Monday, June 4, 2012

Prometheus (a movie review)

Prometheus, was the name of a Greek Mythology Titan that tried to trick the main God Apollon. Apollon was not amused and sentenced him to get his liver hacked out by an eagle everyday until enternity. The liver grew back every day so it started all over. If I remember it right he was resued in som sort of way. Anyway....

Its also the name of a brand new movie from genius director Ridley Scott. His first Sci Fi in a very long time, and even if it´s only his third Sci Fi, he is often considered as one of the worlds best Sci fi directors.
Not only did he changed the way we looked upon the space and Sci Fi with his groundbreaking Alien (1979).
He also formed the way Cyber Punk looked upon the world in stylish "Blade Runner" (1982). William Gibson would two years later be labeled as a Cyber Punk writer with a Bladerunneresque world view.
Four cornerstones was the key to success of the Alien movie. An iconic Monster, scary as hell, an iconic super survivour, the female main character Ripley (played Sigourney Weaver). The feeling of beeing alone in space and its horrors and crooked coorporation behind some of the shit that was happening. Everything of that is in the new movie, Prometheus. Even if the feeling of being alone and stranded is worse in Alien.

If the dirt and punk feeling was high in the Bladerunner and Alien, there are very little of it in Prometheus. But there are less noble acts by the humans to compensate it.
The iconic Ripley´s cargo ship captain is now a scientist with a noble task, to find who the hell was that made us humans? Played by Swedish actress Noomi Rapace*, and the simularities are obvious, so obvious that Scott can use my expectation to trick me a few times. Rapace plays the character well, so well that she fill the gap the Weaver left not being in the film. All the actors do their bit, as well as the script writers, FX teams and the director himself. It´s a excellent piece of art and film hand craft. But it is no new Alien, it can´t be. The way Alien was groundbreaking back in 1979 and was something extra. But second best to Alien is very good. And even better, Scott point out a new direction for sequals so we don´t have to live with those horrible Alien vs Predators or even worse film trash that flooded the market. There are a few corny homage to HP Lovecraft that isn´t a bit silly, at its best a bit nerdy, but that is not to be upset by.




*Noomi Rapace played the punk hacker in the Millenium films, Men who hate women, The Girl who played with fire and The Girl who kicked the hornets´ nest.


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