Prometheus: The Thinking Man’s Summer Blockbuster, by Michael Stradford – The Tall Guy’s Gear Guide | @MDWorld
June 12, 2012 Michael Stradford 2 Comments
I saw Ridley Scott’s latest sci-fi opus, ‘Prometheus’, over the weekend and was fascinated. Kind of a prequel to the ‘Alien’ franchise that he started in 1979, it’s also a look at the eternal question of ‘why are we here’, and to some, ‘who put us here’. Hold on: calling ‘Prometheus’ a prequel is the lazy man’s description and truly doesn’t do it justice. The film elegantly asks many questions and thankfully doesn’t try to provide easy answers, from one of most individualistic directors working today.
Nearing 75, Ridley Scott isn’t interested in rehashing old ideas. Instead, he uses his previous explorations as a foundation for new, thought provoking concerns that reward concentrated attention. ‘Prometheus’ isn’t a film that allows you to check out and check back in. If you do, you’ll find yourself adrift. In considering the origins of man through cinematic expression, Ridley Scott has found the right combination of being entertaining and cerebral at the same time.
Prometheus Trailer
As with most Ridley Scott films, he creates a visual world that is uniquely his own, with the added bonus of one of the most graceful uses of 3D technology that I’ve seen yet. From the spaceship to the foreign planet, to the aliens and their ultimate tomb, ‘Prometheus’ looks and feels like it is far away from the known solar system.
It’s difficult not to compare ‘Prometheus’ with the earlier ‘Alien’ films, but if you can manage, you’ll enjoy probably the headiest big budget franchise sequel to come out this year, with the possible exception of the upcoming conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.
‘Prometheus’ offers thrills, great performances (although I’m still not sure where Idris Elba’s accent is from), spectacular production and big questions. It’s always easier for me to appreciate a film whose reach might exceed its grasp, than a film that’s just lazy in its ideas, if not its execution (‘Dark Shadows’ anyone?).
This isn’t a scene specific review, because I think it’s better to go in knowing as little as possible and just be open to the world and ideas of the film without prejudice. That said, if you’ve already seen the film, or don’t care about secrets being spilled, below is a great interview from movies.com with director Ridley Scott who discusses some of the concepts and mysteries of the summer’s first important film, ‘Prometheus’.
**SPOILERS BELOW!** (don’t read if you don’t want to know key plot points about ‘Prometheus’)
Dialogue: Sir Ridley Scott Explains ‘Prometheus,’ Explores Our Past, and Teases Future ‘Alien’ Stories
Sir Ridley Scott appears to be feeling reflective. After directing a string of impressively original features that include American Gangster, Kingdom of Heaven, the underrated Matchstick Men and Black Hawk Down, Scott is revisiting his earliest classics. He’s prepping a sequel to his seminal sci-fi thriller Blade Runner, according to reports. And this weekend, Scott unleashes a meditative companion piece to his pioneering horror masterpiece, Alien.
Don’t excuse nostalgia for Scott resting on his laurels. Prometheus asks some very big questions about life, existence, the afterlife, and the alien influences on our home planet. It also boasts breathtaking performances by Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace. But it’s with those philosophical and religious mysteries that I chose to start with Scott for our exclusive one-on-one interview.
Be warned! Scott was very open and specific about Prometheus. As a result, there is a lot of detail in this interview that you might not want to know until after you’ve seen Prometheus. Please proceed with caution!
Movies.com: Thank you, first, for giving us a film that we need to contemplate and discuss and argue about for days without ever really coming close to answering all that it asks. It feels like it has been too long before we’ve been treated to a meal such as this.
Ridley Scott: Thank Christ! I think that’s great.
Movies.com: The film asks very big questions about where we come from as a species, and where we go when we die. It’s not possible to deliver concrete answers, but I’m hoping you can tell me how, in the planning stages of the script and story, you came to decide which open-ended, philosophical questions you would at the very least attempt to answer definitively.
RS: Well, from the very beginning, I was working from a premise that lent itself to a sequel. I really don’t want to meet God in the first one. I want to leave it open to [Noomi Rapace’s character, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw] saying, “I don’t want to go back to where I came from. I want to go where they came from.”
Movies.com: So that was always going to be the natural ending for this film?
RS: Totally. And because they’re such aggressive f**kers … and who wouldn’t describe them that way, considering their brilliance in making dreadful devices and weapons that would make our chemical warfare look ridiculous? So I always had it in there that the God-like creature that you will see actually is not so nice, and is certainly not God. As she says, “This is not what I thought it was going to be, and I think we should get the Hell out of here or there won’t be any place to go back to.”
That’s not necessarily planted in the ground at the tail end of the third act, but I knew that’s kind of where we should go, because if we’ve opened up this door — which I hope we have because I certainly would like to do another one – I’d love to explore where the hell [Dr. Shaw] goes next and what does she do when she gets there, because if it is paradise, paradise can not be what you think it is. Paradise has a connotation of being extremely sinister and ominous.
Movies.com: We’re not going to get a slow build in this second film, then. These guys are volatile from the start?
RS: In a funny kind of way, if you look at the Engineers, they’re tall and elegant … they are dark angels. If you look at [John Milton’s] Paradise Lost, the guys who have the best time in the story are the dark angels, not God. He goes to all the best nightclubs, he’s better looking, and he gets all of the birds. [Laughs]
Movies.com: So Milton was one of your influences for the Engineers?
RS: That sounds incredibly pretentiously intellectual. But in a funny sort of way, yes. I started off with a title called Paradise. Either rightly or wrongly, we thought that was telling the audience too much. But then with Prometheus – which I thought was bloody well intellectual – that wasn’t my idea. It was Fox’s notion, It came from Tom Rothman, who’s a smart fellow. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a good idea. This is about someone who dares and is horribly punished. And besides, do you know something? A little bit of an education at the cinema isn’t such a bad thing.
Movies.com: Do you worry that you’ve lost the element of surprise that worked to your advantage with the original Alien? By now, we’ve seen numerous movies in the Alien universe, and like it or not, audiences are coming in with an expectation that deflates tension and suspense. Did you feel the need to pull the audience in to the story in a different fashion this time?
RS: I was hoping I had with the fact that you have a sequence at the beginning of the film that is fundamentally creation. It’s a donation, in the sense that the weight and the construction of the DNA of those aliens is way beyond what we can possibly imagine …
Movies.com: That is our planet, right?
RS: No, it doesn’t have to be. That could be anywhere. That could be a planet anywhere. All he’s doing is acting as a gardener in space. And the plant life, in fact, is the disintegration of himself.
If you parallel that idea with other sacrificial elements in history – which are clearly illustrated with the Mayans and the Incas – he would live for one year as a prince, and at the end of that year, he would be taken and donated to the gods in hopes of improving what might happen next year, be it with crops or weather, etcetera.
I always think about how often we attribute what has happened to either our invention or memory. A lot of ideas evolve from past histories, but when you look so far back, you wonder, Really? Is there really a connection there?”
Then when I jump back, and you put yourself in a situation of a cave painting, you see that someone 32,000 years ago is showing me a little man sitting in the darkness, using a candle light that is fat from a creature he killed and ate. And in the darkness are two or three other family members whose body heat is warming the cave. But he has discovered that from a piece of this black, burnt stick, he has discovered that he can draw pictures on the wall.
In essence, you have the first level of emotion and a demonstration of entertainment, right? Because he’s drawing brilliantly on the God damn wall. Now, you put yourself into that context, it’s 100-times bigger than Edison. And people don’t go back to the basics and ask, “Holy shit, what gave him that knowledge, that jolt to not scribble on the wall but draw on it brilliantly?”
If you go back and look, a completely underrated film is Quest for Fire. That was one of the most genius, simplistic but incredibly sophisticated notion of what it was. The evolution of that was just fantastic. And that got me sitting back on my ass thinking, “Damn! What a fundamentally massive idea.”
Movies.com: You throw religion and spirituality into the equation for Prometheus, though, and it almost acts as a hand grenade. We had heard it was scripted that the Engineers were targeting our planet for destruction because we had crucified one of their representatives, and that Jesus Christ might have been an alien. Was that ever considered?
RS: We definitely did, and then we thought it was a little too on the nose. But if you look at it as an “our children are misbehaving down there” scenario, there are moments where it looks like we’ve gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, “Lets’ send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it. Guess what? They crucified him.
If you’re still inclined to discern more about the concepts propelling ‘Prometheus’, check out this great examination of the film from livejournal.com: http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html
And if you just want to sit back, not think too much and enjoy a scaring thrilling, summer blockbuster, ‘Prometheus’ provides that too.
Take care of your whole self and have a smashing week!
Comments
Rick Oliver June 12, 2012 - 10:13 am
I enjoyed the film but found it a bit…muddled. Maybe there will be a sequel that clears things up.
Bill Mulligan June 12, 2012 - 11:03 am
I loved it, though there are a few plot points that seemed lazy (two guys who get lost for no other reason than to get them separated from the others so Bad Stuff can happen), that sort of thing.
Was it only me that thought the beginning of the film with ‘Dave’ walking around the ship was a nod to 2001?
Rick Oliver June 12, 2012 - 2:41 pm
MOTU: I had the same reaction.
Thing that bugged me most: Why all the primitive culture clues pointing to that star system? It’s doubtful the ancient aliens wanted us to go to that particular location.
MOTU: I think the computer wanted to be on Letterman.
Haven’t seen the movie and, whereas I skipped the spoilers above, I’m still ambivalent. I just don’t care what happened before Alien. I’ve grown to loathe prequels. Prequels are sort of like watching a documentary about the 1983-1984 Chicago Bulls.
Rick Oliver June 12, 2012 - 9:15 pm
Michael: But that’s not where the engineers came from. That’s the problem.
MOTU June 12, 2012 - 11:42 pm
Sooooo can someone explain to me why the being in the beginning drunk that stuff then came apart in the sea and why?
R. Maheras June 13, 2012 - 10:42 am
I haven’t seen it yet but will be seeing this weekend.
From what I can glean about the plot, it taps into a very old science fiction concept — one which I also tapped into when I drew a comics story in 1989 titled, “If At First You Don’t Succeed…”
I drew the seven-page story — which is wordless except for the title — to prove that a comics artist does not need a writer, or even a script (in the traditional sense), to successfully tell a story.
The basic plot is that aliens, unhappy with their dinosaur experiment, successfully nudge an Earth-killer asteroid into impact trajectory. Flash forward 65 million years and they come back to find out their newest experiment in evolution is just as brutal and bloodthirsty to each other as were the dinosaurs. So, at the end of the story, the “reader” is left wondering if the aliens were going to use their big cosmic eraser, yet again.
Rick Oliver June 13, 2012 - 1:36 pm
Michael: They came from wherever whatshername blasted off to at the end. Scott left it open for a sequel that may or may not answer that question.
IMO, only a very strained mystical interpretation would lead one to conclude that the engineers engineered our origins on that planet. The simplest explanation is the one provided by the captain (Idris Elba). The planet was an intentionally extremely isolated lab for the development of very nasty shit.
Reg June 13, 2012 - 10:05 pm
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted Scott to hit another home run on par with Blade Runner and Alien. Alas.
Visuals? Simply Fantastic.
Storyline Potential? Oh, if only he’d been allowed to tell the story that showed such deep promise. A pox upon the studio suits. No doubt they’re the scion of the same (insert expletive of choice) that chose David Lynch to excrete that travesty of celluloid upon the public thereby despoiling the genius of Dune.
Plotholes? See Fleet of tractor trailers.
If you’re all about cinematography…Run, don’t walk to the theater and opt for the IMAX 3D. You absolutely won’t be disappointed.
If, however, you’re starving for a science fiction film that’s embedded with cogent, insightful, and logical storytelling…
Give Jennifer Hudson a call.
Whitney June 16, 2012 - 1:06 am
Tall Guy –
Scanned portions of this because I don’t want to spoil it for myself. A thumb’s up from you is enough for me. I’ve always thought of you as one of MOTU’s most elegant friends – except for your darling pitbull with the gaseous tummy problems.
First “Alien” almost did me in, visually. I was newly introduced to HR Giger, having seen his work for the first time on the album cover for “Brain Salad Surgery”. When I heard about his work on the film, I bought an Omni Magazine (remember that one?) and read the description of the thinking that went into Giger’s alien ship design and how a subtext in the whole film was a battle against intergalactic ‘rape’. The downed alien vessel was modeled after ovaries, fallopian tubes, and a womb. And the crew called the Nostromo’s computer “Mother”.
That all made me grow up fast.
R. Maheras June 16, 2012 - 8:45 pm
Saw it this afternoon with my wife and we both enjoyed it. It’s intense in spots. I also found out to my surprise during the opening credits that I know one of the two screenwriters who wrote it.
I checked and the 1989 comic book story I did that I mentioned above was only FIVE pages long. I guess this old-school cartoonist just doesn’t know how to milk a straightforward tale into a six-issue miniseries.
Rick Oliver
June 12, 2012 - 10:13 am
I enjoyed the film but found it a bit…muddled. Maybe there will be a sequel that clears things up.
Bill Mulligan
June 12, 2012 - 11:03 am
I loved it, though there are a few plot points that seemed lazy (two guys who get lost for no other reason than to get them separated from the others so Bad Stuff can happen), that sort of thing.
MOTU
June 12, 2012 - 1:28 pm
I laughed when the computer said; “Hello David.”
No one else did.
Was it only me that thought the beginning of the film with ‘Dave’ walking around the ship was a nod to 2001?
Rick Oliver
June 12, 2012 - 2:41 pm
MOTU: I had the same reaction.
Thing that bugged me most: Why all the primitive culture clues pointing to that star system? It’s doubtful the ancient aliens wanted us to go to that particular location.
Mike Gold
June 12, 2012 - 5:03 pm
MOTU: I think the computer wanted to be on Letterman.
Haven’t seen the movie and, whereas I skipped the spoilers above, I’m still ambivalent. I just don’t care what happened before Alien. I’ve grown to loathe prequels. Prequels are sort of like watching a documentary about the 1983-1984 Chicago Bulls.
Rick Oliver
June 12, 2012 - 9:15 pm
Michael: But that’s not where the engineers came from. That’s the problem.
MOTU
June 12, 2012 - 11:42 pm
Sooooo can someone explain to me why the being in the beginning drunk that stuff then came apart in the sea and why?
R. Maheras
June 13, 2012 - 10:42 am
I haven’t seen it yet but will be seeing this weekend.
From what I can glean about the plot, it taps into a very old science fiction concept — one which I also tapped into when I drew a comics story in 1989 titled, “If At First You Don’t Succeed…”
I drew the seven-page story — which is wordless except for the title — to prove that a comics artist does not need a writer, or even a script (in the traditional sense), to successfully tell a story.
The basic plot is that aliens, unhappy with their dinosaur experiment, successfully nudge an Earth-killer asteroid into impact trajectory. Flash forward 65 million years and they come back to find out their newest experiment in evolution is just as brutal and bloodthirsty to each other as were the dinosaurs. So, at the end of the story, the “reader” is left wondering if the aliens were going to use their big cosmic eraser, yet again.
Rick Oliver
June 13, 2012 - 1:36 pm
Michael: They came from wherever whatshername blasted off to at the end. Scott left it open for a sequel that may or may not answer that question.
IMO, only a very strained mystical interpretation would lead one to conclude that the engineers engineered our origins on that planet. The simplest explanation is the one provided by the captain (Idris Elba). The planet was an intentionally extremely isolated lab for the development of very nasty shit.
Reg
June 13, 2012 - 10:05 pm
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted Scott to hit another home run on par with Blade Runner and Alien. Alas.
Visuals? Simply Fantastic.
Storyline Potential? Oh, if only he’d been allowed to tell the story that showed such deep promise. A pox upon the studio suits. No doubt they’re the scion of the same (insert expletive of choice) that chose David Lynch to excrete that travesty of celluloid upon the public thereby despoiling the genius of Dune.
Plotholes? See Fleet of tractor trailers.
If you’re all about cinematography…Run, don’t walk to the theater and opt for the IMAX 3D. You absolutely won’t be disappointed.
If, however, you’re starving for a science fiction film that’s embedded with cogent, insightful, and logical storytelling…
Give Jennifer Hudson a call.
Whitney
June 16, 2012 - 1:06 am
Tall Guy –
Scanned portions of this because I don’t want to spoil it for myself. A thumb’s up from you is enough for me. I’ve always thought of you as one of MOTU’s most elegant friends – except for your darling pitbull with the gaseous tummy problems.
First “Alien” almost did me in, visually. I was newly introduced to HR Giger, having seen his work for the first time on the album cover for “Brain Salad Surgery”. When I heard about his work on the film, I bought an Omni Magazine (remember that one?) and read the description of the thinking that went into Giger’s alien ship design and how a subtext in the whole film was a battle against intergalactic ‘rape’. The downed alien vessel was modeled after ovaries, fallopian tubes, and a womb. And the crew called the Nostromo’s computer “Mother”.
That all made me grow up fast.
R. Maheras
June 16, 2012 - 8:45 pm
Saw it this afternoon with my wife and we both enjoyed it. It’s intense in spots. I also found out to my surprise during the opening credits that I know one of the two screenwriters who wrote it.
I checked and the 1989 comic book story I did that I mentioned above was only FIVE pages long. I guess this old-school cartoonist just doesn’t know how to milk a straightforward tale into a six-issue miniseries.