Note: I try to do my reviews from the point of view of a movie loving person. Therefore, they are more detailed than the average person's thought of "good" or "bad." But they are also less detailed, and likely less critical than those from the point of view of a critic. I like to think that this gives a more accurate picture of the actual quality of the movie, a cross between a critic and a normal person.
Well, the day is here. Prometheus is out in the US, and for the first time in a long while, I went to a movie during its opening week. An even more rare event occurred, I splurged for the ridiculously expensive 3D version of the film.
I can say I do not regret either decision. And the headache I had after the movie was not caused by the cramp in my neck from keeping my head still to avoid the 3D glasses being pushed off my face by my regular glasses, but (I speculate) by the shear amount of awesome streaming off the screen and rattling my skull.
That's right, the movie is awesome. Incredible really. Easily top 10. Easily top 5. Probably top 3. But, let me not get ahead of myself. First up, the plot.
Well, the day is here. Prometheus is out in the US, and for the first time in a long while, I went to a movie during its opening week. An even more rare event occurred, I splurged for the ridiculously expensive 3D version of the film.
I can say I do not regret either decision. And the headache I had after the movie was not caused by the cramp in my neck from keeping my head still to avoid the 3D glasses being pushed off my face by my regular glasses, but (I speculate) by the shear amount of awesome streaming off the screen and rattling my skull.
That's right, the movie is awesome. Incredible really. Easily top 10. Easily top 5. Probably top 3. But, let me not get ahead of myself. First up, the plot.
The Plot
(Note: The movie is set in the future. It begins in the year 2089, but most of the action takes place in 2093.)
The movie follows a team sent to a distant solar system to search for the origins of human life on the moon of a planet in the solar system.
What gave them that idea? A map. No, an invitation (You'll get the joke when you watch the trailer, which is below.) They find many ancient cave paintings from civilizations that had no contact with each other, and they all show large human figure worshipping a pattern of dots. These dots turn out to be a star constellation, but one that is too far away to see with the human eye (They appear as one star, instead of many). How then, did these ancient people know about this constellation, and why were large people worshipping it?
One archeological/scientific couple, with names Elizabeth and Charlie, decides that it is an invitation from our creator. They convince a wealthy business man named Peter Weyland to sponsor an expedition to the only habitable body in the constellation, the moon of one of the planets.
It is not an easy task to get there. Indeed, it apparently cost over $1,000,000,000,000 to get them there.
(Buy the way, the trillion dollar ship (Called Prometheus) is just plain awesome.)
The movie then follows them as they discover quite a few mysteries and.... "things" on this moon.
I can't say much more about what happens without giving away a ton of stuff, but let's just say the above information, which sounds exciting, is nothing compared to the exciting-ness and general amazingness of the rest of the movie.
The Review
As you can probably tell from my intro paragraph, I think this movie is amazing. And I think it would be hard to not to.
Sure, if you don't like sci-fi (That's science fiction, Grandad) or action, you probably wouldn't like this movie, but then again, if you don't like either of those, what are you doing watching a sci-fi action movie in the first place?
The movie is filled with great action scenes, and incredible, creepy, and intense scenes (sometimes all at once). If you just watched the trailer below, you would think this is a horror movie. I assure you it is not.
There are some scenes that seem like they would fit in with a horror movie, but that is not the basis of this movie at all. Much of the movie is made up of non-scary/creepy scenes. But the scenes that are a little scary/creepy are so incredibly intense, that I think they add quite a bit to the movie.
The action scenes are incredible, the characters are good, and a couple of them are great. We don't develop close enough relationships with most of them to care much when they die (if they do die), but there is some level of connection with them.
The opening scene is so messed up and awesome. Truly incredible.
Another awesome thing about the movie is the way it tackles the subject of "meeting your maker" and the things, especially religious things, that go along with it. One of my favorite lines goes something like "I believe, what I want to believe."
For those of you wondering how this relates to the Alien universe. This movie started out as a prequel to Alien, but it is now not considered a prequel, per se.) Here is my spoiler free summary of how Prometheus relates to Alien and its sequels.
The movie takes place in the same universe as Alien, and it does explain some of the mythology of Alien, and also adds to it some, but it could easily stand as its own movie.
Also, I have watched Alien (and plan on watching the rest of the franchise), but this movie trumps Alien, at least in my opinion. This movie is much more epic and adventurous and creepy and scary and more seems to be at stake.
For those worried this movie will taint the awesomeness that is Alien, don't worry. It doesn't do that. In fact, it adds to the awesomeness.
As far as complaints go, there was a few pieces of obvious un-originality. The fact that aliens burst out of people's stomachs for instance, that was basically the central plot of Alien. Then again, this is supposed to take place in the same universe as Alien, so I guess that is forgivable.
Anther piece that annoyed me a little bit was Ridley Scott's love of (Minor spoilers) killing of all but one main character, then having a battle between the villain and the one guy left. (End Spoilers) This exact thing happened in Alien, and here it is again in Prometheus. While I understand this makes for a epic final battle, there are ways to do it that make it seem less like a copy.
Some of the characters were a little blah, but its hard to flesh out every character in two hours (and three minutes).
But neither of these destroyed the movie in any noticeable way, and it remains an epic masterpiece.
Oh, and a sequel potential? Let me just say this: There is a lot.
The Bottomline
The movie follows a team sent to a distant solar system to search for the origins of human life on the moon of a planet in the solar system.
What gave them that idea? A map. No, an invitation (You'll get the joke when you watch the trailer, which is below.) They find many ancient cave paintings from civilizations that had no contact with each other, and they all show large human figure worshipping a pattern of dots. These dots turn out to be a star constellation, but one that is too far away to see with the human eye (They appear as one star, instead of many). How then, did these ancient people know about this constellation, and why were large people worshipping it?
One archeological/scientific couple, with names Elizabeth and Charlie, decides that it is an invitation from our creator. They convince a wealthy business man named Peter Weyland to sponsor an expedition to the only habitable body in the constellation, the moon of one of the planets.
It is not an easy task to get there. Indeed, it apparently cost over $1,000,000,000,000 to get them there.
(Buy the way, the trillion dollar ship (Called Prometheus) is just plain awesome.)
The movie then follows them as they discover quite a few mysteries and.... "things" on this moon.
I can't say much more about what happens without giving away a ton of stuff, but let's just say the above information, which sounds exciting, is nothing compared to the exciting-ness and general amazingness of the rest of the movie.
As you can probably tell from my intro paragraph, I think this movie is amazing. And I think it would be hard to not to.
Sure, if you don't like sci-fi (That's science fiction, Grandad) or action, you probably wouldn't like this movie, but then again, if you don't like either of those, what are you doing watching a sci-fi action movie in the first place?
The movie is filled with great action scenes, and incredible, creepy, and intense scenes (sometimes all at once). If you just watched the trailer below, you would think this is a horror movie. I assure you it is not.
There are some scenes that seem like they would fit in with a horror movie, but that is not the basis of this movie at all. Much of the movie is made up of non-scary/creepy scenes. But the scenes that are a little scary/creepy are so incredibly intense, that I think they add quite a bit to the movie.
The action scenes are incredible, the characters are good, and a couple of them are great. We don't develop close enough relationships with most of them to care much when they die (if they do die), but there is some level of connection with them.
The opening scene is so messed up and awesome. Truly incredible.
Another awesome thing about the movie is the way it tackles the subject of "meeting your maker" and the things, especially religious things, that go along with it. One of my favorite lines goes something like "I believe, what I want to believe."
For those of you wondering how this relates to the Alien universe. This movie started out as a prequel to Alien, but it is now not considered a prequel, per se.) Here is my spoiler free summary of how Prometheus relates to Alien and its sequels.
The movie takes place in the same universe as Alien, and it does explain some of the mythology of Alien, and also adds to it some, but it could easily stand as its own movie.
Also, I have watched Alien (and plan on watching the rest of the franchise), but this movie trumps Alien, at least in my opinion. This movie is much more epic and adventurous and creepy and scary and more seems to be at stake.
For those worried this movie will taint the awesomeness that is Alien, don't worry. It doesn't do that. In fact, it adds to the awesomeness.
As far as complaints go, there was a few pieces of obvious un-originality. The fact that aliens burst out of people's stomachs for instance, that was basically the central plot of Alien. Then again, this is supposed to take place in the same universe as Alien, so I guess that is forgivable.
Anther piece that annoyed me a little bit was Ridley Scott's love of (Minor spoilers) killing of all but one main character, then having a battle between the villain and the one guy left. (End Spoilers) This exact thing happened in Alien, and here it is again in Prometheus. While I understand this makes for a epic final battle, there are ways to do it that make it seem less like a copy.
Some of the characters were a little blah, but its hard to flesh out every character in two hours (and three minutes).
But neither of these destroyed the movie in any noticeable way, and it remains an epic masterpiece.
Oh, and a sequel potential? Let me just say this: There is a lot.
The Bottomline
So, should you see Prometheus? Yes. Go now. It is filled with epic action, intense awesomeness, and an amazing story. You will literally be on the edge of your seat (unless you're leaning back trying to keep your 3D glasses on.) until the end, and then you will be like, "Oh God... was that, did she just... Ah man......"
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