Prometheus

Ridley Scott’s 2012 “Prometheus” is a splendid science-fiction film, all the more interesting because it asks questions about the origin of humans and doesn’t have the answers. It’s in the same vein of the great time of sci-fi, just like “Alien,” but making a world of its own. Roger Ebert said in his review, “I'm a pushover for material like this; it's a seamless blend of story, special effects and pitch-perfect casting, filmed in sane, effective 3-D that doesn't distract.”

A scene at the start shows a planet with evidently only one animal, a pale humanoid who tracks a high point surrounded by amazing scenery. This person eats something that causes excruciating purging and fast body crumble. The purge is thrown into the water, where it looks to turn into living cellular body. Where is this place? Is it Earth? Who is the person, and why is it alone and naked? Is the part a hallucination of the thought that life first arrived on Earth from outer space?

Moving to a human spaceship in the year 2093, making “Prometheus” for a flash-forward consisting more years than the start of “2001.” The trillion-dollar ship Prometheus is flying to a distant world, which looks headed to in prehistoric cave paintings. There’s reason to believe human life may have started there. It’s an Earth-sized moon revolving a giant planet, and it first looks like a disappointment: nothing growing, an atmosphere you can’t breathe. However, the crew sees straight lines on the grown, and all of us know this, nature makes no straight lines.

The lines lead to a huge dome or pyramid, and the film will mostly take place inside the dome and Prometheus. However, let’s pause on the story and introduce two of the crew members: Elizabeth Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace, wears a cross around her neck and believes life must have had a divine origin. Her boyfriend, Charlie Holloway, played by Logan Marshall-Green, blames her, a scientist, of canceling centuries of Darwinism. What they find in the pyramid leaves the question open. Ebert mentioned, “Alien humanoids, in suspended animation, incredibly have DNA that's a perfect match for our own.” They can somehow have brought life to Earth – but why? From this moon where they hide inside their pyramid, or from another planet around a faraway star? Why did they stop here? What are they waiting for?

The film then starts horror scenes similar to “Alien,” although it depends more on action and gadgets than the film’s use of shadows and silence. Ebert admitted, “For me, the most spellbinding scenes involve the crew members exploring the passages and caverns inside the pyramid, obviously unvisited in aeons, and their experiences with some of the hibernating alien beings.” One of the main members of this crew is David, played by Michael Fassbender, an android, who knows or can figure out more or less everything, even alien languages, and is somewhat a walking, talking, completely fearless HAL 9000.

Ebert mentioned, “The alien race in "Prometheus" shares a body characteristic that reminds me of "Alien" and countless films since: Elements can detach from them and enter into other bodies as hostile parasites.” Elements can break from them and enter into other bodies as fierce parasites. This comes to a shocking part where Elizabeth, alone on the ship, finds out she is pregnant with a Xenomorph alien and somehow musters the courage to control a machine surgery device that removes it. Her later fight with a fading oxygen supply shows equal usefulness. Noomi Rapace continues here the tradition of strong femininity started by Sigourney Weaver in “Alien.”

Another strong woman is on the crew, Meredith Vickers, played by Charlieze Theron, a representative of the corporation that privately funded the Prometheus. She treats everyone like her employees, which they are, and believes she always speaks for what the company wants. The ship’s captain, Janek, played by Idris Elba, makes no self-importance of scientific knowledge like the others but is a no-nonsense working pilot. Janek has the most interesting arc, from the mocking hipster in his beginning parts into a man with the strength to feel the truth about what he’s seeing.

The most punishing part is how it plays with the role of these DNA twins. Did they create life on Earth? The possibility of two identical DNAs as a coincidence is unbelievable. Charlie goes at Elizabeth, thinking their existence doesn’t go with her beliefs. Her obvious answer: Where did they come from? Ebert ended his review by saying, “This puzzle is embedded in an adventure film that has staggering visuals, expert horror, mind-challenging ideas and enough unanswered questions to prime the inevitable sequel.”

This is a good movie, but it doesn’t answer all the questions from “Alien.” You should definitely check this one out and see it because it doesn’t really disappoint. As is already stated, the film doesn’t have an ending but does leave it open for a sequel. If you want to know how that was, stay tuned Wednesday in the next review of “Halloween Month.”