Few could argue against Dan O'Bannon's original story, and screenplay in 1979, being one of the best sci-fi ideas there has been, nor could you argue against Ridley Scott's interpretation being up there as one of the best directed films ever, let alone in the sci-fi genre. It makes you wonder, if at the time, they knew what they had created, whether they realised that 40 years later they would have created one of the biggest dynasties in film history.
In my opinion, only Star Wars and Marvel as sagas could be considered to surpass what they achieved, yet if you take into account that the Alien saga is mostly R-rated, certainly not suitable for kids and teenage audiences, then I would argue that it holds its own against these two giants of movie franchises.
Given the impact that the Quadrilogy has had over the years, with its strong female lead and revolutionary enemy in the Xenomorph, it is unsurprising that in this era of remakes and reinventions there would be the desire to explore an origin story of this most famous of alien species.
After 33 years we have Prometheus and a return of Ridley Scott to the franchise. Like everyone who loves the Quadrilogy, I was genuinely excited by his return. Now I know some fellow film enthusiasts feel that 'Aliens' is the best but I am not one of those people (cause quite frankly those people are wrong), the fact Scott was returning was a good sign for me. That being said I am not going to lie and say Prometheus is up there with the original film, quite simply its not, and much like the sequel argument (no sequel is better then the original) I have yet to believe that a prequel is better then its predecessor.
'I think they want us to come and find them' - Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace)
Straight off the bat the basis of the film is set, we are introduced to an unknown biped humanoid alien being who suddenly dies from a molecular breakdown. What follows is the discovery of pre-ancient cave drawings showing our origins on earth and that these origins are in fact from further depths of the universe; thus begins the search for our creators.
Like all space travel films there is the need for the crew to travel in stasis with an artificial intelligence of some description being the custodian of both ship and crew. This is the introduction of David (Michael Fassbender) who, it is clear from the offset, is a synthetic and clearly a predecessor to 'Ash'. We see him patrolling the ship, passing the time and beginning to model himself on Peter O'Toole's portrayal of T.E Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, both in looks and verbalisation; thus begins the quest to become more human.
We reach the plot destination quickly with all character introductions kept brief and quick, within 30 minutes we arrive at the planet of the creators or 'Engineers' as they are to become known. To be honest the unfolding of the story never really slows and it all seems very unnecessarily fast paced. Where there was an opportunity to be smart about this origin story it all feels a bit rushed which has resulted in a number of missed opportunities in my opinion. There was the chance to make a pre-trilogy that really complimented and enhanced the Quadrilogy, but sadly it has been missed.
Michael Fassbender is exceptional as David who, as an earlier model synthetic, is more able to adapt, able to learn and able to explore more theological thoughts. Fassbender plays this mix of AI and childlike desire to absorb the world around him perfectly. It's this naivety that endears you to the well spoken, polite, synthetic version of T.E Lawrence. I am yet to come across a film that I actually think Fassbender is bad in and here he certainly lives up to the hype he has been given over the years.
'There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing' - David (Michael Fassbender)
The captain of the Prometheus, Janek, is played by Idris Elba who as always acts with his usual calmness and swagger. My only issue is not of Elba's making and is something I will never understand about film making. Why Janek (Elba) is American is beyond me, there is no real advantage or reasoning for him to be so, and the insistence of casting non-American actors into roles then asking for an American accent, for no real reason, is something I don't think I will get my head around, but Elba nonetheless plays his part spot on.
'Whatever that probe is picking up, it's a lifeform' - Janek (Idris Elba)
As ever with the Alien franchise we have strong female authority figures and leaders, played by Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron. I wouldn't say either of the parts are exceptionally well written but they are very good performances by both actors, with both having their moments to shine and perform excellently. I don't want to enter the political minefield that is gender equality in movies, but one thing you have to say is the Alien Saga has always stuck with the strong female lead who ultimately saves the day in some capacity.
Further from this we have Guy Pearce and the rest of the ensemble cast, who I'll be honest are just fillers to the film. Pearce plays the entrepreneurial Peter Weyland, who built the corporation for space travel, and is quite aptly the creator of 'David'. There isn't really much scope for Pearce to develop his character to any great extent and as I say along with the rest of the cast they are not really that memorable or stand out in many respects.
What the film does do well is explore a deeper meaning of the theological relationship between the created and the creators. Where religion tells us a higher spiritual being created us, we are now taken down a path where we are to be told that in fact we have a creator much like synthetics have a creator in us, that we are in fact just a creation from the mind of a different species in the universe. It is this dynamic that is played out so well with the way David (Fassbender) is portrayed, his intrigue into the relationship between himself and his creator is easily relatable in the context of AI and human.
Prometheus has landed' - Janek (Idris Elba)
From this we are left with a vast number of unanswered questions relating to the original films and how this story may fit into the overall saga. Whilst it is clearly the beginning of the origin tale, I don't feel it answers the questions we would have as fans and it alludes to the hypothetical which just frustrates rather than intrigues. However, the set designs are a nice touch, paying homage to the Nostromo and other aspects of the originals that give us a nice nostalgic feel.
Overall this is not a bad film, the ending is exciting and overall this is a very entertaining film on the basis of its standalone merits, but with any saga film you can't just look at this as a standalone film. Many die hard fans will struggle to see this as a worthy contribution to the overall story, as I have said, there are too many wrongly answered questions and too many new unanswered questions.
It is yet to be seen if they can build on this to make it a part of a worthy prequel trilogy, my heart says I hope so.....
Farquaad's Score: 3.5 stars or 7/10
IMDB: 7.0/10 (545,120)
Metascore: 64 (43 Critic Reviews)
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