The Cowardly Heart of 'Prometheus' 10 Years Later

I really liked Prometheus when I watched it in theaters for the first time. I was bowled over by the technical virtuosity of Prometheus and the wonderful performances of stars Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender. Unfortunately, upon revisiting Prometheus I discovered the emptiness of Prometheus. The hedging of bets over the existence of God versus the proof of science is the realm of the coward.

On first blush, Prometheus seems like a bold exercise in questioning where we came from and who we are as a people. The film offers a pair of scientists as the lead performers in Noomi Rapace as Shaw and Logan Marshall Green as Holloway. Rapace's scientist is also a woman of faith whose ever-present cross is also a reminder of her father and a longing to see him and her mother again someday. Green's Holloway is more pragmatic. Following the discovery of alien drawings in different caves around the globe has led him to believe that human beings were engineered by aliens and he aims to find them and ask them why, thus solving the great question of why we're here.

The Believer and the Faithless

In these two characters the film has set up a path toward marrying science and religion. The two scientists are lovers and their fates are intertwined in the film's deep cowardice; they want to have it both ways, religion and science living in peace and harmony. Kumbaya and whatnot. A similar dynamic exists between the humanoid robot David, played by Michael Fassbender, and the elderly benefactor Peter Weyland, played by Guy Pearce.

David was created by Peter as a servant and surrogate son and is tasked with helping Weyland find the Engineers that our scientist characters have convinced him may be the God he has been seeking to give him eternal life. Here David is the pragmatic non-believer who simply follows his scientific programming even as some divine spark has helped him develop something akin to emotion. Peter is the living embodiment of the all too human fear of death and what comes after.

"There is Nothing"

When Weyland meets the Engineer in the movie and dies he states something that is as close as the film comes to a brave statement "There is nothing;" and David is left only to agree. Of course, the film is far from over at this point as Weyland was only ever that symbol of fear, an empty suit, pseudo-bad guy, who receives his ultimate punishment, dying hopelessly. David meanwhile will move on to form yet another believer-non-believer dynamic with Rapace's Shaw that will endure into the next Prometheus movie, Alien Covenant, and fully reveals the bet hedging that is at the cowardly heart of Prometheus.

In their inability to take a stand in favor of science or religion, director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Damon Lindelof have created a way to have their cake and eat it too. They get to ask big questions and then run both ways when someone asks them to take a stand. Do the creators of Prometheus believe in a God centered universe? Yes, Rapace's true believer states that thesis when she is challenged with the Engineers as the creators of man and she responds by asking who created the Engineers?

Having it Both Ways

Does the film believe science can explain existence? Yes. In multiple interviews, writer Lindelof talked of making the ending of the film ambiguous, leaving open the notion of whether God is a knowable, proven entity, ala the Engineers, or if there is a greater supernatural element to creation. The makers of Prometheus believe that whatever is most profitable is true. The inability to come down on one side of the other is a marketing effort intended not to offend anyone. Thus it is artistically bankrupt and cowardly.

Far too many people exist in the morass between belief and disbelief, unwilling to make a definitive statement for fear of ridicule or of being ostracized. True courage comes from taking a stand, making a choice and sticking to it. We reward those with conviction in just about every context except when it comes to the biggest question in life: why are we here? In this question we allow fear to rule out and a movie like Prometheus plays well for the crowd of the fearful many; those afraid to take a side with God or science.

Choosing Sides

I've never hid my own choice, I'm an avowed atheist who believes in making the most of this life as it is the only life we have. I've been told that mine is a negative point of view. People wonder, what is there to live for then if there is nothing beyond life and I reply 'exactly.' If there is nothing beyond life then that is exactly what to live for, you have no other thing to live for so you must make the most of what you have while you're here. I feel sorry for those who follow the uncommitted ethos of Prometheus, life must be spent with so much angst.

I have, on the other hand, a complete respect and admiration for the true believer. Those who have dedicated themselves to a belief in God are truly a brave lot. Without the need for proof they have dedicated their lives to an idea and they live a wondrous ideal. I may not agree with the true believer but I respect the bravery and steadfastness that define who they are. Like me, they've brushed aside fear and are living life. That cannot be said of the fence-sitting likes of Prometheus who are defined by their fear and rendered craven by their crass commercialism.