Prometheus is an Interesting Chapter to Alien Story, but Fails to Capture the True Spirit and Loses Itself in Exposition

Prometheus (3 out 5 Stars)

Directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down)

Written by Joseph Spaihts (The Darkest Hour), Damon Lindelof (Lost)

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, and Charlize Theron

When I looked at the June film releases I was giddy with excitement.  Snow White and the Huntsman looked fun and like it would be the most entertaining of the legends adaptations.  Rock of Ages looked fun, but with its release today it feels as though the fun has been sucked out of 80s music (which is hard to do).  Next week is Pixar's first film with a female lead entitled Brave, another giddy moment.  As reviews have trickled out the film looks less like Wall-E and Up and more like Cars or a decent Dreamworks film.  I was excited for Magic Mike (and the gay man in me still is) but the trailers make this film look awful.  Prometheus was a part of this group for me.  

Prometheus is a part of the Alien world.  The build up for this film was massive.  When the film was announced there was this immediate response from fans of the quadrilogy assuming this was a prequel to all of the four films.  This rumor was dispelled, but the creative team behind the film said that the film was a part of the "Alien world."  The trailers helped with the build up, they made this film seem irresistible, a can't miss.  This was actually one of the best trailers because it did not give away too much of the story, and made fans and non fans alike want to line up to see what the hype was all about.

The reason the trailer was good at not giving away the plot was because the plot is hard to giveaway.  The film centers on two scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall Green) who have found a pattern of cave drawings throughout the entire globe that fit the exact same pattern.  These patterns fuel their belief that their is a life form out in space that connects all the pattern of these cave drawings.  Two years after the discovery the two become part of a space expedition to explore the place that aligned with the cave drawings.

That's about as specific I can get about the plot without getting into spoilers or the material that makes the film too expositional. Joseph Spaihts and  Damon Lindelof scripted a film that has an brilliantly close feel at the start to the first film, Alien.  As the film progresses I can only assume that Lindelof, from Lost fame made the film more of an expositional.  What do I mean by expositional?  The film gets sidetracked by myth and lore rather than focusing on the simplicity that could exist within this Universe.  

Ridley Scott must take some credit for the direction of this film; he has a wonderful vision and created and inspired landscape.  Scott's is a masterful direction, and his connection with this world is apparent.  The problem is that even within interviews Scott gives in to the myth as well.  There are numerous connections to spirituality, like a cross Elizabeth wears, and this eternal belief she and Charlie have in something greater.  While the myth has its moments that make the film interesting it sometimes bogs down the material, and makes you feel like within religion that the belief that this should be good overpowers the actuality that things may not be what you expected.

While the film was not everything I expected there were some aspects that steadied the ship and kept things from sinking too far.  Michael Fassbender acted as the savior to this film; his role as the robot David was fantastic.  David was meant to appear human, and there were times you almost felt as though he was, but even David himself says that he was made to look human for this sole purpose.  Fassbender played manipulative and caring at the same time, but being that he was a robot he was not meant to have any emotions so conveying these concepts shows the skills this man possesses.

Along with Fassbender  the film's technical aspects are strong.  Dariusz Wolski's cinematography captures the starkness of the planet while also utilizing the lighting to capture some haunting images in the caves, and even in the ship Prometheus.  Combined with the art direction, sound, editing, and visual effects, these elements make this film more than a lost soul, but a visionary world.  Love it, hate it, or even if you do not get it this film will get you talking, and that is something that helps it rise above other films.

Snow White and the Huntsman Fails to live up to the Fairy Tale Expectations

Snow White and the Huntsman (2 out of 5 Stars)

Directed by Rupert Sanders 

Written by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), Hossein Amini (Drive)

Starring: Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, and Chris Hemsworth

The beauty of fairy tales is there are numerous versions, and even though there can be an origin story, fairy tales have been adapted through time to teach lessons or to of course continue the legend.  Snow White started as German tale, and was adapted throughout the years by a variety of people ranging from the Brothers Grimm to Walt Disney.  Although these two versions are not the only ones they are the most famous.  The Grimm Brothers created the magic mirror, and the poisoned apple.  While Walt Disney created a much less darker family friendly version where he was he was the person to name the dwarfs.  Who is surprised that Walt Disney love German fairy tales? I am not.

This year has provided a lot of obsession over the Snow White myth.  Lost creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, put Snow and the Evil Queen at center stage for the battle over fairy tale land and Storybrook in the ABC series Once Upon a Time.  Ginnifer is a great Snow White/Mary Margaret, but the show does not have as much magic in my opinion.  In March of 2012 Tarsem Singh brought Mirror Mirror which centered around a lighter version of Snow White, with Julia Roberts as the Wicked Queen.  I skipped Mirror Mirror looking at the preview made me want to laugh and not in a good way.Then came what appeared to be the darkest most action packed story to date from Rupert Sanders in his directorial debut.  Each version has taken liberty with the story and showed the beauty of adapting a story, but have each of these versions tried to hard, or complicated the myth? Possibly.

Snow White and the Huntsman opens with a narration from Chris Hemsworth with Snow's mother pricking her finger on a red rose that lived within the fallen snow.  As in the fairy tale Snow's mother dies and her father is consumed with grief.  In this version an army takes advantage of his grief, and attacks, in that attackhe finds a beautiful female prisoner, and makes her his bride.  On the weeding night this beautiful bride named Ravena (Theron) kills the king and takes the kingdom for her own; she then holds Snow White (Stewart) captive in the tower until she escapes and the Huntsman (Hemsworth) is sent to track her down.

Sanders took a on a lot in his directorial debut, one of the most grandiose in art direction and production design, not to mention some incredible visual effects, including some intense battle scenes.  While the art direction was superb it could not save the poor writing.  This film went big, but left the heart of the story behind.  With three screenwriters pulling the string the film felt overlong and burdened with far too much adaptation of the original myth. Why did we meet Snow White's boy hood friend the "prince" if he would serve no real purpose? Why did they make this queen like Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty?  While Theron was easily the most entertaining part of this film, the writers took the character a few steps too far. They explored all of the magical lands/area, but where were they and what was their connection to the kingdom?  These unanswered questions proved to bog down the film immensely. 

The film ended up being number one at the box office because of the intense action packed trailer, which probably brought in more guys.  The only problem was that Ravena tricked you enough into believing the film was more than it was.  The film slows down in the middle, almost too much, and focuses on a less than convincing Stewart as Snow White.  Stewart is one of the weakest actresses working today; she is an unconvincing female lead who has never grown up, she should be in Peter Pan.  I love watching Hollywood become creative with fairy tale myth, but they have to remember quality over quantity, and this film fails to live up to the fairy tale expectations.

Young Adult Seethes with an Edge of Piss and Vinegar thanks to Charlize Theron

Young Adult (3 out of 5 Stars)

Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air)

Written by Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer's Body)

Starring: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt

In 2007 small film named Juno was released during the month of December from a writer/director pair that was not as well known.  Flash forward five years in the future where Jason Reitman is a hot director and is fresh off being a double Oscar nominee for writing/directing Up In Air.  Diablo Cody won an Oscar for her Juno script and she helped develop a television show on Showtime named the United States of Tara.  This year this team has collaborated on a film that solidifies their ability to create.  Together these two have created one very dark comedy.

Young Adult centers on Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) who is in her words an author, not a writer of "young adult" novels in the big city, Minneapolis.  Mavis is from a smaller city, Mercury which is also in Minnesota.  While checking her e-mail she receives an e-mail from a former flame Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) about the birth of his baby and she decides to return home to try and steal him back.  When she gets back home Mavis heads to the local shit hole bar in hopes to get Buddy to come meet her for a drink.  Buddy can't meet Mavis because he is taking care of his child, but Mavis runs into a loser from from her high school days Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt). 

While Reitman's direction is solid enough, this is his weakest piece of work I have seen to date.  Diablo Cody's screenplay while a bit stronger.  While watching this film this is so obviously the Cody's work.  This film just sounds like her.  Mavis even loves Maker's Mark the same drink she writes as a joke in Juno.  There was some brilliant dark comedic moments in this film like when Mavis's cousing jokingly refers to Mavis and Matt as Will and Grace.  The screenplay also does a strong job of highlighting a woman who will never be more than a young adult.

The best part of this film is the convincing job Charlize Theron does portraying this broken alcoholic woman who never grew up.  Mavis writes young adult books, she obsesses about her old high school boyfriend, and while living in the "big city" she still does not do the things there she mocks people in Mercury for.  Theron's beauty is apparent but she is one talented actress.  Theron has great chemistry with Oswalt.  They create one of the oddest and darkest duos of the year.  Oswalt gives a very strong performance as well.

While this film has it flaws, the road to the third act becomes a bit jumbled and more awkward than it needs to be.  This film bring dark humor to a different level.  This film proves that not only Theron a true bombshell, but that she can carry a variety of different material.