Prometheus

Ridley Scott is finally heading back to a genre he helped define in the 1970s early 80s with his legendary classics Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982). His upcoming film Prometheus is something I have been looking forward to since I heard rumours a few years ago. At first the misconception was that it was a prequel to Scott's Alien film, which did not really do much to endear the concept to me. How could you possibly undertake a prequel to a film in which the first encounter with the xenomorph occurred?


Let's say I was skeptical at the beginning.


Then last year the story and setting were defined;
"While Alien was indeed the jumping-off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place. The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative."


 It has since been stated by various actors/writers involved that interpretations of Scott's statement have been extreme to the point of believing that this new film is a separate entity to the Alien franchise. Obviously this is not the idea, as the film being set in that universe establishes a firm connection to the previous film and in a sense will prelude the events of Scott's original film.


The concept of using the established universe in a new, unseen way allows Scott to explore a new and different set of mythology to what the Alien films exposed us to was an idea that I could very easily fall in love with. In the era of remakes and sequels, I love that there is a filmmaker out there willing to revisit old work with a new approach - respecting the original. There will be the exploration of the Space Jockey from the original film, something that fans are certainly looking forward to. Perhaps after 33 years there will be some sort of explanation? Will there be nods to the Predator series in the film? That's anyone's guess, I would hazard a no - but you can always hope. We did get an Alien reference in Predators after all.


The cast that Scott has collected is extremely promising; Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace, Guy Pearce and Michael Fassbender. I am looking forward to Fassbender's character in particular; filling Ian Holm's shows from the original as the android on the crew. Fassbender has commented that he did not look at the original film for his inspiration, instead turned to Blade Runner for a basis for his character.

And randomly, a fan trailer for Alien - 'Prometheus-style'. Quite well done!