Never have I anticipated a film as much as Prometheus, I viewed the various trailers more times than I care to mention, I read all of the discussions on the internet forums, I read all of the magazine features. So lets just say I expected a lot from this film, and perhaps its my fault that I left the cinema a little disappointed.
Prometheus is set in the future where a group of explorers travel to a planet in another corner of the universe after discovering cave paintings dating back to various times of Earth's history. The paintings are deemed to be an invitation by lead Character and archaeologist Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Sean Harris).
Prometheus is the name of the spaceship in the film, which is travelling to a planet called LV223 The cast are assembled quickly and introduced beginning with the Android David 8 (Michael Fassbender) who plays the role brilliantly from start to finish, the other lead characters are introduced when they awake from their cyro sleep chambers. We have pilot Janek (Idris Elba), Fifield (Sean Harris) and Millburn (Rafe Spall). And the cold corporate employee Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron).
One of the first shots of them together is when they are all eating together, its reminiscent of a scene in Alien, but that's where the similarities end, although Prometheus is set in the same universe and a few other minor homages, they share very little in terms of content and success.
Visually Prometheus is astounding, whether its the main spacecraft entering the orbit of LV223, the holographic images or the star maps, it is wonder to the eyes, especially in an IMAX screen.
The first two thirds of the film is paced very well, the audience is introduced to the surroundings of the film and we move closer to the premise of the film which has been tentatively built up to. But then it suddenly goes a bit off the tracks and falls into a bit of a downward rolloercoaster of a mess.
Without giving much away the death toll quickly adds up under disastrous circumstances, but none of it has much effect because most of the characters have so little depth you don't care much for them, in fact the only two characters with any substance are Shaw and the magnificient android David.
The various monsters in the film seem unimaginative and lacking screen presence, one particuarly looks as though it belongs in another movie althogether.
But its not entirely bad, Prometheus is a very watchable and enjoyable film that will hold your attention until the final credits, and the film deserves credit for atleast trying to deal with complex issues such as the relationship between lifes creators, it unashamedly tries to be more than just a Sci-Fi horror film. But in the end it falls on its own pretense.
Prometheus is worth watching, it neither amazes or dissappoints, and you will come out of the cinema with more questions than answers. If you go see it, see it on an IMAX screen for the better experience.
3/5
