Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Prometheus

June 7, 2012


In the year 2089, a couple of scientists Holloway (Logan Marshall Green) and Shaw (Noomi Rapace) find pictograms in various caves and ancient temples which suggest that human life originated from a faraway star system (I don't know how they came up with that wild premise). Under the sponsorship of old trillionaire Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce in atrocious old-age make-up), they embark a 2-year expedition with more scientists in a vessel called "Prometheus" to search for these "engineers" of the human race. The aliens and alien technology they encounter there threatened not only the crew members, as well as the very existence of Earth itself. Can the Prometheus escape this alien threat that they have unleashed upon themselves?

The set decoration, cinematography, editing, sound and visual effects are by all means top-notch under the assured direction of veteran Ridley Scott. This is certainly a beautiful film to watch. However, the utter disregard for any scientific principles of research investigation and medicine is really very distracting. These "scientists" in this crew do not follow very basic scientific procedures, really very illogical. Would you so carelessly remove your helmet in an unknown atmosphere just because your equipment says it is safe? Would you do an autopsy of an alien head with your face mask hanging around your neck? Could you simply get up and run right after a bloody do-it-yourself Caesarean operation? Would the DNA of the ancient "engineers" still EXACTLY MATCH with human DNA after thousands of years without any mutation? 

There simply too many mind-boggling questions. Was that breath-taking opening shot of a volcanic lake supposed to be Earth? When that white alien drank the black stuff, his DNA was seen mutating in the water, what then? Could an android (Michael Fassbender) really be deceitful, and why would he be? What is the point of Charlize Theron's icy character Vickers? Even the epilogue puzzles with even more questions. The way that last alien looked with the big horn on its head felt totally forced, and obviously shoehorned to coincide with the original "Alien" movie, also created and directed by Ridley Scott. 

So overall, this movie is just OK. It is indeed a visual spectacle, but the story development leaves so much to be desired. Some movies you could enter and leave your brain checked at the door, but not this one. In this type of movie, you will expect some scientific credibility in order for it to work. Unfortunately, "Prometheus" fails in that regard.

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