Prometheus
Prometheus was a film that set out to answer some questions and ask some even bigger ones. Namely, what was that thing in the spaceship that was discovered in the original Alien; where did the xenomorph come from; and furthermore, where did we come from?
While most of the ‘whats’, ‘hows’, and ‘wheres’ are answered in Prometheus, throughout the film, you might be asking yourself why these things are happening. Ridley Scott leaves most of these questions to us, thankfully. A film as dipped in intrigue and existentiality as this one shouldn’t answer everything. How could it? Though to be fair, some of the character motivations could have been explained a little better. I could see a director’s cut of the film helping in that regard.
The movie isn’t perfect by any means. There were a few cliche Hollywood moments in it—characters far too willing to sacrifice themselves far too fast, some cheap dialogue. But these moments standing out shows how well done the rest of the film is.
The cinematography is beautiful. The framing is grand, and the Icelandic landscapes look other-worldly. (Duh.) Everything is shot in this crisp, cool color palette of grays and blues while these warm ambers, yellows, and reds are allowed to jump out at you. It is lovely.
The effects are fantastic. There was never a time where I was thinking about them. When the Prometheus (their spaceship) is descending into LV-223′s atmosphere, all I thought about was how beautiful the shot was, not that it was impressive CGI or model work. As with design, good effects should be invisible.
I give Prometheus 7 1/2 tentacles out of 9.
PS. Thanks, Ridley, for the cesarean phobia!









