Prometheus Part-Two: The Plot Holes

So, I had intended to cover both the good and the bad in one post, but got so wrapped up in the Ripley/Shaw debate that I forgot about all the unanswered questions and seemingly illogical plot devices in Prometheus. And so, here is Prometheus Part Two, my nit-picky piece.

As I stated in my previous post, Scott weaves the evolution of the Alien species wonderfully, using details that all but die-hard fans may have forgotten. (Especially those of us who only discovered the series two years ago :P). But there are some details in Prometheus that does not seem to connect to the characters or story and the motivations throughout. I'm not sure I can remember all of the little loose threads that nagged at me while I watched, but there are a few main ones that have stuck.

Spoilers will now follow from here on out. As I'm going further in-depth in this review, I will not be blocking out any of the text. Consider yourself warned.


The first and most prominent loose thread that comes to mind for me is David's exposing Charlie to the Alien substance. When this event occurs, we are already aware there is some unknown ulterior agenda held by Vickars and, likely, David, so it feels safe to assume that David is merely furthering that agenda. However, by the end of the film, it becomes very evident that there is no rational explanation for it. The further agenda was clearly for Mr. Weyland to meet the 'Engineers' and discover if they can prevent him from dying, but Charlie's poisoning does nothing to further this goal that we can reasonably see. They already planned on returning to the dig site, so it wasn't to give himself more time to find these 'Engineers'. It's possible he thought perhaps the substance could be the cure itself, but after seeing what happens to the head they found, I find that doubtful. In an interview with Time, Damon Lindelof, the screenwriter for Prometheus, states that "He’s a strange robot that has a curious crush on a human being,...". So, it is possible that David's motive for poisoning Charlie is one of jealousy, but in the movie alone, I find that a difficult conclusion to draw.

Not so much a prominent thread as a nagging inconsistency; the vessels containing Alien DNA quickly begin to deteriorate and spread all that nasty Alien juice around, leading to the evolution of the species as we know it. Whether this is from being exposed to air or light, or some other factor introduced by the humans, we can't be certain. But something changed in that cavern to begin the process. Something new that only occurred once the humans open/entered it. So why, then, does the same not happen in the Engineer ship seen later in the film? Why are those vessels as solid as ever, when they (theoretically) should have been introduced to the same element that caused the first ones to activate?

And finally, in the opening sequence of the film, we see an Engineer drink a writhing, dark liquid and disintegrate rapidly, not unlike what happens to the dead head the team finds and Charlie when he is poisoned. We have no context for this scene, where he is, or why he's doing it, and those questions never get answered.

There is one positive note I'd like to write about in this post, that I touched on, but hadn't covered in my last one. The scene with Shaw aborting her Alien fetus was an extremely powerful one that kept the viewer tense all throughout, and I was astounded at how realistic it was in terms of her difficulty in running while in so much pain. She was very clearly running on little more than determination and adrenaline. So few films these days are willing to portray their heroes struggling in their grueling, physical pursuits, instead opting to have them perform, difficult, exhausting and impossible feats as though they were taking a stroll around the block. Scott also had to deal with pressure from the ratings system to remove the scene entirely if he wanted to get a PG-13 rating vs an R in the United States (it is 14A here in Canada). Despite the fact that an R rating would result is some loss of money/theater goers, Scott felt the scene was far too important to remove. A director that puts the story ahead of the money? I can get behind that kind of director.

Prometheus: Masterfully done, but dang-nab-it, I wanna know!

As planned, I went to see Ridley Scott's Prometheus last night. I will start by saying that I was not disappointed, though I was rather seething at the end.

In true Scott fashion, the story starts off slow, introducing you to the ship, it's crew, and it's mission. Some themes mimic Scott's first Alien movie. The crew is aboard a commercial vessel, there is some ulterior motive the crew is not being let in on, and they hastily run out and examine the very same moon. However, these are all minor plot devices in the story, and are quickly forgotten in the wake of what follows.

The evolution of the Aliens was masterfully done, developing them in such a way, that you see some resemblance, but they clearly aren't anywhere near what we know them to look like until the very end. Scott uses a detail that I personally had forgotten about to thoughtfully evolve his Alien species: the fact that they evolve by absorbing the DNA of their hosts. I'll admit, I was confused on how these white, long, squishy snake-like creatures were going to become the Aliens we know and love. True, they greatly resembled the Face-Huggers and Chest-Bursters of the first movie, but the further into the movie we get the longer you're spent wondering how and when they would evolve. (Unless, you know, you remembered that whole DNA stealing aspect that I forgot. :P) Then, BAM!, an Alien rips from a body, resembling an early form of the black, elongated skull, four limbed Aliens the franchise is famous for. Masterfully done Mr. Scott, masterfully done. (No sarcasm intended.)

The story's lead heroine, Elizabeth Shaw, is somewhat softer and more feminine than her future counterpart, Ellen Ripley, but no less brave, wise and determined. Some might say even more so, as you get to know her more deeply than Ripley, and get to see both her strengths and her weaknesses. We see her pain when (SPOILER: it is discovered that she cannot conceive children, despite desperately wanting to), and her strength and determination when she (SPOILER: later fights off members of the crew, who try to put her in cryo-stasis, so she can use a medical pod to surgically remove an alien fetus from her body). We see her weakness when (SPOILER: she risks her life to bring aboard an alien specimen by going back for it in a deadly storm), and her strength when (SPOILER: she, for all intents and purposes, sacrifices her own life by demanding the captain take down an alien vessel intent on bring destruction to Earth by blowing up their own ship).

At the end of the film, despite her obvious acceptance that it is the end, and her life will be over in a matter of a few short minutes, when given the choice to give up or fight back, she fights. (SPOILER: And instead of taking the easy route and going back to Earth, she instead chooses to find the 'Engineers' and, assumably, ask them WHY they want to destroy us). And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the part that pissed me off. Not because I didn't like it, not because I think it was the wrong way to go, not because I didn't believe it, but because I. Hate. Cliffhangers.

I know, I know, but it's Ridley Scott! And Aliens! What did you expect? But I got to watch the Alien movies all in a row. I didn't see any of them until 2010, so I never had to deal with any of that. I never had to wait to find out what happens, and I am horrifyingly impatient. I also got the "just watch Alien, that's the next one" answer, but Alien doesn't cover what happens to Shaw and David with the Engineers. We never get the answers she was looking for. And in all likelihood, that was the intent, but dang-nab-it, I wanna know!

So, I say, bring us more Shaw, bring us to the planet of Engineers, and bring us the answers she was looking for! ('Cause I wanna knnooowww! XP).