Prometheus IMAX 3D

Faith and Exploration

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Rated: R  Brief language, sci-fi violence and some intense images
Release Date: June 8, 2012
Runtime:  2 hrs 3 mins

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Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Jon Spaihts, Damo Lindelof
Cast:  Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idriz Elba, Guy Pearce, Rafe Spall

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SYNOPSIS: A team of scientists, thinking they have discovered a common link across several non-overlapping civilizations, travel to the farthest reaches of the universe to find its source, only to discover that what they find might be the end of mankind instead of its beginnings.

REVIEW: Visionary director Ridley Scott, who brought us Harrison Ford's Blade Runner, Russell Crowe's Gladiator, and Josh Hartnett's Black Hawk Down, returns to his sci-fi roots with a new entry in the Alien universe. The Darkest Hour scribe Jon Spaihts co-writes the film with Lost and Cowboys and Aliens writer Damon Lindelof. Both are familiar with aliens to some extent, but can their work compare to the mythos that Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett, and Ridley Scott created in the 1979 sci-fi masterpiece?

In 2078 Scotland, scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green, Devil) discover indisputable proof that separate non-overlapping civilizations throughout history share similar glyphs that point to a M-class planet in a star system too far away to have been known. Years later, Shaw and Holloway are funded by the limitless wealth of Peter Weyland to travel for two years in cryo-sleep to reach the planet they consider to be where alien architects created humanity. Aboard the scientific vessel Prometheus, Weyland Industries created android David (Michael Fassbender, Haywire) watches over the statis-induced scientists and crew until their arrival to the planet. Company representative Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron, Snow White and the Huntsman) runs the operation for the scientific team with Captain Janek (Idris Elba, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance) helming the ship. Once awake and briefed, they discover man-made structures that warrant investigation. A scout team including Shaw, Holloway, the android David, medical officer Ford (Kate Dickie, Game of Thrones), geologist Fifield (Sean Harris, A Lonely Place to Die), and biologist Millburn (Rafe Spall, Anonymous) venture inside the mound. Finding a labyrinth of tunnels, strange chambers with stranger pedestals, and 2,000 year dead giant aliens. Soon, scientific fervor, blind faith and hidden corporate agendas look to change their fortunate discovery of the possible genesis of mankind into a countdown to the end of humanity as they know it.

True to the franchise he created and that spawned three sequels, Ridley Scott directs a sci-fi film that slowly builds in story and intense suspense. Striking the line between unwavering faith and scientific curiosity, the obvious question must be asked. If these aliens visited earth several times during several ancient civilizations, did they span humanity as a species? If they indeed engineer mankind, why hadn't modern society witnessed first-hand evidence of their existence? Shaw searches for the truth using both her faith and her science. Holloway, who loves Shaw, lacks the religious faith but compensates with the obsession of asking the 'gods' of the reasons why they created humanity, and why they eventually abandoned humanity. Bank-rolling the expedition, Weyland Industries led by the late Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce, Lockout) and the on-site Vickers are really just looking to find something to profit from.

There is much speculation crashing through the surfs of the internet whether this Ridley Scott film is truly a prequel to the Alien anthology or just another film in the same universe. And based on other electronic reports, even Joss Whedon's Firefly-class Serenity and her crew led by Captain Malcolm 'Mal' Reynolds seem to exist in the same universe as the Company eventually revealed as Weyland. Based on Whedon's pilot, Firefly exists in the year 2517 where Weyland Industries has become Weyland-Yutani Corporation. So much speculation breeds so much doubt. In the Prometheus trailers, it seems too similar to the original Alien film that the alien trying to launch the crescent-shaped spacecraft  in Prometheus is one and the same as the one found by the scout crew of the Nostromo. Other than that, I cannot say without spoiling the film in the affirmative or the negative.

What is also similar to the Alien anthology is the presence of a strong female character. In Prometheus, we are graced by two woman with the strength of their convictions. Noomi Rapace of the original version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo shows that she has both gentle faith and raw determination as Shaw. Countering Rapace is Charlize Theron and her secretive and iron-fisted Vickers who proves she is as determined as Shaw, but for different reasons. With respect to the resident android Ash played by Ion Holms in the original film, Michael Fassbender echoes a beautiful stoic performance as the robotic son the late Peter Weyland always wanted. He embodies both the best parts of Ash and Lance Henriksen's Bishop. The rest of the cast follows the concise formula of characterization that Ridley Scott is known for, although I am still partial to the performances of Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, and Yaphet Kotto, but the always enjoyable Idris Elba comes close.

Prometheus is a perfect addition to an already richly storied film series. Ridley Scott, inspired by H.R. Giger's intense designs, created an alien mythos in his 1979 science fiction classic. James Cameron came along in 1986 and flipped the script by reinventing the series with an expanded Ripley character, more aliens, and a cargo hold full of firepower. Fight Club's David Fincher turned the tables yet again by stripping away most of the baggage of the previous film, adding a prison and introducing more understanding of the symbiotic alterations that the geno-morphing alien undergoes. Jean-Pierre Jeunet tried to recapture some of the Cameron and Fincher magic with a resurrected Ripley, a claustrophobic space station, and freaky sideshow of genetic manipulation, but ended up with a weaker version of any of what came before. Now, with Prometheus, Scott ensures that what he created will continue to have a life of its own. Coming in at two hours and three minutes, Ridley takes his time building to a hell of a climatic conclusion. Gorgeously rendered environments and new evidence of a unknown species makes this trip to space worthwhile.

Prometheus is a sci-fi film filled with story, intensity and suspense. Scott creates a new world in his same Alien universe, embarking on a new adventure of science, faith, religion and questions of the genesis of our existence and origins. If we were created by an alien race, what does that say about us and our beliefs? And if aliens created us, who created them?


NOTE: Stay to the end for a poster by Weyland Industries, or just go to http://www.weylandindustries.com/timeline.

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WORTH: Matinee and BluRay

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

A Worthy Adversary

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Rated: PG-13 Some drug material, intense sequences of violence and of action
Release Date: December 16, 2011
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 min

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Director: Guy Ritchie
Writers: Michele Mulroney, Kieran Mulroney, characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Rachel McAdams, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry, Paul Anderson, Kelly Reilly

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SYNOPSIS: As Dr. Watson prepares for his wedding day, Sherlock Holmes immerses himself in the hunt for Professor Moriarty, his most vile and intelligent adversary. As the stakes are raised and Holmes' friends are threatened, Holmes reenlists Dr. Watson's aid in the pursuit of his enemy.

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REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes returns! Director Guy Ritchie returns for a follow up to the 2009 Sherlock Holmes. The writer/director of Snatch, RocknRolla, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie relinquishes writing duties to a new duo of Holmes scribes, Michele and Kiera Mulroney of Ryan Reynolds' Paper Man. Will this turn for the incomparable Sherlock Holmes be elementary?

The tireless Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr., Iron Man) has used his detective skills since the close of the Lord Blackwood case to follow and compile a string of seemingly unrelated tragedies, deaths, and strange occurrences. All the ribbon threads from his investigations lead him back to the elusive Dr. Moriarty (Jared Harris, AMC's "Mad Men"). To what end to Professor Moriarty's motives serve? As the good doctor 'ties up loose ends' to someone close to Holmes, Sherlock must quicken his pace to unravel the machinations of this most serious foe. The plot involves a gypsy woman, Madam Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2009) that Sherlock meets during Watson's stag party. After the wedding of his associate Dr. Watson (Jude Law, Hugo), Sherlock ruins the honeymoon plans in order to save both Dr. Watson and his new bride Mary (Kelly Reilly, Eden Lake). Enter Sherlock's ironically more eccentric brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry, V for Vendetta) to aide in the efforts, as snarky and arrogant as his brother. Aiding Professor Moriarty is a former British sharpshooter, Colonel Sebastian Moran (Paul Anderson, A Lonely Place to Die).

Where Sherlock Holmes dealt with the Baker Street detective dealing with Lord Blackwood's technology masked as the occult, the sequel deals with a much more sinister plot and vile villain with Professor Moriarty. Lord Blackwood wanted to return England to its former glory and regain the American Colonies. The genius Professor Moriarty has men and women do his bidding and ultimately ends their lives when their usefulness to him runs its course, all in the pursuit to start a European war that he can profit from.

Professor Moriarty is arguably the greatest adversary to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, although he only appears in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes tale, "The Adventure of the Final Problem" and mentioned in the subsequently published "The Valley of Fear". In Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Professor Moriarty is ever Sherlock's equal and superior, having genius level intellect and champion boxing skills. Considered the "Napoleon of Crime" by Holmes, Moriarty is certainly his arch-nemesis, Holmes spending months collecting data and thwarting Moriarty's operations at every available turn.


A Game of Shadows focuses on the detective dance between Holmes and Moriarty, but still has time to  expand on the Watson and Holmes relationship. Like an old married couple, they nag and prod at each other relentlessly, all the while suffering in silence at the brotherly love they share and the hollowness they experience when apart. Their affection is infectious, their barbs humorous. Downey Jr's Holmes is becoming the hip version that Holmes would aspire to if not kept primarily on PBS or BBC.

The action is superb, the mix of slow motion and quick edits making for visual candy. Moriarty's master plans deserve the attention of a detective of Holmes caliber and a story set on the silver screen. Ritchie's unique vision and the Mulroneys' story make for a grander stage for Holmes and Watson to work on. Stretching much farther than the streets of London and the surrounding countryside, the sequel at times is both slower and expansive. But keeping with a formula that works from the first film, and breaking the mold whenever possible, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is worth a closer look.

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WORTH: Matinee and DVD

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