'Prometheus': To Be or Not to Be....

I anxiously await the arrival of two films slated for release during next year's competitive summer months. One is the last entry in the Caped Crusader's trilogy. The other has been shrouded in perfectly choreographed secrecy, churning blogospheres into overdrive.

Ridley Scott, with much hesitation, is finally returning to the genre he almost single-handedly revolutionized with 'Alien' and 'Blade Runner', delivering his vision of future's landscape in a highly stylized, bleak, noirish world whose every light flare and highly lit corridor would be copied the moment the first reels began.

Armed with the conceptual art of H.R. Gieger, Scott created a bleak, over-populated future of mega-corporations, deep space travel, elevated technology beyond our imagination. Nearly every futuristic city landscape in film borrows heavily from Scott's 'Blade Runner' as nearly every film that happens to be set in deep space pays tribute to 'Alien'.

Ridley Scott did not agree to direct this film forthright. Originally, he opted to co-produce along with his brother and fellow film maker, Tony Scott, but 20th Century Fox balked at that idea. If the studio was going out on a limb, announcing 'Prometheus' as its Summer 2012 tent pole film, reportedly budgeted at $250 million and ambitiously filmed in both live action as well as 3-D, they wanted the originating director to helm. It was Scott or no one. Finally, in 2009, Scott agreed then began quickly assembling a cast, visual artists, set designers and writers Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts to bring together what is unofficially not being called the prequel to 'Alien'. Well, is it or isn't it part of the 'Alien' lexicon, bringing the story full circle with cartharsis? Or is the original helmer simpley returning to reboot, relaunch and reinvision the franchise, whetting appetites with the promise of seeing the alien's home world. Or maybe even explanations of the 'space jockey' from the original film (fans will understand).

Director Scott drops vague hints, only saying the story takes place within the realm and world of 'Alien', but is a stand alone story in its right.

With a cast that boasts Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Patrick Wilson, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce and Rutina Wesley, it will either breathe new life into the 'Alien' franchise or it will be mothballed for another 20 years.

June 2012