What I want to blog about today is the movie's concept art and makeup. You probably know that H.R. Giger was the driving force behind the look of the original Alien. As far as I know, he didn't have any direct input in Prometheus, but his indirect influence flows everywhere like kinky black slime. Just look at the images below. I picked these mostly for their Freudian squick and Lovecraftian overtones, except for the last two. Those, I threw in because they look like excellent brainwashing pods.
The artwork here is by Ivan Manzella. If you choose to repost these images, please be sure to give him credit for them.
I gathered these images from three different sources: this Concept Art World page, this io9 page, and this io9 page. If you like what you see below, just follow the links for more - but beware of mild spoilers.
5 comments:
mmm...brainwashing pods ;)
I did actually forget to say (how remiss of me) how much I enjoyed the movie and the fact that an impending director's cut on bluray will expand on a few plot details no end.
The book, Art of Prometheus is well worth a looksee if you get the chance :)
For me, the key to enjoying the movie is that I came into it with lowered expectations. I'd read enough reviews beforehand that I knew it didn't live up to the hype. I was expecting nothing more than a well-made horror movie. It's a lot more than that, even if it isn't quite as deep as it thinks it is. Plus, Fassbender was incredible; and the medipod scene was the biggest white-knuckle moment I've had at a theater in years.
I know what you mean - we got the movie a week before the US and there were a couple of reviews trickling in but I paid no heed. My partner and I utterly loved it, white knuckle ride is a most apt interpretation for a number of the set pieces.
I have a massive soft spot for Theron and Rapace so this hit every note for me. And then some.
Would love to know if there is any squick fic out there that is Prometheus based??
You are sooo right regarding expectations. When I first heard rumors about Prometheus way back when, I read that it was a prequel to Alien. Subsequently, I decided to never read another thing about the movie and see it 'fresh.' Unfortunately, if I had just kept up with it a little more, I would have gone in with more realistic expectations (rather than anticipating an in-canon prequel to Alien) and been spared the disappointment.
Having said that, I've since come to appreciate it more and I'm eagerly awaiting the bluray release. I like the fact that the film doesn't answer all the questions it poses and invites the viewer to insert their own imagination into the process. I've had plenty of fun discussing some of the more enigmatic aspects with friends since seeing it.
So lets talk about the surgery-vending-machine sequence. While all of my friends and I agree that it was the high-point of the film, I would go further and say that it was pretty much the most deeply unnerving bit of cinema I've seen in my life. It really got under my skin. Rapace's performance is astonishing in those moments and the scene is a more-than-worthy echo of John Hurt's infamous demise in Alien.
As for the low point? That was pretty much anytime Logan Marshall-Green opened his mouth as Holloway. I found his character so profoundly annoying. Both in the writing and his performance, I felt Holloway was measurably out-of-step with the tone of film. "I'm taking my helmet off" has become an in-joke among my friends and I whenever one of us is about to do something incredibly silly for no good reason at all.
Fortunately, Rapace, Fassbender and Elba (accent not withstanding) more than make up for any disappointment in this regard.
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