An Alien by any other name...

Rating: 6/10 (4 July 2012)

When director Ridley Scott (Alien and Blade runner) does a science fiction film, it is an event. The film takes us 70 years in the future aboard the space vessel Prometheus en route to an unknown planet which is believed to harbour a mystery highly sought after. The parallels with Alien are numerous. In many ways, this story is the un-admitted prequel to Alien with the added bonus of some explanations. Alien was high on horror and anticipation, but lacking in information and motivation.
In both films, space exploration is in the hands of private enterprise which subjugates scientific rigour to megalomania. When Alien came to the screens, I remember finding this omnipresence of Capitalism in space exploration far-fetched. Today, I must admit that we are headed in that direction and speedily at that. Just think of the space tourists. We again find a lactated android who keeps vital information from the crew and follows his own agenda. It is highly unlikely that a dozen people sent far into space would not have access to vital information. Smoking is still a habit in this near future although in sharp decline today, except maybe in Asia, which will surely come around in the next 70 years. Again we find a strong heroine. In Alien she was called Ripley, her she is Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace. We remember her as the ground breaking heroine Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium series (the Swedish version). Probably one of Scott's inside jokes, Rapace's character is named Elizabeth Shaw. The resemblance between the two names is too great for a coincidence. More than 30 years after Alien, a reprise of similar movie effects and storyline does not move today's audiences as before. There are many characters in this film that lack development. We are all together surprised when these illustrious unknowns do the ultimate sacrifice. There will be a sequel no doubt, the ending leads us on.