Review of Prometheus (2012) by Cinetyk — 10 Jun 2012

Being a fan of the Aliens movies (particularly the first two), I was very interested in this movie and made sure not to spoil myself before watching it, but it turned out to be a disappointment. Visually, though, it's impressive: the cinematography and the effects are amazing. I'll try and not give any spoilers.

The characters are just too shallow and the crew, generally, so unrealistically incompetent as scientists and explorers from what you would expect for members of a scientific endeavour in journey to another star system, they just seem like a bunch of ordinary guys with little education put together on a bus, pardon, ship. Given the scientific, religious and philosophical implications of their mission (involving the origins of life), they respond with virtually no interest or criticism in an attitude best described as "just doing my job". The expedition itself has little planning, organization, leadership, discipline, procedure and protocol for extraterrestrial exploration, sometimes with a complete lack of common sense precaution, let alone a scientific method or approach that is to be expected, up to and including downright childish behaviour. However, the technology and gadgets available are amazing, which in turn allow some excellent visual effects... Throughout the movie, the findings and implications are rarely discussed or very poorly so, which is shocking, given what they encounter. Characters aren't really explored that much, and one can only assume their "general motivations", which seem shallow and bland. The performances of the actors aren't particularly noteworthy either, except for Fassbender, though it isn't exactly stellar. Additionally, there's the occasional scientific mistake or inconsistency here and there, which lead to very awkward plausibility. Also, the suspense/horror scenes don't have much tension to them, and the soundtrack was completely forgettable to me.

The philosophical questions the story poses are only very thinly hinted and left in the air in a not very particularly interesting fashion.

In short:

If you've seen and like the Aliens, you will get something out that universe with this, but it can come with a lot of frustration depending on your patience. As a sci-fi movie, this is not a particularly intelligent one and the visual presentation is the only thing to stand out.