Alien Prometheus: A Prequel Well-Done

After Alien 4, the Alien franchise seemed beyond repair. Then came Prometheus. It saved the franchise, the same way its namesake saved mankind. 

Surprisingly, this film was the first I watched out of the franchise. It was so good, making me want to watch the rest of the films. The best thing about this film is that it was built directly upon the first film. They took the idea of Engineers, briefly shown in the first film, and used it for some epic world-building. While the characters weren’t as loveable as in Alien 2, they were still somewhat tolerable. Characters like Shaw and Holloway fell flat, and so did Charlize Theron’s seemingly “antagonistic” character. However, Michael Fassbender’s David shone through. As Prometheus is a prequel, it shows the evolution of robots from antagonistic to friendly. Fassbender’s acting revealed subtle clues pointing to his character's psychopathic tendencies from the start of the film itself. His character was incredibly unnerving, his pointed stares were daunting enough. His true intentions were revealed slowly, from his poisoning of Holloway. 

The best part of the film, though, was the plot. I was truly on the edge of my seat throughout this film. Bringing in engineers and giving them a backstory, tying them to the human race was perfect. The Engineer could act as an antagonist character as well, giving the film a more multifaceted approach towards the villain of the film, having not only the aliens but also the Engineer play a threat. The backstory of the Engineers too gave a much more detailed look into the franchise and helped me better understand the origin of the xenomorphs and, technically, humanity too. It also opened up the universe, allowing the franchise to bring in more alien species later on possibly another one of the Engineers’ experiment civilizations. It even works to give the background of the Weyland-Yutani corporation by bringing in Peter Weyland.

The CGI and set design of this film were out of this world. Ridley Scott truly did the Alien franchise justice with Prometheus. Even as a newcomer to the franchise, never having watched any of the films, this film was so good it convinced me to take on Alien, a choice I have never regretted.