Prometheus

Prometheus

When I was coordinating schedules in order to see  Prometheus with an old friend, I unknowingly reviewed the film fairly accurately via text message.  I wrote, "let's grab a beer after the movie so we can discuss how brilliant Ridley Scott is, or how disappointing.  Or more likely both."  And that, my friends, pretty much sums up Prometheus.

Whether I like Prometheus or not depends entirely on how I am thinking of the film at any given moment.  When I think of the mistakes, the inconsistent behavior of certain characters, the missed opportunities, and the major, major plotting problems, I get a bit sour on the film...and yet...and yet, there is too much brilliance here to completely discount Prometheus.  It is a brave film, it is about something, and it doesn't insult our intelligence.  It is a movie that makes us think, and that is always something worth celebrating.

Let's get into it then.  Prometheus is about the quest for where we came from and who we are.  Scientists Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall Green) and Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Repace) have found carvings and paintings across the globe that prove that we were created by another race.  Thanks to a trillion dollar investment from the Weyland Corp, they now journey through space to find their makers, who Dr. Shaw likes to call The Engineers.  Among the various scientists and crew, we also have a super cool captain (played by the always super cool Idris Elba), the frosty corporate executive (Charlize Theron) and the android David (Michael Fassbender), who serves as the ship's steward and who also happens to be obsessed with Lawrence of Arabia.  The ship lands on a barren and remote planet where they find an abandoned alien facility.  But something isn't right.  Something horrible happened there 2000 years ago, and if our heroes aren't careful, they could unleash forces beyond their control.

So first, the good.  We have a dazzling film, with top notch special effects, superb cinematography and editing, and wonderful acting.  They also do a remarkable job with the 'science' part of science fiction, with a whole slew of fun little gadgets that are entirely believable (I love those little mapping globes).  Most of all, as I mentioned earlier, I like that this movie is about something.  Ridley Scott is asking interesting questions here - not just where do we come from or where do we go, but also do we even belong?  What is our place in the universe?  And what does it mean to be a creator?  This last question is an intriguing theme that runs through the film.  Mankind has advanced so much that they are now creating life, or at least a very close simulation of life in David.  The difference is the Engineers seem to have left mankind alone, whereas man is constantly reminding David that he is just a creation and has no soul.  That must get really annoying.  But it also raises the uncomfortable question of whether humans even have a soul - something Prometheus doesn't answer (probably so we can spend our time debating about it).

But then we have those flaws...and there are many, mostly plot-driven.  I think the film barrels along, despite its problems, leading easily to the best scene of the movie...and then it just kind of falls apart during the last twenty minutes.  There are gaps in logic, story holes, a stupid death straight out Looney Tunes, and despite everyone's best efforts, the movie just begins to collapse under its own weight.  I have read that the blu ray will have some extra footage - maybe those extra scenes will solve some if not most of my problems (just like the superb director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven solved all my problems in the theatrical version of that film).  But until I see that director's cut, we are left with this theatrical version - in all its brilliance and maddening frustration.

P.S.  For those who want to know what specifically bothered me in the movie, I have them bullet pointed at the bottom of the review.  Don't want to ruin anything for anyone!!!

BEST LINE:
David:  "I didn't think you had it in you.  Sorry, poor choice of words..."

MVP:
Michael Fassbender is probably my favorite up and coming actor right now, and in Prometheus, he shows why.  His performance is superb, playing David just slightly off, just enough to make you make you realize he is not normal and to make you uncomfortable.  It's not a flashy role or performance.  It's subtle and brilliant.  I think he deserved a Supporting Actor nomination, but alas he did not get one.

Which leads me into some spoiler territory - just what is the significance of David's obsession with Lawrence of Arabia?  His obsessions is extreme enough that he even dyes his hair blonde and practices lines from the film, most significantly, "the trick is not minding that it hurts."  Lawrence and David have much in common.  They are both outsiders, they are both different than what society accepts as normal, and they are looked down upon and ridiculed for their uniqueness.  The irony is that Lawrence actually thinks he is better than everyone else.  He's smarter and craftier, and he knows it, and yet everyone still mocks him.  And how does his arrogant ego allow him to put up with this continuous disrespect?  By "not minding that it hurts."  For David, watching Lawrence of Arabia must have been a revelation and inspiration.  He fancies himself a modern day Lawrence, surrounded by lesser beings who think they are better than he is.  It's a fascinating parallel and explains many of David's actions throughout the film.

Anyway, that's all a tangent.  What is all goes back to is that Fassbender is amazing and he gets the MVP.

TRIVIA: 
Spoiler/foreshadowing alert!!! The name of the moon where the crew finds the facility is LV 223, which could be a reference to Leviticus 2:23: "If any man among your all your descendants throughout your generations, approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before me."  Coincidence?  I think not!  Thank you, IMDB for this one!


SPOILERS:

Okay, so you want to know what really bothered me about Prometheus?  Here you go.  Some are admittedly nitpicks, but since I am keeping a list anyway.

1. I don't like how the two scientists who are smart enough to try and leave the alien facility because they don't want to be horror movie cliches suddenly turn into horror movie cliches when they a) get lost, b) decide to stay put in the sketchiest place in the facility, and c) decide it would be a good idea to play with the scary looking cobra snake worm thing because it "looks cute."  I'll buy this sort of behavior in a crappy slasher film, but not here.  This film is supposed to above such shenanigans.

2. Aren't there good actors out there who are in their 70s?  Why did they cast middle-aged Guy Pierce as an old man?  This makes sense if they had flashbacks or if they had de-aged him at some point, but this never happens.  It's just Guy Pierce in bad old person makeup.  Don't we have talented older actors?  Why not Max von Sydow?  Why not Joss Ackland?  How cool would it have been to cast Lawrence of Arabia himself, Peter O'Toole?  Now, that would have been really trippy for David!  Oh, well.  Maybe there is a flashback in the director's cut...

3. Meredith Vickers' death is straight out of Looney Tunes, I'm sorry.  It's ridiculous.

4. Did we really need that gratuitous shot of the xenomorph alien in the end?  We all already understood that the monster was a giant face hugger on top of the Engineer at the end...Ridley Scott had successfully made the link to the Alien franchise.  Did he really have to ruin this cool moment by showing the alien itself?  It made people in the theater laugh.

5.  I don't like how Dr. Holloway, Shaw's partner and boyfriend, keeps changing character, going from an adventurous and supportive scientist to the ship's drunken asshole to Mr. Lover Boy.  I liked Logan Marshall Green; I just wish they had done a better job with his character.

6.  And the BIG problem.  This is the one I can't live with.  After the best scene in the movie, when Dr. Shaw has surgery to remove an evil alien that is growing in her womb, we get perhaps the worst scene in the movie.  Dr. Shaw stumbles around the ship, covered in blood, and walks into a room and sees Weyland and David, and they ignore the fact that she's covered in blood!?  Granted, David puts a blanket over her, but that's the extent of their noticing her condition.  They're just, "hey, what's up?  We're gonna go talk to the Engineer.  Wanna come?"  And despite the fact that she just went through major surgery (with kind of a crappy, rushed patchup job, I might add), she still says she will go!  And I don't care if you occasionally grunt and lean over like you are in pain.  That isn't enough to explain how you are running around, jumping, getting punched in the stomach, etc. etc. after what might be the craziest surgery I've ever seen in a movie.

Then you have the fact that they completely drop the point that David tried to forcibly cyrofreeze Shaw with the evil alien inside her...neither of them talk about that, or that she beat up two guards to escape, or that David even knows or cares that the alien is no longer inside of her.  WHAT?!  I can't help but think that there are scenes missing in this area, because this whole sequence just makes no sense.  And it bothers me to no end.

7. The deus ex machina at the end is a bit silly.  You know, when David says, oh, by the way, there are other ships.  And if you take my decapitated head to the ship, I can totally fly us wherever you want to go.  Well, that's awfully convenient.  It's made a bit more annoying when David starts his dialogue by saying, "I know we've had our disagreements..."  But as I mentioned above, they actually don't have their disagreements.  Because they never actually talk about their conflict or bring up the fact that David just tried to screw her over.

Sigh.  Maybe the director's cut will fix all this.  Frustrating.

Robin Hood (2010)

Robin Hood

To be fair, I was not expecting much from the new Robin Hood. Constant delays and continuous script rewrites were among the rumors coming down the pipeline. But what concerned me more was that every time word came of a script rewrite, the entire concept of the film sounded different. First, it was supposed to be the Robin Hood story from the Sheriff of Nottingham's point-of-view, then it was supposed to be some sort of Scarlet Pimpernel situation where Robin Hood and the Sheriff were the same person, and then it turned into this "realistic" prequel that the Sheriff is hardly even in. To me this just sounded like director Ridley Scott wasn't sure what story he wanted to tell. And that is a bad sign.

So it is no surprise that the story of how lowly English archer Robin Longstride became a national hero and then infamous outlaw is deeply flawed at the conceptual level. This is a movie in search of itself.

Which is not to say it is all bad. There is too much talent involved, and they strive valiantly to make the film work. The acting along the board is terrific. Russell Crowe is brooding, and a bit in Gladiator mode, but he carries the film admirably on his shoulders. He isn't Errol Flynn, but he certainly isn't Kevin Costner, either. And Crowe and Blanchett, as Maid Marian, have an easy and realistic chemistry. Mark Strong as the villainous Godfrey, Oscar Isaac as King John, and William Hurt as loyal English baron William Marshall, all deliver terrific performances. The art direction and cinematography are all great; once again Ridley Scott's greatest success is in creating another world that is entirely believeable and not 'Hollywood.'

So it really is a shame that the film does not gel together. The first 30 minutes is all over the place, terribly edited and paced. And then the moment at the end where (not a big spoiler here) Robin Hood actually becomes an outlaw seems entirely arbitrary and silly. Inbetween, there are a legion of half formed ideas, from the weird wild children living in the woods who look like extras from Zardoz to a major plot point about a certain character's father that appears for five minutes, says its really important, and then vanishes without any other mention.

It is possible that there is a director's cut lurking out there, just like Ridley Scott's previous epic Kingdom of Heaven. With the extra footage, that film went from mediocre to superb. But I don't know if the extra footage would help Robin Hood. The problems run too deep. Like I said in the beginning, I wasn't expecting much from the film. And unfortunately, I got exactly what I expected...

MVP: I have to give it to the production designers, art directors, and costume team. From the castles to the armor to the look and feel of the villages, this is a world that lives and breaths and feels real. Kudos.

BEST LINE: Can I pick a line so bad it's good? "I declare him to be an outLAWWWWWW!!!!!"

TRIVIA: Russell Crowe at 45 is the oldest actor to play Robin Hood. Which surprises me because Connery looked pretty darn old in Robin and Marion.

Blade Runner

Blade Runner - The Final Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Not long ago, the Final Cut of Bladerunner was released on DVD and Blu Ray. With a movie that has had as many versions as Bladerunner has had, I admit I was a bit skeptical. Yet this last version of Bladerunner was overseen by director Ridley Scott himself and unlike George Lucas' revisions on Star Wars, Scott's changes truly do correct errors and enhance the film. Simply put, the Final Cut of Bladerunner is indeed the final and finest version of the film out there.

Most of you have probably already seen the film, and there is no need to go into details on the plot. But for those who have not seen the movie, it is the story of Deckard (Harrison Ford), who is a "bladerunner," a special police officer/detective who tracks down Replicants, androids who are created to look human. Built originally to be servants or soldiers with programmed life spans of a just a few years to keep them in line, a band of Replicants has gone rogue and are loose on Earth trying to find the secret of their existence and the solution to their imminent death.

The movie, re-edited heavily and laden with horrible voiceover narration, was a financial disappointment. But the film picked up cult status early on and subsequent versions have teased its brilliance. Let there be no doubt, with the Final Cut, it is clear that this movie is a brilliant and probably the finest film noir since the 1940s. And at its heart, despite the science fiction elements, Bladerunner is indeed a film noir. From the costumes to the script to the chiaroscuro lighting to the performances, this is classic Hollywood noir. But just as he did with the horror film in Alien, Ridley Scott elevates the genre, turns it on its head and points it in new direction that we have not seen before. The film is a masterpiece, and I use that word rarely!

SPOILER ALERT: There has been much discussion and debate that Harrison Ford's Deckard is actually a replicant himself. This is due to some script inconsistencies and other clues littered throughout the film, such as the unicorn dream sequence. A few years ago, Scott came out and said Deckard is indeed a replicant. Who am I to disagree with the director? But I am going to anyway! I don't buy it. Not only do I feel like the movie doesn't work as well if he is a replicant, but I also think it actually cheapens the film. To me, the major theme of the film is how it is the replicants who act more human, who strive to feel, to be alive. Deckard, cold and calculating like a machine, is only able to rediscover his own humanity through his brutal experiences battling the replicants. That is the power of the movie. To make Deckard a replicant just ruins that and reduces the movie to a gimmick. I am happy that even if Scott says Deckard is a replicant, both the film's stars Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer also disagree with him! Interesting that the debate rages even within the cast and crew itself...

So to sum up, this film is no longer a cult classic - it is a bona fide classic, one of Ridley Scott's finest moments, and certainly one of the most influential films of the 1980s.

MVP: Despite disagreeing with his replicant revelation, the MVP is clearly Ridley Scott. Scott is always fantastic at creating different worlds that really could be lived in, as opposed to appearing as Hollywood sets, and Bladerunner's rainy, dirty dystopia is one of his best and most influential visions. And there is no better way to see it than in Blu Ray! Very impressive!

Best Line: Rutger Hauer's last words: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die."

Oscar Nominations: Two - Art Direction and Special Effects