Unwieldy movie, full of plot holes and unlikely scenes

Rating: 5/10 (1 October 2012)

I had high hopes for a Ridley Scott movie that was a return to the style of Alien, but alas, Ridley seems to have forgotten how to make a tight, exciting, suspenseful film. Instead, Prometheus is ponderous and pretentious, with a poorly thought-out script that makes no sense from one moment to another. Whether it's David's impossibly quick way with alien technology, fearful crewmen inexplicably becoming fearless and foolhardy, or the changeable nature of an alien goo, little in this movie makes any real sense (although if you check the forums you will see fans desperately trying to prove that the movie is a paragon of logic).
Beyond that, it really isn't all that exciting. I never felt especially scared and only found one scene genuinely suspenseful. I generally had a strong sense of what would happen next. Underneath its pretentious, search-for-meaning-in-the-universe theme, it's a very by-the-book sci-fi flick that offers few surprises.
It's good looking, David is an intriguing, well-acted character and there are a few nice special effects. But this is an overblown mess, in almost every way the antithesis of Alien. While watchable, it was a huge disappointment.