PROMETHEUS - archive from 8th June 2012.

Saw 'PROMETHEUS' last night on opening night, and then about a week later had to go and see it again, because I liked it that much! From the breathtaking opening sequence to the 'reveal' in the closing seconds this movie delivers in spades! Sir Ridley Scott's first return to the genre he made his own thirty years ago with 'Blade Runner' and 'Alien' this sees Scott back to form and once again establishes the great man as a master storyteller and moviemaker.




Set 35 years before the ill fated story of the 'Nostromo' in 'Alien', this tells the story leading up to the events of that film towards the end of the 21st Century. The spaceship 'Prometheus' follows a star map uncovered buried deep within the rocks off some remote Scottish island, that also resembles various other similar ancient inscriptions discovered from other unconnected civilisations and cultures. Believing these to be an 'invitation' to discover the origins of humanity a very wealthy industrialist funds an expedition to a distant moon that the inscriptions seem to be leading to. In 2093 the 'Prometheus' lands on the distant moon - its crew awakens from stasis, and soon afterwards discover an artificial structure that once seemed to support life, but now appears extinct, and in the process discover too the proof positive origins of mankind on Earth.

Or is everything quite what it seems? Of course not! What follows is right out of Scott's 'Alien' playbook as he ramps up the tension, the crew gradually get killed off by something that cannot be seen at first and before confronting the real terror, manifested in grand scale, of what they have uncovered. As the film progresses you will see links to the follow-on film , 'Alien' remembering that this is a 'prequel' and set 30 or so years before Sigourney Weaver did battle in outer space where no one can hear you scream! Naturally the up to date CGI and on-screen graphics make this a visual treat not seen in the previous 'Alien' instalments that relied on tension, scare tactics, shock and awe . . . but did it convincingly nonetheless (at least in 'Alien' and 'Aliens' before the franchise started to go off the rails!)

A great cast, that stars Noomi Rapace (archaeologist Elizabeth Shaw), Charlize Theron (as Meredith Vickers monitoring the expedition on behalf of the Weyland Corporation who are funding it), Michael Fassbender (as David the android, butler and maintenance man of the ship - almost unrecognisable as non-human and highly intelligent), Guy Pearce (almost unrecognisable in his make-up as the billionaire founder of Weyland Corporation, Peter Weyland, and playing both the younger and much older character), and Idris Elba (as Janek, the Captain of the Prometheus).

Visually stunning, suspense, action, attention to detail (check out David's fingerprint) and a solid story of survival moves this along at a great pace. Watch it on the big screen . . . and then see it again! Could be the best movie of the year so far, and proving almost conclusively that Ridley Scott is the master of big screen epic Sci-Fi . . . sharing the crown perhaps with James Cameron!

This film cost about US$130M to make and brought in a very respectable US$404M at the global Box Office making it a bonafide success, with talk of a sequel, which has been muted several times by both Scott and Fox Studio's, with a script well in the works, but as yet no production schedule or release date announced.The film picked up five award wins and 32 other nominations around the world including an Academy Award and BAFTA nomination for Best Visual Effects. A worthy entry to the 'Alien' canon!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-