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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Questions without answers

Sci-fi (feat. Dumb scientists)

Spoiler alert: Humanity’s beginnings aren’t revealed, but the monsters that kickstarted Ridley Scott’s directing career are.

Though a prequel, “Prometheus” tells a tale of its own and leaves room for sequels to follow. The movie opens strong with a compelling theme — the meaning of life.

This premise fades quickly as the movie takes a more conventional approach to sci-fi horror. Insert clichés here.

Cut to the crew exploring large and dark places, splitting up, touching stuff they shouldn’t, finding slimy phalluses slithering around, getting attacked by them and so forth.

The originality comes in the shape of a giant humanoid that appears to be the last survivor on the moon the crew visits.

The humanoid looks like a marble carving of a Greek Titan come to life. Once he’s visited and awoken by the crew he decides it’s a good time to destroy Earth with his ship/biological weapon. Unfortunately, there is no convincing plot for what could lead to our end.

The two-hour film’s strengths are its convincing performances and stunning special effects.

Michael Fassbender brilliantly portrays an android programmed to mimic human emotion. Noomi Rapace impresses as a woman driven not only to survive but to continue her quest for answers.

In the end, “Prometheus” tried too hard to do too much, but having too much is probably better than not having enough. Hopefully Scott got the final remnants of his “Alien” movies out of the way and will take us down a path with some substance and answers for the questions raised in “Prometheus.”

By Patrick Guilfoyle

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