Prometheus: When the origins of Humankind can also bring about its destruction

By Igmar P. / Café Cinéfilo

The Summary: In the distant future a group of scientists and explorers travel aboard an advanced spaceship, towards a planet far away in search for the origins of Humankind, but instead they make the terrifying discovery of a threat, which could very well mean the end for the entire human race, in “Prometheus”.     

One of the posters for the film

It is the year 2089, and a crucial archeological discovery has been made by Doctor Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), and her colleague and sentimental partner Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), in some remote caves in Scotland. 

This significant breakthrough consists in ancient paintings, a hundred thousand years old, made by the very first civilizations, which suggest that all life on Earth came from outer space.

After the discovery is made, Shaw and Holloway set out to convince the Chairman of a billionaire company named Weyland Corporation, so that he may fund an ambitious space voyage towards the planet depicted in the discovered paintings.  

Jump ahead a couple of years later, Shaw, Holloway and the rest of the crew on board the spaceship Prometheus, wake up from hyper-sleep to find themselves close to entering the orbit of the mysterious planet LV-426, on a very distant planetary system.  

Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), a high executive for Weyland Corp., who is also the mission supervisor, orders a conference with the crew, in which Shaw and Holloway proceed to reveal the purpose of the mission.

Shaw and Holloway explain to the crew that in the Scottish cave, they found evidence that all the first civilizations suggest that extraterrestrials from a planet called LV-426, apparently were the creators of all animal life (including human) on Earth, thousands and thousands of years ago.

Convinced that in that planet they will find the answer to the most crucial and important question humans have had for centuries, the crew of Prometheus lands on the mysterious planet LV-426 in search for the creators, called “engineers” by Shaw and Holloway.

But once they set foot on the planet and begin investigating, the explorers find astonishing evidence of intelligent alien life, but they also make a terrifying discovery, one that quickly changes into a deadly threat for all human life on Earth.

The review:

Ridley Scott, the filmmaker who directed such gems of contemporary sci-fi cinema, such as “Blade Runner” (1982) and “Alien” (1979), returns with “Prometheus” to the themes of space exploration and fear of the unknown and this time around he does it with such mastery, by telling the interesting story behind the first “Alien” film, where we first encountered the terrifying aliens that gestate inside human hosts and later burst out from within them, to become real killing machines.

The story of “Prometheus” is structured in such a way that it grabs completely the attention of any moviegoer and it really isn’t an obligation for him or her to have previously seen any of the other “Alien” films (“Aliens”, 1986; “Alien 3”, 1992 and “Alien Resurrection”, 1998), since it’s really a standalone story that only has one scene that relates to the very first “Alien”.

That scene is the discovery of the derelict space ship that crash-landed on the planet LV-426, where the astronauts of the Nostromo ship of “Alien” found the big space jockey and the eggs that harbor the terrifying spiders, which can impregnate human hosts with the deadly aliens. 

Nevertheless, the story of “Prometheus” focuses more on the mystery behind the space jockey and its relationship with human beings on Earth.  

Another poster

“Prometheus” begins with a startling opening scene, a sort of “Dawn of Man” beginning that reminds us of the initial sequence of the sci-fi classic “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), directed by Stanley Kubrick.

In that opening, the setting of “Prometheus” is truly captivating; the way the camera flies over and captures the luscious scenery –filled with natural beauty-, along with exquisite orchestrated music in the background; it all serves up as a sort of sublime voyage that culminates in what is set to be a key scene for the movie. 

From that point on the story jumps ahead many years into the future, where we can now see the advanced “Prometheus” spaceship and the members of its crew, which are on a state of hyper-sleep during the initial phase of the journey.

The only passenger who remains awake is David (Michael Fassbender), an android identical in appearance to other humans. It is David who watches over and takes care of the crew while they remain in hyper-sleep.

David spends his time watching classic motion pictures like David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia”, and studying video recordings of linguists who dissect ancient languages, among other seemingly boring activities.     

Fassbender gives a brilliant and superb portrayal as the android David, a work of acting worthy of movie awards. He talks with a tone of voice and a manner of speech which is reminiscent of the voice of the supercomputer HAL-9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey”, while his movements and gestures seem to pay homage to notorious artificial life forms such as the replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) of “Blade Runner”; Jude Law’s pleasure android of Steven Spielberg’s “A.I.”, and even Brent Spiner’s synthetic Commander Data of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.    

The art direction is another technical triumph of “Prometheus”, since it achieves an astonishing realism, superior to that of the first “Alien”, while at the same time managing to capture the same feeling of claustrophobia that “Alien” had, once the extraterrestrial threat is discovered.

The special visual effects as well as the make-up effects are really astounding and work magically with the 3D, all in all thanks to a well crafted script that manages to justify the use of 3D in the majority of its scenes.

The thing I liked the most about “Prometheus” is its spirit of true sci-fi cinema, in the sense that it sets out to explore the mysteries of Humanity and the Universe, but it does not necessarily answer all the questions.

In the tradition of the aforementioned “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Prometheus” leaves some of the enigma for the spectator to reflect upon and think about for days and days to come. And that’s part of the fun. Even to this day, most loyal fans of sci-fi cinema still indulge themselves in debates, about the significance of the strange black monolith in Kubrick’s film.

Rating: ****

Main cast and details

Title: Prometheus

Director: Ridley Scott

Screenplay: Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts

Country: USA

Year: 2012

Genre: Science Fiction / Horror 

Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Logan Marshall-Green, Idris Elba with Guy Pearce and Charlize Theron

Rated: R

Running Time: 2 hours and 4 minutes