PROMETHEUS vs PREDATOR

Prometheus trailer

Just kidding - I'm not going to mention Vs. Predator here. Nevertheless, Ridley Scott's Prometheus is caught in a bit of an argument about it's status in the Alien canon. Is it stand-alone, is it a full-blown prequel, does it exist on two levels, is it a hybrid of compromise - or is it the greatest Science Fiction film of recent times, worthy to be watched alongside the film that taught us that in space, no one can hear you scream? The arguments can go back and forth on this one. Personally, I don't think it's a game-changer in anything like the way Alien was and still is, but Prometheus is still significant in two different ways. Firstly, Prometheus is a film that completely justifies 3D - it is visually brilliant, from landscapes to ship interiors to dark tunnels and holographic projections - the perfect antagonist to Avatar's tie-dyed acid trip. Secondly, and more importantly, Prometheus is like a 'Greatest Hits' anthology of Sci-Fi's best concepts, in the way that Scream is to slasher movies - not in a derivative way, but in a way that pays homage to the genre by tastefully going back to basics.

Alien trailer

Obviously, Alien is a classic and so far as back-to-basics Sci-Fi goes, it's not a bad place for anyone to start. What the flash-bang-scream trailers don't show you is what makes it so good - the quiet boredom of a long voyage on a ship, the claustrophobia, the mixed motivations for being on the Nostromo, the very authentic feeling mealtime conversations that bristle with that most human quality, subtext. Alien is exquisitely normal and mundane, right until chests start popping open. Prometheus has similar character-building scenes in its first half, and it is for this reason that, if pushed, I would say the first half is where Prometheus is at its best.

This scene in Alien (below) is what Prometheus is all about - the alien race of 'space jockeys' who have been decimated by the 'xenomorphs'. Prometheus  raises more questions than it answers on this front, so there's plenty of room for prequel-sequels, but it is at the point in the film where the crew are antagonised by two separate alien races, rather than each other, that the film stops being decade-defining and becomes summer-defining. Which is still good, but quite a lot less good, like a point off of the Richter Scale of film greatness.

Discovering the 'space jockey' in Alien

The premise gives Prometheus one glimpse of greatness, and is expressed by Michael Fassbender's wonderful android David in the scene below: what if the Creator of mankind had very unedifying and disappointing reasons for making us? 

Prometheus: why were we created?

This disturbing theological-philosophical theory is unsettling on a very basic mental level, and really amplifies the background tension that has built up throughout the first act. As in Alien, this tension approaches a shock-horror breaking point. Everyone remembers the fabulous scene with John Hurt that achieves this in Alien, shown below, but Prometheus's moment is a little more predictable, very much along the lines of Dennis and the Ink Dinosaur in the first Jurassic Park film. Never try to play with the quite obviously deadly alien/dinosaurs, please.

The scene we all remember from Alien

Jurassic Park. Playing with monsters is a classic mistake

However, a little predictability is actually rather heart-warming, and the catalogue of classic inspiration and references is rather nice. For instance, helpful androids, advanced alien races, and unknowable threats were floating around in space in Forbidden Planet (1956), which is itself 90% Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Forbidden Planet: Sci-Fi classic

The idea that the quest for man's primitive beginning at the guiding hand of some outside force might coincide with man's own creation of threateningly intelligent A.I. is most famously painted across the stars in Kubrik's 2001: A Space Odyssey with the HAL 9000 ship's computer. 2001 is also a pretty good model of the 70s space chic that decorates both Scott's Nostromo and Prometheus vessels.

2001: A Space Odyssey trailer

 

The Andromeda Strain trailer

Whilst packed up in poorly-sealed jars the weaponised xenomorph spores (in some unexplained pre-egg-laying life-cycle) pose the threat to mankind seen in The Andromeda Strain (1971) (above), threatening to lead to a 28 Days Later (2002) (below) scenario; once out and about, the 'space jockey' and the xenomorph each act as pitiless psycho-killer-in-the-house, like a Halloween (1978) (further below) double team.

28 Days Later trailer

Halloween trailer

All of this fantastical 'creator's of humans and monsters' science is made credible in a short wordless prologue in which a 'space jockey' drinks a funny potion that does something funny to his DNA - it must be possible, because we see his double-helix's unravel before us in eye-popping 3D. Anyway, it's basically a moodier way of doing what Mr DNA does in Jurassic Park:

Mr DNA in Jurassic Park

If the alien vessel looks familiar and you've never seen any of the Alien films before, it's probably because you've either read The Lord of the Rings or seen the films, because they're basically like Alan Lee's illustrations. Still, sitting half-way between Lord of the Rings and 2001 isn't a bad place to pitch a films looks.

Alan Lee's original illustration of Isengard for Lord of the Rings

However, some sources of inspiration can be a little too close by. If the audience hadn't clocked the similarities by the end of the film, then the 'space jockey' temple turning out to be a space ship will take them back four years to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), or twelve years to Stargate (1994) and the fifteen years of TV franchises it spawned.

The ancient flying saucer  emerges from under ground in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Now, I'm all for passing nods to great films, but right at the climax Scott does make a bit of a strange choice, and pays homage to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997). This is the manner in which the uppance cometh for one Charlize Therone's character, whilst the heroine makes a daring dive to the side.

Austin Powers: get out of the way!

Slightly puzzling but nevertheless very pleasing is the continual reference to Peter O'Toole - upon whom the android David consciously models himself. Whilst the rest of the crew is in stasis en route to the planet, Fassbender brilliantly marauds about the Prometheus, playing basketball on a bike and other great android pass-times, but also watching old Peter O'Toole flicks. He even goes so far as to quote from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) when observing the desert planet. If anyone knows the reason for all this, I'd love to hear it. All I can say is, Fassbender does a very good android Peter O'Toole, which can only increase demand for his acting talents.

Lawrence of Arabia. Must be relevant somehow

Last of all, Ridley Scott reclaims his rightful place as king of gyno-horror after the Twilight series copied his ideas - Breaking Dawn (2011) is thoroughly put in it's place by Prometheus, which fits a more powerful vision of pregnancy into a sub-plot. People will be talking about the life-or-death pregnancy long after the painfully long Breaking Dawn (below) is forgotten. 

Prometheus is better than Breaking Dawn

Prometheus may have its downs as well as its ups, but it really is a return to class for the genre it represents. Compared to Star Wars prequels, Indiana Jones revivals, Twilight and Avatar, Prometheus can hold it's head high. For anyone new to the sci-fi/horror genre who hasn't seen Alien or 2001 or Jurassic Park or Scream, it'll probably blow your mind.