Film Review: Prometheus

Try as you might you're always going to come across spoilers for films that you don't want to know about. It seems the moment I made the decision to avoid all things Prometheus until I saw at the cinema, it became about ten times harder to avoid. It's with that in mind I issue the following warning...

Whilst I'm clearly not going to be going into the plot of the film, this review will contain references to the film, so if you're looking for a straight forward thumbs up or thumbs down, this isn't the place for you. Lets just say minor spoilers?

Equally hard to avoid is comparisons to Alien. Much has been talked about whether this film is a prequel or a standalone movie in the same 'universe', but I think by the end of the film most people will be able to see a lot clearer. As regular readers know, I try to avoid making comparisons to other films, but with Prometheus it may well be unavoidable. Sharing the same universe AND director in Ridley Scott offers too much in common with the 1979 classic.

"Yes Noomi, I am seeing this, stop asking!"

When a team of explorers discover the latest in a series of drawings that may explain the origins of mankind on this planet, they travel with a team of space truckers (kind of, more on that distinction in a moment) as well as a robot given the appearance of a human called David (Michael Fassbender) to the distant moon hinted at in these drawings to see if these beings can give them the answers they've been looking for.

Instantly, comparisons can be drawn. When you start to watch the film, similarities are instant. The design of the ship, down to the cryo-pods for extended slumber, as well as the presence of a robot does make you think of Alien, it can't be helped. But Prometheus does have its own story to tell, which is where things start to get slightly flawed.

Whilst the performances are great (Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw, one of the explorers and Michael Fassbender in particular) everything is let down a bit by the writing. The characters are not especially well developed, which causes confusion with the minor characters on the ship(apart from the aforementioned Rapace and Fassbender, as well as Charlize Theron and Idris Elba, everyone just kind of gels into one), and just the dialogue in general is just a bit clunky. It just doesn't have as much to say as Alien did.

When I mentioned space truckers a few paragraphs back, I say that but it's never really specified that well what exactly the minor characters do. One of them carries a gun at an early stage, for protecting the team, but there's never really any kind of moment where you know what each characters function really is.

But apart from that, things are great. The film itself looks stunning. I saw it (proudly) in 2D, and it just looked jaw dropping, and after hearing comments from Scott himself which made it sound like 3D may not have been his choice, I'm glad I did. The design of the film is superb, and even has the return of H.R. Giger to create some more awe-inspiring and slightly unsettling models.

And Prometheus shows that Scott can still ratchet the tension up and produce some truly horrifying scenes, which more than live up to those of his other 'Alien universe' film. In particular there's a scene with Rapace that is stunningly gruesome, and there's plenty more horror too. I think it's the best film he's made in many, many years.

Prometheus won't please viewers expecting another Alien film, that much should have been obvious from even the shortest teaser trailer. But even that won't stop some purists picking apart the film for years to come. But as a standalone film, it's a very impressive spectacle, only let down by slightly sub par writing.

****
Overall, a successful return to the Alien franchise for Scott, a truly impressive film. But the writing lets the side down, with some poorly written characters and dialogue in places. It shall be interesting to see where this story shall lead next. 

Film Review: Shame

I can only imagine that sex addiction isn't the barrel of laughs it sounds like. A heady mix of getting laid whenever you want or just generally being able to be Hank Moody from Californication is what you'd think, but British writer/director Steve McQueen presents a more realistic, cold portrayal of sex addiction in his new film Shame.

Set in New York, Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, who is lives alone, helping him to keep his private life...well, private. This is all disrupted when his reckless sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) shows up unannounced, needing a place to stay.

The main thing that Shame left me with were the performances and the direction. Fassbender is truly superb as Brandon. You're not meant to like him, and it's tough to really connect with his character unless you happen to be going through the same thing, but it's such a layered performance. Struggling with his addiction, whilst trying to cope with his sister's presence, which seems to make his situation even worse, and not just for the reasons you'd think. And to say he goes above and beyond for the performance is putting it mildly.

Carey Mulligan is also superb as the free-spirited sister. Another layered performance, acting the fun loving role on the exterior, but there's a sadness we never really get to the bottom of. Also a great singing voice, as the film just stops for her to sing a slowed down version of 'New York, New York', in a absolutely spellbinding scene.

There are plenty of spellbinding scenes in fact, the best of which are the ones where the camera is just trained on people having a conversation, whether it be Brandon and a date at a restaurant (albeit with a supremely annoying waiter, one of the few moments of levity in the film) or a discussion with Brandon and Sissy, shot over their shoulders, whilst a cartoon plays on the television in front of them.

Scenes like that are usually not the work of relatively new director, but this is only Steve McQueen's second film, which makes it all the more impressive. The direction of the film did leave this viewer slightly cold and alienated at times though, but considering the subject matter and how it was portrayed, may well be intentional.

One of the things that really impressed me also was the fact there was only one sex scene in the entire film. And that wasn't even shot in focus! Not saying there isn't nudity, scenes before and after the act, or during where you don't see what happens, but for a film about sex addiction to have one relatively sex scene in it borders on genius for me. In fact, the argument could be made that the sex scene didn't even need to be there. By no means totally superfluous, but not completely needed at the same time.

Just over two weeks into the new year and contenders for Film, Actor, Actress and Director of the year have already emerged. The subject matter is pretty powerful, but so is the film. Highly recommended.

****
You might not click with the characters, and it may just leave you a little cold, but regardless, Shame is well worth 100 minutes of anyone's time. Amazing performances and direction throughout.