Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Micheal Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Benedict Wong, Kate Dickie, Emun Elliott, Vladimir Furdik, Ian Whyte, John Lebar, Patrick Wilson.
I remember leaving the cinema more than dissatisfied. I was actually angry and annoyed with the fact that Scott could take something which is pretty much his own and give us something that didn't make much sense. But thinking now, after a recent rewatch on Alien day, I don't think it was meant to. Many people left dissatisfied due to the many unanswered questions, but is that because we now live in a era where googling information and source immediate explanations? This is now, actually a really good science fiction film, like many others, it's purpose is to have you leave the film with questions. I also have to remind myself that Scott didn't make Aliens; and it feels like he's ignoring pretty much everything else that followed Alien. It's such, with the success of both the first two films and the knowledge of the poorly received sequels that came after. It's shocking to see Scott falling into the same trap. But I suppose this is all part of a bigger picture.
It's a prequel to Alien, set some thirty years prior to the events on LV-426. It's 2093 to be precise when a team of archaeologists discover an ancient star map that spurs a quest of knowledge, to find the origin of mankind's creation. And Weyland's pursuit of eternal life. I mention Weyland because agains the company figurehead still has that greedy hidden agenda just looming in the background, previously in the guise of Nostromo's Ash and the Weyland-Yutani's Burke in Aliens.
Scott returns to his Alien, but not in the same arena, it's a difference Planet LV-223 but what he returns to is the Space Jockey, giving the audiences a little more insight to the dead being from the original. When watching Alien it's easy to forget the mystery of what happened to the space jockey and Scott appears to shed some light on the matter and it appears they're not so alien to us after all.
What's really annoyingly confusing is that you leave with more questions than answers, which is obviously, purposefully done. There's conflicting theories on what and who everything is, the purpose of the engineers, or as what Scott refers to as Dark Angels. Is Vickers a robot? Scott's answer in an interview that "there maybe two" with the word "maybe" being nothing more than a hint.
The story and history of the Alien isn't what I was expecting and whilst it tries to be clever or original it seemed to overdo it, taking the ingenious, iconic species and turning it into something else. The fundamental characteristics are there but there's been some unwelcome changes. The original evolution of the alien is already brilliant and to over embellish it has made it messy.
There's a great cast here, with Rapace taking lead as the spiritual Dr. Elizabeth Shaw who's seeking answers, possibly God himself. Theron plays her part as the company's uber bitch brilliantly, but what's with Elba's unnecessary accent? Most films explain away actor's noticeable accents like in Van Damme and Schwarzenegger movies, but here, all most of the cast gets to keep their accent where it's unexplained why Elba has to have an American one and a rubbish one at that.
But the biggest character is David 8, superbly played by Fassbender. The prodigal and dangerously ambitious android who appears to have a lot of curiosity and questions of his own. We have to remind ourselves that he is the first one, the Adam of androids of you like, before Ash and Bishop; ignoring Cal and the end of Alien3
You can't fault Scott's imagery and vision, though I believe he's failed in using CGI instead of the original animatronics. It's more believable and scary when it's actually there. But in his defence, it isn't all CGI. Maybe he's overdone it, convoluting the story way too much and maybe not in an attempt to dazzle audience but for own self gratification. I get the feeling Scott didn't care much for the fans and wanted to make "his" alien film the way he wanted it.
I think what I wanted from this film was an Alien/Aliens film, using the key elements of both and putting them together and I was hoping that wouldn't be a tall wish with Ridley Scott behind the camera. But instead we're given something else, not wholly different, but definitely something else and maybe too much more. All of this making it hard to fit in with the previous films regardless of the technological advances. I find it hard to get my head around the fact that Prometheus is set 30 years prior to Alien making it 60 years before Aliens.
I just think we should have been leaving the cinema saying something like "awesome" or "amazing" instead of coming out aggressively asking "Why? Why? Why?"
Running Time: 7
The Cast: 8
Performance: 8
Direction: 8
Story: 4
Script: 6
Creativity: 5
Soundtrack: 7
Job Description: 2
The Extra Bonus Point: -10 for ruining a perfectly good species "You Scott, I don't know which species is worse, You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage."
Would I buy the Blu-ray?: Already do.
45% 5/10
