Cornball. Can’t believe I wrote that. Moving on.
Easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, I know a lot of you have been all over Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. I haven’t been that anxious for it, which is weird, because the cast is pretty much a bunch of people I wholeheartedly support. It has The Fassbender! How can I not be totally stoked for The Fassbender?! (Lainey: errrm… because he yells at wait staff in restaurants for no reason?)
It looks super sci-fi, for one. I know this is weird coming from me because I’m all over the superhero and zombie stuff, but really, sci-fi and fantasy are not my jam. I’m not very excited for The Hobbit either, and I’ve got friends working on it (sorry guys). But it’s also largely due to Ridley Scott, who, after getting away from his sci-fi roots over the last 12 years, is mounting a comeback of sorts by revisiting the worlds of his classic movies Alien and Blade Runner (the more he talks about a Blade Runner sequel, the stabbier I get. I don’t love sci-fi, but Blade Runner? Come ON). I’m not sure how I feel about a director who attempts to get back on track after some critical disappointments not by breaking fresh ground but by retreading his own work. Seems kind of…lazy.
Prometheus has had the geeks in a state of perpetual want for what feels like nine years. Every frame of every trailer has been picked apart for clues as to how it relates to Alien—it’s supposed to be a kind of prequel—and for clues as to what, exactly, Noomi Rapace and her band of space scientists discover that will inevitably stalk and kill them all aboard a spaceship (if we ever do get to a point where we could viably live in space, how many of us would be too traumatized by movies like this to actually want to do it?). And through it all, I’ve remained largely indifferent. I’ve been yelled at for being less than enthusiastic about Prometheus, but now I think I might be getting the better end of the bargain.
As the reviews have come out over the last week, I’ve picked up on a recurring thread throughout them—a lot of critics and bloggers have to talk themselves into liking Prometheus more than they actually do. It’s almost inevitable when something is as hyped as Prometheus, with so many promises of awesome awesomery and eyeball-melting cool sh*t happening all the time. People get jacked up, they finally get to see the promised land, it’s not everything they hoped and dreamed, and they go—oh, well, but still…it was pretty good, right? I don’t want to take away from the fact that Prometheus is tracking well with critics, but read a handful of reviews and tell me you don’t notice a refrain of, “Despite problems 1-17, I liked this movie anyway.”
Which is why I’m finally finding a way to be intrigued by Prometheus. My expectations aren’t that high to begin with, so maybe I’ll have a more honest reaction to it. Like, I can be surprised. I can be won over. It’s not going to break my heart if it isn’t the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, so I won’t be all tense and worried about whether or not it’s achieving those goals. I can just watch it, and maybe enjoy it. I’m suddenly interested to see if my more realistic expectations lead to a better viewing experience than those who bought into the hype for months and then were let down that the movie is not the holy grail.
My (totally meaningless and probably wrong) box office prediction for Prometheus: $52 million.
Attached - a sleepy looking Michael Fassbender at JFK airport earlier this week.
