newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MOVIE REVIEW

In space, no one can hear you yawn.

More than 30 years ago, director Ridley Scott mixed technology and slime, sweat and acid-for-blood to create "Alien," a gothic sci-fi adventure that may well have ended manned space flight among moviegoers.

At once creepy and pulse-pounding, epic and claustrophobic, "Alien" took horror into new space and begat a string of sequels, one of which was good. Now, Scott has returned with "Prometheus," a prequel of sorts.

Scott's visual flourish has not deserted him. From other worldly settings in Iceland to production designer Arthur Max's spaceships and alien labyrinths, "Prometheus" continually offers arresting vistas and details, even in CGI.

The cast looks good too, with sleek leads Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender offering both templates for a cuter humanity and smart, nuanced performances that elevate the material. That's not to mention Idris Elba and Charlize Theron, though Guy Pearce, alas, appears as the Thousand Year Old Man.

Even the opening sequences promise another unusual journey. Speeding across a pristine landscape and climbing up a Niagara-like cataract, director of photography Dariusz Wolski's camera finds a cloaked figure. It is a monumental gray extraterrestrial, who doffs his clothes, swallows a pulsating gel and explosively dissolves into the waters.

Some time later, scientifically inclined couple Charlie Holloway Logan Marshall-Green and Elizabeth Shaw — no, not Dr. Who's Liz Shaw, but girl-with-dragon-tattoo Rapace — find yet another in a series of cave paintings, with a large gray hominid pointing toward a star map.

"I think they want us to come find them," Shaw says with a winsome smile.

Perhaps not.

The movie's strengths and flaws become self-evident soon thereafter. Playing the not-quite-human named David, Fassbender wanders an otherwise sleeping spaceship, monitoring the dreams of his traveling companions, watching "Lawrence of Arabia," practicing languages. Every moment suggests, "2001," "A.I.," "Silent Running," "Solaris," as well as Fassbender's audition to play T.E. Lawrence in the remake.

Some of these may be acknowledged as clever nods to the sci-fi audience, but the effect is a constant reminder of the movies one could be watching instead. That's even more pronounced when the spaceship Prometheus arrives at the distant moon that is its destination, the human crew awakes and serves up a steady diet of references to earlier alien movies.

There's the soulless corporate profiteer, the unruly grunts (who in this case are scientists without the big grants), the tough but jovial black commander, the android of uncertain allegiance, and the giant corporation whose priorities do not include the optimum health of employees.