"Prometheus" - More questions than answers...

Rating: 8/10 (30 November 2012)

Prometheus - "A Titan in Greek legend who steals fire from heaven as a gift for man" (Websters Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, 1965)
With Ridley Scott's 2012 futuristic science fiction adventure-thriller "Prometheus" (his first sci-fi film since the 1982 science fiction landmark "Blade Runner"), the audience gets more questions than answers - even though one of the movie's tag-lines is, "Questions will be answered." Heavily touted early on as a prequel of sorts to Scott's equally ground-breaking sci-fi/horror masterpiece "Alien" (1979), "Prometheus" IS more or less - mostly less, but also a little bit more - a prequel to "Alien," while also leaving an open-ended conclusion that will spin more sequels to the prequel that supposedly started the whole thing in the first place.
"Prometheus" is a visual marvel; this cannot be denied by anyone watching the movie with an open mind (and with their eyes pried wide open). Scott has always been a strong, masterful visual filmmaker; most filmmakers can have a strong visual sense, but weak story-telling capabilities. Scott, always the strong visual-lover, remember, tells a sweeping existentialist tale regarding questions about humanity's origins (including our potential beginnings in the stars), the role of God in the equation (if any, really), meeting your maker (a central theme in Scott's earlier "Blade Runner"), and why a creator would ultimately want to destroy the creation that they labored so hard to create. But again, Scott's "Prometheus" may only leave the audience even MORE confused than BEFORE they went in.
"Prometheus" begins with a sweeping panoramic view of what is presumably an alien planet that looks remarkably a lot like Earth, backed with a majestic orchestral overture by composer Mark Streitenfeld (who's serviceable, but he's no Jerry Goldsmith - may he rest in peace - who composed the moody, atmospheric, and ominous ground-breaking score for Scott's earlier "Alien"). This opening sequence by itself may be worth the ticket price alone, but it also presents the first of many unanswered head-shakers in a movie that will no doubt have you glued to your seat, but also shaking your head in confusion most of the time.
Flash forward thousands of years into the future to 2089 (77 years from now - I did the math!), where it introduces us to its principal players, archaeologists and lovers Drs. Elizabeth Shaw (Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, from the original Swedish-language "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green). The two have discovered the latest in a set of ancient cave paintings that they believe confirms their competing theories on the extraterrestrial beginnings of all life on Earth.
They also pose an interesting (if all too obvious) dichotomy that has hounded humans since the beginning of time: Shaw believes in God almost as much as she does science, while Holloway is a staunch supporter of Charles Darwin. Anyway, they manage to find themselves (with 15 others), four years later, on the scientific research vessel - overseen by chilly corporate head honcho Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) - the "Prometheus" of the title, which is traveling to an unknown planet in an undisclosed region in the darkest reaches of outer space. Of course their natural scientific curiosity compels them to search the planet for any signs of life (which also harks back to the vaguely sexual, bio-mechanical architectural set-designs by "Alien's" Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger), and eventually uncovering a horrifying secret that has the potential to wipe out all life on Earth as we know it.
I'll say that as a fond admirer of "Alien" (though I personally prefer James Cameron's superior 1986 sequel, "Aliens"), "Prometheus" is one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of the year for me. From the opening moments, I was hooked just to see where it would go. I knew from the previews that things were going to get gory and scary eventually, so I was not worried about a potentially disappointing third act here. I guess what ultimately did disappoint me were the unanswered questions that would presumably link this movie to "Alien."
I presume a director's cut is on the way eventually (since Scott has a funny habit of re-cutting some of his most well-known works), but then I remember reading somewhere that this is unlikely, for whatever reasons Scott has in mind. I think that if a director's cut were to be released, it would answer some of the unanswered questions that will no doubt be confounding viewers for many more years to come, but it will also make the movie make more sense. I know a wealth of material ultimately did not make it into the final film, and I'm sure it'll make some things (like some of the character's questionable actions and motivations and the exact origins of the extraterrestrial threat) much clearer.
There may be one or two breakout performances here (Noomi Rapace being the most likely), but the film's real stand-out proves to be the android servant David (Michael Fassbender), who studies to learn how to be human by mostly watching old movies. The predecessor to Ian Holm's traitorous android Ash in "Alien" and Lance Henriksen's enigmatic Bishop in "Aliens," you're utterly convinced by Fassbender's subtly remarkable performance that will no doubt spark calls for an Oscar nomination. His acting also recalls "Star Trek" (2009) and "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) in his robotic expressiveness that makes him appear more human and empathetic than some of the other characters that we KNOW are obviously human.
"Prometheus" does boast one of the strongest visual senses of any big-budget Hollywood movie I've seen this year. I'm unsure if it's truly Ridley Scott's much-fabled return to the genre that made him such a prominent name in the film industry. His return to sci-fi is not a triumphant one, but a confounding one, as I'm sure anyone looking for a definitive connection to "Alien" will most definitely have to wait for another sequel to the original prequel.
8/10