A great sci-fi film!

Rating: 10/10 (3 June 2012)

Now I will start by saying I'm a huge fan of all the Alien films, even AvP. So that was what initially drew me to this film. As the build-up progressed I learnt it wasn't a direct prequel, more of a build-up in the history of this franchise.
I still made sure I watched Alien before going to see it.
And it was a great film! It took it's time to set things up, which is quite rare, and had a plot - a reasonably simple one, but then again, space exploration is simple. Why do we send out probes and scan planets and things? To see what is out there - which is exactly what this film is about.
It has great effects, surprisingly so considering the relatively small budget, and looks very like Alien. The differences in holograms etc. can easily be explained by the Prometheus being a science vessel and top-of-the-range, and the Nostromo being a freighter.
Acting was good and believable - I imagine a little was cut for the cinema as a few characters could have done with a little more screen-time, but still good.
The engineers / Space Jockeys were good too. I've seen reviews where people slate the film about it all being too easy - how the humans saw the security footage etc. I think they are missing the point - it's a trap! The Space Jockeys wanted whoever found them to reactive them so they can leave and colonise Earth. It also occurred to me they could have colonised many planets - so whoever found them would be an advanced race, possible a threat to the Space Jockeys, so they would go there and release the Alien on them.
Remember - this is not the planet in Alien - so the octopus and proto-Alien are totally in-keeping with this. They may not even be direct descendent's of the Alien as we still don't know how the Space Jockey in the original Alien got there.
Overall a great film - it kept me focused and I enjoyed it. It has a lot of good touches and has a very good premise. There are lots of detail and back-story. It is not Alien - if you were expecting it to be, despite all the news, then you will be disappointed. If however you want to see a good sci-fi film and learn more about the Space Jockeys then you will love it. Hope there are more!