Prometheus (2012)

Ridley Scott returns to the sci-fi genre and Alien saga after a 30-year hiatus with Prometheus, a film that started out as an official prequel to the first flick, but eventually branched out and into a spinoff of sorts (still set in the past though), which would still contain a few minor connections to the series. Having seen the movie it’s pretty clear that it is still a prequel, but I guess it’s all a matter of personal opinion and minor technicalities. Either way, it’s a solid return for Ridley and it’s nice to see the Ancient Aliens concept put into film since it’s a real life theory that has always intrigued me.

Prometheus tells the story of a couple Archaeologists that believe they have found a message left by an advanced alien race that details the creation of humans and the path to their homeworld. It’s not long before they’re hired by the Weyland Corporation to be part of a crew to travel to this world in hopes of possibly being able to discover who or what these “Engineers”  of man are and maybe get some answers in the process. Instead, what they find are the dangerous remnants of what they had left behind.

The flick has received a pretty mixed bag of reviews from fans and critics, but I personally liked it. I thought the movie was a nice return of old fashioned sci-fi storytelling that’s primarily driven by its fascinating premise and ambiguous characters rather than loads of action and gratuitous big special effects sequences that we normally see in a lot of sci-fi movies now-a-days. Of course there are some great effects in the film regardless, but a lot of it was also mixed with practical effects, which brought out a more realistic look, especially with the various creatures presented throughout the film.

Hints and signs of the Alien franchise is very apparent in certain aspects of the film, and the climax couldn’t get any more clearer than that. The film explores and gives us (some) answers about the “Space Jockey” and creation of the Xenomorphs, while at the same time offers new questions and theories for us viewers to ponder for ourselves. My only complaints are the lack of development for certain characters and the fact that the film could’ve used a bit more gore, but expecting the brilliance of another “Alien” is a little far-fetched to begin with. Whether this is an actual prequel or not is up to us to decide, but it’s definitely one of the better films in the franchise compared to the last couple sequels (ignoring the AvsP movies of course).

Prometheus is an enjoyable and intriguing film that’s reminiscent of earlier sci-fi pics that focused more on its fascinating storyline rather than big-budgeted action sequences. Worth a look if you’re a fan of the franchise or just want to watch a flick with a captivating concept of how man possibly came about.

Ridley Scott returns to the sci-fi genre and Alien saga after a 30-year hiatus with Prometheus, a film that started out as an official prequel to the first flick, but eventually branched out and into a spinoff of sorts (still set in the past though), which would still contain a few minor connections to the…