Author
Cody Sharp
What is with this guy? Questions abound in the new Prometheus movie just as this did with the ending of Lost. And unlike Lost, which was never intended to have such a long story arc and the writers continuously needed to create new questions and problems for the survivors, the story of Prometheus is self contained. It should have been a Point A to Point B adventure with Point B having just enough of a resolution to satisfy fans and just enough questions to satisfy producers hoping for sequel money. Instead, we received a movie filled with unbelievable decisions by the characters and a resolution offering more questions than answers.
I don’t want to dive into spoilers here because all in all, the movie is a satisfying summer romp, especially for people looking for a sci-fi movie. It has quite a bit of violence and some pretty shocking horror movie moments, but it also suffers a bit from slowness during parts of the movie. What really hurts though is after you walk out of the movie and begin critically thinking about the characters and the decisions they make. Then things begin unraveling.
One particular scene towards the end of the movie left me shaking my head. Self sacrifice is fine when you have been shown the character of the people leading up to the climactic moment but when you have no background story for the martyrs, it feels wholly out of place. And it is also difficult to not compare this to Alien. And while Alien offered questions that were never answered (and some of those are answered here), most things within the movie had plausible explanations. That is why it is a classic. This movie is more in the vein of Terminator 3 or 4 – certainly not a classic.
Regardless, if you are looking for a movie that touches your sci-fi bone, this one is a decent fill in. Just one more warning: be prepared for the movie to have an unbelievable amount of similarities with the X Files series and the first movie. Personally, I would rather have had another X Files movie but sci-fi beggars can’t be choosers. Just don’t go in expecting Blade Runner’s quality or Alien’s groundbreaking story.