Prometheus Review

Where did life originate? Is there a god? Can faith and science coexist? Should you wear a helmet? These are just some of the many questions we ask ourselves in life, and Prometheus is no different. Although, it really only adequately answers the helmet question (with a resounding "Yes! Quit taking your helmets off!"), while the rest of the questions are left with muddy, forgettable, mindlessly silly answers. Don't go into this movie expecting to have an interesting philosophical discussion with friends afterwards. You may leave the theater initially thinking that such a discussion would be fun, but you'll quickly realize that the only things worth talking about in the movie are the scenes themselves. And wow are they fantastic.

From the opening landscape flyovers of Earth, to the final shot of the movie, I could barely take my eyes off of the screen (except when I felt the need to cover my face with my hands entirely). As much as I would prefer to avoid words like "gorgeous," "stunning," or "mesmerizing,"  the visuals in this movie truly do inspire awe. I was transported to another world, a world I believed could exist, and a world I never want to visit. The entire movie is a visual masterpiece. It's a lesson to all other movie cinematography for how to do their job right. I could go back and watch the Prometheus landing sequence at the beginning of the movie a dozen times and not get bored. The same goes for just about every other sequence in the movie. It rips you out of your current life and makes you believe you are somewhere else entirely.

It's not just the looks that won me over. This movie is intense. It's dang intense. This isn't some super hero movie where you know everyone is going to make it out okay. You quickly realize that things are likely not going to end well for everyone, and the ride to the finish to see how people do make it out of their various dire situations makes for exhausting entertainment. There's a particular medical sequence that I won't spoil, but it was one of the most cringe-worthy, brilliantly paced, incredibly acted sequences that has ever been in a sci-fi movie.

This is Ridley Scott's third foray into Science Fiction, a genre he hasn't dipped his toes in since 1982 with Blade Runner, and before that the original Alien movie in 1979. Many people will describe or have mentioned that Prometheus is a "prequel" to the Alien franchise, but it doesn't quite fit into that category. Prometheus does not directly tie in to the first Alien movie, although it does set up events that lead you to realize that there are connections. What left me the most amused was how Ridley Scott appeared to intentionally give the finger to the Alien vs. Predator movies by setting up a timeline that without a doubt proves that they no way take place in the same universe. Alien vs. Predator is to the Alien Universe as Super Smash Brothers is to the Zelda Universe. Now you know.

I can't wait to see if Ridley Scott stays in the sci-fi genre for a little while. I would love him to, as we don't have enough big sci-fi movies. After seeing Prometheus, I can safely say that he still has the skill in him to do it. That being said, Prometheus isn't without its flaws. I failed to notice while watching the movie (because of how engrossed and entertained I was), but the story is messy and borderline nonsensical. The motivations that certain main characters have are ludicrous, and most of the movies' obstacles could have been avoided if the android, David (played unbelievably well by Michael Fassbender), hadn't done one terribly unnecessary thing to one of the other characters. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed all of the obstacles in the movie and would not have enjoyed the movie were it not without conflict, but I would greatly prefer if Prometheus provided me with at least somewhat plausible reasons for why people do certain things. Again though, I barely payed any attention to these issues and stupid character choices while watching the movie because of how entertained I was.

I can't wait to see Prometheus again, probably on bluray when I get an extended version, and I'd recommend anyone who loves action, sci-fi, or thrillers to see it, despite its flaws. 

If you can, go see it in IMAX 3D. This is one of those few instances where I'm in favor of 3D, mostly because Ridley Scott actually filmed it and intended it to be in 3D. It's great looking, subtle enough, not distracting, and adds to the mood. Additionally, the size and sound of IMAX makes the already great visuals and mood that much more effective. If you have the opportunity to see it in IMAX, pay the extra $5 and do it.

Prometheus: 9/10

Really Bad Marketing

You saw the trailer for John Carter. You saw the superbowl TV spot. You saw the commercials. You were not interested in this movie at all. Rightly so - it had one of the worst marketing campaigns I'd ever seen. It looked ridiculous. It looked incomprehensible. It looked like every sci-fi movie ever made, a rehash of everything we've seen before. Heck, the arena scene looks like it was pulled exactly from another terrible film: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Who wants to go watch a movie that looks like all of this? No one. No one in the US anyways. Hence why a 250 Million Dollar movie only made 30 million during its opening weekend. The marketing was terrible.

Yet everyone should have wanted to see this movie. It had a significant amount of things going for it, all of which were ignored by the marketing campaign. Let's name a few...

- Directed by Andrew Stanton, the guy who made Finding Nemo and Wall-E

- Based on book series that defined all of science fiction as we know it today (Star Wars, Avatar, everything)

- Guy who wrote original book also created another popular character: Tarzan

- Written by a Pulitzer Prize and Hugo Award winner

- The story is actually about a Civil War soldier. It is grounded in the real world, with sci-fi thrown in after the first 20 minutes or so. The trailers make it look like all crazy sci-fi.

Let's give it another shot though shall we? Check out this Fan-made trailer below.

Okay, now THAT is a movie that I want to go see. Hollywood's marketing was awful, yet a fan can hit all the emotional points and other things that make a person want to go see this movie.

Hollywood: 0

Fans: 1

Note: I haven't seen John Carter yet. I've heard very mixed things on it. I want to see it sometime though.

The Year Ahead Pt. 1

January and February are notorious for their terrible movies, mostly because that's where Hollywood decides to throw all their trash every year. This year we actually had a few decent movies (supposedly, I never saw them sadly): The Grey, Chronicle, and Haywire, among others. Still, all of those even had pretty mixed reactions. With January and February officially behind us though, it's time to actually start getting excited about movies again. To help you out, I'm starting a short segment listing movies you need to be looking forward to this year, broken down by category. Also, each segment will likely only list movies coming out within a month of or two of when the segment being posted. Hence why I'm not bringing up movies like The Avengers, Prometheus, or Lincoln yet. Witha ll that being said, let's get started!

The Hard to Ignore

The Hunger Games (March 23rd)

Admit it, you've read the books, or at least some of them. You've been sucked in to this simple, often annoying, yet completely addictive sci-fi teen fiction series. It's fantastic. I just started reading book 2 last night and found myself staying up far too late because of it. Now we're just nine days away from the movies' release, and my excitement is growing. Initially, I was entirely unexcited for this movie, but as more and more leaks get released from people who have seen it, I can't help but be enthusiastic. Word on the movie-blog street is that it's great, potentially even a new sci-fi classic. If you're already sick of hearing about this series, if you're getting flashbacks of the Twilight craze, here's a word of warning: It's just going to get worse. Buckle up and prepare to get annoyed by the fans. However, the best thing you can do is just to give up, give in, read the books and go see this movie when it comes out. You won't be disappointed. At least... I hope you won't be. (please be a good movie... )

The Ones You Haven't Heard Of

The Raid: Redemption (March 23rd)

Are you sick of all these wimpy action movies with tons of CGI explosions, fake fighting robots, terrible acting, and nothing but english speakers? Well this will probably be the movie for you. Once again, the press has been going crazy for this thing. It actually came out a year or two ago (or at least that's when it was first seen), and it's gotten nothing but praise. The way I've heard it described goes like this: "You know how most action movies have a few cool scenes here and there, then the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie are the really awesome cool part? Well, those like 15 or 20 minutes of most action movies are spread out to about 80% of this movie. It's pure adrenaline." If you don't mind heavier violence and you didn't think that trailer above was awesome enough, I suggest you watch the original trailer instead. It will blow your mind. To pieces. Many pieces. I want to make trailers like that... [trailer music is everything, that one gets it right]

Moonrise Kingdom (May 16th)

Wes Anderson. Enough said. The genius behind The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Royal Tenenbaums, and my favorite, The Darjeeling Limited, is back at it again. The funny thing is, I'm rarely ever incredible excited to see his movies, but every time I see one I absolutely love it. Sometimes the topic at hand appears strange and uninteresting (like Moonrise Kingdom), and yet, even then I find that I end up loving them. He isn't to be ignored. If you're ever looking for the definition of the word "quirky," watch a Wes Anderson movie.

The Not So Unnecessary

Titanic 3D (April 6th)

At about this point, you're seriously questioning a lot of things about me. I beg you not to dismiss this movie. Yes, it has some very corny scenes that have been made fun of in pop culture to no end. Yes it's a sappy love story. Yes it's being re-released in theaters in the completely unnecessary 3D format. Put all of that aside though. It's a genuinely great movie that has only been brought down BECAUSE of societies jokes. At the time, and for over a decade after, it was the highest grossing movie of all time because loved it. Now that it's been 15 years since its original release, there are many many people that have never even seen it. Releasing it in theaters again may seem like a moneygrab, but I don't have a problem with giving people all over he world an opportunity to see something in theaters that they've never seen before, or to re-create the theatrical experience of a great movie again. I say we should bring older movies back to theaters more often.

Side note: I don't enjoy 3D in movies, but James Cameron knows how to do 3D. He's the one that brought us Avatar, and even people that don't like 3D an admit that he did a great job with it there. This movie WILL look good in 3D, and if I go see it I'll probably see it in 3D. But you should know, it's also being re-released without the 3D attached. So you aren't forced into 3D.

The Questionably Awesome

Cabin in the Woods (April 13th)

I don't like horror movies at all. But I love sci-fi, I love unique takes on things, I love being surprised, and I love Joss Whedon's writing. This has all of that. It takes a completely and very intentionally stereotypical premise and goes an entirely different direction with it. It looks like great campy fun and I'm really curious to see how the movie ends. Cabin In the Woods is another one of those movies that could have fallen into the category of being completely unnecessary, but I don't think so. We need this new take on things. Will it be good though? No clue. It could be the lamest movie of the year. It could be campy to the point of becoming unbearable. I hope none of that is true though. I hope this movie exceeds expectations. It better, especially if it has an awesome band like The Naked and Famous in the trailer.

The Hunger Games [Book Review]

After well over a year of hearing about The Hunger Games trilogy in podcasts, from friends, from random people, etc, I finally gave it a shot. Admittedly, I was a little bit wary because of it's categorization as "young adult" fiction. However, with the movie coming out soon and everything, I decided I couldn't delay much longer. Thus, I broke down and read it.

Not gonna say a whole lot on it really except to say that the hype holds up. It's genuinely a very entertaining good read, and it goes places I really didn't expect it to go at all (especially in relation to the games). From the very first chapter or two my predictions started completely falling flat. The games themselves were enormously entertaining to read through, and took up a much larger portion of the book than I anticipated.

The only thing I really didn't like (and it is a huge thing) was the main character. Katniss. She was okay at the beginning, and I definitely understand her motivations and thought processes... but I was constantly annoyed with her, especially once the games started. She was so so clueless about how she was affecting other people for almost the whole book. That wasn't fun to read. It was annoying. It made me angry at her character. From the moment Gale entered the scene, I understood his perspective and where he was coming from. From the moment Peeta entered the scene, I understood his perspective and where he was coming from. I feel like at some point or another I've been in both of their positions. Katniss though? She had no freaking clue about anything. Everything with her felt extremely selfishly motivated and uncaring towards others' emotions. I couldn't handle it.

At this point, I'm debating whether I even want to read the 2nd book. All the end of the 1st book did was set up team Edward/Jacob situation that I don't care about at all. If there's a genuinely exciting plot with cool stuff going on, I'll read it, but I definitely don't feel like it's going there at this point.

It's strange. I'd still recommend the book to most people, and I genuinely did really really like it... so it's odd that I'm saying so much negative stuff. Maybe it's just a male thing. Maybe females really understand the conflicts that Katniss deals with. I think she deals with those conflicts in the poorest ways possible. She never cares about anyones' emotions except for her own and what the audience might be feeling. It's painful to even read.

What do y'all think? Am I just coming at things from the male perspective? Should I still move on to book 2, or is it exactly what I fear it will be?

The Hunger Games: 8/10