‘Prometheus’ fun, though short of Alien glory

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Movie poster for "Prometheus." Scott Free Productions, 20th Century Fox.

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July 5, 2012

‘Prometheus’ fun, though short of Alien glory

Movie Review

Ezra Mann Pauls Valley Democrat The Democrat Thu Jul 05, 2012, 09:51 AM CDT

Pauls Valley, Oklahoma — There’s certain to be plenty of other years where struggling to protect humanity from an alien menace was in just about every popular movie, though it’s nice to see a different one, showing us bumbling around like the Jerry Lewis sketches we really are. No super guys to battle in our place or odd adaptation of an unrelated board game, but just good old fashioned oh man we’re screwed scenarios.

Though to be honest, despite it’s connection to one of the most worshipped flick franchises, I wasn’t in the biggest hurry to make it part of the summer must see list. After viewing, I pretty much felt like I still could have waited for rental, but it’s more a reflection on perhaps the humans being the only ones who could act. “Prometheus” has some of the coolest visuals one could hope for from this type of thriller, but it might be trying to depend too much on hoping studios continue the story later.

For those who weren’t traumatized by creatures bursting out of chests or that mini mouth inside the mouth thing, this is supposed to be a disconnected prequel of sorts for “Alien.” The story kicks off in 2089 when a couple of archeologists named Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover in ancient earth artwork an extraterrestrial message that may lead to answers of their origin.

In a move almost “Jurassic Park” in the jump to adventure department they then shoot off into the great beyond seeking answers in a ship the same name as the movie. It’s pretty much the wonder of discovery and finding one connection after another to humanity at first, until they start feeling maybe ET didn’t want them to phone home. The thing that really makes this movie tick is the superb acting by Rapace who you really feel for in her struggles and an android named David (Michael Fassbender), who when isn’t on an I know more than you ego trip, is rather twisted in his meddling with the rest of the crew.

However, again things move in such a way to suggest there will be these grand discoveries and connections only to not really answer much of anything and only give our alien “engineers” maybe half an hour of screen time. After consideration, it’s almost like an out of this world version of the “Blaire Witch Project” where we do a pretty good job of seeing they are scared, but just throw in enough action encounters to satisfy minimum requirements.

It’s not so much a total disappointment, but it seems the trailers promised more than what one might hope for from the final product. The rest of the human characters are worthy of doing their part well enough not to be forgotten, but also feel a bit thrown in just for filler. Thus I’d have to say this middle of the road result for “Prometheus” earns two and a half out of five galaxies.

Movie viewing courtesy of the Royal Twin Theater of Pauls Valley.

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