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  • Essay / No One Can Hear You Scream in Space: Review of Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus'

    After eternally transforming the science fiction scene with his groundbreaking film Alien, Ridley Scott returns to his homeland years later with an implied prequel, Prometheus. Although the new film's potential sent devoted Alien fans into a frenzy of anticipation, it quickly became clear that Prometheus would be nothing like its predecessor. Lacking the fast-paced action sequences that would make it the epic audience pleaser that many viewers expected, Prometheus also fails to live up to the intended tone of deep contemplation of humanity's origins. Overall, the film is unable to meet the demands of both its action-seeking audience and its meaning-seeking audience. Instead, the result is an uncertain, overly harsh film with a murky atmosphere and slow pace, redeemed only by the sudden, unexpected entrances of violent aliens. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Prometheus follows the story of a small, ragtag group of space explorers, reluctantly led by the ideals of two strongly spiritual scientists – the protagonist Dr Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and his partner, Charlie (Logan Marshall-Green). Believing they have located the exact place in the galaxy where God (or the "engineers" of civilization) exists, the couple marvel at the idea that they might finally find the answer to the meaning of life. Unfortunately for the public, however, they are wrong. Prometheus states as its premise the danger of surpassing the limits of humanity, but also cites this as a reason to slyly skirt around the important, deep, fascinating questions it poses – which the whole film was based on in the first place. Presumably the overambitious film bit off more than it could chew in asking these loaded questions, resulting in an inability to make the remaining parts fit together logically. With gaping plot holes and confusing scenes, Prometheus creates an unconvincing world and is ultimately just a two-hour glorious spectacle with nothing to say. Perhaps it is also because of this directional uncertainty that Prometheus becomes so completely unrealistic. The film sets up twists and turns that make no logical sense, then makes no effort to explain the apparent changes in its world. An example of this is when Shaw, although previously revealed to be sterile, becomes pregnant with an alien child, which grows in her stomach at an alarming rate. Terrified, she performs a C-section on herself with only a few shots of adrenaline to keep her from going crazy from the pain, using a futuristic surgical device to take care of the labor. The machine's lasers cut open her womb, then grab the baby from her uterus like a claw machine. After tearing off a few seemingly unimportant body parts escaping from his wound, Shaw programs the contraption to staple his stomach before immediately returning to prancing around the spaceship as if nothing had happened. The film, however, manages to gloss over it adequately. over these glaring flaws by effectively utilizing his greatest asset: his stellar acting. Prometheus distracts the audience from the incomprehensible twists and turns of the plot through the exploitation of a phenomenal cast. Noomi Rapace, who played Dr. Shaw, achieves a particular feat by tackling several particularly difficult scenes. A cast powered by intense talent, Prometheus is watchable.