The Worst Film Ever

Such a frustrating disappointment

So much average

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

I just wanna say that all haters are brainless animals.

Prometheus is something of a unique film. It is set in the Alien universe as a prequel to the 1979 original, but features no actual Aliens (that is, the famous Xenomorph fails to make an appearance, but there are plenty of Xenomorph-ish nasties to be found in here) and instead focuses on the famed 'Space Jockey' found inside the derelict spacecraft on LV-426. As it turns out, these 'Engineers', as they are called, made mankind in their image and seeded Earth with DNA that give rise to all life - an odd blend of panspermia and intelligent design that is made to sound more significant in dialogue than the film actually shows, as the story culminates in familiar Alien-esque running-from-scary-monsters-in-tight-spaceship-hallways. For this weird experiment to work, it is fortunate that none other than Ridley Scott returned to the Alien universe for this one, as the first director to make more than one Alien(ish) movie. Arguably, the film is somewhat bogged down by its heavy-handed premise and philosophical pondering about the meaning of life, which apparently caused a Ctulhu film to be cancelled for the time being due to the similar plot and subject matter. Until the Engineers wake up, Prometheus lacks a clear antagonist. That isn't bad per se, as Scott's marvelous cinematography and the eye-popping SFX (a good blend of CGI and classic puppetry) succeed in creating an inherent sense of dread and mystery as the characters survey the barren, creepy planet of LV-223 (clearly meant to be a sister world to the original films' LV-426). Throughout the film, we see hints of an Alien - murals, critters with acid blood, egg-like vases - with no real payoff, which actually helps in mythologizing the Alien as some sort of universal avatar of death, so powerful that we're simply not yet worthy of seeing the real thing (again) at this prequel stage. The Alien is suggested but never seen, but we feel that it's out somewhere not too far from the proceedings of this film, like Thanos lurking in the background of half a dozen Marvel movies before he finally appears. The main story itself is an (albeit slow-paced) roller coaster in sci-fi body horror that we haven't seen on this filmic scale since the 80s. People mysteriously fall ill, find alien worms in their eyes and are horribly transmutated into mindless killing machines. If this sounds a bit pulpy, Scott can be credited for making it more genuinely horrific than silly. The cast do a good enough job, with Michael Fassbender standing head and shoulders above the rest - even outshining Noomi Rapace, whose character feels like a more innocent version of Ellen Ripley, before she became obsessed with eliminating the Alien menace. Fassbender threads the uncanny valley as the android David, an innately creepy, mysterious entity whose true purpose and allegiance remains clouded in darkness - he doesn't become a full-fledged villain until the next installment, Alien: Covenant. Guy Pearce, inexplicably covered in old man makeup due to scenes with a younger version of his character never making it into the final cut, retcons the AvP movies by appearing as the eponymous founder of the Weyland Corporation, in a role that seems like it could and should have been more than the dark side of John Hammond (you know, the guy from Jurassic Park). The rest of the cast are somewhat nondescript, and the film relies too heavily on characters doing unwise things (such as taking off their helmets on an alien planet) to further the plot.Despite all this, I'm awarding the film a 9/10 for the sheer fun of it. There've been few genre films like this in recent years, especially not on this scale. While it's thankful that big sci-fi has made a return in the last decade, most of it has been glossy PG-13 feel-good fare like Star Trek and Avatar, or run-of-the-mill (if not still good and enjoyable) action fare like Battle: Los Angeles, Edge of Tomorrow and Oblivion. Prometheus deserves to ber lauded for being something different, and for harking back to the days of cosmic weirdness and unnerving body horror in sci-fi.

I have to admit that the first time I saw Prometheus I thought it was just awful. After viewing Alien Covenant where the story is expanded upon I decided to see this movie again. I don't know what I must've thought. Prometheus is actually a very interesting and well done movie. I think having the context of its sequel answered a lot of questions about this movie. Admittedly there are still some gaping holes esp those regarding what the motivations of the Engineers really was at the beginning of the movie juxtaposed to the end. Nevertheless I found this thoroughly enjoyable and have already rewatched it multiple times and enjoyed it even more. I would give it a strong 8 out of 10

Prometheus (2012)Details: Genres: Horror, sci-fi, thriller. Run time: 118 min's. BBFC certificate: 15.Synopsis: Two archaeologists execute a space mission to a distant moon they suspect may be home to aliens.Intro: How exciting. Scott's made a return to the Alien universe, to give us a re-vamp with today's much-enhanced technology.The experience: Right off the bat, you notice that this will be a very different experience to Scott's original Alien film. The (too-) long opening credit sequence gives many beautiful panoramas of a cold landscape, giving the film a rather grandiose tone, very different from the menacing claustrophobia of Alien. We're then given our first horror scene (that was quick), which, instead of being bloody and gory like the stomach-burst in Alien, is way more fantastical, making use of cutting-edge CGI. Seriously, you literally see a victim's DNA fibres breaking apart - how much more intimate can you get? We then get our title opening, which emerges among lusciously detailed microscopic images of dividing cells.Now we're moved promptly on to an archaeological dig where our two main characters are excavating the bunch of cave paintings that will lead them into space. The paintings show an ancient civilisation doting upon a sign from the stars which could indicate life beyond the Earth. It does seem rather odd that these two archaeologists, who seemingly have no previous experience in space exploration, decide, on a whim evoked in them by an ancient cave painting that could mean any whimsical old thing for all they know, get motivated to become space pioneers at this stage, but trust me: you'll soon come to realise that solid character development is not one of this film's strongest factors, and that's putting things mildly. So, the movie yet again transitions, this time to showing the explorer ship Prometheus drifting, at a great distance from the camera, towards its destination. Then, abruptly, we get an instantaneous close-up of the ship, along with a bunch of stats, some of which are padded with standard form gibberish that only those with a maths PHD will be able to make either eye or tail of. Those details us mere mortals will be able to decipher tell us that the archaeologists who started the mission only took four years to both get the training and get on their way; wow, if the horror scene at the start of this film was quick to emerge, our main characters are progressing at light-speed (in more ways than one).We're then transported inside the Prometheus, where the guardian android, David (played well by Michael Fassbender) is keeping himself entertained, amongst spying on the dreams of one of the sleeping crew members. When the crew are revived, they're given an introductory speech about why they're in space to begin with. Weird; it would surely have made more sense for those details to be revealed to them before they even signed up for their posts.As the introductions to the main characters begin, you very quickly realise that David is the only one possessing any development whatsoever; the rest are shallow, as barren as desert sand. Regardless though, it's not long before the crew start getting shown what's what by the moon they've come to. Yes, before you forget, this is an Alien film, so it's got to have some aliens in it. But we're still not given any more horror scenes for a while from this stage. Even when the crew members actually land on the moon and start investigating, the closest we initially get to a thrill is the discovery of a headless humanoid in a suit.It's clear that at this stage, Scott's trying to give us a throwback to the "half-way horror" technique of the original Alien: that being devoting a huge chunk of the movie to building the suspense while leaving the blood-fest until later. But while in Alien, the application of this technique was strengthened by the claustrophobia, here, it's overshadowed by the hugely ambitious set of scenes leading up to it. We as an audience have been transported through what could have easily been made into three acts of film time, in the space of barely half an hour. All that variation of scenery doesn't leave much room for tension, so the movie has already lost a bit of its trademark there. At this point, you're hoping the film will make up for that by bringing something unique and positive to the table.So, we now get moved towards the second, more eventful half of the movie, where things start to hot up for the Prometheus crew. It becomes increasingly apparent the sinister secrets the moon is hiding, and just after the half-way point, the horror starts becoming properly substantial. There's a hugely grotesque arm-break; a face-melt; a flame-thrower execution; and one particularly gory scene where an alien is actually pulled from within a character's belly, with not much left to the imagination in terms of the surgical detail.But once all that's done with, the gory fright-night starts to peter out, leaving more room for storytelling and giving sermons on that whole meaning-of-life thing. "There is nothing." "I know. Have a good journey." While the spiritual side of things detracts from the horror here, it does nonetheless add extra substance to the storyline, and it also gives David, already mentioned as being the highlight character of the whole movie, ample opportunity to shine. And we're also given a few large-scale adventure-thrills at this stage, which stops everything from getting too slow. By the end of the film, you're tired, simply because so much has played across the screen in front of you.Post-viewing analysis: Not a match of form by any means. While the gore-porn delivers while it lasts and the plot keeps you suitably well gripped, the bad script-writing alone drags things down a long way. A film of this sort, if not primarily focussing on frights, can only be as strong as its characters, and sadly, the characters in this film are largely just flops. Even their very background development is a mess. As I said at the start of this review, the two main characters are archaeologists before becoming space pioneers. That must surely be counted one of the most stark changes of career imaginable, and - who knows? - I may have been taken with that risky plot-line if it had been executed neatly, but it wasn't. As I said, four years isn't enough time for someone to single-handedly change their sights from the dirt to the stars and get on their way.And honestly, even when our two leads make it to their destination they don't seem qualified for the role they supposedly obtained from a reliable company. They seem like two excited kids who've just found the cave of wonders, rather than two serious scientists there for formal investigation. And the rest of the characters - excluding David - are either just as under-developed or nearly so. Getting onto the matter of David as a character, as I keep saying, I like him. He's got a reasonable depth of personality, and Fassbender's mesmerising eloquence makes him very watchable.Verdict: 3/5 There are major gaps in the character development, and hence, the very storyline itself feels far-fetched and forced. That said, the horror is good, the solid story layers that are there add spice, the effects are good, and you can't go wrong with Fassbender. Not even close to being up there with the original masterpiece it's a prequel to, but still a fairly solid sci-fi thrill ride.