Why Bother?

Rating: 3/10 (6 February 2014)

This is a deep movie -- profoundly deep. Or so it seems to believe. Lots of references to Christianity, where did we come from, who created the creatures who created us? Actually, the answer is rather simple. It came from Ridley Scott, the director of "ALien", and the team of hard-charging MBAs that realized that "Alien" had made a lot of money and had lasted through an infinity of sequels. This is a kind of chimera -- a mixture of "Alien" and one of its own later sequels.
It's copied and recopied, a thing of shreds and patches. And -- now, this is very important -- it's more expensive and has more impressive visual effects, although they may or may not make sense. Egs., if there was a windstorm on the planet in "Alien", which was a nice original touch, there is a huge and dangerous sandstorm in "Prometheus" that could have been copied from Turner's "Hannibal Crossing the Alps." If something popped out of somebody's gut -- ditto. Even the musical score echoes Howard Hanson's Romantic Symphony, although it's just hinted at, not quoted outright. We get more of Chopin here, as if classical music can possibly add class to a commercial abomination like this.
It's the kind of movie that is so weighty and abstruse that a viewer might get more out of a second viewing of it, if only the first time through hadn't left such a strong feeling that once was enough.
The ending sets us up for a sequel. Don't miss it.