Prometheus

Prometheus is the best movie of 2012 up to this point. The Avengers is a close second, but they are like comparing how much you enjoy watching Mad Men and how much you enjoy eating a dozen donuts on a Saturday morning full of regret. Both are great, but in different ways. The Avengers is super fun; having all those super heroes in one movie with a lot of cool action scenes was breezy and enjoyable. Prometheus on the other hand is dark, gritty, and horrifying. And it is also amazing. Ridley Scott proves once again that he is a master of the science fiction genre.

Alien and  Blade Runner are two of the best science fiction movies of all time. Alien is intense, scary, and iconic. Blade Runner is strange, deep and very influential. I watched Blade Runner for the fourth time the other day and I still don't understand the total message of it. All I know is that both of these are two of the greatest science fiction movies of all time, and they are both directed by Ridley Scott. This is why I was so excited about Prometheus. A new science fiction movie that is kind of a prequel to Alien must be good right? Prometheus completely met my expectations.

Prometheus is set in the late 21st century. A futuristic crew is taking a futuristic spaceship to explore a planet that is prophesied in ancient cave drawings to contain our creator. But once the crew arrives on the planet, they quickly realize that what they intended to discover is entirely different than what they imagined.

I could go on about the film's discussion of creation and "meeting our maker". There are some very interesting views presented, but I will let you unpack those yourself. I was able to enjoy all this discussion about our creator, even though I know that God is our creator and he sent his son Jesus to die for us. The movie deals with these things but doesn't dismiss the truth about God, which I did like. It is interesting to think about the story they are trying to tell and how it deals with intelligent design. Like I said, I will let you decide how you feel about all of it, but ultimately it is a very engaging and thought provoking story.

The characters in the movie say some pretty anti-God statements, which honestly made me uncomfortable at first. But as the film went on, I realized that this movie is science FICTION. The characters are reacting to situations that are out of this world unbelievable. This doesn't mean they are right or wrong, it just means that this is how the movie makers decide to tell the story, and how they envisioned those particular characters reacting to those situations. I realized that I shouldn't have any problem with this. There is no preaching going on, just genuine musings about life and who created us. I honestly hope that everyone will ask those questions, because they will inevitably come to the truthful conclusion about who God is.

Where Prometheus shines is in how freaking tense it is. There are several "jump" moments, which never feel cheap and always scared me. The monsters in the movie are genuinely scary because of how creative they are. Most of the time when the monster is finally shown on screen, it looks kind of cheap and is no longer as scary. Not so in Prometheus. Every alien encountered in the movie has incredible creative design to make them as horrifying as possible. There were several times that I felt myself gripping my chair. And in this day and age with so many things movie-goers have been exposed to, to be genuinely scared by a monster on the screen is no small feat. The action is amazing, the monsters are scary, and the acting is great.

Michael Fassbender is quickly becoming a great actor. He follows up his great performance as Magneto in X-Men First Class with an equally compelling performance as an android named David in Prometheus. His character is just so magnetic when he is on screen. For whatever reason, even though his character is non-human and supposedly devoid of human feelings, he is the most conflicted and interesting character. Pay attention to the things he says, they give major insight into the themes and overall message of the film.

The last thing I will say is that seeing the movie in 3D is definitely worth it. The visuals are incredible. Normally I hate that wearing those cumbersome 3D glasses and they make the screen darker. With a film that is so dark, the 3D really adds depth to the darkness and makes the visuals really pop. I would definitely recommend paying the extra couple of bucks to see it in 3D.

Prometheus is the best science fiction movie I have seen since 2009's District 9. I don't think that I could recommend it any more. See it in theaters as fast as you can!

4.5/5