Prometheus (2012)

Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Release Date: June 8, 2012

My Rating:  
(Click here for more info on my rating scale)


Prometheus is an okay movie overall.  It has several flaws, and it's a bit stupid in areas, but it's pretty interesting and thought-provoking.  And it's a good film to be seen in the theater, on the big screen.

Ridley Scott has returned to the science fiction genre and the Alien universe with Prometheus, which I finally saw in the theater today.  The initial opening shots of Prometheus show landscape shots, during the opening credits.  The land is completely lifeless, but there is water.  Then we see an alien spacecraft, and a humanoid alien nearby standing near the top of a waterfall.  The humanoid consumes a substance which causes its body to disintegrate and fall into the nearby waterfall.  This is immediately followed by images of red blood cells, which is then followed by shots of DNA strands, during which the title starts to appear in a similar way in which the title in Alien appeared.  This is a pretty good opening sequence, it sets the tone of the movie, and it already poses some questions.

Most of the story takes place during the final weeks of the year 2093.  The space vessel Prometheus is traveling through space to a planet in a system in orbit around a sun-like star.  This system was pointed at by several archeological findings, which may be a clue to the origin of mankind.  The ship is very near it's destination, and the 17-man crew awakens from hypersleep, except for an android named David who has been awake.  They arrive at the planet they are heading to.  It appears to be desolate.  But then they notice straight lines on the ground, which could obviously not have been created by nature.  These lines lead to some sort of big structure.  Much of the movie takes place in this structure, and on the Prometheus.

The ship lands, and some of the crew are sent to check out the structure.  Inside it, they find a series of tunnels, some of them underground.  While exploring, it initially seems that there is nothing alive.  However, this soon changes.  Complications arise, the plot thickens, discoveries are made, etc...  There's quite a bit that goes on in Prometheus, much more to the story than I've already given.  However, I don't want to give anything more away.  In fact, I've probably already given a little too much away.

Prometheus is set in the Alien universe, and it it's a prequel to Ridley Scott's Alien.  And it has several obvious connections to it, which I won't reveal in my review.  However, Prometheus also works very well as a stand-alone.  It obviously leads on to the Alien movies, and does get things where they need to be for the events of the Alien movies.  Yet it also has its own story and it goes in its own directions.  Scott's 1979 Alien was strong on suspense, and it was essentially a sci-fi haunted house story, and very scary. Prometheus does have horror elements, and some similar elements to that of Alien, but unlike that movie, this movie also contains some other elements.  It doesn't lean more towards suspense, action, etc.  It has a mixture that balances these elements.  Also, and best of all, the movie is intellectually stimulating.  The movie contains many mysteries and questions.  As the movie progresses, some of these questions are answered, and some are left unanswered and open-ended.

That's not to say that Prometheus is perfect.  It does contain flaws.  Most of them concern the characters, which are pretty flat.  None of them are truly round characters, or even interesting.  I didn't really care much for them.  That's not to say that I didn't feel anything for the characters.  I did feel a little bit, but it was marginal.  None of the characters are particularly memorable.  Then again, the first Alien movie had the same type of characters (in terms of depth, etc.), but it did have Ellen Ripley, who is somewhat memorable.  Noomi Rapace's character, Elizabeth Shaw, like the other Prometheus characters, is somewhat flat and underdeveloped, but she's the most rounded and best character in the film, in my opinion.

There were even a few flawed lines of dialogue here and there.  Also, the movie is not very good in terms of acting and reacting; the actors' performances are not very good, and the characters make a lot of stupid decisions.  There are also some mystery-elements and other things in the story that should have been better, and the movie did feel a bit clumsy and a bit ridiculous in a few areas; some things here and there were a bit poorly paid off, etc.  The majority of the flaws, in my opinion, occur in the the third act of the film.  I might have given the film a three-and-a-half-star rating, or even a four-star rating, but unfortunately the flaws did drag it down somewhat.

However, despite these flaws, the movie, while not great or anything, is okay overall, in my opinion.  This film is not about character arcs or relationships, or a story arc, but rather the mysteries, which, to say the least, are quite interesting, and there are a few memorable images and concepts.  The visual and special effects are good, and they actually contribute somewhat to the overall tone and atmosphere of the film.  I saw this film in 2-D, but I can tell that it would have been a good experience in 3-D as well.  There is some pretty good interesting technology in the film.  And not just the technology, it has a lot of good sci-fi elements.  And of course, best of all, is the mystery and the questions, and the cleverly-left-incomplete story.  That's what really makes the movie worth watching.  It could have been better with better character development and more emotional involvement, but it's effective as it is.

Prometheus is an okay movie overall.  It has several flaws, and it's a bit stupid in areas, but it's pretty interesting and thought-provoking. And it's a good film to be seen in the theater, on the big screen.  Also the conclusion of the movie actually invites a sequel to be made.  It doesn't necessarily need one, as it's okay left as it is, but it wouldn't be a bad idea at all.  But if they do make a sequel, I hope they continue to follow the character Elizabeth Shaw, and it probably will.  While the premise for Alien is more or less set up, the sequel should, and probably will, take this other direction; remember, while it's a prequel to Alien, it's also it's own thing.  And if they bring more depth into it (like James Cameron did in Aliens) in addition to the interesting mysteries and whatnot, I'm sure it would be a pretty good movie.



Cast and Credits:
Elizabeth Shaw: Noomi Rapace
David: Michael Fassbender
Charlie Holloway: Logan Marshall-Green
Meredith: Charlize Theron
Janek: Idris Alba

Twentieth Century Fox Presents
A film directed by Ridley Scott
Running time: 125 min.

Rated R for sci-fi violence including some intense images, and brief language

Men in Black III (2012)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Released: May 25, 2012

My Rating: 
(Click here for more info on my rating scale)



Men in Black III is not a great movie or anything, but it's okay.  It's smart, funny, goofy, entertaining, witty, and, in my opinion, just as good as the first Men in Black movie.

It's been fifteen years since the entertaining first Men in Black film, and ten years since the flawed yet still slightly enjoyable sequel Men in Black II.  Now comes the third installment in the series, Men in Black III.  Of course, this sequel, like any sequel of this kind, especially having been made a decade after its last predecessor, gave me a few doubts before watching it.  However, I finally saw it in the theater today, and I enjoyed it.  Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) have returned to the screen, and they deliver some nice and witty entertainment.

The film starts out on a prison on the moon, called Lunarmax (which is next to the original lander and American flag from the Apollo mission), from which the antagonist, Boris the Animal, escapes.  In 1969, Boris encountered Agent K, who shot his arm off and had him arrested, and also set up some sort of defense system to protect the earth from any invasions by Boris' alien race.  Boris, having escaped from prison, travels back in time to this incident and kills K, altering the MIB agency and putting earth in danger (the protection system no longer exists - Boris stopped it from getting set up in the past).  So now, in the present, Agent J must travel back in time to prevent Boris from causing all this and restore the real timeline.  There's more to the story, but I won't spoil it.

Luckily, Men in Black III isn't just a typical modern generic blockbuster.  I even had a feeling that the movie was going to try and skate by with great effects but a thin story, but luckily it didn't.  Yes, it is a blockbuster, but it does retain the imaginatively and wit of the original Men in Black.  The movie has a lot of the tone that the original MIB films had, and some things haven't changed, and a lot of things have.  For example, the character Zed has recently died, and female Agent O has taken his place.  Even Danny Elfman's music is a bit different, although it does retain the main themes of the series.  The special effects are better than ever, and we even have a few new things of technology, such as interesting and awesome single-wheeled vehicles (as seen in the still above), and (obviously) the time travel technology.  And best of all are the characters and their relationships and interaction, which is where the real magic, and humor, of the movie is.  In his journey in this movie, J meets the younger K of 1969 (played by Josh Brolin).  Another character that I like is Griff, an alien who is able to see 4-dimensionally, and can see the many possible timelines that the future can follow.  We even have a brief scene at the end of the film that adds a new and somewhat emotional dimension to the relationship of J and K, but I won't spoil it.

Like I said in my review of The Avengers, I'm now going to the theater more often.  I started of my summer with The Avengers, and now I've seen my second film for this summer.  Men in Black III does have a few flaws, but they're not worth discussing, and they really didn't bother me.  The 106 running length of the movie pretty much flew by.  The film is not great or anything (it's definitely only a three-star film, in my opinion), it's only okay, but it's pretty entertaining.  Performances are good, and the actors really bring out their characters.  Danny Elfman's music score is good.  And, like I said before, the special effects are great, and they contribute effectively to the story and the film overall.  The technology in the film is nice, and the aliens and monsters, especially the villain, were well designed and excellently goofy and bizarre, like they're supposed to be.  And yes the film is a comedy, and it lives up to that name - the humor is good and smart.  As for the time travel, it's not completely accurate, but that's typical in this movie, and it can be forgiven because of it's wit and likable characters, among other things.  This sequel is unnecessary, yes, and it could have been disappointing, but luckily it wasn't.

It may sound like I loved the movie, but I didnt.  I just though it was okay.  But still, it's smart, funny, goofy, entertaining, witty, and, in my opinion, just as good as the first Men in Black movie.  I'm glad I saw it in the theater.




Cast and Credits:
Agent J: Will Smith
Agent K: Tommy Lee Jones
Young Agent K: Josh Brolin
Boris the Animal: Jemaine Clement
Agent O: Emma Thompson
Griffin: Michael Stuhlbarg
Young Agent O: Alive Eve

Columbia pictures presents
A film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
Music by Danny Elfman
Running time: 106 min.

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, and brief suggestive content