Just back from the midnight showing up in Leeds and i have to say, overall, im very pleased with Prometheus.
I have never seen a more beautiful piece of modern film making, and i would say that the cinematography is even better than the likes of Lord of the Rings. I even found that the 3D is very effective in immersing you in the film, it is done just as well if not better than Avatar. The 3D especially helped with the lighting in the Juggernaut, the interior 3D shots are very good. Prometheus is no doubt a treat for the eyes.
Having read many reviews by other members and critics my chief concern going into the film was a lack of characterisation in some of the characters, however i think this has been blown out of proportion. We learn about the characters who matter. Shaw and David are the two strongholds to the story, and their relationships with Holloway and Vickers respectively, are crucial to the story. Other charcaters such as Janek, Fifield and Milburn are all well rounded character who we come to like (Idris Elba is a f**king badass in this). While other characters such as Chance and Ravel are also given sufficient screen time for the audience to understand their bond and relationship, however I would have preferred a little more time with them because when they meet their fate you dont really give too much of a damn. The rest of the crew are just canon fodder and i wouldnt expect them to be fleshed out. What i will say, and i will come back to this, is that its quite obvious the film has been slimmed down, and i feel that the majority of the slimming has cut out quite a bit of character interaction.
I found the score somewhat underwhelming, however it did keep the pace of the film and the tension was high enough to be able to feel it in the cinema so i guess it served its purpose on that level. I put my disappointed down to the fact that i watched Alien recently.
Story wise, i thought it was very well rounded. It did ask a lot of questions and few were answered however it is obvious that Prometheus is a 'To Be Continued' film. I don't particularly have a problem with that because the film can stand alone, its just the last minutes are there as a set up for the sequel. This is not a bad thing in my book. Although not all the answer are given, Prometheus is a sturdy story, not spectacular but doesn't indulge itself too much and come off the rails. It never loses focus and drives steadily right up until the end. As i said before a sequel is necessary to wrap up the story, and thinking back Prometheus is almost definitely written as a two parter, which i find encouraging. This means that Ridley already knows the story to part two, this means we know at least the film has direction.
The true negative i have about Prometheus is the editing, or more specifically the editing choices that were made. Throughout the film it felt like we were missing out on dialogue between characters and as though scenes were missing. I think the film would have benefited greatly from cutting the last 10 minutes or so off and spreading it around the rest of the film. I found that many of the death scenes were not long or gory enough. Now im not a fan of the whole 'Saw-gore' that is around these days, however , like most adults today it takes a lot to shock or scare me. I'm not saying the film wasn't scary but if felt that death scenes should have been longer, case in point Fifields death, it just didn't have the blow that it should have. Everyone was raving about this being an R-rated by the MPAA and 15 over here, this lead me to the question watching the film, was this film actually shot as an18? I call bullshit on Rothman saying it that not one shot was cut. It is obvious many shots were cut. There's no doubt the DVD will be an 18 certificate because watching the film i had the feeling like scenes had more to give. I believe that Prometheus was cut from being an 18 (NC17) to a 15 (R), and Fox thought this would please the fans.
On an ending note, never have i enjoyed a single character as much as i did tonight. I genuinely looked forward to seeing David. Fassbender puts in a scene stealing performance, however its the character i fell in love with. David's child like behaviour and thirst for knowledge and endearing. The depth that was written into David is most impressive and I have to congratulate Spaihts and Lindelof on creating this character for us. I also very much enjoyed the look and presence of the engineers. They were both human and alien at the same time. Their symmetrical faces were unnerving and they have been created into genuinely disturbing characters. I think the film did well not to tell too much about them as a race a that removes the mystery and the terror behind them (Much like Aliens- Xeno + Queen = Bug). Prometheus, for me personally is a triumph. Whilst not perfect it shows Ridley Scott is one of the greatest visual directors to grace film, i just feel lucky im around to see what he creates.
