Pederson Watched a Movie Once: I Think It's Time to Admit that Prometheus Wasn't a Bad Movie

When it comes to parenting, my wife and I are usually on the same page. Or sometimes I will nod my head in agreement, not knowing what page we're actually on, but still showing solidarity. Because of this, she sometimes won't finish talking to me until we are making eye contact, like an elementary school teacher does to the kid making fart noises in the back of the classroom. I'll be the first to admit that my mental flatulence sometimes makes it difficult for me to zero in on conversation. Distractions aside, my wife and I resonate pretty well in most areas. However, one area that we don't always see eye to eye in, is movies, and which ones are important to show our kids. For example, she prioritizes Disney films over Dragonball Z and Power Rangers. She thinks Pierce Brosnan is a better James Bond than Daniel Craig. She is clearly wrong in both areas. As a father and a student of pop culture, I've been trying to educate our older kids in the importance of film as a storytelling medium. Lately, I've been trying to take them back in time to see some of the older ones and the effects they've had not just on modern cinema, but storytelling as we know it. So naturally, I practiced some really great parenting and started to show them the Alien films.

Let me backtrack for a minute by saying that I do, in fact, talk to my kids about the differences between movies and reality, and what is and isn't appropriate for repeating or discussing inside or outside of our house. Not that I need to justify my parenting to anybody, but I can hear it now, "How dare you write things about God and religion, when you let your kids watch things that say potty words!" These are probably the same people who have never kicked the corner of a bed at 3 AM when getting up to use the bathroom. They just look up at the sky and say, "Oh Heavenly Father . . . you got me again!"

I'm going to say something that might be considered blasphemous around science-fiction fans, but when my daughters and I started the Alien films, we started with the second one. Let's all be honest with ourselves, while Alien is a great movie, and is absolutely worthy of being considered a "classic", it's a pretty boring film, and it's hard enough for my kids to get into older movies that weren't made in 1979. I figured James Cameron's Aliens would be a good place to start. It's not too scary. It's not too bloody. It's just a good ol' fashion action film. And who doesn't love Bill Paxton? Rest in peace. We watched it, and they enjoyed it. They even asked if there are other Alien movies, which got me wondering where to even start. Technically, there are eight films with Aliens in them. Only six if you remove the Alien vs. Predator films from that timeline. They were actually already removed from the timeline when Ridley Scott made Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, where we saw the origins of the Xenomorphs. Knowing this, and how my kids were curious about where the Xenomorphs came from, I decided to go all the way back to Prometheus, which was made in 2012. While the movie itself was successful in the box office, it wasn't exactly loved by the fans. After watching this movie twelve years later, here's some thought for controversy . . . the fans are wrong.

For those of you who haven't seen it, here's a brief and incredibly dumbed down synopsis for you. Prometheus is about a couple of archeologists, who after finding all of these cave paintings and hieroglyphs from different ancient cultures, get funding from Peter Weyland (of the Weyland Corporation) to travel through space to find the "engineers" from the murals. The coordinates found in the caves take them to a planet several solar systems away, where they find what's left of these engineers (the same ones from the original Alien movie), and what they were up to on this planet. Forgive me for spoiling a film made twelve years ago, but the planet was actually a biological weapon site, where they created something they planned to use to wipe out humanity. Along the course of the film, we see the consequences of man meeting their maker, trying to play god, and indulging in curiosities that are better left alone.

Let me just say it . . . Prometheus is a beautiful film. On the surface, it comes across as a knock off of H.P Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, beneath that, however, there are so many layers of philosophy and theology that have been masterfully crafted and added into the story of this film. For example, just because we have the ability to create something, does it give us the right to? There are also a lot of biblical parallels. The film opens up with an engineer standing above a waterfall and consuming a black liquid, which we later find out is a primordial ooze of sorts. As his body is broken down, we see new life birthing from his cells. It's alluded to that this was the origins of man. Many years later, however, the engineers were planning to destroy man with a flood of canisters containing black ooze that was meant to destroy life. This seems to mirror the story of the Flood as its found in Genesis 6-9. The android David (portrayed by Michael Fassbender) is another interesting parallel in himself. He is an android, named after David, from the story of David and Goliath. He is built in the image of his creator, but he is programmed to stand in the shadow of his creator, like David in the shadow of Goliath. You could also say he represents Lucifer in the fact that he uses the black ooze found in the engineer facility to try and create life of his own, because he feels jealous of humans and wishes to rebel against his creator.

Another big question asked in this movie is this: Why are we here? What is the purpose of our existence? This thought is tackled in the form of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (portrayed by Noomi Rapace) and her partner/lover Dr. Charlie Holloway (portrayed by Logan Marshall-Green). Their work in researching the engineers had driven them towards the goal of finding them and presenting them with that very question. David approaches Dr. Holloway at one point and asks: What happens if you don't like the answer? This is something I think about a lot, personally. We all, especially in religious circles, ask God (or the universe, if you're not religious) what is wanted of us, but we struggle giving up control when we are moved one way or another. There are also outside influences moving our thoughts and manipulating our actions. How many people out there feel like they need to be something or be somewhere, but they've been conditioned to think in a way that moves them away from that path? Or they're afraid of what people might think and the accompanying struggle? I ask this because I feel like, even if we stood at the feet of God and asked these questions, we wouldn't like the answer and would continue on a path opposite. This is because, as humans we like to be in control, but it can be argued that the act of control is, in fact, driven by a god-complex, whether we are conscious of it or not. So in a way, we all make choices of rebellion against our creator, even if we don't meant to.

Prometheus insights the intellect in a way that films haven't done in the past thirty years. It asks us questions that we will never know the answers to, but also warns of the dangers of knowledge and what we do with it. This is something Ridley Scott has spent his entire career doing. Look at Blade Runner and it's sequel, Blade Runner 2049. It asks us what it means to be human. This is an especially important question as mankind ventures into an era of artificial intelligence. Kingdom of Heaven warns us of the corruption of organized religion and begs us to question what God truly wants from us beyond the walls of the church. That was a film that truly resonated with me and where I was with my faith at the time. Prometheus doesn't fail to challenge your thinking, and for that reason alone, I highly suggest you watch it.

Beyond the intellectual part, the cinematography and color pallets are near perfect. The blue tones mixed with bright colors and glowing gradients, truly makes you feel like you're on an adventure in another world. Whereas the older Alien films make you feel like you're trying to see things run around in a room with bad lighting. I know, they're a product of their time, and Prometheus definitely benefits from newer filming and editing technology. One area where the Alien franchise has never disappointed is in its casting. Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley is a badass with no equal. Hollywood has been trying for the past several years to create a female protagonist that resonates with audiences, and they've failed miserably, because it always comes with an agenda. All Ellen Ripley needed was a Xenomorph, an airlock, and a flamethrower, and she forever became legend in the hearts of both men and women. In Prometheus, Noomi Rapace's Dr. Shaw is a woman who gets things done, even if getting things done means ripping an alien embryo out of her stomach and taking on an engineer. Michael Fassbender's portrayal of David the android is chilling, to say the least. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Guy Pearce, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, and Benedict Wong. Each of the characters are played amazingly by actors who can hold their own on screen and truly bring the story to life, in a way that many science-fiction films fail to do.

Did my kids enjoy the movie? They say they did. They were a little grossed out by Noomi Rapace's character giving herself a c-section, which is strange considering they had no issues with the chest bursters in Aliens. I don't remember hating this movie when I first watched it back in 2012, but twelve years later, I found myself truly enjoying it, both as a fan of the franchise and a casual movie watcher. In looking to explore the origins of the engineers, Ridley Scott used Prometheus to take the franchise he started to places beyond aliens running around on spaceships. I had high hopes for the other two planned sequels. However, when Alien: Covenant released in 2017, those hopes were dashed, as the fans complained enough to make the studios pressure Ridley Scott into wrapping up Dr. Shaw's story in a way that felt lazy and like we got cheated, and return to Aliens running around on spaceships killing people, while a female protagonist fends it off. You can read my review here. Now, thanks to Disney's purchase of Fox back in 2019, we won't be seeing that third film. Instead, we are getting a film titled Alien: Romulus this August, and a prequel series to 1979's Alien, titled Alien: Earth at some point next year. Whether or not it ties into Prometheus and Alien: Covenant or completely retcons them remains to be seen. For now, we just have to take comfort in knowing that in space, nobody can hear you scream.