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)
Showing posts with label Ridley Scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ridley Scott. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Monday, 17 May 2010
So I saw 'Robin Hood'
When I saw the teaser for Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe as the titular legend, I thought: "Genius." Genius because I'm a sucker for anything medieval, and genius because of the casting of Crowe.
For Crowe adds testosterone to the works, which distances his Robin Hood that much farther from Kevin Costner's in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). Ridley Scott, the director of Robin Hood, went for a grittier feel and he got his money's worth with Crowe, though the finished product comes off as romanced as the 1991 effort. Which is to be blamed, if blame must be assigned, on the castles, dense woods, and damsels in distress – sceneries that are inherently romantic and feel more familiar and less distant than those in Gladiator (2000), a movie also directed by Scott and starring Crowe but set in the Roman Period.
In terms of plot, Robin Hood is a medieval adaptation of Gladiator, which feels right as rain as far as I'm concerned for it's a winning plot. Returning home to England from the Holy Land with a handful of fellow crusaders, Robin Longstride (aka Robin Hood) lucks out and finds himself shelter with the aristocratic Loxleys as the family's patriarch, Sir Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow), has coaxed him to, for practical reasons, pass for the late husband of Marion Loxley (Cate Blanchett) but only to get caught up in high-level chicanery as Prince John (Oscar Isaac) and right-hand man Godfrey (Mark Strong) work themselves out of favour of the English nobility and into the hands of the French.
At the end of the movie we find Robin Hood hiding out in the woods living the utopian life with his Merry Men and Marion after the Sheriff of Nottingham (Matthew Macfadyen) has declared him an outlaw.
A sequel wouldn't be entirely out of order, I'd say.
(Running time: 140 minutes)
For Crowe adds testosterone to the works, which distances his Robin Hood that much farther from Kevin Costner's in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). Ridley Scott, the director of Robin Hood, went for a grittier feel and he got his money's worth with Crowe, though the finished product comes off as romanced as the 1991 effort. Which is to be blamed, if blame must be assigned, on the castles, dense woods, and damsels in distress – sceneries that are inherently romantic and feel more familiar and less distant than those in Gladiator (2000), a movie also directed by Scott and starring Crowe but set in the Roman Period.
In terms of plot, Robin Hood is a medieval adaptation of Gladiator, which feels right as rain as far as I'm concerned for it's a winning plot. Returning home to England from the Holy Land with a handful of fellow crusaders, Robin Longstride (aka Robin Hood) lucks out and finds himself shelter with the aristocratic Loxleys as the family's patriarch, Sir Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow), has coaxed him to, for practical reasons, pass for the late husband of Marion Loxley (Cate Blanchett) but only to get caught up in high-level chicanery as Prince John (Oscar Isaac) and right-hand man Godfrey (Mark Strong) work themselves out of favour of the English nobility and into the hands of the French.
At the end of the movie we find Robin Hood hiding out in the woods living the utopian life with his Merry Men and Marion after the Sheriff of Nottingham (Matthew Macfadyen) has declared him an outlaw.
A sequel wouldn't be entirely out of order, I'd say.
(Running time: 140 minutes)
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