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| Prometheus is set to open June 8th. |
In Scream 2, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy and Timothy Olyphant argue about sequels. "A sequel is always inferior," Kennedy's character said. Olyphant argued Aliens, but was quickly smacked down as "Ridley Scott rules." Well, Scott returns to the Alien series (becoming the only director to do so) with something that's always been more inferior than sequels- the prequel. Ah, the prequel. The idea that should get George Lucas punched in the face every time someone says the word, but this series that featured two GREAT films and two eh-films with three great filmmakers (Ridley Scott, James Cameron and David Fincher and the fourth written by Josh Whedon), it stands to figure this won't be Cruel Intentions 2. By the way, who green-lit that piece of shit?
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| Sweden's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Noomi Rapace takes on the lead role in Prometheus. |
Now the original Alien was an outer-space horror film, that is constantly argued against it's successor- James Cameron's action film Aliens- but on top of Scott's great direction is possibly one of the best casts of all time. Top to bottom, this cast featured Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm and Veronica Cartwright. Scott's cast for Prometheus is along the same lines with rising star Michael Fassbender, emerging star Noomi Rapace and filling out the cast with solid actors like Guy Pierce, Idris Elba and Charlize Theron. Chances are this cast will live up to their predecessor if their past performances are any indication.
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| Another year, another blockbuster prequel for rising star Michael Fassbender. |
According to webisodes and inside information (no spoilers), Prometheus will explore it's own mythology and isn't directly connected to the Alien franchise. As Scott was quoted, "It has strands of Alien DNA." Maybe that's the best idea for a prequel ever. What is a prequel supposed to be? It's own story. It's not supposed to simply explain why things happened in the original movie. X-Men: First Class went that direction and it worked (even though some hardcore fans were pissed off) whereas X-Men Origins: Wolverine tried to fit everything altogether, only to make key points not fit. A prequel needs to be it's own story without destroying what the original one was. If the audience sees something it recognizes and it delighted, then the filmmakers have done their job. The second the audience says, "What the fuck?!", the jig is up. Sequels don't have that issue, because they expand on the story. Prequels have to conform to the original since we know the result. None of what Prometheus will be about Ellen Ripley or the crew of the Nostromo, now what remains to be seen is how much this will do with the mythology of the Alien series. Scott's Alien dealt with the alien and nothing more. It wasn't until Cameron's Aliens the study of the monsters organization came to be.
With this summer already delivering two quality films in Marvel's The Avengers and MIB 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises coming, it's understandable that Prometheus can be overlooked. That said, it could end up better than any prequel ever made.
