Prometheus Flies High!

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2012)

There is a scene at the beginning of Prometheus in which a solitary humanoid alien stands next to an enormous waterfall, drinks up a vial of viscous substance, retches, vomits, dies, and disintegrates. Now by this time you are only about a minute into the movie, and already you have a dozen questions playing around in your mind.
Ridley Scott has done it, yet again. He has made a magnificent film, and shows us why he was once at the helm of the greatest science-fiction ventures of the past generation.
What constitutes good science-fiction? Be it a movie or a book, the answer is 'intrigue'. While in many cases an allegory or even fears of present times, the ability to make its audience think and question determines the success of a sci-fi flick. Prometheus does it all the way through. It does not let you off the hook even once in its 124 minutes of running time. The two best things you can do about it is to watch it in 3D, because this is the best application of the technology I have ever seen, and to never compare it with Scott's own Alien (1979). Both are worlds apart, literally.
Whether or not this is a prequel to Alien is something every person in the audience has to judge for himself. In 2093, a trillion-dollar spaceship 'Prometheus' is headed to the unknown, following a 'star-map' that archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discovered among several unconnected ancient civilizations. They believe it leads to an advanced race of creatures that 'engineered' human beings.
Darwinism gets kicked in the rear, because I don't think anyone even as rich and old as Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) would have funded this trillion-dollar spaceflight if he did believe what his high-school biology teacher had taught him. So anyway, this crew that goes hunting for answers is lorded over by Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), the representative of Weyland Corporation with an agenda of her own. Janek (Idris Elba), the ship's captain is a no-nonsense guy who prefers common-sense and intuition over all the scientific mumbo-jumbo.
The most interesting character, though, is the android David (Michael Fassbender), who is for all his hardware and software, egoistic, insecure and fearless.
Prometheus lands next to what seems like dirt-tracks leading to a monolithic structure ("Nature makes no straight lines") and character development takes a backseat. The horrors are unleashed.
The poetry of it all is fascinating. You have people suffering horrible deaths, evil sneers, gooey aliens- the whole package but while events unfold, you just cannot ignore the backdrop of it all. The landscapes, the architecture, the inner chambers of the spaceship- which seem alien and yet so effortlessly brilliant. Scott weaves together fantastic visuals that cover up even the most mundane of dialogues (which there are many). Most importantly, the thrill of foreboding never leaves you. You don't know what's going to jump out of the shadows in the next scene, but you know something will.
The casting is spot-on; Theron and Fassbender dazzle in particular. The character played by Rapace has a lot on her plate to look anything but in pain and horror most of the time, but her transition from a curious, passionate scientist to a jaw-clenching, bleeding fighter is remarkable.
Earlier I said about this being the best application of 3D technology. That is because while other 3D movies have used it to shove it on your face, here the effect is mostly on the background; to give the illusion of depth more than anything else.
So there you have it, another Ridley Scott movie that screams "Girl Power!" and has a sound story to back it up. And believable characters. And stunning cinematography. And enough questions unanswered to pave way for the inevitable and eagerly awaited sequel.
Verdict: Go grab those 3D glasses.