Prometheus

Ridley Scott's Prometheus is a film that has been nudged into new territories by the Alien Franchise, Greek Mythology, David Lean, and Science Fiction all at once. There is a lot of cash money flowing from this cohort and each wanted its due in the film. As a result, this film appropriated Titanic funds easily yet set itself at a sprinters pace, moving through alien insurrection, creation myths and neo-positivism as if the three intertwine seamlessly in our real world. If you're like me, you'll spend most of the movie thinking about how great that last scene was and then freaking out and getting anxious cause you're not paying attention to the scene at hand, all worried that you're going to miss something life changing.

This started for me in the first few moments of the film (take a deep breath now) as a ripped, pale white humanoid ingests a cough syrup stolen from the set of The Mummy, turns to ashes on top of that famous Iceland waterfall, tumbles into the water while the camera super zooms to the molecular level where we see humanoid DNA strands performing reverse transcription, 3 prime to 5 prime, while a hovering spacecraft departs into warp speed in the horizon. Don't think I forgot David Lean, cause a few moments later, 'David' a robot from late 21st century, embodied by Fassbender, combs his hair like Lawrence of Arabia (a pyro) and rehearses quotes from the movie of the same title as he eavesdrops on the dreams of the passengers on Prometheus (a titan tortured for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to his creation, humans), the ship, who are in an induced two-year sleep while traveling to a distant moon, L-223, thought to be the landing point for creatures that 'Engineered' sentient and non-sentient life (exhale now). By the time I realized how much I was enjoying the Lawrence of Arabia shout-outs (third on my top 100) I was in the process of missing shout-outs to the original Alien flick. It was just too much too fast. But I think this movie was great, especially the more I think about it and the new ground it might be laying.

There is everything you could ask for in a science fiction movie directed by Ridley Scott. The associated questions with a movie titled 'Prometheus' are dealt with respectfully and creatively. "Where did life come from? Why was it created?" The acting is top notch. The sense of fight or flight dictates all the action as characters fly when you wish they'd fight and fight when you wish they'd fly. The future is infused with humanity as we know it and heaping doses of, "Whoa, that machine that performs surgery sans-physician is cool." I don't know what it is though, and maybe this is a question that deserves its own HOM post/conversation, but have all of Ridley Scott's movies been, I don't know, less than Blade Runner? I'm thinking maybe or most likely. I'm just not sure this movie was really great, though, I'll say it again, I think it was great, especially the more I think about it. Most of all, though, this movie reminded me that there wouldn't have been Blade Runner without it's predecessor, Alien.