Post by jmodlinc on Jun 7, 2012 1:43:19 GMT -5
Some reviews (beware of potential spoilers)...
"A visually stunning return to science-fiction by Ridley Scott caters too much to audience expectations when more imaginative boldness would have taken it further. Ridley Scott’s third venture into science-fiction, after Alien in 1979 and Blade Runner in 1982, won’t become a genre benchmark like those classics despite its equivalent seriousness and ambition, but it does supply enough visual spectacle, tense action and sticky, slithery monster attacks to hit the spot with thrill-seeking audiences worldwide."
- Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/prometheus-review-ridley-scott-charlize-theron-michael-fassbender-330414
"Elaborately conceived from a visual standpoint, Ridley Scott’s first sci-fier in the three decades since “Blade Runner” remains earthbound in narrative terms, forever hinting at the existence of a higher intelligence without evincing much of its own. … Yet a key difference between this film and its predecessor is one of volume. Incongruously backed by an orchestral surge of a score, the film conspicuously lacks the long, drawn-out silences and sense of menace in close quarters that made “Alien” so elegantly unnerving. Prometheus is one chatty vessel, populated by stock wise-guy types who spout tired one-liners when they’re not either cynically debunking or earnestly defending belief in a superior power. The picture’s very structure serves to disperse rather than build tension."
- Justin Chang, Variety
www.variety.com/review/VE1117947665?refcatid=31
"Ridley Scott has counter-evolved his 1979 classic Alien into something more grandiose, more elaborate – but less interesting. In place of scariness there is wonderment; in place of tension there is hugely ambitious design; in place of unforgettable shocks there are reminders of the original's unforgettable shocks. ... The original took place in space, where no one can hear you scream; in this film, no one can hear you scream above the deafening, kettle drum-bothering orchestral score.
It is a muddled, intricate, spectacular film, but more or less in control of all its craziness and is very watchable. It lacks the central killer punch of Alien: it doesn't have its satirical brilliance and its tough, rationalist attack on human agency and guilt. But there's a driving narrative impulse, and, however silly, a kind of idealism, a sense that it's exciting to make contact with whatever's out there."
- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/30/prometheus-review
"Honestly, now -- I really enjoyed watching 'Prometheus' almost the whole way through, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. It’s an enjoyable thrill ride, slicked up with a thin veneer of Asking the Big Questions. But do its so-called heroes really have to be such blithering New Age idiots? Let’s allow for the narrative possibility that someone or something created human life, and/or all life on Earth. Is traveling to the edge of the universe to ask that entity why they did it likely to yield an interesting answer? If Dolly the cloned sheep had been able to talk, would she have chased those Scottish scientists into their lab and baaed for explanations? 'Because we could, sweetie. Now stop eating my trousers.'"
- Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
www.salon.com/2012/06/06/prometheus_ridley_scotts_dazzling_dumb_ass_theology/
"... For much of the running time, it works, but eventually something has to give, and the film ends up with the two aims cancelling each other out, ending up as neither a thought-provoking "2001"-esque science-fiction epic, nor a rollicking horror-tinged tentpole. There's an awful lot to like, but it's not a film that coheres terribly well.
... Those expecting "Prometheus" to reinvent the wheel will be disappointed: it's got too much on its mind, and not enough willingness to see those things through. But there are plenty of pleasures to be found in it, and if nothing else, it's a film entirely unlike anything else you'll see this summer. Just don't expect to walk out of it satisfied."
- Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist
blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/review-ridley-scotts-prometheus-is-a-gorgeous-fascinating-muddle-of-ideas-that-cant-stick-the-landing-20120530
"... With his fantasy epic Prometheus it is clear his striking sense of vision, drama and excitement fits perfectly with the genre and he has delivered a film that is already one of the most anticipated titles of the summer and should thrill, challenge and provoke audiences ready for his signature brand of intelligent and visceral film-making. … One thing that Prometheus isn’t is an Alien-clone. Alien – despite that it may feel slowly-paced set against current editing styles – was a film that embraced its horror-in-space format, and after a slow-burn set up and magnificent central gore moment as the mini-alien bursts from John Hurt’s chest settled into a brilliantly shot monster movie before Sigourney Weaver’s final memorable battle. While Prometheus has some striking chilling moments it never plays the all-out horror card, instead developing the science alongside the action and punctuating the film with moments that jolt and amaze."
- Mark Adams, Screen Daily
www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-latest/prometheus/5042830.article?blocktitle=Latest-Reviews&contentID=1479
"It's time, probably long past time, to admit that Ridley Scott is nothing more or less than Tim Burton: a visual stylist at the mercy of others to offer his hatful of pretty pictures something like depth.
... Make no mistake, it takes a lot of money, energy, and anticipation to make a movie this bad. Without anticipation, after all, without a bedrock legacy of one of the finest science-fiction films of all time, there couldn't be this level of disappointment. Prometheus is a film as poorly-written, as badly misconceived, as Episode 1--their greatest common thread that they're products of creators with terminal weaknesses exposed in the gaudiest way possible on the grandest stage imaginable. I should say, too, before we continue, that for all its bad thinking, bad writing, and bad acting, Prometheus is worst of all really, truly boring."
- Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2012/06/prometheus.html
... What did you think?
www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prometheus_2012/
"A visually stunning return to science-fiction by Ridley Scott caters too much to audience expectations when more imaginative boldness would have taken it further. Ridley Scott’s third venture into science-fiction, after Alien in 1979 and Blade Runner in 1982, won’t become a genre benchmark like those classics despite its equivalent seriousness and ambition, but it does supply enough visual spectacle, tense action and sticky, slithery monster attacks to hit the spot with thrill-seeking audiences worldwide."
- Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/prometheus-review-ridley-scott-charlize-theron-michael-fassbender-330414
"Elaborately conceived from a visual standpoint, Ridley Scott’s first sci-fier in the three decades since “Blade Runner” remains earthbound in narrative terms, forever hinting at the existence of a higher intelligence without evincing much of its own. … Yet a key difference between this film and its predecessor is one of volume. Incongruously backed by an orchestral surge of a score, the film conspicuously lacks the long, drawn-out silences and sense of menace in close quarters that made “Alien” so elegantly unnerving. Prometheus is one chatty vessel, populated by stock wise-guy types who spout tired one-liners when they’re not either cynically debunking or earnestly defending belief in a superior power. The picture’s very structure serves to disperse rather than build tension."
- Justin Chang, Variety
www.variety.com/review/VE1117947665?refcatid=31
"Ridley Scott has counter-evolved his 1979 classic Alien into something more grandiose, more elaborate – but less interesting. In place of scariness there is wonderment; in place of tension there is hugely ambitious design; in place of unforgettable shocks there are reminders of the original's unforgettable shocks. ... The original took place in space, where no one can hear you scream; in this film, no one can hear you scream above the deafening, kettle drum-bothering orchestral score.
It is a muddled, intricate, spectacular film, but more or less in control of all its craziness and is very watchable. It lacks the central killer punch of Alien: it doesn't have its satirical brilliance and its tough, rationalist attack on human agency and guilt. But there's a driving narrative impulse, and, however silly, a kind of idealism, a sense that it's exciting to make contact with whatever's out there."
- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/30/prometheus-review
"Honestly, now -- I really enjoyed watching 'Prometheus' almost the whole way through, and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. It’s an enjoyable thrill ride, slicked up with a thin veneer of Asking the Big Questions. But do its so-called heroes really have to be such blithering New Age idiots? Let’s allow for the narrative possibility that someone or something created human life, and/or all life on Earth. Is traveling to the edge of the universe to ask that entity why they did it likely to yield an interesting answer? If Dolly the cloned sheep had been able to talk, would she have chased those Scottish scientists into their lab and baaed for explanations? 'Because we could, sweetie. Now stop eating my trousers.'"
- Andrew O'Hehir, Salon
www.salon.com/2012/06/06/prometheus_ridley_scotts_dazzling_dumb_ass_theology/
"... For much of the running time, it works, but eventually something has to give, and the film ends up with the two aims cancelling each other out, ending up as neither a thought-provoking "2001"-esque science-fiction epic, nor a rollicking horror-tinged tentpole. There's an awful lot to like, but it's not a film that coheres terribly well.
... Those expecting "Prometheus" to reinvent the wheel will be disappointed: it's got too much on its mind, and not enough willingness to see those things through. But there are plenty of pleasures to be found in it, and if nothing else, it's a film entirely unlike anything else you'll see this summer. Just don't expect to walk out of it satisfied."
- Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist
blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/review-ridley-scotts-prometheus-is-a-gorgeous-fascinating-muddle-of-ideas-that-cant-stick-the-landing-20120530
"... With his fantasy epic Prometheus it is clear his striking sense of vision, drama and excitement fits perfectly with the genre and he has delivered a film that is already one of the most anticipated titles of the summer and should thrill, challenge and provoke audiences ready for his signature brand of intelligent and visceral film-making. … One thing that Prometheus isn’t is an Alien-clone. Alien – despite that it may feel slowly-paced set against current editing styles – was a film that embraced its horror-in-space format, and after a slow-burn set up and magnificent central gore moment as the mini-alien bursts from John Hurt’s chest settled into a brilliantly shot monster movie before Sigourney Weaver’s final memorable battle. While Prometheus has some striking chilling moments it never plays the all-out horror card, instead developing the science alongside the action and punctuating the film with moments that jolt and amaze."
- Mark Adams, Screen Daily
www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-latest/prometheus/5042830.article?blocktitle=Latest-Reviews&contentID=1479
"It's time, probably long past time, to admit that Ridley Scott is nothing more or less than Tim Burton: a visual stylist at the mercy of others to offer his hatful of pretty pictures something like depth.
... Make no mistake, it takes a lot of money, energy, and anticipation to make a movie this bad. Without anticipation, after all, without a bedrock legacy of one of the finest science-fiction films of all time, there couldn't be this level of disappointment. Prometheus is a film as poorly-written, as badly misconceived, as Episode 1--their greatest common thread that they're products of creators with terminal weaknesses exposed in the gaudiest way possible on the grandest stage imaginable. I should say, too, before we continue, that for all its bad thinking, bad writing, and bad acting, Prometheus is worst of all really, truly boring."
- Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2012/06/prometheus.html
... What did you think?
www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prometheus_2012/
Also, this film is just dripping with religious (especially Christian) symbolism, which I don't think is accidental in the least.