In space no one can hear you
scream, but in a movie hall everyone can hear you sigh in disappointment. That
is a real shame because Ridley Scott’s big return to science fiction has as
tame a climax as it has an incredible buildup.
Scott’s Alien and the James Cameron sequel Aliens aren’t just seminal films – they are sacred entities for
millions and millions of movie geeks all over the world. Prometheus, which began as a prequel to Alien and then ‘evolved’ into a completely different storyline ends
up devolving into the original film and decades of sci fi clichés. The film is
infuriating not only because of its constant reliance on Alien to validate itself, but because after a very promising
two-thirds it mutilates itself into a chasm much like the character in the
opening scene. It throws a volley of themes like Creationism and Darwinism and
grabs you by the finger to take you to the secret room containing the secrets
of the universe, only to sneer mischievously and pull the rug under you.
Prometheus, which was spoiled entirely in the trailer, introduces
us to Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green)
who discover ancient cave paintings in a Scottish island in the year 2089 – the
two quickly realize that the maps within the paintings would lead them to the
answers to the origins of mankind. Fast forward four years, Shaw and Holloway embark
on a mission funded by the mysterious Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) to explore planet
LV-223 aboard the ship Prometheus - a name derived from a Greek titan who dared
to bridge the gap between humans and the gods and suffered a horrible fate. All
kinds of hell breaks loose once the crew lands on the planet, as the ‘where did
humans come from?’ quickly turns into ‘does it even matter’.
As interesting as that premise
is, Prometheus in its attempt to juggle between Creationism and
Darwinism fails to focus on narrative and character. One of the dozens of
brilliant things about Alien was that
the crew was comprised of simple engineers who indulge in effortless banter and
face a nightmare in their own ship. The characters eat lunch and bitch about
their salaries – it made them relatable and believable and made us root for them
when the Xenomorph attacked. Prometheus sadly
comprises of the stock wide-eyed scientists and corporate scumbags who were
seen in Aliens and many, many other sci
fi films over the past two decades. Not only do the smart and sophisticated
scientists in Prometheus behave like blonde
teens in a slasher movie but they also mouth some of the worst ever dialogue. One
botanist says ‘I ain’t here to make friends’ while a geologist says ‘I just love
rocks!’. And when a scientist spots a strange creature staring at them, he acts
in the most unscientific way possible by going all koochi-koo and proceeding to
touch it with his hands. Later, when a circular ship crashes and rolls on the ground
threatening to crush the two supposedly bright people, they run along the path
of the wheel for two whole minutes instead of moving aside.
The lead heroine is a rubbery wad
of contradictions as well – Shaw is a scientist on a trillion dollar space mission
to locate the source of human life, because of her ‘faith’. Moreover, the
conflict between faith and science is handled in a hilariously bad manner here,
with close-ups of Shaw’s cross dangling from her neck. Then there is Charlize
Theron as Meredith Vickers, an antagonistic Weyland boss who exists in the film
mainly to perform semi-naked pushups. Theron’s character adds absolutely nothing
to film, even despite the major plot twist involving her in the third act. There
is also Idris Elba as the ship’s captain who is bland enough to warrant a red Star
Trek shirt. However Prometheus belongs
to the android David (Michael Fassbender) who is somewhat modeled after Peter
O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. Ironically,
the non-human David is the brains and heart of Prometheus and Fassbender is just excellent in his role.
Prometheus poses more questions than answers, and the sequel bait
at the climax, though frustrating, gives way to a potential trilogy that would
be more than welcome. Nitpicking the bad characterization and lack of a solid
story doesn’t take away from some meaty dissection of the film. Apart from the
extraordinary sets and 3D cinematography, Prometheus
presents a very interesting theme of fatherhood, a polar opposite of the
motherhood leitmotif of the Alien films.
One character is left to deal with the trauma of its father being physically
absent, while the father of another is emotionally absent. Another character manipulates
a man into regarding him as his surrogate father. Everyone in the film is on a
quest to meet the father of mankind, on a ship named after the one who fathered
mankind. The final scene of the film offers an even bigger reference to this
theme. Strangely, the same theme of abandoned fatherhood works for Ridley Scott,
who created the Alien universe and
then ran away, only to return years later and is now unable to mend a 32-year-old
child intellectually broken by the scars of Alien
3, Alien Resurrection and the Predator
crossover movies.
(First published in MiD Day)
