Prometheus gets a lot of hate. One of the reasons is that Alien fans were expecting an Alien-like film. I think before the film released, Ridley and the team tried to ensure that it's not a sequel to Alien to manage people's misguided expectations. It was clear that Prometheus was in the same universe but it wasn't obligated to follow Alien's formula and I don't think trailers tried to convey Alien vibe either. The promo to me felt more like a homage to Alien rather than a promise of a true sequel. The film tried to reach further with its ambitious themes and ideas. It did fail in conveying some of them properly but also managed to achieve many of them and the result was a very thrilling and layered narrative which deserved multiple viewings.
I was watching this film again tonight and I enjoyed the pacing, visual style and ambitious ideas more. I knew its flaws already so my mind just ignored them and focused on what clicked. I found out that there was a lot which clicked. I think Ridley really wanted to make something ambitious(I keep coming back to this word). He created a very tight(both visually and narratively) and suspenseful masterpiece in the form of Alien in 79 and after such a long break from sci-fi if he wanted to come back, the last he wanted was to repeat himself. After I read Jon Spaihts' draft, it became quite clear why Ridley got it re-written(well atleast semi-rewritten). The DNA changed a lot when Lindelof came in. I won't delve into the subject of which writer did a better job at delivering a required script; they both had strengths. In the final film under Ridley's direction there were many great things and all three of them deserve credit for that. David was a great character and I thoroughly enjoyed him. He was a fully formed character with many hobbies, interests, some intriguing ideologies and a goal to pursue. The scene where he asks a rhetorical question to Dr Shaw that who doesn't want their parents dead was particularly interesting. The writers gave his character an opinion without further delving into it. It was just another one of David's thoughts and intriguing ideologies. It didn't need to be answered and I think it wasn't meant to either. It added mystery to his character further and added another curve in his well rounded personality.
But David wasn't the only highlight of the film, Prometheus fulfilled another very strong trait of great sci-fi fiction as well. It asked interesting questions and probed us with new ideas about origin, life, God and humanity's position/place in the universe. It rose above the normal parameter of a summer blockbuster. It was provocative and it relied on implication at many instances instead of lazy exposition. Engineer's motive, internal thoughts and reasons weren't told to us by our protagonist. David utters an interesting quote which non-verbatim is, sometime one must destroy before it recreates but David is manipulative and have hidden motives throughout the film so he isn't a very reliable source. I don't think his opinion could be taken as fact also because he didn't prove what he says and we never see how he came to this conclusion as he didn't talk to any Engineer at that point either. The Engineer David woke up, didn't say a word and like Weyland, we were left with guesses and assumption which I think worked. Clearly, by ripping David's head off, he was trying to prove a point. But was it that he hated humanity's 'inferior' creation as compared to his own or he did it out of spite/jealousy or he just hated how pitiful and fragile Weyland (and in turn humanity) is so he went on a rampage to prove his point. The film also played with the idea of faith, it's strength and contrast to the science. Dr Shaw was religious clearly and it was emphasized that it gave her strength and specially as she prepares herself to meet the Engineers. But religion wasn't just used as a support system for the protagonist, it was involved also because the film played with the idea of God. If the film showed correctly, then Engineers were our Gods. They weren't the traditional God mentioned in the abrahamic religions, it was an interesting sci-fi spin of the film. It doesn't have to be a God who sits in the sky and watches humanity with obsessive concentration, passing judgements and punishments for minute little things. It was an advanced intelligent species who might have created many others like us in solar systems or even galaxies. The relationship of God and his creation was although similarly bitter. David isn't a fond of his creators and our humanity's creator didn't seem pleased with us. So in other words, we were hated by our creation and our creators. Maybe those silly caricature of characters who died stupidly were intentionally stupid to show what we as a whole, from the perspective of David and Engineer. It's a possible theory but even if it isn't the point remains that Prometheus poked us with these questions and left us to come to our conclusions. This was not a weakness but rather strength of the film. Lovecraft had similar provocative themes about cosmos, humanity, mystery of the unknown and our inability to comprehend the secrets of the great mystery which are hidden in the universe we live in. I'm not comparing Lovecraft's stories to Prometheus but only stating some shared themes. Prometheus had a lot going for it but apart from the above mentioned strengths in story, it also had great cast, crew and director which all made it a great visual and thrilling experience on top of the interesting questions it posed. I don't think anyone shies away from Prometheus's many obvious flaws but people who were put off by the questionable decisions of the side character to the level of not giving the film a chance, missed on very enjoyable experience. Anyways, this is my train of thought as I've just finished watching the film. I might discuss the direction, editing and acting in the proper review later but the bottom line is that Prometheus received negativity because of the prior expectations, comparisons, involvement of lindelof and few flaws of side characters and writing this film off based on any of these reasons is doing the film a disservice.
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