Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba,
Charlize Theron, Logan Marshall-Green, Guy Pearce
Review: The human
condition can often be a sad one for many different reasons. Some would argue one of those reasons would
be our constant desire to have meaning in our lives beyond just our physical
states. Throughout all of human history
it seems people are wont to look beyond our world for the answers as to why we
are here, why we were created, and who created us.
In his book ‘Breaking the Spell’ Daniel Dennett looks at
religion as an evolutionary paradigm. Something
that was inevitable based on our genetic makeup. Humans are programmed to want to be
together. Loneliness is something that
was left behind in the wake of evolution eons ago. We all had a better chance of survival
together and those that had that trait were the ones that carried on.
But even in the largest crowd one can still feel alone. There can still be a sense of emptiness. This leads us to looking beyond ourselves and
those that could look out and find answers were the traits most desired. Thousands of years later we have the current
state of evolved religion that we have known for all our lives.
Yet there are still those out there in which what we have is
not enough. The biggest component of religion
is the faith required to embrace it. More
precisely, blind faith. All religions of
the world operate under the assumption that a God they cannot see does exist
and has a reason behind our creation.
For those that don’t share this faith they look for something more. There has to be something out that there has
led to our being.
The main protagonists of ‘Prometheus’ are exactly these
kinds of people. They were no doubt
raised within a certain faith just as most people are, but there wasn’t enough
there. They started looking for more
answers and found them in the form of extraterrestrial ‘engineers’ who may have
created all of mankind on a whim. With
that notion they set off to travel many light years based on ancient maps with
the hopes of meeting our makers and discovering the secrets of the universe.
Just like our everyday lives, they discover that things aren’t
quite as simple as traveling to find the meaning to all existence and everything
going off without a hitch. Something as
complex as creation doesn’t have a simple answer and lots of what they find
leads them to other more pressing questions that they look to answer.
Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Rapace) is the woman who is “leading”
the expedition and seems more on a personal quest than one of true
science. She chooses to believe that the
answers to creation are out there and she wants to find them. It comes out that her father had faith based
in Christian religion and things didn’t turn out so well for him. Shaw wants to know that there is more to it
than faith that we don’t have to rely on that concept to make our way in the
world.
She leads a crew of 16 others
including her boyfriend. Together they
are trying to make the most important discovery in all of humanity. We soon learn that Shaw isn’t able to have
children and begin to think that perhaps to make up for her lack of ability to
create life she is trying to find the answers to all creation. Maybe even then, once she learns about how we
were created then the secrets of creation will open up to her and she might be
able to create life on her own, even if it’s not in the conventional sense.
While Shaw is the leader, the crews true “boss” is Ms.
Vickers (Theron), who is a representative from the Weyland Group sent to make
sure the mission goes as planned. She if
flanked by the android David (Fassbender) who is programmed for his singular
purpose but also seems to be designed with an innate curiosity to keep him
moving in the search for more knowledge.
Together they could have ulterior motives but is not made clear.
With these two characters we have the best and worst part of
this movie. As David, Fassbender gives
an outstanding performance that could be abuzz come Oscar time. He is robotic enough to be a believable
android yet still finds a way to be human enough that would we would believe he
is unthreatening to other humans. On the
flip side is Theron’s character. Her
motivations are unclear and even the ones they give her don’t really seem to
make sense in the greater context of the film.
They try to develop her character but make it so inconsistent it’s hard
to see the humanity within her. It’s
even to the point where the ship’s captain (Elba) asks her if she’s a robot and
is completely serious.
Elba gives a really solid performance as that captain and
breathes life into what could have been an utterly forgettable role. His talent has always been on display and if
this doesn’t break him out into a mega-star it most certainly will happen. One of the best scenes in the movie comes
between the captain and Shaw. After
things start to go awry the captain questions Shaw as to why she wants to find
these answers seemingly at all costs.
She asks him if he wants to know how and why we were created as if that’s
the only thing that will provide meaning to his life. He simply responds with “I don’t care.”
While intentionally ambiguous this seems to be the overarching
point of the narrative. Meaning is
meaning and it need not matter what form we find it in. Some will search for answers to our creation
and then when they get those answers but more questions arise will keep
searching. Others will operate of faith
as that is enough for them. Others
simply won’t care because what they have in front of them is more than enough
meaning for them without having to know why it’s there. There are many answers revealed and even more
questions to pop up but this seems to be the most salient point observed by any
party members involved.
This film is shot incredibly and is beautiful to look at
especially in 3-D. The performances are
solid, even if some of the characters are slightly unnecessary. There is a point of about 20 minutes that the
film nearly loses itself with a subplot that doesn’t need to be in the movie
for it to be effective.
Even so, this movie is definitely worth your time.
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