Warning: MAJOR spoilers ahead. So, Ridley Scott’s long-awaited “Prome-theus” is finally here, and the results are … disappointing. While visually stunning, the story — about a group of scientists heading into space in search of humankind’s origins — is overly complicated and filled with holes. Since we’re always looking to be helpful, here’s what we’d do differently:
Make it scarier.
Scott continually referred to “Prometheus” as a horror movie in the lead-up to its release, yet the finished product is surprisingly short on scares, save for one fantastic surgery scene. A lot of this might have to do with the fact that, for most of the film, it’s not really clear what the threat is — aside from some very powerful wind.
Ease off the old-age makeup.
Unless there’s a scene of a younger Peter Weyland (Guy Pierce) that was cut from the film — and maybe that TED talk viral video was originally supposed to be included — it seems unnecessary to cast Pierce in the role just to cover him up with unconvincing prosthetics. What, there weren’t any suitable actors over the age of 60 available?
Kill off characters a little more respectfully.
At the start of the film, we’re told there are 17 people on the Prometheus, and at the end there’s just one. Maybe starting off with fewer characters would’ve made it possible to avoid instances like Janek’s two co-pilots (Emun Elliott and Benedict Wong) deciding to go down with the ship — despite there being a viable escape — just because the story needed them to not be around anymore.
Take it to the next level.
Forget the obvious sequel (a post-prequel?) that the film sets up with Dr. Shaw flying the alien ship off to meet her makers. Next, it would be awesome to have her and the severed head of the android David (Michael Fassbender) star as wacky roommates on a laugh track-filled CBS sitcom.
Keep it subtle
Try to get your information across a bit more elegantly.
The film really falters for the first time when the ship’s pilot, Janek (Idris Elba), shows up with some very succinct information about what’s in those mysterious vases he hasn’t seen in person and why the “engineers” he’s never met built them. Regardless of whether he could actually know this, the least the film could do is offer some clue of how he came to such a firm conclusion.
