Prometheus: How the Mighty Are Still Mighty

Delight in getting the wits scared out of you for price of admission? Me too. That's why I love this movie!

(Don't worry, you don't have to watch every Alien movie, with Sigourney Weaver saving cats and kicking butt, to enjoy this movie. It stands on its own.)

I've heard some smack talk about how the trailer was boring and dumb. I have no idea who in their right mind would not love this trailer, I saw it without knowing anything about the movie, and almost peed my pants... in excitement. But from those same people I've heard that the trailer was crap, but that the movie was awesome and not to pay attention to the trailer. So... eh? If you didn't like the trailer, then don't shut off all hope for the movie, I guess?

Maybe what people didn't like about the trailer is that it shows NOTHING. Unless you're in the clique (and I am not in said clique), you can't tell that Prometheus may or may not be some sort of spin-off/prequel to Alien. I've heard that Ridley Scott goes head-over-tea-kettle keeping his movies secret, especially this one, going so far as to print everyone's name on the script that gets sent to them to prevent leaked copies. I've also heard, after I saw the movie and spoiled all the fun, that there were several fake ads and videos released to tease the world about Prometheus, without telling anyone what the movie was about. Here's a fake ad starring my favorite character:

In the not too distant future, a team of scientists and space explorers board a spaceship called Prometheus to a distant solar system, similar to our own. At the head of the expedition are two anthropologist types who believe cave paintings and hieroglyphs all over the world show a map. This map possibly leads humanity to the planet from which our creators, or Engineers as they are referred to in the movie, came from, and would like us to visit when we develop the technology. The characters wake up from their space sleep as they approach the planet, and begin to explore it for any signs of life- hopefully friendly, but judging from the scary previews, probably not.

We are introduced to David the robot in the beginning of the film, and we get to watch him wander around the ship, tending to things while all the humans get to sleep through the two year long journey. He's a bit creepy with his overly straight posture, and the way he watches the humans sleep. But once I see that he likes the movie Lawrence of Arabia, I know that I can't possibly find any fault in him. :D If I had two years to myself in a cold spaceship, I'd watch Lawrence of Arabia on repeat too. You imagine that as a robot, he cannot choose how he looks, sounds, or acts, because it is probably down to programming. Yet, as he's watching Lawrence of Arabia, he repeats some of the lines, trying to perfect his Peter O'Toole impersonation. I think that adds a lot to his character and to the movie. It's had me pondering the themes of Lawrence of Arabia and how those themes might apply to the movie Prometheus.

Now personally, I'm scared to death of aliens. Not just Alien, or Aliens, or Alien vs Predator. I mean any creatures from outer space that grace the silver screen- up to, and including, E.T., that love-able brown lump. So it's no surprise that this move scared the heebie-jeebies out of me. But I don't think it was because of E.T.'s running around, it was because the nail biting conflicts had me on the edge of my seat for two and a half hours, wondering what in the hell was going to happen next. There weren't cheesy 'boo' scares, there wasn't a lot of unnecessary gore, the fear came from a good musical score, good acting, and almost zero CG effects. And that's what makes me say this movie is good old fashioned movie making.