This film looks like a shoe-in for Costume Design at the Academy Awards.
20 June 2012
10 June 2012
Review: Prometheus
Director Ridley Scott relies heavily on the excellence of his camera, guided by Dariusz Wolski, for repairing plot divots in an otherwise interesting visual narrative, parcel to his legacy work Alien (1979). That the Prometheus screenplay is puckered and punctured, hobbling at times over far too annunciative lines, suggests creative contention where the accompanying imagery suggests artistry. That screenwriter Damon Lindelof claims the television series Lost as his biggest past credit may well explain the shoddy conversations, hyper-religiosity, and superfice to invention that all characterize the worst of the film. Yet - fortunately for it - its medium prizes sight over sound, picture over dialogue; the best of the film - especially its introduction - articulate the nuances of the story in far more concise, revealing, and poignant phrases than anything a writer like Mr. Lindelof seems capable of committing. One could only hope from such a promising beginning would follow a strong end, bolstered by impressive effects rather than verily redeemed by them. Still, that the film achieves a coherence among its parts and delivers a representation of a world believably troubled by its inhabitants, probing for a means of escape, is laudable for manifesting the sentiment of the original work, inducing vice into ostensibly virtuous pursuits and enterprise into science. If the depth so carefully provided for three-dimensional viewing had only been commuted into the characters' interactions, Prometheus could have escaped from its "standard Summer fare" slate and really made a comment on the legacy that its director began, in address of power, personhood, and ethicality. Unfortunately for this viewer, blunt acknowledgement would have to suffice.
Grade: B-.
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