Prepare to meet your maker.
When Ridley Scott came out and announced that he was going to be releasing a film set in the same universe as the iconic Alien franchise, in an instant a hype machine was born. In an instant, so much expectation was placed upon this picture's shoulders. In an instant, I knew it was a film I needed to see. Once the end credits began to roll, I had made my mind up that this film was fantastic.
The first thing that that I enjoyed about this film was it's scale. From the first scenes, the cinematography alone gives you the feeling that this is not going to be a cloistered, claustrophobic horror picture to the ilk of it's predecessors- and if this is what you came to see, you will be disappointed.
On the contrary, there is a sense of enormity, and I found myself feeling immersed into the world that Ridley Scott expands before us. The plot is all about exploration, as a team of essentially astronauts and extra-terrestrial geologists set out into space to a possibly life-bearing moon to seek out the who or what brought the human race into existence. This film is not about trapping us in a suffocating darkness with the cast and an invisible evil, but is about exploring as they intend to do- one or two nail-biting moments are included, of course.
Speaking of the cast, this is perhaps the one weakness I can pick out in this film. The acting certainly doesn't make the film- it feels to me like they are simply there to provide a narrative for the Scott universe. Logan Marshall-Green (or troublesome Atwood brother Trey of The OC fame) doesn't really strike me as a convincing in a lead role (though this does make sense later on), neither does Noomi Rapace, who is consistent but lacking in dynamism. None of the acting is horrible; there are perhaps one or two characters who serve as space fodder, Charlize Theron makes a good ice queen as Meredith Vickers, but I would agree with other critics who reckon that Michael Fassbender steals the show with his performance as the Weyland Industries android, David.
I enjoyed how Scott expanded on the Alien universe and gave us much that is new and unusual to digest, giving us some surprises while throwing loyal fans a couple of bones (we now know what the "Space Jockeys" are, for example). It might not be a horror film which hides the threat and slowly reveals it to you as it builds to its climax, but I found the premise of building a kind of lore around a humanoid being with the power to bring us into existence to be interesting until the end.
Your expectations will definitely have an impact on how much you enjoy this film. All I was expecting was for this film to be good- and I reckon it is. I wasn't, however, expecting it to be a horror film. I wasn't expecting it to explain more mysteries than it begets. I wasn't expecting it to be a prequel to Alien. Prometheus is very much it's own film, that simply takes place in Ridley Scott's already well established sci-fi universe.
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