Snorkelbottom's Prometheus Review

Rating - 3.5 out of 5 [u]Summary[/u] I never had any blown up expectations for this movie, and although I knew pretty much everything that happened before watching it I watched the movie with an open mind, viewing it as objectively as possible. Yet upon seeing the Deacon burst out of the Engineer signalling the end of the movie I said to myself "Good film, but wheres the rest of it?" That is why I have rated this film what I have. Don't get me wrong the visuals are great, the setting is great, I like most of the characters, the premise, the set up, but it feels like half, maybe two thirds of a film. I know some people are now thinking "that's because they left it open for a sequel", but it is not in that sense that it feels somewhat lacking. But before we get to that I'll mention the highlights... [u]A Good Film...[/u] The film has many "trademark" Ridley Scott sweeping and grand establishing shots showing the beauty of the locations and the sets, reminiscent of the shot of Tyrell Tower and the dead pilot in Alien. Ridley has always known how to frame a good shot. [img]http://www.prometheus-movie.com/media/prometheusE_screencap1.jpg[/img] IMO one of if not the best scene was David in the orrery, I physically sat forward, curious to get a peek into the world, the behaviour of the Engineers. The we have Michael Fassbenders performance, which is IMO oscar worthy, he walks the line between innocence, ignorance and malice all at the same time. Idris Elba is as usual on form, as are Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron. One performance that surprised me was that of Marshall Logan Green, I genuinely had a lump in my throat when Holloway sacrificied himself to Vickers flamethrower. Janek, Chance and Ravels Sacrifice also placed a lump in my throat, the characters having being introduced just enough to like them all. Even Guy Pearce surprised me playing the old and greedy "man that would be king", reminding me a little of Sean Connery's awesome performance in the film with that name. Sean Harris and Rafe Spall get my thumbs up as the comic relief, although in the shadow of Parker and Brett, the characters of Fifield and Milburn, especially Fifield made me laugh and helped relieve the tension with lines like "Bullshit" (To Shaws ascertations of the Engineers in the briefing), "I love rocks" and of course smoking pot through his suits respirator. Overall a good film, but being a fan of Ridley's work and a fan of the franchise and a fan of the film industry in general there are some, quite big flaws... [u]...But Far From What Was Promised[/u] Most, if not all of us are fans of the original Alien, a film that despite Ridleys lack of experience ticked 9/10 of all the boxes of a classic. The film played out the suspense, the anticipation, the fear, the terror, the dread, the tension... You were kept on the edge of your seat. Not only that but the characters were fleshed out, believable, you associated with them, got time to know them, didn't want them to die. Unfortunately in this respect Prometheus fails... Remember when we all argued that we wanted a R rated film, instead of a PG-13. Well, it looks like Fox said to Ridley "If you want an R rating the movie will need to be around the 2 hour mark, but if you want a 3 hour epic its gotta be PG-13". Well I would have prefered 3 hours over the 2 hours we got. Too many cuts were made in the editing room, and the only two scenes (Fifields helmet and Shaws operation) that constitute the R rating could have been re-cut without losing too much of their impact. Most of the scenes play out too quickly, with little time to gather breath and little chance to focus on aspects of the plot and the relationship dynamics of the characters. I personally feel as though the film would have benefited greatly from a lot of the material that was edited out with more focus and more time spent on key scenes... [b]Ancient Earth[/b] [img]http://www.prometheus-movie.com/media/lotsofengineers.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.prometheus-movie.com/media/engineers_openingscene_prometheus.jpg[/img] [i]Of course we all know this scene was altered.[/i] As soon as the film started I realised too much had been cut - the other Engineers, the Elder Engineer, the voice over. Now while the voice over may or may not have worked I felt this scene was too short, too rushed. I would have prefered to have seen the Sacrificial Engineer walk through the others before being "blessed" by the Elder and handed the cup before walking towards the (distant, to give the others chance to get onboard their ship) waterfall before seeing what we saw in the films intro. It would have been more majestic, more mysterious, more attention grabbing. [b]Scotland[/b] Don't get me wrong I've nothing against the place, I'm half Scottish myself, but the opening scene with Shaw and Holloway unearthing another pictogram was completely unnecessary. The Pictogram is mentioned moments later, in detail in the mission debriefing scene and their relationship is hinted at many times. No point in this scene whatsoever, I would have rather lost this scene and got more of the others. [b]Character Building[/b] One of the good points of the first two Alien films were the "breakfast" scenes, were all the characters where gathered together and jested, joked and bantered. We got a sense of who everyone was, what the group dynamic was. It gives us the audience a chance to associate with the main characters. Although we did get a version of this scene in Prometheus it was too short. Personally I would have prefered that the Prometheus land maybe at night, maybe during a storm, giving us time to get to know the characters more and delaying the reveal of the temples. [b]The Ampule Chamber[/b] [img]http://www.prometheus-movie.com/media/prometheus_screencap35.jpg[/img] [i]Notice the cup where the green crystal was in the theatrical realease[/i] I really liked this scene but felt we didn't get enough time to take it all in. They enter, look around and rush out. This scene could have been used to add much mystery and many questions. Ultimately I would have prefered it if we had more coverage, more of a build up to each of the components - the urns, the head, the xeno-mural, the ceiling murals. Also I would have prefered it if they had left the cup in front of the xeno-mural - the green crystal makes no sense and we never see it again, whereas the cup would have added to the puzzle of the contents of the urns. [b]Mutant Fifield[/b] [img]http://www.prometheus-movie.com/media/prometheus_screencap93.jpg[/img] [i]Notice in the theatrical release Weyland, Shaw and Ford (in the background) were not present[/i] My main problem with this aspect of the story was the "point". Janek sees Fifields camera outside the ship, they open the door he kills 3-5 people, gets run over and burnt to death, all in the space of 2 minutes. Why? what purpose does it serve other than to kill of a few characters, characters of which we were never even introduced to. Those that watched all the trailers will recall that two of the crew shooting at Mutant Fifield were doing so with Weyland, Shaw and Ford behind them. Yet in the release Weyland, Shaw and Ford were not present. It is my belief that the scene with Mutant Fifield was originally scripted to happen later on when Weyland was to be escorted to the Last Engineer, and I suspect it was Shaw that reversed over Fifield before janek torched him. I believe that original idea probably would have worked better, as it would have added a greater sense of threat to the moment, and would have help solidify the bond between Janek and Shaw needed for Janeks sacrifice at the end. If this scene had been left alone and given a little more screen time it would have been more menacing, more threatening, more important to the narrative. [b]Shaw vs Engineer[/b] [img]http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ocWha8V6yDY/0.jpg[/img] [i]Notice that we never saw this in the theatrical release[/i] My problem with this scene is pace. Normally Ridley plays out the suspense, the threat, but as with most of the film this isn't the case... David contacts Shaw, informs her the Engineer is coming, Engineer is already there, charges at Shaw, trilobite released and Shaw escapes. Wheres the suspense, the threat, the menace. IMO, the scene should have played out like this... ...after Davids warning Shaw waits anxiously for the Engineer before he charges in through the only entrance, she screams at him and swings the axe, he blocks it, knocks it aside, charges at her and throws her across the room and against the door to the med-pod room. Shaw sees the Trilobites tentacle slam against the window before being thrown away from the door by the Engineer, his face twisted with anger. Winded Shaw reaches for the axe, as the Engineer towers over her menacingly. The Engineer grabs Shaw by the neck and lifts her high, she struggles to breathe and drops the axe as the Engineer slams her against the med-pod room door, slowly crushing the life out of her. Shaw fighting to breathe, to survive strains her arm towards the panel at the side of the door (drag that bit out before...). Shaw strains for the green button and it opens, the Trilobite grabbing the Engineer... ...Something like that would have been more satisfying, more tense and more entertaining that what we got. I could go on, with more examples of scenes that should have been allowed to play out longer, but I think my point is clear. Too many cuts were made to this film to shoehorn it into a 2 hour R-rated Blockbuster, instead of a 3 hour PG-13 Epic, an epic of which we were promised but which Ridley failed to deliver because he wanted to give the fans what they wanted, not what they needed. [u]Final Words[/u] There you have it, IMO Prometheus is good film that could have been a great film if they'd just left if alone in the editing room, but as a result the theatrical version just doesn't have the scope, the scale or the tension that was promised and that one what expect to be at the core of the film. Hopefully the Directors Cut will return the movie to its former glory, and if it does I'll gladly add to my score by 1 but as it stands this film only warrants a 3.5 out of 5.