Gory monster violence, with blood and dead humans. In the most harrowing sequence, a woman finds that she has an alien fetus inside her, and she climbs into a medical chamber for emergency surgery. The bloody "baby" alien is removed from her via a very bloody C-section, and she's stitched back up again. In another sequence, characters are brutally attacked by an alien that eventually crawls inside one's body. Otherwise, an alien head explodes, an infected human is set on fire (alien bodies are also burned), a creature breaks a man's arm, and there's general fighting and chaos, including guns/shooting, and flamethrowers. Also, a little girl talks about death with her father. Aliens' bodies mutate and dissolve in a somewhat graphic fashion when they drink a particular substance.
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"F--k" is used once, as well as several uses of "s--t." Other words include "bastard," "piss," "hell," "damn," "son of a bitch," "laid," "bugger," and "goddamn," plus "oh my God" and "Jesus Christ."
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One character gets very drunk as a response to bad news. Many of the characters are shown drinking hard liquor (vodka, whisky, etc.) socially at some point. One character smokes a cigar; in another scene, a character smokes an unidentified substance that makes him loopy/happy. Another takes necessary injections of painkillers.
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No nudity, but a man and a woman are shown beginning to have sex in their quarters. They kiss and start to remove their clothing. Later, a man and a woman agree to have sex, but it's not shown. A female character is shown to be pregnant with an alien and is seen running around in just underwear.
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The movie asks all kinds of big questions. Who created us? Who created the creator? What's the difference between creating and destroying? Some of the answers are rather cynical, but others illustrate the general hope, empathy, sacrifice, and goodwill of human beings.
Positive Role Models
very little
Most of the characters are deeply flawed -- thinking selfishly, drinking, or engaging in casual sex. They seem rather short-sighted at times, failing to consider long-term consequences. But many of them are also strong, brave, and smart, and some of the strongest characters are the women.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Prometheus is a science fiction/horror movie that's somewhat related to director Ridley Scott's original Alien; it's not as creepy as that film, but it often feels more harrowing and intense. There's some intense monster violence -- mainly attacks, with humans getting torn open or burned. There's also blood and many dead bodies, plus guns, shooting, and flamethrowers. Characters are shown in the beginning stages of sex, and other characters talk about sex. Language is fairly strong, including one use of "f--k," several "s--t"s, and other words. Adult characters are shown drinking socially (or smoking cigars), and one is shown drinking too much. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
This movie is super good. At first it was partially confusing about the timeline but at the end it made sense. It was super cool, fun characters, a little violent. I only gave this movie a 17+ because it has graphic violence, a little bit of sexy stuff, and bad language. Great overall movie!
Wowza! This move was quite the rollercoaster 😬 the ups and downs throught the film were simply spendid and delightful. However….. the plot of the movie was quite horrid in my opinion as well as all of my film fan friends. Compared to other movies of the caliber this was terrible. The other problem I had was the characters were awful actors with Tom cruise being the star Michael fasbender was also quite terrific. I was just disappointed in the potential that the film had but the film crew and director didn’t do the most wonderful job. Now…. Time to talk about my 3 star rating. For a horror movie it was very “toungue in cheek” and not that terrifying, normally I enjoy when my pants end up with a puddle betheath them and a sticky, stinky brown log trickling and fluidly maneuvering down the back of my quadriceps and hamstrings unfortunately this move did not provide the felling that I so desperately crave. Not impressed
What's the Story?
PROMETHEUS begins in Scotland in the future, where two scientists (Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green) discover a celestial pattern in a cave drawing and match it to similar patterns from all over the world. After pinpointing the pattern's deep space source, a discovery mission is launched in the year 2093 to find it. A crew of 17 is on board, including laid-back captain Janek (Idris Elba) and icy, nasty Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), whose company funded the mission. Also on board is an android, David (Michael Fassbender), who may know more about the mission than he lets on. The scientists hope to meet the aliens that they believe "created" the human race, but unfortunately, a more sinister discovery awaits.
This an intense, fairly riveting story. Director Ridley Scott has made many high-profile movies, including an Oscar-winner (Gladiator), but he's still best loved for his two sci-fi classics, Alien and Blade Runner. They had a kind of patience and a way with atmosphere that his later films lack. With Prometheus, Scott returns to sci-fi and to that same kind of thoughtful filmmaking -- at least for the first three-quarters of the movie.
For a long time, Scott uses impressive visuals to wrestle with big themes like creation and destruction. He draws parallels between characters and situations, creates emotional responses to big ideas, and does all the things a great movie is supposed to do. But as Prometheus approaches its final stretch, Scott appears to abandon all this stuff in favor of defining and labeling the film for the fans. This lack of trust and lack of care ultimately betrays an otherwise almost-great movie.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Prometheus' violence. How does it relate to the creating/destroying themes? Is any of the violence gratuitous, or is it necessary to the story?
Is the movie scary? Are the actions scarier than the ideas? Is the movie scarier or less scary than the previous Alien movies?
How strong is our impulse to create? Is it stronger than our impulse to destroy?
MPAA explanation:
sci-fi violence including intense images, and brief language
Last updated:
August 14, 2024
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By Jeffrey M. Anderson
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