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

The Grey

So.... Liam Neeson is an action star now? At least that's what the trailers of The Grey would tell you. 2008's Taken kind of came out of nowhere. Before that, at least to the extent of my knowledge, Neeson always played this stoic, wise, older character. He was always the level headed teacher who helped the main character in his quest (at least this is to the extent of my Liam Neeson knowledge, and probably most other people my age). But with Taken, all of the sudden he was a viable action star. The movie made a bunch of money, and was a pretty awesome action flick. I remember it being a huge early season hit when it came out. In early 2011 he followed it up with Unknown, a movie about spies and amnesia, and Liam doing his action star thing again. Unknown was not as good as Taken, but still a fun action film.

Then in late 2011, Joe Carnahan's The Grey came out. The trailers made it look like another Liam Neeson action fest, except this time set in the snow. And instead of fighting terrorists he was fighting super wolves. Seemed pretty awesome to me. But after seeing it a few weeks ago, my initial thoughts were only partially true, which shaped my feelings about it in a big way.

Ottway (Liam Neeson) works for an oil company in the wilderness of Alaska. He and his co-workers are a gruff band of cast offs and misfits. After their plane crashes in the blinding winter of Alaska, he and five others are stranded and must band together to survive. All the while there is the haunting specter of a pack of vicious wolves that are hellbent on getting the humans out of their territory. Ottway takes the lead to try and lead the men and keep them alive.

This film is a survival film way more than an action movie. I went in thinking Liam Neeson was going to be cracking skulls in the snow (which it is my belief that snow in any movie makes everything else look cool. The snow part in Inception was made 100X cooler because it was in the snow.). Instead, The Grey is a story about survival and camaraderie. The men must band together to keep warm and fight off the wolves or else they will die. I will admit, the wolves are pretty scary. The filmmakers do a good job of treating them like any scary monster in a movie; let the audience's imagination create the tension rather than showing everything about the monster right away.

One problem I had with this movie was the motivation of the characters. Liam Neeson was given some back story, and I guess the other guys would mention stuff about their kids and whatnot, but really all of the other guys were pretty forgettable. I didn't even catch any of their names until I looked them up on IMDb. I didn't really feel like I knew any of the guys, and it made it hard for me to care about their survival.

The scenery is absolutely stunning, and the wolves were played very well. The Grey is a pretty good picture of mediocre. While I enjoyed myself for the most part, I immediately forgot about it as soon as it was over. I could have used more time getting to know the stranded guys, or if not that then some more Liam Neeson fighting wolves. The ending is pretty cool, but I still wasn't crazy about it. Ultimately The Grey does not compare with Taken or Unknown, and does not further the Liam Neeson action star status. However if you are just a huge Liam Neeson fan, you'll probably enjoy it, as he is definitely the star of the show.


2.5/5