Just walked out of the theater from a viewing of Prometheus, the much anticipated “quasi prequel” to Alien. Prometheus sees veteran sci-fi director Ridley Scott return to the film franchise that put him on the map. Prometheus began its journey as a straight prequel to the 1979 hit Alien. That film brought face huggers and chest busters to the movie going populace and made a nasty chomping alien with “acid blood” a hit with sci-fi movie geeks for over 30 years. Finally, all us Alien and Aliens die hards (true Alien fans don’t count Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection as worthy sequels) were finally going to get a back story and an answer to the “where did the aliens come from” question answered. Then, a funny thing happened on the way to filming. Original writer John Spaihts was subsequently replaced by Lost writer/producer Damon Lindelof. Scott decided to tone down the Alien prequel aspect to Prometheus and try to create a whole different mythology consisting of some Alien “stuff” but something that can stand on its own and possibly create a new franchise. This is where the writer and director might have made a bad turn.
SPOILER ALERT – DO NOT READ FURTHRER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN PROMETHEUS!
I will say that the film is brilliantly directed by Ridley Scott. With the expectation of many fans, including myself, of wanting this film to be a true prequel to Alien, they will be somewhat disappointed. I will not go into a direct review of the film as there are a trillion of those. What I do want to write about is what happened in the film. Do we get to see Aliens in the film? Yes. Do we know where they finally come from? Maybe. What the movie wants to explore is a more vast question in the universe…Where do we come from? And that question, as per the films plot, does not get answered (Prometheus 2 anyone) The fact that Prometheus 2 is even an option tells you that this film does not go directly into Alien, but veers off sideways to tell another story. Not that that is a bad option, but it seems that Scott took his eye of the prize. What could have been a promising closure to this magnificent sci-fi creation, is now more of a second fiddle and left on the sidelines for the explanation of the humanoid creatures that created humanity. But with that said, lets look at some of the things found in the movie. We see that there is an Alien goo that seems to infect anything it touches and makes that which it come in contact with somewhat monstrous, but not alien like. For example, when the goo pours out of the cylinders in the cavern and onto the wormy like habitat, hours later, it seems those wormy little things become the size of eels and seems to impregnate said crew member. The other crew member with him gets acid spew sprayed on him and seems to die, only to be resurrected zombie like. So, are we seeing that this goo is a bio weapon that kills or transforms its hosts?
When David the android spikes the drink he gives to Dr. Halloway with a drop of the black goo, it seems to be infecting him as a virus, but also transforming him into something. We don’t get to see what as Charlize Theron’s character burns him to a crisp. We see that this micro organism is also transferable through sexual contact as Dr. Shaw; Dr. Halloway’s significant other gets “impregnated”. (We learn in the film that Dr. Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace is barren) What comes out of her is not “an Alien” but some sort of another creature. This creature then matures in mere hours and is gigantic in form, looking somewhat like a huge face hugger, which goes on to attack the last remaining humanoid alien and sends a tentacle down his mouth. We then see at the end of the film a full size Alien emerges from the body of the humanoid. Now this is not the first Alien, because earlier in the film, as the crew is exploring the caverns of the planet they just landed on, a grainy visual is seen of the humanoids running from something. We also see in the great cavern with the myriad of cylinders a cave sculpture that depicts a carving of an Alien creature in the bedrock. So, we are left to assume that the actual Alien itself emerges from the humanoids. The humanoids created humans, and then create a bio weapon to destroy the humans they created.
In the beginning of the film, we see a humanoid creature taking what seems to be the black goo on what is a primitive earth and become deconstructed down to its DNA, which would have us assume that the humanoids created life on earth. But was this a rogue faction of the humanoid race? Being that he drank the goo to make humans, does this then mean that all of us carry a tiny portion of Alien DNA?
More questions than answers. With a writer like Damon Lindelof at the helm, you’re always going to get more questions than answers. Writers like Lindelof always leave things un answered, I think they think that it’s cool to write like this and never give the viewer what they really want. I sometimes think scribes like Lindelof sometimes don’t know the answers themselves. Or write themselves into a corner and can’t seem to get themselves out of it. As with Lost, leaving the viewer to come up with their own conclusions. It would have been really fun to delve more into the Alien mythology and bigger introduction of the creature. It feels like Scott and Lindelof used the Alien mythos to create a whole new saga at the expense of the Alien mythology. If Damon Lindelof’s prerogative was to introduce us to the beginnings of this “Alien” universe and then take a sharp left, well he succeeded. But in taking that sharp left, he failed to see what could have been coming down the road if he would have waited just a bit longer, this could have been the movie all Alien fans were waiting for.
