Four years ago, my daughter was delivered by c-section. Thanks to a slight hospital snafu, in the initial hours post-surgery, even though my doctor swore she ordered morphine or some similar narcotics, I was given nothing stronger than extra-strength Tylenol.
It…didn’t feel nice. Having one’s abdomen sliced open, a baby yanked out, and then getting closed up with a small army of twisted staples is no picnic.
I remembered this experience last night while watching Prometheus.
When Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (played by Noomi Rapace, who out-prettied the ever-gorgeous Charlize Theron in every shot) realized she had something alien growing within her abdomen, she forced a mechanical, surgical tube to take it out, in effect coordinating her own c-section. Her staples were neat and pretty, but she, like me, had only a minimum amount of drugs in her system.
All the action that followed that scene kept me curled up in a ball, cringing, remembering the pain of four years ago.
I tell you what: I couldn’t have run from aliens in the shape I was in.
OK, so…fantasy over. We know she didn’t really have an alien-c-section. The whole movie is nothing more than a pretty little sci-fi epic about two doctors who want to find our creators, a droid whose motives I still don’t quite get, and the complex and bizarre relationship between a dying old man and his daughter.
I went into the theater expecting to enjoy Prometheus. I came out satisfied. It delivered on some of the items I hoped for when I wrote about it a few weeks ago: a twitchy, Hudson-like character (who didn’t get quite enough screen-time); some definite alien-impregnation scenes; and an overall sense of impending doom. The lack of Sigourney Weaver was amply handled by Rapace, who held her own as the coming-into-her-own-strength action star. I had no pets or children to rally behind, but still…it was a wild romp through space.
It also had a flavor uniquely its own. Self-sacrifice was a major theme, but it wasn’t heavy-handed or preachy. There was also faith – faith in a power higher even than our creators, faith in something better. And love and loss and moving on.
As to whether or not David, the droid, gets messy by the end…well, I won’t give you that spoiler. I’ll also point out that having Guy Pearce play an old man led to some questionable makeup and acting.
But still. It’s a fun ride. You should go see it, and let me know what you think.
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Leah Rhyne is a Jersey girl who's lived in the South long enough to lose her accent, but not her attitude nor her love for Bon Jovi and the Boss. She's a full time software tester, wife, mom, and novelist, which makes life a little busy. In her "spare" time she enjoys running, yoga-ing, and playing fetch with her hound dog. 
I have seriously put my shoes on three different times with the intent of going to see this movie and I just haven’t been able to commit. Partly because I don’t trust Damon Lindelof not to annoy the hell out of me – he has this habit of needlessly spinning MOAR QUESTIONS!!!! to create false tension rather than letting character and story do their jobs.
Oh! Is he known for that, then? Because there are a lot of questions (why David does something bad is a big one)…and there were no hints of answers.
But I really think if you go into it just wanting to see some fun sci-fi stuff, you’ll enjoy yourself.
That said, lots of people are complaining that most of the characters are just sort of…jerks, maybe…and I see that, too, but it didn’t bug me.
Go see it! Now I want to know what you think!
Prometheus was exactly what you said it was – but it was also a visual feast. Kelly was happy that she was done with having children before seeing the c-section scene.
Hahahaha, that is awesome!! I’m telling you – a c-section is no picnic!!!
Yes, “Alien III” is a masterpiece by comparison! Man! They sure know how to waste silos of ca$h in Hollywood. One of the biggest piles of mega-million crap ever to be monkey-slung on the big screen. Pitiful. What the hell is wrong with our “Christian” tea-bagger country? Ridley Scott should be ashamed of this EPIC FAIL for the rest of his life. YOU blow, Scott!
“Faith beyond our creators,” dribbles Repace. Funny how that “faith” crap is always portrayed with that holy Christian symbol Regan MacNeil was gaily jackhammering into her bloody crotch. What a smelly, slime ball joke. It was like paying large dollars to watch the “Lost” finale! SMACK–right in the tender vittles! There were only 4 people in the theater when I went to see it a week after it’s opening. GOOD!
The characters? You could multiply every humanoid associated with the production of this crud by ANY factor and they wouldn’t be able to see the top of Sigourney Weaver’s little toenail. I love Rapace, but she’s a friggin’ shadow of Weaver at best. There will be no “Prometheus II,” because after this movie it might be–”Rapace who?” Let’s hope not. She doesn’t deserve such a hideous death. But something tells me that turkey’s will be pecking at this sucker’s liver for eternity! “In this year of our Lord 2090-something.” Rapace narrates at the very end. LOL & PUKE! Thanks, Scott. And that’s another thing–the time setting was all messed up. 2090??? That just don’t make no sense no-how for “Alien” fans!
The movie is filmed fantastically–but save your bread and go to an art museum for a couple of hours. No amount of visual beauty could save this expensive excrement.
As Rapace was getting her robotic c-section, I could just see everybody patting themselves on the back. “This is REALLY cutting edge, man!” It felt totally contrived–and it went downhill from there. WAY DOWN!
Which brings us back to the bloody-Regan-sexual-device that framed this sewage. They were not only pushing the Sky Daddy down our throats–the CHRISTIAN Sky Daddy, of course–but they had to mock evolution as well! REALLY! “If humankind finds out they were created by aliens, that will destroy 300 years of evolutional theory.” Pardon me, but WTF? Evolution is a fact just as much as gravity is. Following that, ahem, “rationale,” did the aliens create EVERYTHING including the Earth itself? Rapace says, “But who created them?” Are you starting to get just how ridiculous this movie is? I’d answer Repace, “Well, maybe they’re GAWD then, sister! AAAAAMEN!” But NOOOO! That could never be in Christian bubble world! And another thing, this is standard Hollywood manufacturing of logic laxatives–good for ejecting all types of thought. They monkey toss Christian deity doo-doo at the screen in the hopes that it’ll make up for the rest of the movies utter lack of depth and reason.
This religion trend is disturbing and sad. Headlines like, “Near 50% of Americans Believe That A Sky Daddy Created Human Beings,” “Thinking can undermine religious faith, study finds,” “More Americans Believe in GAWD now than 10 Years Ago,” “Only 15% of Americans Accept Evolution as Scientific Fact,” and “Only 34% Of Americans Think Obama Is A Christian!” (That percentage is down 20 points from 2008!). People seem to be getting more religious and dumber at the same time! (Again, can you see a pattern here?) And Movies like “Prometheus” are unintentionally reflecting this reality to perfection. It stirs up my guts as if I was watching German scat porn with my third eye–ya know–the eye ya can’t close.
Unsee, Gee-Bus–PLEASE, UNSEE!
Some resources:
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/26/science/l…
http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/hold-creationis…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mULSO-7QdcY&fe…