Another review.. (spoliers inside)

Hi, this is my first post after browsing the site periodically over the last couple of months. It's a review of the movie which I hope you find it interesting, but it does contain numerous spoilers, so please bear that in mind before proceeding. ****************** Over the last week or so the world of Prometheus reviews has become a rather crowded place. We've all read the mainstream journalistic critiques. We've all seen the super-abundance of home grown reviews, most of which take one of a number of almost comically polemical stances that lurch between hagiography and demonisation. The only common ground has been in agreeing what a polarising film this has been. Within that context, it's increasingly difficult to add something new to the discussion. However, having seen the movie for the first time yesterday evening, and having had the morning to reflect on what it offers, I'd like to add my perspective. It seems to me that Prometheus has to be seen as a flawed success. The criticisms of the writing, the pacing, the score, and of the design and execution of some of the animatronics all resonate. There are clear and undeniable weakness in the movie. However, looking at the work in the round, I think we have to concede that Scott's 20th feature is a very good movie that has frustrated a lot of viewers simply by falling some way short of what it clearly could have been. The central criticism of Prometheus has focused on the weakness of the screenwriting, the perfunctory characters, and the uninspired dialogue. Writer Lindelof as been singled out as the principal wrong-doer by most critics, with Scott frequently cited alongside him as deserving a share of the culpability. It's instructive to examine this critique a little further. Lindelof's expertise, such as it is, is in writing for contemporary US TV drama. What he does well is to write material that fits that template efficiently and effectively. Broadly, that means that he's good at writing dialogue-driven vignettes that take place between 2-6 protagonists and that each last 4-8 minutes. That material slots comfortably into a medium that's based around a boilerplate of a 58 minute programming slot punctuated by a number of commercial breaks giving a 40-48 minute run-time. The limitations of that medium also mean that the dialogue tends to be rather stylised and generic, and the narrator frequently 'speaks through' the characters to move the plot along. There's no doubt that Lindelof has that schtick pretty well honed. However, creating a grand narrative for a two-hour cinematic feature with strong multi-dimensional characters and credible naturalistic dialogue requires a different skill set altogther. Based on what has been presented to us in Prometheus, it's a skills set that Lindelof has yet to develop. Scott for his part is clearly a master of the moving image, but he produces his best work when teamed with a skilled and assertive writer. A writer who can both produce great material, and be forceful enough to make sure that material shapes the film. Without that calibre of professional in the writer's chair, the movie was always doomed to be less that what it could have been. But for all that, this film is a measured success. Whether you are a committed aficionado of the genre, or just a casual viewer, it's worth a look. The strong visual design, the standard of the technical production, and the quality of the cast all make it worth your time. Let's look at some specific elements: the alien landscapes are competently designed and efficiently rendered. The opening scene with its great cinematography is particularly arresting and memorable, as we watch the engineers ritualistically seed life on a young world (Earth?). The design and execution of both the human and engineer technology is very good. The scenes in which David explores alone: first aboard the Prometheus and later the engineers' installation all work very well. In fact, almost all of the film's best scenes are the ones without dialogue, which says an awful lot. The engineers, who I expected to be a disappointment thanks to their interpretation as tall-men-in-suits rather than biomechanoids, are actually a great success. Presented as living, breathing classical Greco-Roman statues expertly designed to fall in the 'uncanny valley' they inspire both awe and curiosity. However, not all of the creature design and execution is so effective. 'Alien' of course benefited from Hans Rudi Giger's unique talent, which would always be hard to follow. His eldritch abominations were nightmarish amalgams of all of the phobia-inducing elements of the creepiest and slimiest creatures we know in the real world, and he put them together with flair and artistry to create a series of unforgeable Proustian fear mnemonics that would haunt the popular imagination for decades. They were designs that were so original that we had to invent a new vocabulary to describe them. This time around, the imaginative energy seems a little depleted. The much talked-about squid/shoggoth isn't really a very novel idea, and its execution is redolent of the 'out-of-shot-monster-that-attacks-with-tentacles' so common in low budget 50s horror flicks. That's a real shame, as the scene in which Rapace's character c-sections herself is one of the most tense and arresting moments of the film, up to the point at which the creature begins to flail around in a somewhat puppet-like fashion. Conversely, the snake-creature we meet earlier on in the film is well rendered, but it's just a rather unimaginative design. Given Scott's assertion that he wanted to move away from the overworked cliches of Alien, it's surprising that he makes such extensive use of the oral intrusion and chestbursting tropes, which are referenced throughout. Looking again at the films positive points, the strong cast does the best it can with the limited material, and the story despite its fragmented and episodic quality, just about hangs together as a cohesive whole. Which brings us to That Final Scene. Which really is rather silly and unnecessary. In place of Giger's beautifully disturbing biomechanoid demon, we are presented with a diminutive and slightly comical homunculus, who appears to be wearing a velodrome helmet. Abandoned on a now-deserted planet, perhaps he whiles away his time by salvaging David's bicycle from the wreckage of the Prometheus and whizzing around the spiral interior of the engineers' underground complex. Let's hope that for him as well as for ourselves that Scott manages to find himself a decent screen writer for the sequel. But for all that, this movie is a diverting ride that deserves your attention. 7.5/10.