Review Detail

9.1 39 10
FanFix February 08, 2013 25893
(Updated: April 29, 2013)
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Prometheus always had one problem. It wasn't goofy biologists trying to pet Geiger-esque phallic symbols, nor was it running straight away from a gigantic wheel. It wasn't even Charlize Theron being, well, Charlize Theron.

The problem was the lack of character development that permeated the whole movie. Brilliant lines and revealing moments were dashed aside in lieu of ship captains accentuating their bitchiness or unnecessarily exploding heads and it ultimately turned every character that wasn't Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace (and to a lesser degree Idris Elba, who can't not be awesome even if he tried) into a barebones tool to push the plot on to the next special effect.

I am very pleased to say that Prometheus: Giftbearer solves this problem with gusto. So, let's tackle this one at a time, shall we?

Audio/Video Quality: 10

As Futurama's interpretation of God once said, "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." This absolutely applies here. What recoloring was done to the deleted scenes fit flawlessly and had me questioning whether or not I'd actually viewed certain scenes in the initial cut.

Visual Editing: 9

This is one of the better visual editing jobs I've seen. The cut scenes were both welcome and necessary to the overall plot. The shortening of drawn-out moments and the removal of the sillier scenes were mostly spot-on. Also I can't stress enough how happy I was to see less Charlize Theron in this cut. I actually liked her character better as a result.

One complaint I've been reading in the earlier reviews was over the "In the Beginning" prologue turning into a dream sequence just after Noomi's character witnesses a horrible trauma. This is up to the viewer, of course, but I didn't find a single thing wrong with this decision. If anything it only spiced up the scene and ended up giving me a chill I didn't feel when I watched the theatrical cut (then I only felt confused), so no points removed there.

That said there was an occasional odd cut (I can count two welcome, albeit a tad clumsy, changes), but nothing that hindered my enjoyment of the film.

Audio Editing: 9

Changed and removed lines abound and for the better, though I did notice that it occasionally got very loud. I'm kind of stretching for a complaint on this regard, however. I did like how the creature at the end was muted, though. Nice touch there; added to the creepy factor a bit.

Narrative: 10

This is where I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this recut was absolutely necessary. As I said before the character development was completely removed from the theatrical cut of the film despite the fact that the very scenes that made one care about those characters were actually shot. Severian restored the hell out of the best of those scenes. Now you can see Guy Pierce sans old-guy prosthetics making a powerful speech about the importance of to going too far with science. Suddenly Idris Elba's stand against the alien menace is more powerful thanks to a beautifully spoken monologue that details a similar dark chapter of his past. I found myself actually emotionally engaged in the characters presented. They were people, not plot devices, and the whole movie was far far better for it.

Enjoyment: 10

Recuts like this are the reason I love fanedits. When someone takes his or her own personal time to turn a bad movie good or a decent movie great, and then brings it to the world, I have this odd feeling of being rescued. While I would sit around complaining about a bad movie someone out there would rather bite the bullet and actually do something about it. It's a beautiful thing.

As for this particular recut, I'll say that it was very aptly titled. This is a gift, and its bearer is Severian. Thank you.

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