Alien Movie Universe

Review: Beauty is in the eye

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Major Noob

MemberOvomorphJul-14-2012 4:55 PM
   I know, I'm REALLY late to the party, but after reading so much here I had to add my two cents.          In Prometheus, Ridley Scott said perverse things would happen, and I don't think that comment was limited to the biology.     The whole presentation is perverse, a fairly standard science fiction premise molded into a surreal fable about fertility run amok. There is a lack of ordinary exposition, but I didn't miss it ( I didn't need ten minutes of  " how they convinced Weyland ", for example ). This unorthodox construction is just one of the various lamented elements that actually contribute to the marvelous energy of the film.     The music was most unexpected. Based on what I'd been reading, I expected something romantic, even saccharin. What I got from the first frame was a howling, cavernous drone that rendered the spectacular visuals even more otherworldly. Together, they formed a brutal montage of gorgeous, unsurvivable landscapes,  untamed and unconcerned with the frailty of any organic life, and urged me forward with awe and apprehension to the Engineer and his fate, while the giant vehicle departs like some terrible hallucination. It was monstrous! And this was just the opening credits! From the first frame I was smiling, even laughing, I was so delighted. Concerned,  too, that this gargantuan sense of beauty and dread could be sustained throughout the film.     I needn't have worried. Prometheus delivers on all levels, and then some. I was totally unprepared for the movie experience RS was so generous as to provide for me, a blockbuster size adventure featuring the Juggernaut (YES),  in the form of a sleek, muscular post modernist art film on steroids, dialed back two notches for broader appeal. WOW, way to walk that tightrope, Ridley!     The throbbing score propels each scene with a looming, futurist and sometimes pop energy. Far from pretentious, I got more a sense of cocksure proficiency that gives some scenes an almost comic book vitality. The cinematography is staggering and flirts here and there with camp,  but only I think in homage to the great fantastic films of the last 70 years. This retro aesthetic is detectable throughout, the story, the design, the dialog, even the way the score interacts with certain scenes. Its very British in style, with other European and Asian references masterfully woven in as well. I was reminded of my first exposure underground comix, and the great magazine Heavy Metal, where sex and drugs shared the page with rockets and monsters. Euro surrealism. Perversion!    Other directors are capable of this level of grandeur, but who other than RS could infuse it with such a sense of otherness? I'm not discounting Cameron, Jackson, Spielberg, or the others, but this  peculiar aesthetic is Scott's and Scott's alone, and he's in rare form here. And honestly? Cameron's films can feel earnest and predictable. Jackson's films sometimes feel hokey and rushed, and Spielbergs Martians sucked.    I know, all these criticisms have been leveled at Prometheus. But I think this movie knows its place. It just happens to be the unique place only RS could have carved out for it.  It's not about dark claustrophobia and jack- in-the- box thrills. It's about being utterly vulnerable despite your faith, whatever it might be in. Spacesuits, robots, God? They won't help you. They can't. Not here.    You  have to have some brass ones to make a movie like this, and sell it to a studio like Fox, who must then sell it to audiences conditioned by Transformers and Iron Man. And Alien. And it's true that Fox's marketing ruined certain scenes. In a sense, their strategy mirrors the plot, the company's needs subverting the mission. But the results aren't nearly so dire as some would suggest. There are a couple of Disneyesque Hollywood moments, blessedly brief. And I wouldn't have minded a longer film.  With more blood. But this is definitely not traditional Horror. This is a startling collage, an anarchic 2001 meets The Shining, with metaphysics, mythology and rape woven in. A dark psychedelia somehow expressed in mostly neutral tones. And tentacles! I personally love tentacles. Can't wait to see how the Japanese react!  I also loved the flute and it's creepy snake charmer implications. My only other complaint is I would have not made everything in the catacombs so wet and drippy.  This is maybe one too many nods to Alien. The pile of corpses in particular would have benefited from a more sooty look.    The glossy tech of the Prometheus does not disturb the continuity of the franchise, it breathes new life into it, and we could not have stepped back to the aesthetic of 1979 either way.  The lighting alone is a work of art, and coupled with the set and sound design the Prometheus ship, inside and out, is a marvel.          The abominable Juggernaut is the very definition of ominous, a gigantic cast iron space tumor seemingly made for the sole purpose of perpetrating massive bio- industrial catastrophes. This one is a variant of the Derelict, the design maybe adapted for use by the Engineers? I don't think the being on LV426 has been re- written here, I think it's a separate entity.                                             Much derision has been heaped on the characters. Here's my take:     Millburn: Yes, he was a mook. Fifield too. I for one don't find this to be inconsistent with reality.  I saw a video posted here with a guy named Adam Savage, a grown man who talks like a snotty art student. I don't doubt his intelligence for a second, but he is nonetheless a mook. Did we want scientist, or Hollywood scientist?     Millburn wasn't particularly upset when the Hammerpede bit his hand. Why? He was sealed into the  equivalent of a bulletproof Hazmat suit. Not once did he imagine that the squishy little blind thing would then break his arm, bleed acid, reveal itself to be immortal, penetrate his suit and nest in his throat. Just sayin.    Fifield: I love that this guy is getting high on the job. How awesomely crass. Honestly, the simplest of tasks can confound me when I'm intoxicated. Now try intoxicated, panicked, and lost in an alien tomb. Plus Janek and co. are having some mischief with him. And the pups were reporting to the Prometheus, not Fifield. AND the storm was interfering with reception. I'm not being an apologist. It's all there. Also, I think his " I love rocks " line was meant to suggest that maybe he wasn't a geologist at all. It's part of an overall " whats going on here " wrongness that kept me on edge to the very end.    Holloway: In my line of business I've met many intelligent, talented people who are also childish and reckless, and sport these traits like a halo. " This is the sweetest air I've ever tasted " indeed. And check out the flip flops! What a jerk. I think the thing in his eye was a retinal microbe exposed to the black goo in his bloodstream. I think what was killing him was a diluted version of what killed the sacrificial Engineer. I think too that Holloways fate was maybe too sentimental. It would have been cool if he had just fallen apart, and then Vickers torched the pile.     Vickers: She is confusing to me in the way all girls were when I was 13. Her silhouette is the perfect ornament to adorn the halls of the Prometheus, sexy, but tastefully  so. Charlize Theron is just right for this role, and though her character was limited, the film would not have been the same without her. I think she was an andriod. And I think we might see her again. It does look as though she died, but I will be neither surprised nor let down if she didn't. How would surviving all that change her, what would she become? And how would she dispose of the dead Trilobite, or would it just rot its way through the escape pod floor? And how cool a sentence is that?     Ford: Very, very  good at looking horrified.     Shaw: Over the course of 2 hours this poor girl has the strength of her beliefs beaten, sliced and sucked out of her in every way imaginable, and a couple that are not. Her reality is upturned, she comes to understand that she's been duped, and she transforms before our very eyes. My favorite image of her is when shes creeping through the wrecked escape pod with an axe. Wicked. Contrary to popular belief, there were all kinds of weapons aboard. But the violence of an axe is classic. Then she flies off in a Juggernaut with only David to rely on. Someone said the ending was diabolical, and I couldn't agree more. Here is a new herione ( and a new duo?) for a new age! The only notable  plot hole I saw was, what on Earth did she see in Holloway?     David 8 : At first he seems so cute, but by the end I felt he was the scariest thing in the film. The one thing the crew should be able to trust dispenses casual cruelty  in the form of polite banter and empathy that is pointedly cosmetic, mostly observing the fate of his fellows with the same jolly  indifference that allows a hydraulic  press to crush its operator. He is a combination Hal and Hannibal. Three laws? Maybe Weyland never read Asimov. For me, the greatest of the Alien androids.                                                               The Engineer: This guy being a huge violent flute playing  alabaster humanoid is not a problem for me. These mysterious beings belong in the Alien universe. Is it possible the much larger Space Jockey on LV426 is in fact one of his makers?     The Trilobite: I love the way it's made, restrain the  preys limbs so a secondary set tendrils can pull the victims head into its maw. Merciless.    The Deacon: It spends it's first few seconds of life looking like a puppy. Then it opens it's mouth.     It seems to me that from the very start ( 1979 ) this story has been about our quest to apprehend things well beyond our ability to understand. Thus maybe we should be ready to have some of our questions go unanswered, should a sequel occur. I think the mystery would be diminished and the story cheapened if all was resolved by the humans that conceived it. Just as its beyond Weyland and their agents to ever capture or control these things, it may similarly be beyond Ridley and his crew ( or anybody ) to resolve the story in a way fitting to the incredible universe he's created. But of course I hope I'm wrong!    Alien was great, but no more consistently disturbing from beginning to end as Prometheus, and Prometheus is no more hokey, cliched  or flawed than Alien. I don't know how one could like sci fi and not like this film on some level, it's too much of a love letter to the genre itself. Prometheus is, like Alien, a classic, and a masterpiece, and might herald a new, daring aesthetic in science fiction filmmaking. I too hope we get a sequel, but we're lucky just to have this, and maybe eventually most will agree.    Ridley Scott: You are a genius. You join the short list of artists who have made my life magic. Thank you!           Damon Lindelof: You should be proud of your part in this incredible construct. I would be delighted to see your name on the sequel.     To you both and your crew, WELL DONE
12 Replies

David 1

MemberOvomorphJul-14-2012 5:08 PM
"Vickers: She is confusing to me in the way all girls were when I was 13" True, and I still am trying to figure the hell out of their Psichology.
[b]Ask nothing from no one. Demand nothing from no one. Expect nothing from no one.[/b]

Major Noob

MemberOvomorphJul-14-2012 5:17 PM
I've been married three times. My current wife is leaving me. Because of Prometheus.

Bo Cherry

MemberOvomorphJul-14-2012 6:40 PM
Very well written review man! I agree with you 100%!

Major Noob

MemberOvomorphJul-14-2012 7:38 PM
@ Bo Cherry: Thank you! That essay was about a mile long, and i do apologize, but I have something to add: I think part of the problem is that Alien has actually become the side story. But that doesn't diminish the canon, it's a testament to the sheer mass of this horrific saga. I think Prometheus, if we're lucky, will serve as a prologue to the root of the whole thing. It would be tragic if money, politics or time prevented Ridley from asserting his mastery of the science fiction genre with the final entries to this tale.

Major Noob

MemberOvomorphJul-15-2012 3:42 PM
  @ZetaReticuli: Thank you! I just felt I had to join the positive posters here and stand up for it. And you're correct, on all counts! 

schwarzbaer666

MemberOvomorphJul-15-2012 3:56 PM
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I started to think something is wrong with me cos i LIKE Prometheus, i LOVE Episode 1, and i ADORE the WHOLE Matrix-Trilogy!!! (the last two not necessarily your favourite movies perhaps...) ;-)

ZetaReticuli

MemberOvomorphJul-15-2012 2:05 PM
MajorNoob, this is perhaps THE most eloquent and rich appraisal of the film I've seen here. Thankyou for bolstering my already high opinions of Prometheus despite my intial albeit slight misgivings on first viewing. You're spot on about the 'Heavy Metal' reference there and on this note I suspect you're one of the more older 'arty' fans that encompassed the 'Book of Alien' with all of it's attendant info on the artists involved with RS including Giger, Foss, Moebius and Cobb. Correct me if I'm wrong though, heh. I love this world of Ridley Scott's now and the possibilities of where he may take us next............

Major Noob

MemberOvomorphJul-15-2012 5:39 PM
   Wow, you guys, thank you all so much for your positive responses, though negative ones are welcome too! I know what you mean about Prometheus, there are a lot if genuinely disappointed people, but there seems to also be those who are bashing because it's the in thing to do. I also know what you mean about The Matrix;  I saw #1 on VHS on a tiny tv when my brother insisted I watch it, and was FLATTENED. The previews didn't grab me, but now I'm forever jealous he saw it in the theatre and I didn't. #2 I saw at IMAX, and I loved it, but it lacked the clarity of #1. #3 was great, but was the 70mm technicolor Battle Royale I feared it would be. Still, all 3 have iconic imagery I'm glad I don't have to live without.

synthetic_69

MemberOvomorphJul-15-2012 6:25 PM
[u]Noob[/u]: I was in college back when the original "Matrix" film came out and before it was released I was sitting in a bar with a friend of mine who is also a sci-fi movie lover like myself. Somehow we started talking about "Star Wars: Episode 1" and "The Matrix" and I said to him "Just wait. I'm telling you that "The Matrix" is going to blow the new "Star Wars" film out of the water", a notion with which he vociferously disagreed. Well, I'll never forget the night I saw "The Matrix" for the first time. You could feel the electricity in the audience. I've had a few other similar in-theater experiences like that with films such as "The Empire Strikes Back" or "Pulp fiction". Sadly, the second and third "Matrix" films were highly compromised works but you are right in that they do have some very iconic imagery. To this day I still love the second half of "Reloaded", especially the scene in which Neo meets The Architect. I both love and am frustrated with/by "Prometheus". However, although it has its issues I wish that there more genre films that had as much thought and care put into them as was put into "Prometheus".

Major Noob

MemberOvomorphJul-15-2012 7:09 PM
Synthetic_69: The Empire Strikes Back is also loaded with iconic imagery, it rates with The Wizard of Oz, for me. But after decades of Kung Fu and laser guns Prometheus gave me a new sort of adventure, custom made by a master, so I admit I'm blind to many of the legitimate complaints I've heard, and all the silly ones! It's brashly alternative to the rest of the franchise, Ridley sort of taking it back for himself. Maybe this is a taste of what he would have done with it 30 years ago!

DenzelTH

MemberOvomorphNov-23-2012 6:04 PM
Ive been thinking of Prometheus for months, never had that with a film before.Rare epic What about Jon Spaights, he had big part too
\\\" I Want To Go Where They Come From\\\"

Major Noob

MemberOvomorphNov-23-2012 6:56 PM
DenzelTH- I know, right? Same here. Fantastic film. The main reason I did a shout out to Lindelof was because at that time there was a lynch mob gunning for him. Also I do think he did a stellar job, but having read Spaihts' script recently he most certainly deserves major kudos as well.
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