline rush.<\/p>\n

With themes of creator and creation, god and man, father and son, nuances of a Ridley Scott production are evident.\u00a0 Beginning with\u00a0a slow and methodical buildup\u00a0with\u00a0intricate details, there are exceptional graphics and terrific action sequences, accompanied by a great score.<\/p>\n

There are however\u00a0moments when the story just doesn’t jibe – Fifield doesnt’t make it back to the ship though he was first to depart the cave, and despite their use of\u00a0high-tech tracking devices, helmet-cams, and advanced navigation systems, we are not given a lucid explanation as to why.\u00a0 Sometimes necessary ladders appear out of nowhere, and David knows just the right buttons to push\u00a0inside the mysterious cave,\u00a0which gains\u00a0the expected results.<\/p>\n

Charlize Theron as Vickers is completely forgettable – in fact an actress with Kelly Hu’s talents\u00a0might have brought a different dimension to the otherwise\u00a0bland character.\u00a0 Guy Pearce’s Weyland is equally uninteresting, with\u00a0the same unimpressive aging makeup similarly found in\u00a0J. Edgar – <\/em>hasn’t anyone seen Bette Davis in\u00a0Mr. Skeffington<\/em> – now that’s impressive aging make up!<\/p>\n

<\/em>By far the most interesting character of the bunch is David the fastidious droid, who’s deliciously articulated\u00a0by Michael Fassbender of 2011’s X-Men:\u00a0First Class.\u00a0 <\/em>David is a self-proclaimed fan of the 1962 film\u00a0Lawrence of Arabia<\/em>, and grooms himself to resemble the character of T. E. Lawrence.\u00a0 He is the perfectly created son of Weyland, and he’s neither cold nor calculating in his choices, but rather pragmatic.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Shaw is an acceptable follow up role\u00a0for Noomi Rapace, who is the superior Lisbeth Salander, of the original 2009 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo<\/em> trilogy.\u00a0 In fact Rapace’s Madam Simza in 2011’s Sherlock Holmes:\u00a0 A Game of Shadows<\/em> is the only redeeming character of an otherwise forgettable film, and I suspect there will be difficulty in finding a character as equally penetrating to the\u00a0psyche, and as well-loved by the audience,\u00a0as her Salander is; much as Sigourney Weaver has had difficulty in trumping her own Ellen Ripley – both roles are championing for women, larger than life, and unfortunately rarely seen on the big screen.<\/p>\n

In Prometheus<\/em> there is much to be forgiven, and despite\u00a0a muddled DNA quandary, the film is pretty damn good, leaving you willing to forgive.<\/p>\n

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Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Viewed at the Arlington Theater, Santa Barbara, CA. \u00a0 The discovery of an ancient star map left by celestial beings,\u00a0compels an\u00a0archaeologist (and believer), Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) to accept\u00a0an offer by deceased corporate philanthropist Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), to lead a mission in space for the discovery of our “creators,”\u00a0referred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}