Prometheus: Burning questions, burning desire.

I suppose this is as good as any a film to reel me back into using this blog...

MASSIVE SPOILERS AND DISCUSSION AHEAD

Dear reader, be you fictional or fickle,  I must start by saying that you should feel free to comment at the bottom. In fact, I encourage it! if you think I'm dead wrong, don't just make faces at your screen. whip out your fastest typing fingers and tell me what you think. I really want to know. I've been sitting on this for three weeks, avoiding ALL spoilers (deceptively challenging) and now 'tis time to catch up.

Where to begin.



So many scenes. Plenty of questions. What is he really trying to tell us? A  few friends I have, spoke of issues with the film, calling it a letdown. Is it, or does the film simply not choose to pursue what some fans are requesting? Is it a prequel -- or do we need to take it of its own accord?

First off is our no-date-specific beginning scene of one of the Engineers, having a peaceful drink on the top of a waterfall, before choking to death and literally dissolving into the rushing waters.  Now, I saw this with two friends and we all had different opinions- a perfect example of how engaging a film should be.  One of us believed that this was on earth, and that the Engineer died to continue the cycle of life. (Supported by the theory that they share DNA with us.)  Another believed that the Engineer was killing himself to terraform Lv-223, focal planet of the movie; (the blackness was not intentional and thusly poisoned the planet, which considering how barren it is most likely is Lv-223). Finally, the third of our group felt that he was committing suicide because he couldn't live with the bio-weapons his hand helped create.

(fun side note- after a little debate, Flynn and I decided that because the Engineer drank the poison black and then it tore his DNA and then *that* got into the water, this opening scene explains where the living black goo in the urns came from, which leads back to the thought that this was the forming of Lv-223.)

Second big debate; What was Scott trying to tell us about faith? Over the course of the film we have MANY viewpoints on faith. We have Shaw (and her father. Was that Patrick Wilson by the way? totally skimmed over but a decently-recognized actor and no credit I saw for it), Halloway, Weyland, Vickers all tell us what they believe specifically, or broad statements of affirmation. And David spouting all sorts of hints about the idea that he may have outgrown his original programming. Not everyone retains faith in an organized religion, but the real fun perks of the film are watching the clash of faiths. accept it as higher power until the DNA test...which just makes them uncomfortable.Shaw's joy at discovering Engineers, while the rest refuse to David's faith in acceptance, stirred on by his 2 year experiment to pick up habits, is clashed with constant reminders, even from his own father, that he will never exceed his creating.  Is david wrong for trying to buck that insult?  Is Weyland right in his faith that he will spend a trillion dollars to come and be cured by a thesis that may not even be true? Does david have a soul?  I don't have room to get into this discussion. From HAL9000 to Blade Runner and I Robot (the original text, not the Will Smith/Alan Tudyk Film), I'm not the first nor will I be the last. It was intentionally ambiguous and his performance as this android was subtle enough to garner respect---we all caught the Ian Holm/Ash and Lance Henriksen/Bishop similarities, but I caught a c-3p0 homage and most importantly, Fassbender does a stellar job of actually channeling Guy Pearce's Peter Weyland, if you listen closely to the cadences he speaks in.

Which brings us another point---what did David REALLY say to the Engineer? no subtitles. Is this one of Ridley's glorious mindfucks? did he know it when he filmed it and everyone just isn't in the loop? (like the alt ending to Alien that he discussed about ten years ago) Will we get an answer if they decide to take this new-vein Alien'Verse and pursue David and Shaw's travel through the stars?

(edit: turns out Fassbender has the answer.)

Also. There is a consistently recurring theme in the "XenoVerse", for lack of a more coherent term, in which one or more Weyland employees is intentionally letting the specimens out of the box. What's really going on with that? Is there a directive unspoken that's been in place since Peter Weyland was burrowed onboard his Prometheus ship?

Finally, some people have bitched that the movie didn't really "showcase the Aliens from 'ALIEN' and thusly it was a "meh" or "crappy prequel". However, many other things in the film point to this as a same-world story, not a prequel. This is okay not to answer because there will always be a bigger world. Having sat through the film, while it could have moved a little faster, I honestly enjoyed the revelation that these Xenomorphs weren't even done forming when this film happened, and thus it's very possible we'll find a fossil or a brain... Maybe only Damon Lindelof will ever know the answers. Maybe he'll share more one day.


BUT. there are still far too many unanswered questions. how did the Xenomorphs get to LV-426?  Any sharp-eyed nerd would have noted or discussed the fact that this entire prequel does n ot even take place on ALIEN's Nostromo-investigated planet. Does Ridley imply that our heroine Shaw was going to kill her makers? because I got the distinct impression that she was not vengeful about that.

So I believe that Maybe, the lesson is that the questions asked are only so much of the equation. Maybe, the important part is that we're still searching- that we still have faith in something larger than ourselves, be they engineer or Divine Presence, and that starry eyed discovery, that breathtaking desire to keep looking, that in itself is what Ridley Scott is fostering in his protagonist, and fostering in us.

In this, perhaps, it is our desire for answers that is the subject of the film. As David asks Charlie Halloway...how far are we willing to go? Is that the more important thing? even if the creepy psychopathic android shouldn't have such thoughts.
For some of the insights, I encourage you to check out "SPOILERS WITH KEVIN SMITH", in which writer Damon Lindelof answers a few things. But even he keeps somewhat tightlipped, and I'd like to have my own faith that it's in order to let people form their own opinions and stir some debate.