movie review: Prometheus – 3/5 *Can See*

Too many plot holes, unresolved plot lines, unnecessary ones and overall, too bendy, whirly for its own good.

.
It’s like Ridley Scott wanted to make a straight-up action flick but Damon Lindelof wanted it to be a “deep” movie. The result: a sort of philosophical creationalism tale against a backdrop of bang bang, shoot shoot, fight fight sequences.

.
Charlize Theron is super hot. There’s just no ifs and buts about it. She doesn’t get to do much though. One of the earlier scenes in the movie, where she’s doing push-ups is reminiscent of Sigourney Weaver’s similar scene in the original Alien movie and I guess it’s meant to be a homage. But that’s about as bad-ass as Theron’s allowed to get. Her role in the movie consists mainly of walking around looking authoritative sexy and bossy and not much else.

.
ps. With regards to Mr Weyland, why do all old men always seem to have random sprouts of hair on their otherwise bald head? (Yoda anyone?)

.
And the opening sequence with the alien drinking the black blood. What the hell is that supposed to do for the movie plot-wise?

.
I went into the movie wanting to like it – great director, great writers, fantastic A-list actors and a kick-ass teaser trailer. It’s still a decent, above average movie that doesn’t fall into too many sci-fi cliches but I was disappointed with the end product.

.
On a positive note, Michael Fassbender is excellent as David and Noomi Rapace is really kick-ass. I have a problem of dissociating name actors from their roles and as a testament to her ability to blend with her characters, I actually did not recognise her until the credits were rolling and her name came up!

.
I felt like it could really have been a killer movie if they’d pushed it a bit more. Either more action or more philosophical. Movie feels like it’s trying to cover all bases and just comes up short.
.
.
Overall:  decent, can see, good as a date movie, but you’ll be left with more questions than answers.

7/10 – Can See

.
+ + + spoilers below + + +
.
.

spoiler rants:
– the big alien stone head = Olmec head? haha. And what is the point of it? Lindelof likes big things (ref: giant foot in Lost)
– Cliches abound:
(i) Dumb & Dumber, the 2 scientists that get left behind are going to die.
(ii) Theron & Elba sure to hit the sack
(iii) David turns out to be dual personality, evil Android
(iv) Old man Weyland is Vickers’ father
(v) some bloody person will end up not making it on the ship in time and will have to be rescued via a life-threatening action sequence
– I swear, in some quiet calm-before-the-storm scenes, the background music sounds an awful lot like the Star Trek intro

movie: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo 3.5/5 *can see*

Original Swedish movie title is “Men Who Hate Women” so from the title, you can gather it’s not a Nancy Drewish kind of high school murder mystery.

There is nudity, violence (very) but not so much that you would feel uncomfortable enough to give up the movie.

Synopsis:
Wealthy old man hires journalist to find out what happened to his granddaughter who went missing 40 years ago. Along the way, journalist enlists the help of biker-punk-chick and together they discover dark family secrets of the Vanger family while trying to solve the mystery of missing Harriet.

I kinda guessed who the murderer was right from the start. Plotlines of the movie were also kinda predictable. Reminds me of La Femme Nikita.

I think that the movie kind of tries to do too much and there are lots of leftover plotlines you’re left wondering what to do with but maybe they are setting up plotlines for the latter movies. (This is the first movie in a trilogy based on the Millennium series of novels.) Doesn’t disturb you too much but does make the movie very long at over 2h.

Is it just me or is there a certain enjoyment with watching a movie in a foreign language?

Singapore release: Aug 2010