Being a fan of the Alien franchise, I had certain expectations going into this film. I'm happy to say that Ridley Scott took those expectations flipped them on their head and shattered them.
Right from the opening of the film, what I've come to call the "Genesis" scene, Ridley Scott makes his intentions clear... what you are about to watch is complex, beautiful, terrifying and facinating.
The movie, besides it's entertaining value, brilliantly asks the heavy questions. Where do we come from? Are we alone in the universe? Do we have a creator? What happens after we die? The movie explores those questions through the impeccably casted crew of the Prometheus and is the underlying motivation for the principle characters, who's points of view range from Christianity, Creationism, Darwinism, to Atheistic. Needless to say, the movie doesn't pretend to know all the answers instead leads our curiosity down a perpetual path of questions.
For example there was a small but interesting scene after the crew discovers the existence of the "Engineers" where Elizabeth Shaw (played by Noomi Rapace) is sharing an intimate moment with Charlie Holloway (played by Logan Marshall-Green).
(More or less the way I remembered it)Implying that they now have the answer to who created the human race, proving Shaw's religious beliefs false.
Charlie (to Elizabeth): "You can take off your fathers cross now."
Elizabeth: "Why?"
Charlie: "Because we found our creators."
Elizabeth (unwaveringly): "and who made them?"
The Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger returns to create the new creature designs for the film and as you would expect they're completely faithful to the Alien-verse. Fresh and new but indicative of what the species will inevitably evolve to.
The movie has a running time of 124 minutes and I've heard complaints about the films pacing, but in all honesty I didn't find it to be problematic. To the contrary. Once the story takes a turn for the worst the films pacing induces a feeling of falling down a horrifying rabbit hole. Every climatic moment in the story immediately leads you to the next, twisting your expectations along the way. From the Xenomorphic microbes, the phallic shaped creature, to the "Space Jocky's" exo-suit. It got to the point for me that I just had to stop trying to outthink the movie and let it resolve itself.
As I was leaving the theater my mind started to run wild with all the numerous questions the film leaves you with and I bantered back and forth with my brother and sister-in-law.
Shortly after I came to the conclusion that Prometheus has to be the best summer movie so far. Few movies manage to get me excited with anticipation and leave me with a renewed sense of excitement afterwards. I'm well aware that The Dark Knight Rises is just around the corner. But I honestly don't see The Dark Knight Rises being better than Prometheus, not that TDKR will suck, God no. But Nolan has to wrestle with the bar he set with The Dark Knight... so theres a giant Texas-sized hurdle he has to over come.
As an Alien fan I give it a perfect 5 Crosses out of 5, it gives you more than what you want and leaves you wanting more. As an average movie-goer I give it 4 out of 5 because it leaves you holding a few loose ends.
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Sets the bar for the 2012 summer season! IMAX/3D is highly recommended!
-Eric Chacón
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