Film Review: Prometheus

Director: Ridley Scott

I will attempt to write a review containing spoilers that can only be ascertained from watching the trailers that were out before the movies release yesterday. It is the much anticipated prequel to Alien with Ridley Scott returning to the franchise he created for the first time. The project has been in development since 2000 when Scott and James Cameron discussed ideas for the prequel, but it was shelved for a long period due to the release of Alien Vs Predator.

The film follows Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) as they discover a star map amongst the remnants of many different ancient civilizations who had no contact with each other. They look to find the stars that are shown in the ancient drawings with the help of the Weyland Corporation and their android David (show stealing performance by Michael Fassbender) by flying into deep space.

Movie Poster

The first thing that hits you is the wonderful work done in cinematography and CGI to produce superb landscapes and scenes especially in IMAX 3D. It is as good a film as I have ever seen visually at the cinema. It's unfair to compare it to the original Alien because that was such a ground-breaking film and was a superbly claustrophobic affair, if Scott had replicated this then he would have been criticised so in that sense he can't win. The tension is still there for the most part of the film about the unknown of what is happening to the crew as they investigate these stars in space to hopefully find answers to how we were created.

The film is classed as a prequel but is also a slight variation on the original idea and it takes a big gamble in deeply dealing with the issue of mankind's creation which is always a thorny issue, quite a few people have compared it in some ways to the film Contact which had similar themes. Michael Fassbender is superb as David the android who reminded me of C3PO but with a very sinister side to him which adds to the whole tension of the mission, I also felt shades of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey which was confirmed when he even said a line that HAL said from the film. Noomi Rapace is capable as the lead women and does have shades of Sigourney Weaver in her without being too similar.

Certain critics have called the film muddled so far which I can understand but a lot of the ideas are more subtly dealt with and could be missed behind the stunning visual effects. If you were wondering if it is still a must-see at the cinema? It is.

3/4 great spectacle with Fassbender stealing the show