Sometimes it's good to go back. And since I don't have a working time machine (or know anyone who does), a Friday night scrolling through Disney+ will have to do. This time it's Prometheus getting the re-watch treatment and high time too because I recalled precious little from the first viewing circa 2012-2013 and what I do remember I'm confusing with parts of Alien Covenant (which really wasn't great to begin with.)
Turns out there's a lot more good bits to appreciate all these years on..
WHAT I REMEMBER FROM THE FIRST VIEWING
-Uh, some kind of alien ship that looks like a horse shoe
-Some kind of squid alien
-One of the crew members successfully propositioning one of the higher ups for a round of horizontal polka.
Annnnd that's pretty much it really. This isn't the movie where giant aliens drop black death on an unsuspecting planet below (I thought it was but no, that was the next one.)
If you asked me what Promethius was about, I'd probably shorten those points above and leave it there 'Uh it's about squid aliens and someone has sex. I think there's a robot in there somewhere?'
So yes, a rewatch was well overdue..
THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM ROUND 2
-More appreciation for the work of Michael Fassbender. I've always enjoyed him as a younger Magneto in the x-men films (and sometimes he's one of the only saving graces in a couple of them) but here he nails a 'David the friendly robot who's actually a very creepy and dangerous bastard who's just as evil as the aliens they're trying to find.' He'll be the first to hand you a celebratory drink (with a alien microbe in it.) He'll help you through bouts of illness (that he secretly helped cause), get you through alien doors (that you weren't ready to go through) and be the very helpful robot he's been programmed to be (even though he's technically only serving one person ultimately in secret..)
You creepy shifty bastard. Well done!
-How did I miss the fact that Weyland is Guy Pierce? Actually no, truth me told I jumped onto the Guy bandwagon a bit later (through the awesome Jack Irish series) but now that I know it's him, well that's a bonus. I reckon he's still got a touch too much life still left in someone who supposedly only has days left to live but great to see him here.
-Likewise, the captain is Idris Elba and Idris is awesome! Obviously his name has been more prominent in the recent years (Suicide Squad, Hobbs and Shaw etc) but how good is it when you go back and get to appreciate their early work, completely forgetting they were in it?
One of the few on board without a hidden agenda, he just tries to keep the ship straight and the crew safe - which given this is an alien movie, is a lot harder than it looks.
But it wasn't just Guy and Idris I forgot in this one...
-Wong's in it too! Yes the sorcerer supreme and savoir of low rating marvel TV shows was a great surprise in this one, albeit well before the Marvel team gave him a call and said 'So we've got this movie called Dr Strange coming up and...'
Sadly he has no magical powers in this one. He can't zap through walls or levitate. But he's a pretty good crew member in a pinch and when you've got killer agendas running rampant, well those kind of team players really do help.
-The man ways you can die on this strange alien planet. Including and not limited to: Getting killed by one of David's experiments, getting killed by a giant alien, getting your head crushed by a severed android head, getting squashed by a falling ship, being burnt alive by Charlize Theron (I'm sure this is someone out there's ultimate fantasy), drinking alien booze, swallowing aliens, turning into a killer zombie, having aliens swallow you, giant squids and killer storms.
Considering there's only 17 on board this trillion dollar ship (actually there's a few more hidden away..) that's a lot of death variation!
BUT AFTER ALL THAT, WHAT DID I THINK?
Look it was okay. Creepy story, lots going on in the background, set in space, strange ending. Lots of frantic action and self sacrifice, couple of chuckles. But while there's a decent protagonist, it's lacking a hero in the vein of an Ellen Ripley or the like.
Still for a sci fi on a Friday night I'm glad I gave it another go.
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