Tag Archives: space

Prometheus

Leave a reply

Prometheus, the official line is “…a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe.” We all know this is the highly anticipated prequel to the legendary Alien franchise. Nuff said.

I sooooo wanted to love, Love, LOVE! this movie, but it was not meant to be. Let’s start with what I like about Prometheus. I can call this film visually EPIC in the very definition of the word. You get the feeling you are watching an EVENT. Something important and worth every second of your time. It is absolutely gorgeous and expansive. Too bad the crew doesn’t convey that wonder.

And for the bad… As grand as the film work is, the story and characters are lacking. Important points and events are introduced and never explained. The key word of the last sentence is “important.” Not a little detail like what does one eat after a long hyper sleep, but more like, “Hey, I wonder what killed off all these superior life forms that we traversed the galaxy to find, and finding out may be very relevant to surviving this mission.”

We get the now familiar artificial life form (Michael Fassbender) and meeting of the hodge podge support crew in the cargo bay, getting briefed about the mission. But we never really get to know the “red shirt” crew. The only memorable portrayal is Fifield (Sean Harris). Apparently throughout time, no one actually knows what the hell they are signing up for that involves deep space travel and years of your life. They just go, “Yeah, I’m in,” and jump in a clear tube to sleep for the journey.

A symptom of space travel seems to be a loss of common sense, on a human level and as a scientist. Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), one of the lead archeologists, becomes infected, and what does he say? NOTHING! He is totally aware that something is not right, and continues on. The only benefit I can see of this is to give Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), an opportunity to show some intelligence and not let him back on the ship when he is transforming. Another symptom must be not giving a shit. If you get to the point when discovering new, sentient life forms on another planet and ground breaking information about human history becomes blasé, I guess you can say you have done it all.

If I had to choose a single phrase for Prometheus, it would be gorgeous but underwhelming. I expected more of a cohesive story. It wasn’t as bad as watching Lost, but in the ballpark. If you just sit back and take in the wonder, and don’t pay attention to the details, this can be an enjoyable film. Given the mythology that has been created, I feel the details are crucial. The imminent sequel holds promise, but then so did this.

 

John Carter

1 Reply

John CarterBefore I start this review, I would like to make sure I have the attention of the person(s) responsible for Star Wars – Episodes 1, 2 & 3. Are you out there, are you listening? Good… The massive [correct use of ] technology was required to tell this type of story, it was not a vehicle to show off how much time was put into design and computer processing ability. And “Oh, yeah… let’s try and build crappy story around it.”

John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is a normal earth man, and a civil war vet, who finds himself transported to Mars (known as Barsoom to the inhabitants) and caught between warring factions. As Mars has lower gravity than Earth, John soon finds he has some enhanced abilities. Upon his arrival, he is discovered by Tars Tarkas, (Willem Dafoe) leader of the Tharks. Tharks are a race of tall, bipedal, four armed, green skinned, nomadic beings that inhabit Mars.

Did I forget to mention the Humans, (or at least human-like)? Yeah, there are some of those too. I was scratching my head about this, and then eventually let it go. There are two factions of “humans”, the city of Helium, of whom Deja Thoris (Lynn Collins), is their princess. (Deja is freaking incredible!) Sab Than (Dominic West), is the leader of Zodanga, a traveling city of destruction and the sworn enemy of Helium. Mark Strong makes a very memorable appearance as Matai Shang, a mysterious manipulator with (obviously) his own interests in the outcome of the conflict.

I cannot speak to the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs on which this movie is based, but the following comments are grounded in seeing this movie today, and the films that have come before it. Is John Carter the most imaginative piece of work I’ve ever seen? No. Is space travel/teleportation a unique concept? No. Do we see shades of other scifi, fantasy, love stories and aliens that will look familiar? Most definitely. Then why should I see this movie? As the answer parents give when they don’t want to explain everything, “Because I said so…”

John Carter has some flaws and a few inconsistencies, but I was so involved in enjoying myself, I didn’t care. It is fun, engaging, fanciful and the characters actually make me give a shit about what is happening to them. There will most likely not be any academy award nominations for best dramatic anything, but you will come away having enjoyed that 2hr 19min.

I have purposefully avoided focusing on some of the flaws of the film, because for the type of story and adventure John Carter is, I do not think they are important. Instead of trying to pick them out, sit back, relax and prepare to whisked away. Pay attention to Earth side story as well. It is important background (and just as entertaining as the off planet story) of how John Carter has become, and will become, the man we see on Mars. The Earth story also includes a special appearance by one of my favorites, Bryan Cranston.

3D is still useless. It blends ok in normal scenes, (I still don’t feel like I can reach out and touch the flying ship.) In action sequences is an abysmal and unnecessary distraction. Save the extra $ and see it in 2D.