When I first watched Prometheus in 2012, as a Riddley Scott fan, I remember very well how easily I dismissed it by laughing at the predictable stupidity of the protagonists, the shallow philosophical pondering and the Greek noses of our "makers", the Engineers. Five years later, a hunch made me re-watch it. How much I was mistaken then.
"Prometheus" is monster of a film. Profound in a way only daring, ambitious and truthful art can be, I think we have not fully comprehended the scope of its artistic importance, its task of visualizing in film the mystery of creation. Initial flippant reactions changed: The "stupidity" I realized is pure human curiosity for knowledge, as exploration and all it entails could be humanity's only hygiene (to paraphrase F.T. Marinetti, the founder of Futurism). The philosophical pondering is very real, how can it not be when a world view of four(!) different species is investigated and set against each other in remarkable and frightening contrasts. And yes, the noses of the Engineers are Greek, the central theme is also Ancient Greek, the myth of Prometheus, the collision between noble and barbarian forces, the marriage of the horrible and the innocent, the birth of tragedy and beauty.
"Prometheus" is monster of a film. Profound in a way only daring, ambitious and truthful art can be, I think we have not fully comprehended the scope of its artistic importance, its task of visualizing in film the mystery of creation. Initial flippant reactions changed: The "stupidity" I realized is pure human curiosity for knowledge, as exploration and all it entails could be humanity's only hygiene (to paraphrase F.T. Marinetti, the founder of Futurism). The philosophical pondering is very real, how can it not be when a world view of four(!) different species is investigated and set against each other in remarkable and frightening contrasts. And yes, the noses of the Engineers are Greek, the central theme is also Ancient Greek, the myth of Prometheus, the collision between noble and barbarian forces, the marriage of the horrible and the innocent, the birth of tragedy and beauty.
