Star Rating: 4 stars
(for Star Rating key: https://madtimemama.wordpress.com/mama-and-papa-movie-reviews/)
Oh, Prometheus. Prometheus. You gave us fire once and great hope. How’s the liver? Where to begin? I had high hopes for this movie. I must admit, my husband and I were giddy to watch this movie after we found out about its production. We were “giddy as school girls,” to paraphrase Allison Doody. Doody, hehe. It was that kind of excitement. (We share the same enthusiasm about The Avengers . . . but that’s a whole other post for another day). We are avid Alien franchise fans as well as being in the Ridley Scott fan club. He’s a master at his craft.
We have so many questions, but first let us talk about what we did like. It wasn’t an epic fail, but it wasn’t a home run either.
Things we liked:
1) We like the universe of the Alien movies — even number 3. We like that there are things going on out there that aren’t necessarily included in the storytelling. They’re just there. And the characters and plots are related to these unknown tangents. We like that. We do. Really.
2) 
We loved Idris Elba and Michael Fassbender in this movie. In fact, we like these guys in any of their movies. They’re good. 
3) Special effects were on par with our expectations. And despite the fact that my husband says “Expectation is a prison,” good job. Awesome, even, in places.
4) 
Noomi was pretty good in the C-section scene. (But who couldn’t be good acting like they are cutting in to their own reproductive system?) On an aside, being presently pregnant and having had a C-section before and another scheduled C-section to come … I have to admit it was hard to watch. I might have even closed my eyes–but just for a second. It was good though. Noomi FINALLY showed some “chops” in that scene. Chops, hehe. She at least acted like she gave a crap. (Sherlock Holmes 2, anyone?) Unfortunately, it was too far into the movie to really varnish my opinion of her acting skills. Alas, it was a good scene nevertheless and regardless, I’m gonna have a C-section anyway! Hooray!
Things we didn’t like and questions we have:
1) 
Charlize didn’t do anything. Seriously. She didn’t do ANYTHING. Anybody could have played her part. She was only in this movie to try to sell tickets and to put that “Academy Award Winner Charlize Theron” on the poster. Don’t let her participation fool you.
2) 
Noomi is one dimensional (Don’t get us wrong– we love our Swede actors/actresses. They produced the Skarsgaard men and the Dragon Tattoo trilogy — which is where we started our love affair with Noomi) HOWEVER, after seeing her in other roles our opinion is now firmly set. ONE DIMENSIONAL and lacking any emotion. She is like an attractive or at least interesting looking block of wood. You pick it up and think, “Huh. That’s neat.” Then you toss it back down and forget it. Sorry girl.
3) 
We liked the white giants BUT are they just more monsters? What drives them? Why did it try to kill them all???? The beginning was confusing and it carried throughout the rest of the movie. SO frustrating.
4) David and Shaw leave on another alien spaceship at the end of the movie. What happened to the white giants we assume would be sleeping on THAT ship? What about the other ships? Doesn’t make much sense.
5) It was hard to care about any character in the film. Was this on purpose because of their ultimate demise? Or was it poor writing? You be the judge. Ultimately, my husband and I agree that Idris’s character was the only one that we remotely cared about. We would have liked to see more of him and have him survive to fight on.
6) Four years and a trillion dollars into this project, we would have screened our staff for this mission a lot better. For example:
— no psychologically unstable people
— biologists/scientists who know how to follow simple quarantine procedures and who know how to act when encountering new species on an alien world
— religious fanatics . . . no place for ‘em on my ship
…. ya’ll get the idea. But it’s those impurities that add the spice of life to a movie . . . right? Or the kiss of death….
7) 
Guy Pearce…. really? Why put Guy in ANY movie only to have 8 pounds of make up on him and make him unrecognizable. He’s Guy Pearce. In this movie, we don’t need you — sad, but true. Feeling guilty about saying that, we must recommend the movie “Lockdown.” He’s in that and it’s GREAT for a sci-fi action flick. Now, we say all of this . . . but PERHAPS . . . JUST PERHAPS the next movie will explain it all and Guy Pearce will reprise his role as a younger man, clone, robot, etc. and bring forth some MUCH needed explanations.
8) 
We needed the movie to be about an hour longer for fuller explanations, better understanding of the “weapons,” the face hugger snake, the black oily stuff, why the white giants act the way they do, the holograms, the squid, etc. As it is, we suspect there may not be a Grand Unifying Theory For It All. But we hope, we sincerely hope, there is.
Quote from my husband: “Big things have small beginnings.”
Quote from me: “Really, Charlize did NOTHING.”
**DISCLAIMER** This review was based off of a movie that was watched with a baby in the hotel room, and a noise maker going full blast. It’s possible we might have missed something and that’s the basis of our whole confusion. But we have a real cute stinkin’ baby . . . see?
Mad Time Mama! 
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