Synopsis (courtesy of imdb.com):
A team of scientists travels through the universe on the spaceship “Prometheus” on a voyage to investigate alien life forms. The team of scientists becomes stranded on an Alien world, and as they struggle to survive it becomes clear that the horrors they experience are not just a threat to themselves, but to all of mankind.
My Take:
Prometheus is large, grandiose and the quintessence of director Ridley Scott’s vision. The question is, as a quasi-prequel to 1979’s Alien, does it provide answers to the burning questions? I would say that it depends. I mean if you’re familiar with Alien, predominantly the first two films (but more so the first), there are obvious questions relative to what they discover prior to encountering the eggs/face huggers and what follows.
I liked Prometheus. Is it a wholly satisfying film within the Alien spectrum? Probably not but it can stand alone or as a sort of bridled introduction to the original story. I will say that those not familiar with Alien will find certain aspects of the film to be veiled in some way. It is an ambitious film with probably a few too many characters. There are most definitely some plot holes and I found some scenes to be gratuitously convenient (the two guys left behind to fall victim to the snake creatures and goop? Come on). However as a fan of the genre and Alien I couldn’t help but be drawn in by Prometheus’ vastness of scope, key references, superlative production elements and convincing performances by Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron. I am very curious to see where it leads going forward as that direction will be important should an attempt be made to successfully bring the events together with Alien. Regardless, this movie is a rarity in the sense that it can stand by its own, and at the same time it can be a prequel to the Aliens series
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The 3D cinematography is the best amongst all 3D Blu-ray Disc I’ve viewed thus far. It actually adds more depth both to the visual and to the storyline. No ghosting or any headache inducing artefact was found while watching this movie. It’s even better than the 3D reference Avatar by a whole lot more.
The DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is reference quality. I had high expectations for this soundtrack and this lossless audio presentation didn’t disappoint me one bit. The soundtrack is impeccably detailed, powerfully dynamic, and full of demonstrative surround sound experience. Multi-layered sound effects are appropriately placed within the soundfield so that their purpose is definable yet never overstated. The mix makes effective and occasionally aggressive use of the surround channels to elongate the front soundstage and reproduce the spatial and discrete sounds of this demanding soundtrack. The quality of the LFE is first rate as it is fills the room with clean, hard hitting, low frequency details. Dialogue has excellent presence with clear, defining vocal character and noteworthy room penetration. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute with terrific soundtrack which essentially makes this movie a true sound demo.
Skip the 2D version, just get the 3D version even if you don’t own a 3D display because the behind-the-scene disc (which is only available in the 3D combo-pack is a trip within itself.
Equipment used for this review:
Anthem MRX-700 Receiver
Grandviewscreen 96” 21:9 matte-white 1.0-gain screen
Kimber Kable 19e HDMI cables
PSB Century 300i (front and surround speakers)
PSB Image C5 (centre speaker)
PSB Subseries 300 (subwoofer)
Panasonic PT-AE7000U projector
Pioneer BDP-62FD BD player
Ultralink Ambiance MKII speaker wires
Viewing room is as per THX and SMPTE recommendation with 45-degree Field of View
Audio: 10/10
Video (3D): 10/10
Video (2D): 9/10
Storyline: 8/10
Studio and Year: 20th Century Fox – 2012
MPAA Rating: R
Feature running time: 124 minutes
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror
Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 2.40:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio, English/French/Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Starring: Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Music by: Marc Streitenfeld
Written by: Jon Spaihts & Damon Lindelof
Region Code: A
Blu-ray Disc release Date: October 9, 2012