‘Sometimes to create, one must first destroy.’
The Alien franchise has certainly had a rough ride since Aliens in 1986. Whilst I am personally a fan of Alien 3 (in some capacity), it could be argued that the franchise ran out of ideas following James Cameron’s much beloved sequel. The idea of a fifth mainline Alien film had been in the works since before 1997’s Alien Resurrection started production, with franchise creator Ridley Scott eager to return. With Fox’s focus shifting towards the Alien vs Predator films for the 00’s, Alien 5 would be put on ice, but Scott and Cameron continued to throw ideas around pertaining to the new entry to the franchise and ultimately settled on a prequel. After the release of Aliens vs Predator Requiem, Fox once again were interested in financing an Alien film, with Scott poised to return as director. But whilst Scott and his team of writers had informed Fox that this ‘prequel’ would be more of a standalone story within the world of Alien, Fox were too busy promoting the film as a prequel to Scott’s 1979 classic. Of course, this was then met with a mixed response when the film released in 2012 and bore little resemblance or connection to Alien…so ten years later I’m here to defend Prometheus and explain why I think it’s actually one of the best films in the franchise.
Following the discovery of cave drawings in Scotland, archaeologists Dr Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) embark on a mission financed by the Weyland Corporation in the hopes of making contact with the creators of humanity. Traveling aboard the ship Prometheus, Shaw, Holloway, and the rest of the crew soon discover that humanity wasn’t the only thing this alien race created.
Following the discovery of cave drawings in Scotland, archaeologists Dr Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) embark on a mission financed by the Weyland Corporation in the hopes of making contact with the creators of humanity. Traveling aboard the ship Prometheus, Shaw, Holloway, and the rest of the crew soon discover that humanity wasn’t the only thing this alien race created.
Where Alien was a small-scale horror film about a group of space miners that were hunted down by a vicious alien monster, Prometheus is instead a grand philosophical thriller that dwells on the ideas of creationism, specifically in the sense of whether it is wrong that humanity demands answers from their creators.
As film critic Mark Kermode pointed out in his review of the film, it’s got a lot more in common with Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner than it does Alien. It’s got bigger ideas than just sticking a murderous alien in a confined space with a bunch of nobodies, it wants to ask big questions and ponder on things greater than our understanding of the universe.
I remember being going to watch Prometheus at the cinema and I remember thoroughly enjoying it. I knew almost nothing about the film, and it wasn’t until I saw Peter Weyland (Guy Ritchie) rock up around ten minutes into the film that I even realised this was linked to Alien. I also distinctly remember walking out of the film and my friend stating, ‘That was a rubbish Alien film’. At the time I defended the film pointing out all of the great things about it, but as time has worn on and I think about what he said, he’s actually right. Prometheus is a rubbish Alien film, but that’s because it isn’t really an Alien film at all.
If we’re going to talk what Prometheus really does wrong, it’s leave so much of its plot and the questions it poses unanswered. The first half of the film presents a lot of big philosophical questions surrounding creationism and theology, but the second half does begin to lean more into its Alien roots as the crew begin to get killed off in various gruesome ways. The problem is that because Prometheus starts to shift its attention towards action in its second half, the intelligence of the first half gets packed away neatly for a sequel to go back to (that ultimately never happened…at least not in the way Prometheus fans wanted). The film then ends in a way that screams sequel bait and depending on how much you liked the action it can leave you feeling a little undersold. I have a feeling that Fox may have wanted the action to take precedent in the second half, but had Scott & co. had their way the film would have been considerably less concerned about thrills and entirely focused on its central themes.
As film critic Mark Kermode pointed out in his review of the film, it’s got a lot more in common with Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner than it does Alien. It’s got bigger ideas than just sticking a murderous alien in a confined space with a bunch of nobodies, it wants to ask big questions and ponder on things greater than our understanding of the universe.
I remember being going to watch Prometheus at the cinema and I remember thoroughly enjoying it. I knew almost nothing about the film, and it wasn’t until I saw Peter Weyland (Guy Ritchie) rock up around ten minutes into the film that I even realised this was linked to Alien. I also distinctly remember walking out of the film and my friend stating, ‘That was a rubbish Alien film’. At the time I defended the film pointing out all of the great things about it, but as time has worn on and I think about what he said, he’s actually right. Prometheus is a rubbish Alien film, but that’s because it isn’t really an Alien film at all.
If we’re going to talk what Prometheus really does wrong, it’s leave so much of its plot and the questions it poses unanswered. The first half of the film presents a lot of big philosophical questions surrounding creationism and theology, but the second half does begin to lean more into its Alien roots as the crew begin to get killed off in various gruesome ways. The problem is that because Prometheus starts to shift its attention towards action in its second half, the intelligence of the first half gets packed away neatly for a sequel to go back to (that ultimately never happened…at least not in the way Prometheus fans wanted). The film then ends in a way that screams sequel bait and depending on how much you liked the action it can leave you feeling a little undersold. I have a feeling that Fox may have wanted the action to take precedent in the second half, but had Scott & co. had their way the film would have been considerably less concerned about thrills and entirely focused on its central themes.
That being said, I think Prometheus is a very good film, and one of the strongest entries in the Alien franchise. I love science fiction for the big ideas it has, and the exploration of what it means to be human in such an expansive universe. Prometheus hits that nail on the head, and seeing the team uncover the history of how humanity came to be and discussing what it means to understand the origins of one’s creation is, at least for me, really engaging.
Prometheus doesn’t just concern itself with the creation of humanity however, but also humanity’s creation of life in the form of synthetic androids. David (Michael Fassbender) is an android, similar to Ash & Bishop from Alien and Aliens. David has his own disillusionments about humanity as his creators, as the human characters begin to have about their creators over the course of the film. There’s a great scene where Charlie and David are talking David voices his dissatisfaction with simply existing just because humanity had the capacity to create him, and would Charlie feel that same dissatisfaction if his creators said the same. These kinds of questions are part of what makes Prometheus so enjoyable.
Speaking of Fassbender, his performance is the one that stands out the most in Prometheus. He really manages to toe the neutral line very well in that he does both good and bad things, often to serve his own philosophical quest. For example, he is arguably the reason that everything starts to go to sideways because of his interference with alien artefacts. He also intentionally puts some characters in harm’s way to further his own understanding, but at other times he is extremely helpful and sympathetic towards the humans around him. Fassbender is extremely robotic in the role, cold and clinical, but it rather than feeling wooden it works perfectly.
Rapace is another standout, carrying the majority of the film on her shoulders. She’s not quite as strong a lead as Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, but she brings to the role both a sense of wonderous naivety and also great wisdom. A tough balancing act but she does manage it very well.
Then of course there’s Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers, the mission leader who represents Weyland Corp. Theron is great in everything, so it comes as no surprise to say that she’s also good in Prometheus. But I really liked how Theron managed to give Vickers this really hard and cold outer shell whilst it’s quite evident that underneath she’s only ever sought approval and respect. She manages this without ever letting that cold façade slip, but just in her body language or the way she delivers a line it’s clear that what she has said actually has much deeper meaning that it initially seems.
Prometheus doesn’t just concern itself with the creation of humanity however, but also humanity’s creation of life in the form of synthetic androids. David (Michael Fassbender) is an android, similar to Ash & Bishop from Alien and Aliens. David has his own disillusionments about humanity as his creators, as the human characters begin to have about their creators over the course of the film. There’s a great scene where Charlie and David are talking David voices his dissatisfaction with simply existing just because humanity had the capacity to create him, and would Charlie feel that same dissatisfaction if his creators said the same. These kinds of questions are part of what makes Prometheus so enjoyable.
Speaking of Fassbender, his performance is the one that stands out the most in Prometheus. He really manages to toe the neutral line very well in that he does both good and bad things, often to serve his own philosophical quest. For example, he is arguably the reason that everything starts to go to sideways because of his interference with alien artefacts. He also intentionally puts some characters in harm’s way to further his own understanding, but at other times he is extremely helpful and sympathetic towards the humans around him. Fassbender is extremely robotic in the role, cold and clinical, but it rather than feeling wooden it works perfectly.
Rapace is another standout, carrying the majority of the film on her shoulders. She’s not quite as strong a lead as Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, but she brings to the role both a sense of wonderous naivety and also great wisdom. A tough balancing act but she does manage it very well.
Then of course there’s Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers, the mission leader who represents Weyland Corp. Theron is great in everything, so it comes as no surprise to say that she’s also good in Prometheus. But I really liked how Theron managed to give Vickers this really hard and cold outer shell whilst it’s quite evident that underneath she’s only ever sought approval and respect. She manages this without ever letting that cold façade slip, but just in her body language or the way she delivers a line it’s clear that what she has said actually has much deeper meaning that it initially seems.
Prometheus also looks amazing. Ridley Scott really is a great visual storyteller and each frame of Prometheus is filled with history and interesting details. Along with cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, Scott presents arguably the best-looking film in the entire Alien franchise. Big environment shots go down a real treat, but even inside the confines of the Prometheus and the alien structure they investigate all ooze with style.
Marc Streitenfield’s score is suitably epic in scale, and whilst I can appreciate that it really does lend some moments a lot of gravitas, sometimes it left me wanting something slightly more restrained. A smaller orchestra perhaps, something that sounds less momentous. I suppose that Prometheus is all about wonder and discovery, but arguably the film was at its most effective when there was no score.
Prometheus is a film that I feel gets a lot of undeserved flak. It was never intended to be a full-on prequel to Alien, and so if you go in with that understanding there’s a lot to enjoy there. However, the links it does present to the franchise are so blindingly obvious that you can’t help but feel that they often get in the way. If, however you go in wanting an Alien film then you are absolutely going to leave disappointed, and as I’ve already explained, it’s because it’s just not that kind of film.
Great ideas, great performances, and great visual design, Prometheus is overall a really good film that is bogged down by franchise commitments, something that would plague its sequel even more.
Marc Streitenfield’s score is suitably epic in scale, and whilst I can appreciate that it really does lend some moments a lot of gravitas, sometimes it left me wanting something slightly more restrained. A smaller orchestra perhaps, something that sounds less momentous. I suppose that Prometheus is all about wonder and discovery, but arguably the film was at its most effective when there was no score.
Prometheus is a film that I feel gets a lot of undeserved flak. It was never intended to be a full-on prequel to Alien, and so if you go in with that understanding there’s a lot to enjoy there. However, the links it does present to the franchise are so blindingly obvious that you can’t help but feel that they often get in the way. If, however you go in wanting an Alien film then you are absolutely going to leave disappointed, and as I’ve already explained, it’s because it’s just not that kind of film.
Great ideas, great performances, and great visual design, Prometheus is overall a really good film that is bogged down by franchise commitments, something that would plague its sequel even more.