Not quite the prequel Alien deserved, but then its not really Alien

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2012)

Well when Prometheus was announced some time ago I was more than a little excited, one because Alien is one of my all time favourite movies, and two Ridley Scott was directing. All these added together was more than enough to send my anticipation into a frenzy, then the first trailer came out. Oh my lord, that was it, I had to see this film at all costs.
Then something happened, another trailer was released, then another, then another. Then viral videos, then behind the scenes stuff, then more trailers. Then I kinda guessed the storyline and the outcome of the film, and now I've seen it, I was by and large correct. The marketing over load on this film, may have been overkill. Such a shame because the teaser trailer was so promising, but I did still go and watch it and I did still enjoy the film despite guessing the storyline.
Without giving too much away the film is set a few years before the original Alien film and explores the origin of mankind to the far reaches of space, but what they found may not be what they were expecting. One thing that did baffle me slightly was the technology used in the film, it made the future technology seem redundant, as the past seems far better equipped than the future, odd. But then this is both a positive and a negative, the positive being the film looks absolutely stunning, the set pieces are beautiful and detailed, the CGI is fabulous and photo realistic and virtually everything - down to the nearest speck of dust - looks good.
The cast is a nice mix, but character development is missing on most of the crew. The vast majority of them are totally forgettable, so you feel very little for them, something that is usually fatal in a "horror" film. But the main guys are great in their roles; Noomi Repace is well cast, though not a scratch on the Ellen Ripley character. Charlize Theron is fine in her cold commanding officer role, but is totally under utilised. But Michael Fassbender is on terrific form and completely steals the show, as the synthetic David.
Where my main issue with Prometheus lies is in its similarity with Alien, its more of remake than a prequel in a way. Thats not to say its exactly the same as Alien, but it feels oddly familiar and strangely lacking in originality despite trying its best to be original. The idea of the crew of Prometheus searching for mankind is very interesting, but in the end comes off as redundant and kinda lame. It tries to steer the film down a certain path, but it comes off more as ridiculous than ingenious. In the end you know what's going to happen which is another problem, and there is no real payoff at the end of the film. Not only that the film seriously lacks scares, the music is too loud and in your face. There is no gentle creeping and no silence to keep you on edge. The film therefore comes across more as a bad action film, than a good horror.
The trouble is Prometheus tried to distance itself from Alien and in doing so made itself less believable and predictable. But in a weird way I did like how they did it, could it have been better, hell yes, but did I ultimately enjoy the film, hell yes.
Prometheus isn't the masterpiece it set out to be. Its not as creepy and horrific as Alien and not as thrilling as Aliens, though it does have its own merits away from the franchise. If a sequel is made I won't be queueing round the block to see it, but I do want to come back for more. So despite a bit of mixed bag, I would still highly recommend Prometheus.