Ensign Lestat's Film Log, 17/06/2012
Taking in a viewing of Ridley Scott's latest sci-fi extravaganza, 'Prometheus' was a non-sequitur. There was some hype surrounding the release of the film, but I was looking forward to watching a sci-fi - on the big screen, after an age. The trailer appeared to show some promise, especially via the visuals. And of course, the inclusion of Michael Fassbender was a bonus. He is a talented man, and the versatile projects he picks up ensures that his admirers have rather a well-rounded view of modern film history.
The story of the film takes place in the same universe as Scott's film, 'Alien'. The planet that takes center stage is apparently in the same system as the planet in 'Alien'.
I missed the beginning credits due to pathetic traffic. I saw enough to tell me I'd missed some breathtaking visuals. The first scene, with the credits, is reminiscent of '2001: A Space Odyssey'. That film begins with a newly-born planet and its first inhabitants, here too we see a beautiful, uninhabited planet, full of nature's raw energy. Till... an alien comes into the frame. It's jarring, to say the least, and in these title credits itself a significant discovery in a later part of the film is given away. It was extremely disappointing. And hey, the film hasn't even started yet.
We then skip ahead a couple of millennia to Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her partner Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discovering some cave drawings that they mention have similar patterns to some other drawings they have come across. Fast forward again, we are in 2093, aboard the ship, Prometheus, where Michael Fassbender's android character, David, is playing peeping tom on Shaw's dreams (I kid you not). The dream is innocent enough, featuring her father (played by Patrick Wilson, in a shockingly small role) and is somewhat used as a motivator for Shaw's future actions. It takes a while to put that together actually.
Anyway, we are now privy to David's routine as he is the only one awake onboard the ship. Everyone else is in cryo-stasis. When they wake up, we are treated to a conference where we are informed of the point of this mission. Essentially a trillionnaire corporate by the name of Weyland (a heavily made-up Guy Pearce, the result is disturbing, and not in a good way) has invested in this mission to go to a planet spelled out by the cave drawings found by Shaw and Holloway, in search of an alien species Shaw refers to as the 'Engineers' who may hold a clue to the origins of humanity.
It is evident that most of the people on this mission are in it only for the money - apparently the crew have talents, but they don't come across as the regular scientists one expects.
Once the ship lands on the planet and a landing party goes exploring, all hell breaks lose. If it was hard to invest in the story before this, it's nigh impossible to decipher after this stage.
During their investigations, the team map out a huge network of caves on the planet. While wandering the caves they seem to come across some kind of holographic images of the last moments of the last explorers here (these images are not explained, nor does anyone investigate where these images are coming from). The team then chance upon the corpse of a dead alien Engineer, and like only film characters would do, stick around and investigate the room where the alien was killed. I get that investigation is important, but they have no security, no weapons, and are foolish enough not to have all their protective gear on during this investigation. They discover some black substance oozing out of some containers that they do not take samples of, but instead take the head of the dead Engineer. No sense in that, why not take a sample of the black stuff?
The head comes in handy only for Shaw to discover something the audience got told in the beginning credits. The black substance becomes important as it appears to be some kind of infection that wreaks havoc in the film.
[SPOILER ALERT] Scott's vehement protests that this film is not a prequel to 'Alien' seems like a poor marketing tactic to draw in non 'Alien' fans, because the last scene sees an alien similar to the one seen in 'Alien' emerge as a byproduct of an alien squid created by the black substance infecting an Engineer alien. Was this the point of the entire film, that the alien black stuff, that supposedly killed the Engineers, is actually looking for a compatible mate to infect? Is that why David's experiment with the black stuff kills Holloway? Because he wasn't compatible? It seems the black stuff is not at all compatible with any humans. Hence they die. But what is the point of the containers? Who made them? Are they eggs? What's really the creature in the black pool? And how come one of the crew members infected returns to the ship to attack the others? Maybe he was more compatible than the rest. And the Engineer is the most compatible. If so, why'd the black stuff and its resident alien squid kill the other Engineers and not make them into hosts? I'm theorizing, because I can't explain the black stuff and the squid in any other way. [END SPOILER]
People do random things and make poor choices in this film and we're all left wondering why, till near the end when a little of it is explained, but much of it must be deduced, and the rest of it... well, the rest of it just haunts you for all eternity because there is no explanation or reasonable logic given to us.
Now, I would admit that my poor comprehension of the film might be to do with my very little remembrance of my bits and pieces viewing of 'Alien' (I don't think I've even seen any of the sequels), but, fact is, I've come across a lot of articles where fans of the original films were scratching their heads as much as me. So, I feel better about myself now.
There have been conflicting reports as to how this film fits into the 'Alien' universe. Is it a prequel, an origin story, something separate but related to the first 'Alien' film? I can't comment on that. It just seems to me to be a conglomeration of scenes - fantastic, beautiful scenes - thrown together to make a film. It felt to me like Scott just wanted to put in everything he had ever envisioned in his head - like he was in a hurry to get it out there for the world to see.
It's a crazy, incomprehensible mess. What are the motivations of the characters? Why does everyone keep getting killed in such weird ways, and why in such diverse ways? What is Charlize Theron's character actually?
But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's more to say before I ask questions. The visuals in this film are stunning, they do evoke '2001', and some of 'Blade Runner' as well. The ship is spectacular, and the images of space even more so. I'm ruing the fact that I didn't catch the 3D version because Scott actually shot the film in 3D, and from the reviews I've read, the 3D in the film was spot on. What I liked about the film was that I can't recall any scenes looking like they should've been in 3D. The film flowed smoothly as a 2D film, as well, and for that I commend the director.
There is some exciting action in the film, and it is well-paced out. Not much of the film felt slow, but the trouble, as I've said already, came from not really being able to identify with the character's actions.
What troubled me most was that, Weyland invested in a mission that seems, to me at least, to not be worth it. I mean, Shaw insists that the cave drawings are an invitation from an alien race because they had some hand in the development of Earth, but there appeared to be no such invitation information available to the audience. Seems like a terrible risk to take from Weyland's point of view. What would he get out of it?
[SPOILER ALERT] The fact that Weyland is secretly making the trip to the planet due to his quest for immortality doesn't answer the previous question either. As gets proven in the end, there is no evidence to believe that these Engineers are alive, or willing to deal with/ help the human race. Why spend your last few days of living in a crazy search for immortality? Well, desperate times do call for desperate measures, but it still seems crazy. [END SPOILER]
The third act of the film is a particularly low-point. Shaw becomes some kind of superhuman, successfully performing a c-section on herself to remove an alien being growing inside her, going on yet another discovery mission with the team after said operation, evading aliens and evading alien-killers. A crew member infected by some alien virus attacks the crew, whereas all the others who were infected just disintegrated and died. Theron's character, Vickers, comes into view only to present herself as some kind of panicked individual, running helter-skelter, with no plan in mind, but one - RUN! Idris Elba's Captain Janek is the only real hero. Even the freaking alien acts erratically. What was going on with that?
Acting-wise, pretty much everyone was good. In the trailers Noomi Rapace was sickening to watch, but thankfully she acted more human in the film. But the jump from wide-eyed second-fiddle scientist to superhuman survivor was drastic. I don't blame her for this - that's the director's fault.
I was appalled at how insignificant the roles of Theron, Elba and Pearce were. Pearce remained hidden in the old make-up, which made his casting pointless, unless there is an intention for his character to appear in flashbacks or something in the sequel of the film. Elba has a few witty wise-cracks to throw at the crew, but that is all. Most disappointing was Theron - she was hardly there, and her character is given nothing to do - literally nothing. I thought in the third act she'd take up arms, but she doesn't, as I've already mentioned. She's an Oscar-winner, give her something cool to do! I understand scheduling conflicts prevented her from being present for as long as everyone would expect, but still, some adjustments could have been made.
In the little screen time Theron gets, she plays her character as some kind of android. Speculation is rife whether her character is an android or not. I went in believing she was, because someone had reported (in their headline no less) that she was playing one. She's completely believable as an android, it's when I'm trying to rationalise that she's a human that I stumble. But to each their own opinion.
Logan Marshall-Green had a much larger role than I had expected, and he does an acceptable job of it. I have seen him in the short-lived tv series, Traveler, and was well surprised to see his name in the film. He looks like he fits in with this cast of heavyweights, which is good, considering his resume doesn't have all that much to recommend itself.
I was, however, overjoyed at how large Fassbender's role was. His role is almost as large as Rapace's and he has his character down pat. He is in every way an android, from head movements, to the way he walks and holds himself, to how coiffed he is and how perfect his speech is. He is brilliant to watch. But in the third act, his character's potential is wasted, and it was extremely disappointing that he did not have a significant role in that act. Much of that act's craziness may have been diluted had David been paired with Shaw (at least it would have made some of the superhuman feats plausible, as David really is that, a superhuman).
The film is stunning to watch. The images are truly spectacular, but have a very realistic feel to them. None of it felt CGIed, and that is fantastic. Even the aliens felt almost tangible. But the film is essentially lots of ideas and scenes put together, with the director hoping to make a cohesive whole of the same. It doesn't work. It feels like the makers really loved the characters of Shaw and David, but had to make up some collateral damage to make Shaw and David relevant. Bits of information about several characters are thrown at us, but none of it is used. Shaw's belief in the Engineers comes from the stories her father told her, but realistically, considering all the events of the film, it becomes meaningless to all but her character to hope that the Engineers will turn out the good guys.
Prometheus is more frustrating than enjoyable. A sequel is apparently being planned, hopefully it will start with explaining the events of this film, before adding more ingredients to the pot.
The story of the film takes place in the same universe as Scott's film, 'Alien'. The planet that takes center stage is apparently in the same system as the planet in 'Alien'.
I missed the beginning credits due to pathetic traffic. I saw enough to tell me I'd missed some breathtaking visuals. The first scene, with the credits, is reminiscent of '2001: A Space Odyssey'. That film begins with a newly-born planet and its first inhabitants, here too we see a beautiful, uninhabited planet, full of nature's raw energy. Till... an alien comes into the frame. It's jarring, to say the least, and in these title credits itself a significant discovery in a later part of the film is given away. It was extremely disappointing. And hey, the film hasn't even started yet.
We then skip ahead a couple of millennia to Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her partner Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discovering some cave drawings that they mention have similar patterns to some other drawings they have come across. Fast forward again, we are in 2093, aboard the ship, Prometheus, where Michael Fassbender's android character, David, is playing peeping tom on Shaw's dreams (I kid you not). The dream is innocent enough, featuring her father (played by Patrick Wilson, in a shockingly small role) and is somewhat used as a motivator for Shaw's future actions. It takes a while to put that together actually.
Anyway, we are now privy to David's routine as he is the only one awake onboard the ship. Everyone else is in cryo-stasis. When they wake up, we are treated to a conference where we are informed of the point of this mission. Essentially a trillionnaire corporate by the name of Weyland (a heavily made-up Guy Pearce, the result is disturbing, and not in a good way) has invested in this mission to go to a planet spelled out by the cave drawings found by Shaw and Holloway, in search of an alien species Shaw refers to as the 'Engineers' who may hold a clue to the origins of humanity.
It is evident that most of the people on this mission are in it only for the money - apparently the crew have talents, but they don't come across as the regular scientists one expects.
Once the ship lands on the planet and a landing party goes exploring, all hell breaks lose. If it was hard to invest in the story before this, it's nigh impossible to decipher after this stage.
During their investigations, the team map out a huge network of caves on the planet. While wandering the caves they seem to come across some kind of holographic images of the last moments of the last explorers here (these images are not explained, nor does anyone investigate where these images are coming from). The team then chance upon the corpse of a dead alien Engineer, and like only film characters would do, stick around and investigate the room where the alien was killed. I get that investigation is important, but they have no security, no weapons, and are foolish enough not to have all their protective gear on during this investigation. They discover some black substance oozing out of some containers that they do not take samples of, but instead take the head of the dead Engineer. No sense in that, why not take a sample of the black stuff?
The head comes in handy only for Shaw to discover something the audience got told in the beginning credits. The black substance becomes important as it appears to be some kind of infection that wreaks havoc in the film.
[SPOILER ALERT] Scott's vehement protests that this film is not a prequel to 'Alien' seems like a poor marketing tactic to draw in non 'Alien' fans, because the last scene sees an alien similar to the one seen in 'Alien' emerge as a byproduct of an alien squid created by the black substance infecting an Engineer alien. Was this the point of the entire film, that the alien black stuff, that supposedly killed the Engineers, is actually looking for a compatible mate to infect? Is that why David's experiment with the black stuff kills Holloway? Because he wasn't compatible? It seems the black stuff is not at all compatible with any humans. Hence they die. But what is the point of the containers? Who made them? Are they eggs? What's really the creature in the black pool? And how come one of the crew members infected returns to the ship to attack the others? Maybe he was more compatible than the rest. And the Engineer is the most compatible. If so, why'd the black stuff and its resident alien squid kill the other Engineers and not make them into hosts? I'm theorizing, because I can't explain the black stuff and the squid in any other way. [END SPOILER]
People do random things and make poor choices in this film and we're all left wondering why, till near the end when a little of it is explained, but much of it must be deduced, and the rest of it... well, the rest of it just haunts you for all eternity because there is no explanation or reasonable logic given to us.
Now, I would admit that my poor comprehension of the film might be to do with my very little remembrance of my bits and pieces viewing of 'Alien' (I don't think I've even seen any of the sequels), but, fact is, I've come across a lot of articles where fans of the original films were scratching their heads as much as me. So, I feel better about myself now.
There have been conflicting reports as to how this film fits into the 'Alien' universe. Is it a prequel, an origin story, something separate but related to the first 'Alien' film? I can't comment on that. It just seems to me to be a conglomeration of scenes - fantastic, beautiful scenes - thrown together to make a film. It felt to me like Scott just wanted to put in everything he had ever envisioned in his head - like he was in a hurry to get it out there for the world to see.
It's a crazy, incomprehensible mess. What are the motivations of the characters? Why does everyone keep getting killed in such weird ways, and why in such diverse ways? What is Charlize Theron's character actually?
But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's more to say before I ask questions. The visuals in this film are stunning, they do evoke '2001', and some of 'Blade Runner' as well. The ship is spectacular, and the images of space even more so. I'm ruing the fact that I didn't catch the 3D version because Scott actually shot the film in 3D, and from the reviews I've read, the 3D in the film was spot on. What I liked about the film was that I can't recall any scenes looking like they should've been in 3D. The film flowed smoothly as a 2D film, as well, and for that I commend the director.
There is some exciting action in the film, and it is well-paced out. Not much of the film felt slow, but the trouble, as I've said already, came from not really being able to identify with the character's actions.
What troubled me most was that, Weyland invested in a mission that seems, to me at least, to not be worth it. I mean, Shaw insists that the cave drawings are an invitation from an alien race because they had some hand in the development of Earth, but there appeared to be no such invitation information available to the audience. Seems like a terrible risk to take from Weyland's point of view. What would he get out of it?
[SPOILER ALERT] The fact that Weyland is secretly making the trip to the planet due to his quest for immortality doesn't answer the previous question either. As gets proven in the end, there is no evidence to believe that these Engineers are alive, or willing to deal with/ help the human race. Why spend your last few days of living in a crazy search for immortality? Well, desperate times do call for desperate measures, but it still seems crazy. [END SPOILER]
The third act of the film is a particularly low-point. Shaw becomes some kind of superhuman, successfully performing a c-section on herself to remove an alien being growing inside her, going on yet another discovery mission with the team after said operation, evading aliens and evading alien-killers. A crew member infected by some alien virus attacks the crew, whereas all the others who were infected just disintegrated and died. Theron's character, Vickers, comes into view only to present herself as some kind of panicked individual, running helter-skelter, with no plan in mind, but one - RUN! Idris Elba's Captain Janek is the only real hero. Even the freaking alien acts erratically. What was going on with that?
Acting-wise, pretty much everyone was good. In the trailers Noomi Rapace was sickening to watch, but thankfully she acted more human in the film. But the jump from wide-eyed second-fiddle scientist to superhuman survivor was drastic. I don't blame her for this - that's the director's fault.
I was appalled at how insignificant the roles of Theron, Elba and Pearce were. Pearce remained hidden in the old make-up, which made his casting pointless, unless there is an intention for his character to appear in flashbacks or something in the sequel of the film. Elba has a few witty wise-cracks to throw at the crew, but that is all. Most disappointing was Theron - she was hardly there, and her character is given nothing to do - literally nothing. I thought in the third act she'd take up arms, but she doesn't, as I've already mentioned. She's an Oscar-winner, give her something cool to do! I understand scheduling conflicts prevented her from being present for as long as everyone would expect, but still, some adjustments could have been made.
In the little screen time Theron gets, she plays her character as some kind of android. Speculation is rife whether her character is an android or not. I went in believing she was, because someone had reported (in their headline no less) that she was playing one. She's completely believable as an android, it's when I'm trying to rationalise that she's a human that I stumble. But to each their own opinion.
Logan Marshall-Green had a much larger role than I had expected, and he does an acceptable job of it. I have seen him in the short-lived tv series, Traveler, and was well surprised to see his name in the film. He looks like he fits in with this cast of heavyweights, which is good, considering his resume doesn't have all that much to recommend itself.
I was, however, overjoyed at how large Fassbender's role was. His role is almost as large as Rapace's and he has his character down pat. He is in every way an android, from head movements, to the way he walks and holds himself, to how coiffed he is and how perfect his speech is. He is brilliant to watch. But in the third act, his character's potential is wasted, and it was extremely disappointing that he did not have a significant role in that act. Much of that act's craziness may have been diluted had David been paired with Shaw (at least it would have made some of the superhuman feats plausible, as David really is that, a superhuman).
The film is stunning to watch. The images are truly spectacular, but have a very realistic feel to them. None of it felt CGIed, and that is fantastic. Even the aliens felt almost tangible. But the film is essentially lots of ideas and scenes put together, with the director hoping to make a cohesive whole of the same. It doesn't work. It feels like the makers really loved the characters of Shaw and David, but had to make up some collateral damage to make Shaw and David relevant. Bits of information about several characters are thrown at us, but none of it is used. Shaw's belief in the Engineers comes from the stories her father told her, but realistically, considering all the events of the film, it becomes meaningless to all but her character to hope that the Engineers will turn out the good guys.
Prometheus is more frustrating than enjoyable. A sequel is apparently being planned, hopefully it will start with explaining the events of this film, before adding more ingredients to the pot.
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