Prometheus (2012)
Short takes
Not suitable for children under fifteen years of age due to themes, violence and disturbing scenes.
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This topic contains:
- overall comments and recommendations
- details of classification and consumer advice lines for Prometheus (2012)
- a review of Prometheus (2012) completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 6 June 2012.
Overall comments and recommendations
Children under 15 |
Not suitable due to intense violence and disturbing scenes and themes. |
Children over the age of 15 |
Parental guidance recommended due to intense violence and disturbing scenes and themes. |
About the movie
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: |
Prometheus (2012) |
Classification: |
M |
Consumer advice lines: |
Moderate science fiction violence and a medical procedure |
Length: |
124 minutes |
ACCM review
This review of the movie contains the following information:
A synopsis of the story
The movie begins in a cave on the Isle of
Skye Scotland where archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr.
Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover ancient cave paintings. These
identify the origins of an Alien race referred to as “The Engineers”, who Shaw
and Dr. Holloway believe are responsible for the creation of the human race.
We next see Shaw and Dr. Holloway in the
year 2093, when they are on the Starship Prometheus approaching the distant
moon identified in the paintings and have been awakened after spending the past
two years in cryogenic sleep. Among Prometheus’s crew of 17 are an android
named David (Michael Fassbender), who appears to have his own clandestine
agenda, ageing zillionaire and project funder Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) and
project boss Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron). After landing, a small
exploration team including Shaw, Holloway and David leave the safety of the
Prometheus to investigate gigantic alien made structures discovered on the
moon’s surface. While exploring these structures Shaw and her team discover a
chamber containing dozens of long dead giant alien bodies piled against a door
that leads to a room containing hundreds of vase-like cylinders all of which
begin to ooze organic fluids when the door is opened. We learn later that the
cylinders contain alien creatures created by the Engineers, which have been
designed to either impregnate humans with a nightmarish alien foetus or infect
humans with a virus that turns humans into mutated homicidal monsters.
An approaching storm forces the team to
temporarily abandon their find and return to the Prometheus, but not before the
android David steals one of the cylinders which he sneaks aboard. David’s
actions have devastating consequences, with Shaw being impregnated by an alien
foetus and Holloway infected with the alien created virus. To make matters
worse, the crew of the Prometheus learn that the real aim of the Engineers is
to use their biological horrors to destroy the life they once created on Earth.
The explorers are determined to prevent that from happening.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Alien life forms and planets; genocide; weapons of mass destruction/biological weapons; androids; mutating viruses; pregnancy termination
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
The film contains intense sequences of
violence and peril including some disturbing images of very brutal violence
with realistic depiction of blood and gore. The film also contains a scene
depicting a highly intense and graphically realistic surgical procedure.
Examples include:
- A long snake-like alien creature bites a
man on the hand and then attaches itself to his hand and wraps itself around his
arm. The man screams out in fear and pain as the snake creature snaps his forearm
in half with bone and flesh protruding from the wound. A second man attempts to
cut the snake creature from the first man’s arm, causing acid-like blood to squirt
out of the creature and cover his helmet. The visor melts onto the man’s face, leaving him
screaming in agony.
- A man who is infected with an alien virus is
burnt alive after he begs to be burnt. He stands engulfed in flames as he is
set on fire by a flame thrower and eventually collapses to the ground.
- After being impregnated with an alien
embryo, a woman races against time in an intense and disturbing scene to have
the alien embryo surgically removed before it kills her by exploding out of her
abdomen. We see images of the alien embryo trying to push its way out of her
stomach. The woman straps herself into an automated surgical unit and an
automated laser makes an incision in the woman’s stomach; with blood and gore
as the incision is made. A second mechanical hand spreads open the wound with a
claw-like apparatuses reaching into the wound and extracting the alien foetus
just moments before it awakens. Several times throughout the surgical procedure
the woman convulses in pain and injects herself with unknown drugs. Following
the extraction an automated arm fires staples into the woman’s abdomen to close
the wound. Later we see the woman with her abdomen and thighs splattered with
droplets of blood and see clear images of her stapled wound.
- In one brutal, disturbing and graphically
violent scene, a mutated man infested with an alien virus goes berserk and
attacks his colleagues in a fit of rage, killing several men. In one instance
the infected man clamps his fists together and brings them down on a man’s
helmeted head as though a sledgehammer, smashing the victim’s head open with
blood sprayed in all directions. The infected man is shot numerous times, set
on fire by a flame thrower and then run over several times by a heavy vehicle
before he is finally overcome.
- A man punches a woman in the stomach, knocking
her to the ground, and a second man says “If she talks again shoot her”.
- We see distressing images of a giant
humanoid alien grabbing the android David by the throat and lifting him off the
ground and then twisting and ripping his head off, his headless body falling to
the ground.
- A woman is crushed beneath a gigantic alien
ship. We do not see her actually crushed, but hear her screaming and see her
body disappear beneath the falling ship.
- There is a fight between a giant alien
squid-like creature and a giant humanoid alien creature. A snake like appendage
shoots out of the squid alien’s mouth to force its way inside the humanoid
alien’s mouth. At the end of the fight the humanoid lies on the floor with its
head and body completely covered by the squid-like alien.
Material that may scare or disturb children
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
The film contains intense sequences of
violence and peril including some disturbing images of very brutal violence
with realistic depiction of blood and gore. The film also contains a scene
depicting a highly intense and graphically realistic surgical procedure.
Examples include:
- A long snake-like alien creature bites a
man on the hand and then attaches itself to his hand and wraps itself around his
arm. The man screams out in fear and pain as the snake creature snaps his forearm
in half with bone and flesh protruding from the wound. A second man attempts to
cut the snake creature from the first man’s arm, causing acid-like blood to squirt
out of the creature and cover his helmet. The visor melts onto the man’s face, leaving him
screaming in agony.
- A man who is infected with an alien virus is
burnt alive after he begs to be burnt. He stands engulfed in flames as he is
set on fire by a flame thrower and eventually collapses to the ground.
- After being impregnated with an alien
embryo, a woman races against time in an intense and disturbing scene to have
the alien embryo surgically removed before it kills her by exploding out of her
abdomen. We see images of the alien embryo trying to push its way out of her
stomach. The woman straps herself into an automated surgical unit and an
automated laser makes an incision in the woman’s stomach; with blood and gore
as the incision is made. A second mechanical hand spreads open the wound with a
claw-like apparatuses reaching into the wound and extracting the alien foetus
just moments before it awakens. Several times throughout the surgical procedure
the woman convulses in pain and injects herself with unknown drugs. Following
the extraction an automated arm fires staples into the woman’s abdomen to close
the wound. Later we see the woman with her abdomen and thighs splattered with
droplets of blood and see clear images of her stapled wound.
- In one brutal, disturbing and graphically
violent scene, a mutated man infested with an alien virus goes berserk and
attacks his colleagues in a fit of rage, killing several men. In one instance
the infected man clamps his fists together and brings them down on a man’s
helmeted head as though a sledgehammer, smashing the victim’s head open with
blood sprayed in all directions. The infected man is shot numerous times, set
on fire by a flame thrower and then run over several times by a heavy vehicle
before he is finally overcome.
- A man punches a woman in the stomach, knocking
her to the ground, and a second man says “If she talks again shoot her”.
- We see distressing images of a giant
humanoid alien grabbing the android David by the throat and lifting him off the
ground and then twisting and ripping his head off, his headless body falling to
the ground.
- A woman is crushed beneath a gigantic alien
ship. We do not see her actually crushed, but hear her screaming and see her
body disappear beneath the falling ship.
- There is a fight between a giant alien
squid-like creature and a giant humanoid alien creature. A snake like appendage
shoots out of the squid alien’s mouth to force its way inside the humanoid
alien’s mouth. At the end of the fight the humanoid lies on the floor with its
head and body completely covered by the squid-like alien.
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
Children in this age group are also likely
to be disturbed by the violence and scary scenes described above.
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
Children in this age group are also likely
to be disturbed by the violence and scary scenes described above.
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
Children in this age group may also be disturbed
by some of the above-mentioned scenes.
Product placement
None
of concern.
Sexual references
There are some sexual references in this
movie, including:
- After losing their way and becoming
isolated from the rest of the crew, two male crew members are told by their
male captain, “Try not to bugger each other”.
- We hear a man say to a woman, “If you want to
be laid you could just say, ‘Hey I want to be laid’. When the woman remains
stone-faced the man asks the woman if she was a robot to which the woman
responds, “My room, ten minutes”.
-
In one scene after
being medically examined, we hear Shaw being told that she is pregnant and hear
her being asked if she had engaged in sexual intercourse with Dr. Holloway.
Nudity and sexual activity
There is some sexual activity in this
movie, including:
- A man and woman kiss passionately and see
the woman removes the man’s top before the scene ends.
Use of substances
There is some use of substances in this
movie, including:
- Prometheus captain smokes a cigar.
- A couple of scenes depict characters
drinking vodka martinis and champagne.
- One scene depicts a character smoking
inside his space suit. One man asks the man in the space suit if it is tobacco
smoke he can see inside the man’s helmet, with the reply that it isn't. The man
sucks on a tube inside his helmet and we hear the sound of air bubbling through
water with the clear implication that he is smoking cannabis.
- During and following a caesarean section a
woman injects herself, as well as consuming a couple of tablets.
Coarse language
There is some coarse language in this
movie, including:
- damn, shit, hell, goddamn, Martian piss,
crazy bastards, son of a bitch, fuck, bloody and Jesus Christ.
In a nutshell
Prometheus in 3D is a sci-fi action film,
containing horror images and brutal violence. It is a prequel to Ridley Scott’s
(1979) film Alien and answers some of the unexplained questions from that first
film.
The film is targeted at a wide ranging
audience from older adolescents to adults, but is totally unsuitable for
younger audiences. Parents should know that it was originally rated MA15+ by
the Australian Government Classification Board, but the rating was lowered to M
by the Classification Review Board after appeal by the distributors.
The main messages from this movie are:
- Human are forever seeking the knowledge of
where they come from and what happens when they die.
- Curiosity can kill the cat: it was the
expedition’s thirst for hidden knowledge that ultimately led to their
death.
Values in this movie that parents may wish
to reinforce with their children include:
- Self sacrifice: repeatedly throughout the
film both humans and androids sacrificing their own safety to save shipmates.
At the end of the film a number of crew members willingly sacrifice their lives
to prevent the annihilation of the human race.
This movie could also give parents the
opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life
consequences, such as.
- The android David appears to have no
emotions; he is unable to understand happiness, love, greed etc. However, on
numerous occasions throughout the film the android appeared to be more human
than the humans. Parents may wish to discuss with their children just what it
is that makes us human.