Post by cradleman on Jun 9, 2012 13:57:05 GMT -6
Alright, i've gone and made a review of Prometheus after seeing it a second time already, there are a lot of spoilers, and a lot of the focus is on the film's parallels to christianity. here ya go:
PROMETHEUS: A REVIEW
To begin, if you have any doubts about seeing this film in theaters, I want to go ahead and recommend that you put those aside and experience the spectacle. Before I get into any spoilers (which will be coming, though I will warn you before they begin), I want to take a moment to talk about how good the film looks. Scott has outdone himself with the visuals in the film. From the very first scene with some absolutely gorgeous scenery, to the shots of the Prometheus cutting through the clouds on a faraway planet, the look of the film is tremendous. It's a visual spectacle, and a beautifully made film.
Also, a word about the performances in the film. Noomi Rapace does a very good job with Elisabeth Shaw. You can see the eagerness in her performance, she emotes very well Shaw's desire to find out where we came from, why we were created. Her reactions to the events in the film are great, and she is a very compelling protagonist. The standout performance comes from Michael Fassbender as the android David. He acts as if he has no emotion, but at the same time shows almost a desire to experience the human emotions, and his modeling Peter O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia is fantastic. Idris Elba is great as the everyman captain, he isn't special, he's just like everyone else and he plays the part very well. Also worthy of mention are Charlize Theron as steely boss Meredith Vickers and Guy Pearce as aged rich magnate Peter Weyland.
Some complaints have been made about the film, and to an extent, they do have some validity. The crew is essentially a group of random people who exist to move the plot along. Some decisions made by the crew are a little suspect, and many people don't like that the film doesn't answer the questions that it offers up. I agree with the first two problems, and while I understand the third, I don't necessarily think that it is a problem. I'll tackle why in the spoiler section.
Also, I've heard that just because the film makes you think and ponder, doesn't make it a good movie. The idea that a film should be enjoyable without the ideas and questions it asks is understandable and it makes sense, but to try and judge Prometheus without acknowledging both the affect it has on you and the ability of the film to make you ponder the meaning of life is to do it an injustice. Those ideas and questions are as much a part of the film as the actors or the sets, you wouldn't attempt to critique a film while ignoring the acting, or how the film is composed, so why would you critique a film like Prometheus without including in your analysis all the many things it causes you to consider?
From this point on, in order to discuss the ideas and questions brought up by the film, spoilers abound, so consider yourself warned.
Let's begin with the opening scene, a wonderful panorama and many beautiful scenes of a fairly empty planet, containing only water, rocks, and vegetation. A shadow appears, and soon we see a flying saucer that has deposited one of its own on the planet. He watches it leave and takes a drink of . . . something. It's a dark and thick liquid that attacks his cells, corrupting them, destroying them, and he falls apart as he tumbles over a waterfall. As he crumbles and fades away though, the remains of his body begin to change, and soon the first cells of life on that planet come into being, and begin to multiply.
This scene, for the most part, is unlike anything else that occurs in the film. It's there both as a startling introduction, something to get you immediately interested in the movie, as well as a visual explanation of how the engineer's process works. It also brings up one of the most important motifs that will be demonstrated again and again, that of sacrifice. In order for the engineers to create life, one of them must give his life and die. Life is needed to create life (the scientific principle of the Law of Biogenesis).
Sacrifice appears several more times in the movie. When Holloway becomes infected, instead of allowing Elisabeth to take him onboard and try to save his life while putting everyone else at risk (something which didn't work out for the crew in the original Alien), he begs Vickers to burn him, ending his life to save the others. Of course, the other major sacrifice in the film is that in the film's conclusion. Realizing that the Engineers plan is not to visit earth but to destroy it, Elisabeth begs Janek to stop the alien. Janek, along with Chance and Ravel, ram the Prometheus into the alien ship, giving up their lives to save the billions of people on planet earth.
To me, this brings up one of many parallels with Christianity, and the film uses many symbols of Christianity either in the forefront (like the Cross Shaw wears) or in the background. Of course, the main parallel is that according to Christianity, God created man. In the film, the Engineers are the ones that created man. However, as is asked in the movie, who created them? That the answer is not given is not a problem. It seems to me that Scott is suggesting that God did in fact create the universe, or at least a god, and that we are just farther removed from him than we think. I don't necessarily agree with him if that's the case, but it is still essentially what the movie presents.
Another parallel that to me seems obvious is the idea of sacrifice. According to the Bible, when Jesus died, he “gave up the ghost” willingly (John 19:30). Jesus' sacrifice, taking on the sin of the world and dying as punishment for that sin so that mankind could get to heaven, saving them from hell, is the ultimate sacrifice. The sacrifice of Janek and the two co-pilots is, I think, portrayed in the same light. They died, but because of their death, the whole human race can live, no longer in danger of being destroyed.
A third, this less obvious, is the destruction of the human race. It's clear from the Engineer's actions after being awakened that his mission is to destroy humanity once and for all. Whatever humanity has done (more on that soon), it's enough to get the Engineers to rethink humanity and want to wipe them out. Of course, according to the Bible, early in man's history, they were so wicked and did so much evil, that God sent a flood to destroy the earth. Much like God cleansed the earth in the Bible, the Engineers are set to cleanse the earth in Prometheus.
The symbolism doesn't stop there. Shaw's cross is the most obvious symbol of Christianity and her faith in God. It signifies she has faith that there is a reason for why we are here, and a place that we go to when we die. The question is asked at the beginning, how she knew the Engineers created humans. Her response is similar to the response she gets from her father as a child when she asks him why he knew that people went to heaven when they died. “Because that's what I choose to believe.”
Shaws belief in the film begs two important questions. How important is faith in science? Where does science end and faith begin? The answer to the first seems to be “very important.” Shaw is the only believer on board, and the only one who manages to walk away alive at the end of the film, a significance which I don't think should be put aside lightly. It does make me think of a line from Joss Whedon's Serenity, spoken by the Christian character Shepherd Book to Mal, “I don't care what you believe in, just believe in it.” Without faith or belief, there is no motivation for survival, and no desire to learn and advance as either a person or a civilization.
The answer to the second, where science ends and faith begins, is left unanswered. Brought up by the ship's biologist is that Shaw is discounting three hundred years of Darwinism in believing in the Engineers (a belief proved to be correct). The film seems to say that life did evolve, but it needed a little push first. That mirrors Scott's own beliefs, and the beliefs of many (even many Darwinist scientists) who think that life is too complex to have arisen without some outside help.
Scott suggests that the answer may be aliens, it may be God, it may be Darwinism, or it may be some combination of those. The answer to that he leaves up to personal interpretation, more than likely because he doesn't know the answer any better than most people do. As a Christian, I believe in God, and I believe the Bible. Obviously, someone else watching the film might come to a different conclusion. The idea I think the film puts forth is that faith, whether in God or something else, doesn't hinder science, but in fact enhances it.
One of the more fascinating parts of the film, to me, is Peter Weyland's search for immortality. Death is something that no one ever wants to experience. The thought of dying, the thought of the unknown frightens everyone, and so the search for immortality has been a part of human history for centuries. The most famous example is of course, the search for the Fountain of Youth, when the Spanish conquistadors searched throughout Florida for the waters that would make them young again.
In the film, Weyland is an old man who looks a lot like the Cryptkeeper. He's obviously advanced in age, and is on death's doorstep. His desire is to talk to the Engineers, and see if they can give him new life, since they created the life on earth in the first place. One thing to note is that he has no idea if Shaw is correct or not, he essentially goes along as almost a “why not?” But his desire to seek immortality from his maker is another christian parallel, though more subtle than the others.
In Christianity (as well as in other religions), true believers will spend eternity with God, never dying, and never growing old. They will have to die on earth once, but after they've journeyed into the unknown, as long as they have accepted Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, they can no longer be affected by death or disease or any other corruption suffered on Earth. Shaw seeks a more physical kind of immortality from his creator, but it's still at the very least an interesting parallel to consider.
There are at least three other references to Christianity, although the first may be me projecting my beliefs into the film. According to the Bible, the reason mankind is separated from God and condemned to Hell is for the sin they have committed, their wrongdoing. Many times in Christian literature, sin is portrayed as black and corrupting. (One specific example in modern Christian Fiction is in Frank Peretti's book The Oath, where those who have sinned and are marked to die begin to ooze a thick, black sludge from their hearts). The method of the Engineer's destruction of earth is the jars of thick, black liquid, and anything they touch becomes corrupted. The earthworms turned into predatory reptiles, Fifield became a raging and destructive monster, and the infected Holloway and Shaw's baby is some kind of tentacled, mutated monster. Much like sin corrupted and infected mankind, the liquid in the film corrupts and destroys, causing death and destruction.
The second reference is simply the name of the planet, LV 223. Leviticus 22:3 says, “Say unto them, Whosoever [he be] of all your seed among your generations that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I [am] the LORD.”
The last and most important is the time that everything went wrong for the Engineers at the installation. When Holloway asks how long the first Engineer discovered has been dead, Shaw replies 2000 years. Of course, what occurred 2000 years ago would be the death of Jesus on the cross. The reason, only implied of course, for the destruction for mankind would seem to be how they received Jesus. He came to save them and they rejected him and crucified him, and the aliens decided that this display showed that humans were a self serving and cruel people, no longer worthy of life.
In conclusion, the film is flawed on some levels, yet magnificently made on others. It's a film that needs a sequel, another movie to finish where this one leaves off. Not necessarily to answer the questions this film leaves unanswered, but to complete the story of Shaw's journey, even if the sequels never connect back to the original Alien. Those expecting Alien will be disappointed, for while the movie definitely has its disturbing sequences, it is not a scary film. That's not a problem, for I don't think it was meant to be. It's a wonderful sci-fi film, that asks many questions and answers none specifically. The Christian parallels fascinate me and enhance the film, and it is a movie that everyone should see at least once, if not multiple times.
PROMETHEUS: A REVIEW
To begin, if you have any doubts about seeing this film in theaters, I want to go ahead and recommend that you put those aside and experience the spectacle. Before I get into any spoilers (which will be coming, though I will warn you before they begin), I want to take a moment to talk about how good the film looks. Scott has outdone himself with the visuals in the film. From the very first scene with some absolutely gorgeous scenery, to the shots of the Prometheus cutting through the clouds on a faraway planet, the look of the film is tremendous. It's a visual spectacle, and a beautifully made film.
Also, a word about the performances in the film. Noomi Rapace does a very good job with Elisabeth Shaw. You can see the eagerness in her performance, she emotes very well Shaw's desire to find out where we came from, why we were created. Her reactions to the events in the film are great, and she is a very compelling protagonist. The standout performance comes from Michael Fassbender as the android David. He acts as if he has no emotion, but at the same time shows almost a desire to experience the human emotions, and his modeling Peter O'Toole's Lawrence of Arabia is fantastic. Idris Elba is great as the everyman captain, he isn't special, he's just like everyone else and he plays the part very well. Also worthy of mention are Charlize Theron as steely boss Meredith Vickers and Guy Pearce as aged rich magnate Peter Weyland.
Some complaints have been made about the film, and to an extent, they do have some validity. The crew is essentially a group of random people who exist to move the plot along. Some decisions made by the crew are a little suspect, and many people don't like that the film doesn't answer the questions that it offers up. I agree with the first two problems, and while I understand the third, I don't necessarily think that it is a problem. I'll tackle why in the spoiler section.
Also, I've heard that just because the film makes you think and ponder, doesn't make it a good movie. The idea that a film should be enjoyable without the ideas and questions it asks is understandable and it makes sense, but to try and judge Prometheus without acknowledging both the affect it has on you and the ability of the film to make you ponder the meaning of life is to do it an injustice. Those ideas and questions are as much a part of the film as the actors or the sets, you wouldn't attempt to critique a film while ignoring the acting, or how the film is composed, so why would you critique a film like Prometheus without including in your analysis all the many things it causes you to consider?
From this point on, in order to discuss the ideas and questions brought up by the film, spoilers abound, so consider yourself warned.
Let's begin with the opening scene, a wonderful panorama and many beautiful scenes of a fairly empty planet, containing only water, rocks, and vegetation. A shadow appears, and soon we see a flying saucer that has deposited one of its own on the planet. He watches it leave and takes a drink of . . . something. It's a dark and thick liquid that attacks his cells, corrupting them, destroying them, and he falls apart as he tumbles over a waterfall. As he crumbles and fades away though, the remains of his body begin to change, and soon the first cells of life on that planet come into being, and begin to multiply.
This scene, for the most part, is unlike anything else that occurs in the film. It's there both as a startling introduction, something to get you immediately interested in the movie, as well as a visual explanation of how the engineer's process works. It also brings up one of the most important motifs that will be demonstrated again and again, that of sacrifice. In order for the engineers to create life, one of them must give his life and die. Life is needed to create life (the scientific principle of the Law of Biogenesis).
Sacrifice appears several more times in the movie. When Holloway becomes infected, instead of allowing Elisabeth to take him onboard and try to save his life while putting everyone else at risk (something which didn't work out for the crew in the original Alien), he begs Vickers to burn him, ending his life to save the others. Of course, the other major sacrifice in the film is that in the film's conclusion. Realizing that the Engineers plan is not to visit earth but to destroy it, Elisabeth begs Janek to stop the alien. Janek, along with Chance and Ravel, ram the Prometheus into the alien ship, giving up their lives to save the billions of people on planet earth.
To me, this brings up one of many parallels with Christianity, and the film uses many symbols of Christianity either in the forefront (like the Cross Shaw wears) or in the background. Of course, the main parallel is that according to Christianity, God created man. In the film, the Engineers are the ones that created man. However, as is asked in the movie, who created them? That the answer is not given is not a problem. It seems to me that Scott is suggesting that God did in fact create the universe, or at least a god, and that we are just farther removed from him than we think. I don't necessarily agree with him if that's the case, but it is still essentially what the movie presents.
Another parallel that to me seems obvious is the idea of sacrifice. According to the Bible, when Jesus died, he “gave up the ghost” willingly (John 19:30). Jesus' sacrifice, taking on the sin of the world and dying as punishment for that sin so that mankind could get to heaven, saving them from hell, is the ultimate sacrifice. The sacrifice of Janek and the two co-pilots is, I think, portrayed in the same light. They died, but because of their death, the whole human race can live, no longer in danger of being destroyed.
A third, this less obvious, is the destruction of the human race. It's clear from the Engineer's actions after being awakened that his mission is to destroy humanity once and for all. Whatever humanity has done (more on that soon), it's enough to get the Engineers to rethink humanity and want to wipe them out. Of course, according to the Bible, early in man's history, they were so wicked and did so much evil, that God sent a flood to destroy the earth. Much like God cleansed the earth in the Bible, the Engineers are set to cleanse the earth in Prometheus.
The symbolism doesn't stop there. Shaw's cross is the most obvious symbol of Christianity and her faith in God. It signifies she has faith that there is a reason for why we are here, and a place that we go to when we die. The question is asked at the beginning, how she knew the Engineers created humans. Her response is similar to the response she gets from her father as a child when she asks him why he knew that people went to heaven when they died. “Because that's what I choose to believe.”
Shaws belief in the film begs two important questions. How important is faith in science? Where does science end and faith begin? The answer to the first seems to be “very important.” Shaw is the only believer on board, and the only one who manages to walk away alive at the end of the film, a significance which I don't think should be put aside lightly. It does make me think of a line from Joss Whedon's Serenity, spoken by the Christian character Shepherd Book to Mal, “I don't care what you believe in, just believe in it.” Without faith or belief, there is no motivation for survival, and no desire to learn and advance as either a person or a civilization.
The answer to the second, where science ends and faith begins, is left unanswered. Brought up by the ship's biologist is that Shaw is discounting three hundred years of Darwinism in believing in the Engineers (a belief proved to be correct). The film seems to say that life did evolve, but it needed a little push first. That mirrors Scott's own beliefs, and the beliefs of many (even many Darwinist scientists) who think that life is too complex to have arisen without some outside help.
Scott suggests that the answer may be aliens, it may be God, it may be Darwinism, or it may be some combination of those. The answer to that he leaves up to personal interpretation, more than likely because he doesn't know the answer any better than most people do. As a Christian, I believe in God, and I believe the Bible. Obviously, someone else watching the film might come to a different conclusion. The idea I think the film puts forth is that faith, whether in God or something else, doesn't hinder science, but in fact enhances it.
One of the more fascinating parts of the film, to me, is Peter Weyland's search for immortality. Death is something that no one ever wants to experience. The thought of dying, the thought of the unknown frightens everyone, and so the search for immortality has been a part of human history for centuries. The most famous example is of course, the search for the Fountain of Youth, when the Spanish conquistadors searched throughout Florida for the waters that would make them young again.
In the film, Weyland is an old man who looks a lot like the Cryptkeeper. He's obviously advanced in age, and is on death's doorstep. His desire is to talk to the Engineers, and see if they can give him new life, since they created the life on earth in the first place. One thing to note is that he has no idea if Shaw is correct or not, he essentially goes along as almost a “why not?” But his desire to seek immortality from his maker is another christian parallel, though more subtle than the others.
In Christianity (as well as in other religions), true believers will spend eternity with God, never dying, and never growing old. They will have to die on earth once, but after they've journeyed into the unknown, as long as they have accepted Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, they can no longer be affected by death or disease or any other corruption suffered on Earth. Shaw seeks a more physical kind of immortality from his creator, but it's still at the very least an interesting parallel to consider.
There are at least three other references to Christianity, although the first may be me projecting my beliefs into the film. According to the Bible, the reason mankind is separated from God and condemned to Hell is for the sin they have committed, their wrongdoing. Many times in Christian literature, sin is portrayed as black and corrupting. (One specific example in modern Christian Fiction is in Frank Peretti's book The Oath, where those who have sinned and are marked to die begin to ooze a thick, black sludge from their hearts). The method of the Engineer's destruction of earth is the jars of thick, black liquid, and anything they touch becomes corrupted. The earthworms turned into predatory reptiles, Fifield became a raging and destructive monster, and the infected Holloway and Shaw's baby is some kind of tentacled, mutated monster. Much like sin corrupted and infected mankind, the liquid in the film corrupts and destroys, causing death and destruction.
The second reference is simply the name of the planet, LV 223. Leviticus 22:3 says, “Say unto them, Whosoever [he be] of all your seed among your generations that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I [am] the LORD.”
The last and most important is the time that everything went wrong for the Engineers at the installation. When Holloway asks how long the first Engineer discovered has been dead, Shaw replies 2000 years. Of course, what occurred 2000 years ago would be the death of Jesus on the cross. The reason, only implied of course, for the destruction for mankind would seem to be how they received Jesus. He came to save them and they rejected him and crucified him, and the aliens decided that this display showed that humans were a self serving and cruel people, no longer worthy of life.
In conclusion, the film is flawed on some levels, yet magnificently made on others. It's a film that needs a sequel, another movie to finish where this one leaves off. Not necessarily to answer the questions this film leaves unanswered, but to complete the story of Shaw's journey, even if the sequels never connect back to the original Alien. Those expecting Alien will be disappointed, for while the movie definitely has its disturbing sequences, it is not a scary film. That's not a problem, for I don't think it was meant to be. It's a wonderful sci-fi film, that asks many questions and answers none specifically. The Christian parallels fascinate me and enhance the film, and it is a movie that everyone should see at least once, if not multiple times.