Friday, June 15, 2012

Prometheus

Ratings: 8.2/10
Film Class: A
Genre: Sci-Fi Horror

Prometheus: A titan in Greek mythology credited for the creation of man and human's use of fire. The movie title was apt, revolving around a group of futuristic explorers who went on an expedition to a distant planet to uncover the truth behind the beginnings of the human race. *major spoilers ahead* There were also a couple of memorable scenes of "fire" here and there, one of a flame thrower (apt choice of weaponry), and the other of combustive spacecraft material scattered around the dangerously high CO2 (in the context of human) planet. Perhaps it was also indirectly implied that "one (Man) shouldn't play with fire". 

A few days before catching Prometheus, I found out that it was supposedly a prequel to the Aliens quadrilogy. But director Ridley Scott had intended it to be a standalone movie. Frankly, it turned me off a little... wasn't a huge fan. And after imdbing the quadrilogy, only the first Alien movie was directed by him actually. In a way, he was like Prometheus, for he created the Alien species/saga which lived till this very day... at a point the Aliens even battled it out with Predators. He "ended" with a bang this time round as well, even though the movie hinted the possibility of a sequel. 

The opening scene was gloomingly gorgeous! And the CG was state-of-the-art. Even the words "state-of-the-art" sounds so outdated now, in fact the CG was top tier of this era. A word of warning though, the entire movie was dark and solemn, and it's not your typical Sci-Fi thrillers. Yup, Prometheus is closer to being a horror film. You'll probably remain tense throughout and might even jump in your seat  a couple of times (typical of the Aliens quadrilogy).

The storyline was anything but ordinary. It's highly thought-provoking, to the extend that it left me rather irritated trying to connect the dots. I managed to make sense of most parts of it (I think) but there were still bits lost in Planet Alien. 

I believed that humans were accidentally created by early Man, contrary to what the explorers (lovebirds Dr Elizabeth Shaw-Noomi Rapace and Dr Charlie Holloway-Logan Marshall-Green) believed. There was a scene of the lead actress questioning why we were created only to be destroyed. That explains it. And as what the Captain of the ship said in a particular scene, trying to best explain the whole shebang indirectly to the movie's audiences, the creators made a new species in the military base (cave) which would later be revealed to evolve into Aliens, to wipe out human race and to re-populate planet Earth with their own kind. Though ironically, we humans, are derived from them. 

There was a scene of David (Michael Fassbender), a cyborg(?) drugging the drink of the lead explorer (Dr Holloway) which was also rather puzzling. The "purpose" of David was disclosed at the ending scene, but as to why he drugged the drink with a droplet of Alien fluid, which would later grow into worm like creatures, still remains elusively unexplainable. Possibly he was instructed by his maker to "experiment" on modern humans to re-create early humans? Seems so from a scene in the movie, how the lead explorer mutated into "Dr Hyde". David remains a mysterious character till the very end, he (or it) seems to know everything and on how to stay out of danger (maybe not so towards the end), which was very ???????? 

The hologram of the early humans being decapitated in the cave at the start had a line where Dr Shaw said that his death was dated 2,000 years ago. Well, the first homo sapiens were here on planet Earth way before that, which explained chronologically that the opening sequence showed the creation of Man, and that everything else, the cave, the Aliens, all came after that. Which is why our creators wanted to wipe us out because they didn't even know Man came from them in the first place. 

Possibly, there were a group of Early man explorers who went out in the universe to find life. Then one came across planet Earth, drank something which turned out to be poison (don't ask me why) and scattered his DNA on Earth. Then a few thousand years later, while planet Earth started to have a human lifeform, Early man decided to inhabit another Planet which could sustain life because their planet was in danger by God knows what, created a military weapon, Aliens which they would unleash  onto Earth to destroy any lifeforms, in this case Human/Man. 

It's just a case of "mistaken" identity, unintended creations and the struggle for survival. And we humans have that "itch" of curiosity which we want to scratch so bad with undesirable consequences. That's what this movie is all about. Either that, or I'm just thinking too much. 

Whichever it is, Prometheus still makes a great movie to watch with your peers and loved ones. It's quite gory and not for the squeamish, but the experience of being transported to an Alien planet makes everything else bearable.

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