Prometheus (Movie Review)

GREAT flick! Here's my review:

http://spiritblade.blogspot.com/2012/06/prometheus-movie-review.html

Wow! That makes me all the more excited to see this movie!

That scene you were wondering about, from the beginning . . . I've got a theory.

SPOILERS!

SPOILERS!

SPOILERS!

The alien in the beginning IS Prometheus.

Think about it. He gives the gift of life to our world, paying the ultimate sacrifice. And the reason they want to return to earth is to eliminate the threat to the galaxy that he has created -- or something like that.

Prometheus is the name of the ship, yes, and many humans are "playing with fire" in the Premethean sense -- creating things that maybe would be best left uncreated. But the alien in the beginning, he is Prometheus. The source for that myth.

It doesn't make everything completely make sense -- mainly, the motivation of the engineer at the end -- but I think the title is intended to refer to the alien in the first scene, the ship, and the humans who are reaching that point.

Just finished watching Prometheus. All I can say is, "wow!" It's everything you've heard about from the reviews you've read. If you haven't seen it, GO! Stop reading. Right now. I mean it. Go. Get moving.

So. Is this topic going to be an area for speculation about the movie (since the link is at the top, people can avoid spoilers below). Or do we need another topic open to really tear into the contents of Prometheus?

A little thematic warm-up is on my mind.

T. E. Lawrence. Lawrence of Arabia. The movie referenced in Prometheus follows the exploits of Lawrence, a British soldier during WWI who united violently warring tribes in the Middle East into a cohesive fighting force, for the benefit of the British and allies, in a war that was not their own. Can this hint at the structure of the larger picture, perhap, the structure of relationships between the android, the humans, what they are looking for, and other forces that we don't know about? Why does David Identify with the film, or the man? Is there any significance in that quote from the movie...

"The trick is not minding that it hurts." After a certain point in the movie, we never hear those words again. I don't know if it is relevant in what follows. Sometimes we have to push past pain to survive and move beyond the destruction of one thing, and become a part of what is created in the wake of cataclysmic destruction.

Creation/Renewal from destruction. This manifests even in a meta-fictional sense: the destruction of expectations for a film to be tediously classified as "Alien Prequel" brings the promise of a vast and greatly expanded fictional universe.

David has quite an interesting regard for his maker/father. Prometheus seems as much a companion piece to Blade Runner as it is to Alien. "I. Want. More. Life. *****r!" In what manner do we meet our maker; android meeting the god of biomechanics, humans meeting...what...? Prometheus goes one better, we see three levels in a chain of creation, which is nicely suggestive of one character's place in a potential future convergence-encounter, which could feature four levels of life form on a creation chain...

So many ideas to play with...

I had another brain-storm about the nature of David's favorite movie. The main sequence we observe is a moment early in the Lawrence of Arabia film, where Lawrence confounds his fellows with his trick of playing with the small flame on a match.

The original myth of Prometheus is that he stole Fire. I've seen fire discussed in this regard as being at the heart of all technology; the first technology, or alternatively knowledge. The symbolic connection of fire, knowledge and technology. Echoes of the Garden of Eden, and forbidden knowledge.

My brain is latching on to a kind of synergy with these two disparate elements...doesn't mean I'm right, though. But it's about humans playing with fire, playing with the idea of delving into forbidden knowledge, seizing technology that is going to burn us badly. And yet, no matter how certain is the danger that what the humans' expedition is going to find is going burn, they all participate in the unfolding event, whether passively or actively, and we watch the degree to which the various characters react to getting burned. It is interesting to me to reflect now on how each character reacts to the burning moment, when they symbolically pinch the flame on the match.

Okay, perhaps this may need to be in another thread, but is it just me or was there a glaring technical oversight towards the end of the movie with Shaw and her space suit?

On the moon with a toxic environment, why is she laying on the ground, helmet on (which was obvious she made an effort to collect) but with no glove on her hand? Did I miss something in an explanation somewhere previously?

MY wife and I listened to the podcast last night and after listening to the review for this movie she wants to go. Now, you have to understand . . . it's taken me about nine years to convert my wife into a sci-fi fan . . . but horror will never happen with her.

Great review! It got my wife to consider going to see Prometheus!

Desert Kris wrote:

"The trick is not minding that it hurts." After a certain point in the movie, we never hear those words again. I don't know if it is relevant in what follows.

This is the quote I referenced in my review that never seemed to be followed up on. Honestly, fearing Ridley would be content with a rehash of Alien, I thought David might go nuts and kill someone or let someone die in horrible pain while using this quote. The film didn't go that direction, but I still suspect there are cut scenes that will make sense of this more, and maybe delve into the philosophical issues of the film more openly.

Nathan James Norman wrote:MY wife and I listened to the podcast last night and after listening to the review for this movie she wants to go. Now, you have to understand . . . it's taken me about nine years to convert my wife into a sci-fi fan . . . but horror will never happen with her.

Great review! It got my wife to consider going to see Prometheus!

Thanks Nathan! "Spirit Blade Productions...nerdifying one wife at a time."

SPOILER ALERT!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

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So I just watched the film with a friend from church and it was fantastic.

I think there are two primary questions the film raises:

1. Why did the Engineers create humanity, then want to destroy it?
2. Why did David (the robot) want to infect the crew? (Was he instructed to do so by Weyland? And if so, why?)

After viewing the movie and reading over our fabulously brilliant forum contributors, here's what I think...

1. Why did the Engineers create humanity, then want to destroy it?

As already mentioned, the first alien we see in the film is indeed Prometheus. He sacrifices himself, in order to seed the earth with his genetic material that will, in turn, populate the earth. The other Engineers, once they realize what has happened (eons later?) decide to destroy humanity when they show signs of possessing technology that might soon rival that of the Engineers. (Prometheus gave man fire, and the gods in turn feared the power of man.)

2. Why did David (the robot) want to infect the crew?

At first I thought that he was either under some sort of orders from Weyland, or somehow had special contact with the Engineers (perhaps only through his ability to read the hieroglyphs). But I don't think either of these are the case. As pointed out already, David had a huge fascination with Lawrence of Arabia. So much so, we see him trying to act like Lawrence, and quotes him. Lawrence of Arabia is his worldview and his Bible. Couple that with his desire to rise above his parentage ("isn't every child's dream to kill their parents?"), I think we see his motivation. David's motivation is two-fold:
1. He sees life needing to be like Lawrence of Arabia. Therefore, incompatible creatures need to work together to become greater than they would be seperately. (In the same way that Lawrence united very different peoples, so too, David would become the parent of a new race that he has created through the union of two very different species.)
2. The quote about the fire, "The trick is not minding that it hurts" certainly comes into play. When David the Robot puts a drop of the parasitic fluid on his finger he says "big things come from small beginnings", then infects Holloway. In this scene, I believe, David fully realizes that the joining of these two species will be damaging, harmful, and painful (for the humans) but, "the trick is not minding that it hurts". And so he goes forward with it . . . not realizing that his worldview has some serious errors which lead to destructive result which prove harmful, not helpful to humanity (and himself).



It is interesting that the film ends with the two characters who have the strongest worldviews, surviving. On the one hand we have Elizabeth Shaw, who is a theist trying to uncover the truth of things . . . where ever it leads. Contrast that with David the Robot, whose worldview seeks to conform reality to his ideals, in spite of whatever dire consequences might be had.

I think I still have one lingering question . . . even if my view is wrong. Why did the Engineer(s) point humanity to this planetoid? If this planet was indeed a weapons-depot, then why would the "Prometheus-Engineer" point them there? Or . . . perhaps it was the other Engineers planting the idea of the planetoid into early humanity in order to draw them into this trap, in case they ever did indeed become a technological threat. (But then, why were the Engineers planning on traveling to earth?)

So those are my thoughts. Great stuff. Great movie.

All that AND the theistic characters didn't turn out to be the murderers, psychopaths, or antagonists!