Reviews Film / Prometheus

Decent, but the end was disappointing

Prometheus does not live up to the hype. That's not saying much - if it wasn't for the existence of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight movies, I would say it is impossible to live up to the hype surrounding this movie.

Setting aside expectations, the film is mostly very solid and enjoyable. Fans of the Alien franchise will appreciate the nods to the original quadrilogy and the explanation for just how the xenomorphs came to be.

In addition, Ridley Scott has successfully pulled off a remarkable balancing act by making the film just as enjoyable and entertaining for newcomers. If you haven't seen any of the Alien movies, Prometheus is perfectly accessible and understandable; mostly, fans and newcomers will enjoy and appreciate the movie in different ways, rather than one grououp enjoying it more than the other.

Acting is good throughout, and even though half the cast are playing different nationalities, there is never a problem with any of the accents, and Noomi Rapace even manages to pull of a decent Scottish accent; kudos.

However, there are also flaws. One gets the impression that religion and what it means to be human were intended to be important themes in the movie; while they do get some attention, they aren't really explored, which left me feeling a bit unsatisfied.

Secondly, reason for making the journey to the Engineers' planet is intended to tie into the aforementioned themes; however, it's done in such a way that it makes the reasoning behind the expedition look really weak.

Finally, the ending. Without spoiling too much, suffice it to say that we'll have to wait for a sequel if we want any of the questions to be answered.

Bottom line, should you see this film? In spite of its flaws, I would recommend it. While it's not the best scifi movie ever, it is still good, and ultimately does more right than it does wrong.