Prometheus – Prequel to the Alien Series?

Prometheus directed and produced by Ridley Scott couldn’t decide if it was a prequel to the Alien series or not.  The comments I’ve read by Scott seem to indicate he wasn’t sure either. Movies involve so many different people that the end result always expresses a blend of interests.  In this case it wasn’t a happy blend.

The film starts out with just the sort of scenes and characters you would expect in a prequel to Alien. There’s a big space ship owned by a mega corporation, they come out of some sort of hibernation capsules and feel like shit, there is a group of jarheads with a tough Sergeant, some scientists, an android, some crew, and a sexy female main character.  The planet they land on appears to have the same terrain and weather as in Alien, the crashed space ship they find has the same interior, and the alien pods look pretty much the same and they leap out and go for your head so they can implant something inside of you.  It is so predictable as a prequel that minor changes in the plot that don’t fit with Alien stand out like a sore tentacle.

Therein lies its weakness as far as I’m concerned.  Make up your mind!  Either do a proper prequel or make a different movie.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I saw it.  I love good special effects even if the plot sucks.  And the monsters were great, even if they were a bit late to the party!  But the plot sucks.  You’d have to be an empath to care about the characters.  The relationships are about as well developed as the Love Boat, an old situation T.V. comedy that had people falling madly in love after saying about three lines to each other.

At least it didn’t try to be more gross with exploding entrails than the previous versions, but that would have been a losing battle anyway.

If you appreciate science fiction that builds a coherent sense of a different universe, or if you actually insist on a movie having some sort of meaning or emotional impact, Prometheus isn’t going to be your favorite movie of the last ten years, or the last five, or maybe of the last month. If all you care about are special effects and the fact that there are monsters in space, it’s pretty good.