"Prometheus", the latest (potential) sci-fi blockbuster to be released this Summer season, is an example of why movie aficionados like me are becoming less and less tolerant of movies of this ilk. What could have been a bleek, wonderful opus turned into nothing more than inevitable proof Hollywood sometimes does not fully understand the audiences it is playing to.
The year is 2089. Anthropologists (at least that's what I'm labeling them as since the film never did) Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) make the discovery of a lifetime -- the same image of a large man pointing to five celestial objects in the sky from 6 different civilizations, the earliest dating back over 35,000 years. After doing hardcore research, Shaw and Holloway, along with aging trillionaire Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), discover a solar system vastly outside of our own, which could very well have, at least at some point, sustained life. In hopes of finding out how humans were truly created, Shaw and Holloway are whisked off to the unknown planet on the spaceship Prometheus, along with a motley crew of geologists, doctors, scientists, corporate tag-along Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), an android named David (Michael Fassbender) and the flight crew, captained by the eclectic Janek (Idris Elba, "Thor").
Once on the planet, the crew does not find the "Engineers" (the supposed creators of humanity), but several dead humanoid bodies and large vases of mysterious black ooze in a metallic cavernous tunnel structure. The more they investigate, the more dangerous the mission becomes.
Director Ridley Scott ("Blade Runner", "Alien") makes his long-awaited return to sci-fi with some fairly effective results. Where the crux of the film's problems lies is with the rather horrific screenplay by Jon Spaihts ("The Darkest Hour") and Damon Lindelof ("Cowboys and Aliens").
Where many action films like this lose me is the simple fact that special effects are cool, but they can't carry the movie. This is where James Cameron's "Avatar" completely lost me. If the script doesn't compel me, it doesn't matter how beautiful the film looks. Ridley Scott is a very visual director for the most part, and the visuals in "Prometheus" are indeed fascinating. The set design alone is quite mesmerizing, let alone the graphics and cinematography. But the script is what caused everything to come unglued.
Like "Avatar", the writers, though having moments of genius, designed this for the lowest common denominator. It's not just that they clearly over-explain what's obvious to those of us paying attention, but the parts of the story that are actually compelling are never fully developed. By the end of the film, it's clear the filmmakers were less concerned about making a clever, original movie, and more concerned with trying to start a new franchise and/or tie it in to one that already exists.
Some of the performances are outstanding. Noomi Rapace has come a long way since her cold, unflinching performance in the original "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", bringing an emotional intensity the film more than likely wouldn't have had otherwise. On the complete opposite spectrum, Michael Fassbender's portrayal as the soulless, unfeeling David brought chills to my spine. However, once again, Charlize Theron's performance is atrocious. How this woman ever earned an Oscar in her lifetime is yet another secret this film fails to uncover. Similar to her performance in June's other budding blockbuster "Snow White and the Huntsman", power-hungry and bitchy is not a difficult thing to pull off, and yet, Theron always gets cast in those roles and people swoon. I don't quite understand it, and probably never will.
I've never had a very consistent relationship with Ridley Scott. It seems like the less he tries, the better he is (and vice versa). "Blade Runner"? Great. "Kingdom of Heaven"? Awful. "Alien"? Scary as hell! "Hannibal"? What the hell?!? "Matchstick Men"? Completely underrated. "Gladiator"? Completely overrated. I always walk into a movie with an open mind, but sometimes my biases are correct.
Another thing that made this movie hard to watch was the poor 3D conversion. Perhaps not quite as bad as "Captain America: The First Avenger", but pretty bad. This normally wouldn't be something I would care about too greatly, but when we've already seen flawless 3D with "Men In Black 3" and "The Avengers", putting out a movie with this much hype and fail to use the 3D technology we have to the fullest extent is a rather horrible choice.
FINAL VERDICT: In a Summer Blockbuster Season where we've seen how brilliant sci-fi can be, even when the film is not wholly original, "Prometheus" drops the ball big time. Even with the moments of brilliance and pre-requisite scariness, the film chooses special effects rather than true depth, making it simple box office fodder instead of letting it live up to its true potential. "Prometheus" marks the first true disappointment of the Summer. Let's pray it's the last.
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