Prometheus - a worthy entry to the Alien saga?

"The search for our beginning could lead to our end"



Finally came the day that another decent Alien movie stepped in broad daylight. How to continue the series was talked about a long time and after years of speculations it finally turned out to be Prometheus, directed by the original Alien (1979) director Ridley Scott. Prometheus could actually be called Alien 0 since it's basically the origins story to the original quadrilogy. However it still remains mostly as a stand-alone film since it isn't dependent on the other films and neither is the viewer. And by this I mean you don't need to see the original films if you are not interested. Prometheus focuses on a group of scientists and their team investigating the origins of mankind and the trail to answers leads to a desolate planet far, far from earth. And as expected, they're not alone and definitely not safe...

Since Ridley Scott announced that Prometheus will be an indirect prequel to Alien the expectations towards the film raised from high to extreme. When the first photos and teaser hit the web I was already partly sold. And when the official trailer was finally released it really caught my attention. Audio visually it looked amazing (and it was). The atmosphere seemed to be in sync with Alien and actors chosen for the movie were great choices. Though being really excited about the material I saw I tried to keep my cool since rarely films live up to the expectations given out by stylished trailers nowadays.

For most parts Prometheus is pretty Alien but it has it flaws which makes it the third best film in the series after Alien and Aliens. The best part of Prometheus is definitely the whole visual outlook. It looks simply amazing. I can't remember seeing a movie this beautfiul for a while. And realistic special effects have become more rare nowadays than ever before and this is what Prometheus and the crew behind the film kept in mind. The CGI in this film is magnificent and used as less as possible.

Most of the the actors are also quite good, Fassbender and Noomi Rapace stand out from the crowd. What I found hard to understand was why Scott made many of the characters so unilateral and dare I say out loud, even boring? I would have loved to see more complex characters. But even that wasn't the biggest problem which I had with the film.

The film is supposed to be dark and ominous but somehow the score of the film is almost cheerful at times and not ominous at all. Also some typical cliches, mostly dealing with the characters can be seen. You laugh to the jokes but they don't really explore new terrains. And lastly, the ending is quite of a mix. At the moment I can't say whether I love it but I definitely like it since it was something I didn't expect. It also leaves room for a possible sequel and I don't mean Alien series by it.

All in all Prometheus IS a great film and a worthy entry to the Alien saga. It has a pretty good, though a little bit cliched, screenplay.  Awesome actors playing one-sided characters as best as they can and audio-visually it is a pure masterpiece. It's truly a feast for the eyes! If it wouldn't have been an entry in one of the most respected series in the world I would have probably found it even better.


"Prometheus has landed"

* * * ½ / * * * * *


Ps:  Reviewer is going to check it out again after rewatching the original quadrilogy.