"A Hot Mess"

That's how I'd describe Ridley Scott's new film Prometheus.

I'm not sure if I'd call it altogether disappointing, though. Steve-O and I caught a midnight (or rather 12:30) showing on the IMAX 3-D screen and the main thing I was looking for was some hard core science fiction, complete with cool visuals and logical world/setting. Story and plot? Well, I already figured out it wasn't going to be any great shakes as the commercials/previews have pretty much given the whole thing away (and no it didn't "intrigue" me in the slightest).

Here's the best thing I can say about it: it was never boring.

That might not seem like high praise to you, but let me put it in this light: I didn't fall asleep. And I went into the film plenty exhausted, having worked a full work week (well, except for the all day traveling earlier which was its own brand of stress and exhaustion), plus I was feeling pretty out of it from being at the end of my second day of a detoxing fast (don't ask), and I have become somewhat notorious in recent years for falling asleep during movies that are boring or dumb (in my opinion) in the slightest...at least when I'm watching 'em late at night.

Prometheus is a hot mess...it just doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. Is it horror? Is it sci-fi? Is it action? Is it an homage to Alien? Is it trying to say something about faith? Is it trying to say something about the origin of the species? Is it trying to say something about the perils of investigating Life's Deepest Mysteries? Is it trying to put a boot to Graham Hancock?

I don't know...I mean, I really don't get what the director (and writer(s)) were trying to do. I guess make money, judging by the amount of advertising/marketing the film got leading up to its release. However, if there was a point other than that...um, it was lost on me. It tried to hit all these notes at once, and kind of pooched it from what I can tell.

And yet, it was NOT boring. It provided enough eye candy and suspense and balls-to-the-wall crazy that I didn't nod off even once. And the visuals were fantastic and there was some neat sci-fi stuff in it. Hell, I even thought the aliens were pretty cool, despite looking like a 'roided out version of Billy Corgan having an emo moment.

Would I recommend the film to someone else? Um...

Speaking of "hot messes," I am a wreck at the moment. Went to yoga this evening for the first time in God knows how long and it completely kicked my ass. Turns out I'm not as stretchy as I used to be. I could barely walk out of the studio afterwards; thank goodness I decided to drive instead of biking, like I'd originally considered. Right now, I think I'll throw on a Star Wars DVD and chill for a couple hours...followed by an Epson salt bath. The physical discomfort has (temporarily) displaced the melancholy of missing my family (still in Mexico)...but it's no freaking picnic.

In gaming news (just before I sign off), I decided NOT to re-do Pendragon, Game of Thrones-style. It's just too much work for too little pay-off at this point. I did do a serious read-through of the A Song of Fire and Ice RPG from Green Ronin today and I have to say: just not very impressed. Sorry, I'm not. It's a beautiful book, with a simple base system and thoughtful design...and then a bunch of extra stuff that seems totally unnecessary. Why-why-why to game designers START HUGE and tell people ix-nay what you don't want? Why don't they START SIMPLE and let players add on any extra stuff they feel is necessary? Just to pad the page count? I really, really don't get it.

But that's another post. Maybe a little later tonight. After my bath.