Prometheus (2012)

There was a time in America when our science fiction on the big screen was complex, setting Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” in space and calling it “Forbidden Planet” (1956) or bringing peace from another galaxy to a young world that has just discovered the power of the atom in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951).  The enemy is us. It is within our psyche.  We battle ourselves in a constant struggle for good in us and amongst us. 

Enter Ridley Scott.  Welcome to the quintessential genera mix of science fiction and horror.  We are no longer our own enemy.  Instead it is big, it has acid for blood, and it is pissed.  Hello “Alien” (1979).  You started a long line of sequels that were never your equal. 

Now, 33 years later, Sir Ridley Scott is about to release Prometheus. 

I have watched each trailer more than a dozen times enjoying the stunning visuals painted by advanced technology and a vision equal Van Goth.  “We were so wrong, I’m so sorry”, crackles the tormented voice of a female followed by the bellows of singular notes from a bass cello and a high intensity squeal.  I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

The recently released trailer gives just a touch more of what the movie will be about.  I have been suppressing my guessing as to the development of plot and character.  My instincts keep putting the pieces together; TED Speech viral trailer puts us in the future, the full length trailer shares recent discoveries of a map from the past and we hear that “A king has his reign, and then he dies.”  The crew of spaceship follows the map and finds… a life form.  “Big things have small beginnings,” is how the trailer ends.  It is a powerful thing to watch that blends the best memories from the 1979 movie.

I hate spoilers. Some of my favorite movies are ones I know nothing about. They are pure, unspoiled, new and interesting. On that same point, some of the worst movies I have watched are ones I knew nothing about. So I am torn to learn more about Prometheus online. I know it is kind of a prequel, it has some elements in the movie that might connect it to the Alien universe, but it stands on it’s own and there might be another movie about this same story line to follow (a semi-prequel sequel).

I trust Ridley Scott. When you look over the movies he’s made, many fall on to my list of favorites, Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Matchstick Men, and A Good Year. I trust him because his focus is on story not on spectacle. He tells the stories of characters I am interested in, in a way that makes me care about them. Special effects and other surroundings are well blended to tell that story. 

So I will be going to the theater June 8, 2012. I will be spending the extra $20 to get a good seat in front of the IMAX PURE Vision 3D whatever because I am a huge fan of this movie already, and an even bigger fan of the man who made it.