Review: Prometheus

Had to see it on DVD because I missed it in theatres last year (something I regret). In a nutshell the movie has got great visuals and a good story.

The story could've been great too, though. Director Ridley Scott seemingly set out to expound, to some degree, the Book of Genesis in a literal fashion and, in the process, attempted to make sense of it by meshing it with the ancient astronauts theory. It gives the movie a religious overtone, a sentiment that's brought home even further by the feelings of crew members of the spaceship Prometheus toward the Christian faith of protagonist Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace).

Prometheus the movie could've been great if, like The Da Vinci Code the novel, it got people to think, if it rattled some cages if need be, but most importantly: if it got people to think – as opposed to leaving people with a frown on their faces.

It's still an interesting movie, though. Different crew members seem to represent different schools of thought, that is (based on my gut feeling): Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) represents atheism, Peter Weyland (Guy Pierce) mysticism, Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) scepticism, David (Michael Fassbender) intellectualism, and Elizabeth Shaw faith (i.e. religion).

Spiritualism is not represented here, however. Which is too bad because it could've made the movie great.

SORQ score: 4

(Runtime: 124 minutes)

So I saw 'Hancock'

On HBO. I meant to see it on the big screen when it was doing the rounds in movie houses here, but somehow I never got to it.

I always thought Hancock (2008) to be a comedy, or a movie about a comical action hero. After all, it stars Will Smith as the titular, burnt out, bottle tipping superhero. The movie's first third indeed starts out as per expectations as PR man Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) sets out to change the public's opinion of Hancock, who is generally seen as an asshole, under the wary eyes of his too-hot-to-be-true wife Mary Embrey (Charlize Theron), who hates to see hubby getting hurt. But then the movie sidetracks and becomes less of a comedy than a drama. Funny man Smith becomes melancholy reincarnate Smith.

Darn sidetracking.

(Running time: 92 minutes)