Prometheus

 

2012

20^th Century Fox

Directed by Ridley Scott

Produced by Ridley Scott, David Giler and Walter Hill

Written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof

Like most of you, upon hearing that Ridley Scott was filming a prequel to “Alien” I got as giddy as a 10 year old hearing that a law has been passed making every day Christmas.  The current age of filmmaking we live in now is one where movies I never dreamed would be made are coming to cinematic life.  And Ridley Scott returning to the “Alien” universe is most certainly one of those things I never thought would happen.  “Alien” is for me the definitive blending of horror and science-fiction film because it works so well as both.  And so many other thing went into it to contribute to its rightful place as a film masterpiece: the look of the film itself.  Between “Alien” “Blade Runner” and “Outland” we would never again have science fiction movies set in the future that looked like movie sets.  We now had future worlds that looked lived in with machines that looked functional and practical, not like priceless sculpture.  The casting of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley who became the template for female action heroes in the movies.  Surely with Ridley Scott directing a new movie set in the same universe PROMETHEUS would be a cinematic experience worthy to stand alongside that work of art.

Sorry to disappoint you but it doesn’t.  At least not for me.  The look of the movie is spectacular with sets that are absolutely amazing and flat-out beautiful special effects, especially during a terrifying sandstorm and a scene where one of the characters discovers a breathtaking holographic star map showing the way to Earth.  PROMETHEUS is watchable and worth looking at but that’s all it is.

It’s the year 2093 and aboard the trillion dollar starship PROMETHEUS, the crew is awakening from cryonic stasis sleep after two years of travel to their destination.  Which is a small moon that archeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) believe they’ll find evidence of beings they call The Engineers.  Their theory is that The Engineers are direct forefathers of humanity.  To prove this theory,  the billionaire founder and CEO of the Weyland Corproration, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) has had this ship built and sends a crew along with Elizabeth and Charlie.  The crew includes the captain, Janek (Idris Elba) Weyland Corporation executive Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) and David (Michael Fassbender) an android who acts as pretty much a glorified hi-tech gofer.  There are other crewmembers but it’s hardly worth mentioning them as they’re there just to have really terrible things happen to them.

Upon landing on the moon, an exploration team investigates a huge structure, discovering that an entire crescent shaped starship is inside.  They discover corpses of humanoid beings they assume are Engineers and strange stone cylinders.  Charlie becomes infected with a strange dark liquid inside of a stone cylinder David has snuck on board the ship and from then on, things continue to go horribly wrong.  So wrong that the crew of the PROMETHEUS are forced to make a decision between their own survival and that of the human race.

Okay, let me get what I didn’t like out of the way so that I can end this review on a high note with what I did like.  PROMETHEUS is one of those movies where people go where they have absolutely no business going and then run around screaming because that decision bites them in the ass.  And in this case I mean that quite literally.  The story really didn’t grab me and the poor characterization didn’t help either.  Most of the characters in this movie are just there, relying on visuals like wearing hoodies and mohawks so that we can tell them apart.  There are some scenes that are meant to be frightening and scary but to me were just laughable.  Especially the scene that inspired me to dub Noomi Rapace’s character ‘Elizabeth the OctoMom.’  If you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about.  Idris Elba, one of my favorite actors is totally wasted in this movie.  At least Charlize Theron gets to have some fun playing the icy executive who makes it clear to one and all she doesn’t want to be on this mission.  Theron’s character is the only one displaying any kind of common sense which makes her stand out even more.

Noomi Rapace continues to add to her resume of solid performances as she plays a women of strength with intelligence and compassion.  Her struggle to reconcile her scientific discipline with her religious faith is well done.  But it’s Michael Fassbender who walks away with the acting honors.  For an android, David displays more personality than anybody else in the crew and has more of a sense of wonder about their discoveries than the humans.  He also has a goofy sense of humor that manifests itself in very unexpected ways.

 

 

 

So should you see PROMETHEUS?  Most of you reading this probably already have and are either wishing a pox upon my house or defriending me on Facebook for some of the things I’ve already said.  But for those of you who aren’t let me say this: I’m not saying PROMETHEUS is a bad movie.  It’s not.  It’s a Ridley Scott movie and the man knows how to make a movie, no doubt about it. The problem lies in the story which simply doesn’t live up to the huge cosmic themes it raises and the lack of characterizations.  Everybody turns in solid performances as best they can (but what was up with that accent, Idris?) and technically you couldn’t ask for better.   But on a level with “Alien”?  Nah.  Not even close.

 

124 minutes

Rated R

 

X-Men: First Class

2011

20^th Century Fox

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Produced by Gregory Goodman, Simon Kinberg, Lauren Shuler Donner and Bryan Singer

Screenplay by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn

Story by Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer

Based on “X-Men” characters created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Chris Claremont

In the interest of full disclosure I should let you know how I feel about The X-Men before I jump into this review.  Only because once you know where I’m coming from you’ll understand why I didn’t have a problem with this movie and indeed, enjoyed it a lot.  In fact, I liked it just as much as “X2” and “X-Men Origins:Wolverine”.  But we’ll get into that in a bit.  First off:

I like the movie incarnation of The X-Men much more than the comic book version.  And I speak as someone who has read and enjoyed the comic book since the 70’s.  It’s just that the whole “hated and feared by a world they’ve sworn to protect” thing makes more sense when The X-Men inhabit a world where it’s just humans and mutants.  It’s harder to buy when The X-Men exist in a world with a couple of thousand other super beings.  Personally, if I lived in The Marvel Universe I’d be more worried about Reed Richards having his own private doorway to a hostile universe in midtown Manhattan than mutants.  But that’s just me.

In any case, I didn’t have a problem with this rebooting of the movie X-Men universe mainly because it’s well done and doesn’t violate the spirit of the X-Men concept.  Particularly the Professor X/Magneto relationship which is the heart of this movie and if we don’t buy their relationship, we’re not going to buy the whole human/mutant conflict.  Yeah, there’s some serious tweaking of the traditional X-Men origin done here along with the line-up of original X-Men, the “First Class” of the title but not enough to prohibit my enjoyment of what is a pretty good superhero movie.  It’s no “Thor” but it was worth my time and money.

In separate storylines we’re introduced to Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) who are both mutants with extraordinary power.  Charles is the most powerful telepath on the planet while Erik can create and manipulate magnetic fields.  But while Charles has enjoyed a life of wealth and privilege, Erik has only known terror, pain, sorrow and loss, beginning with the murder of his mother in a World War II concentration camp.  Surviving The Holocaust and growing to adulthood still not in full control of his abilities, Erik begins a worldwide hunt for Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) a mutant himself with energy absorbing powers.

In the meantime, Charles is contacted by Moira McTaggert, a CIA agent investigating The Hellfire Club which she learns is a mutant organization, led by Shaw and his right hand henchwoman Emma Frost (January Jones).  Moira can’t get anybody in the CIA to believe her except for The Man In Black (Oliver Platt) who offers Charles and Moira his facility to find other mutants to combat Shaw.

In short order, Charles locates Angel (Zoe Kravitz) Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) Darwin (Edi Gathegi) and Havok (Lucas Till).  Along with the shape shifter Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) Hank McCoy, the supergenius who will soon be known as The Beast and Erik, they form the First Class of X-Men.  They move to the Xavier family mansion in Westchester where they live, work and train together to control and hone their powers. And this class has one hell of a final test: prevent World War III as Sebastian Shaw and his Hellfire Club are working behind the scenes to manipulate events to bring about The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS almost lost me in the first ten minutes because there’s such a huge plot hole that I couldn’t believe none of the four screenwriters plugged it.  But thanks to the directing of Matthew Vaughn, he keeps the story cracking along so well that after a while, I forgot all about the plot hole until after the movie was over.  Whoever cast January Jones as Emma Frost should be fired.  Her acting style is fine for the TV show “Mad Men” where her character is supposed to be emotionally repressed.  But it doesn’t suit the character of Emma Frost at all.  Now if they’d gotten Christina Hendricks to play Emma Frost…(Insert Derrick’s Hottie Growl © 2007 Derrick Ferguson)

Except for her, the other actors are really good, especially James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender who really have great chemistry and make us believe in the friendship between these two men who have such different dreams for their people.  Kevin Bacon is dynamite as Sebastian Shaw and there’s something to be said for the fact that even though he’s the bad guy, his point of view is ultimately proved to be the right one.  I saw Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” which was one of the most disappointing movies I’ve ever seen but I liked her performance and I like her a lot more here.

The 1960’s setting is inspired and at times, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS plays like a ‘60’s spy movie with superpowers.  But it never fails to entertain.  If you’re a dedicated X-fan then the way the continuity of the team has been changed and in some cases downright ignored will no doubt infuriate you to no end.  But if you’re willing to relax and enjoy a really well-made superhero movie that is serious without being too dark and filled with solid performances and outstanding action sequences then you’ll most likely enjoy X-MEN: FIRST CLASS.  I certainly did.

PG-13

132 minutes