Doesn't quite pass the smell test... fails it abysmally.

Rating: 4/10 (15 June 2012)

When I saw the trailers for this film, the premise of the film intrigued me, just for the mere fact that the trailers were following the same beats as the Alien film trailer from 1979. The use of music in it was quite amazing; the screams added into the trailer soundtrack were particularly off-putting.
The film itself failed to live up to expectations.
The reason why 'Alien' worked was not just because of the xenomorph introduced, but the believable way in which the characters interacted with one another. Of particular interest was the class system, where Harry Dean Stanton's and Yaphet Kotto's characters (Brent and Parker respectively) expressed consternation at the management of the ship (Tom Skerritt's Dallas character in particular) because they often dealt with the dirty work the other crewmembers didn't want to do, and often complained about not getting their paycheque. The director's cut of the film highlights this aspect even more, which makes the characters more real and thus more relatable.
The same dynamics are hinted at in 'Prometheus', but where this film fails is on the 'believability' factor. Weyland is inadvertently portrayed as an idiot, because there's no possible way he hired the best 'money can buy' for this multi-trillion dollar voyage to nowhere. Or is it merely senility? One of the first characters we're introduced to at the onset is David. David seemingly does his best to portray humanlike behaviour despite the fact that he's an android. However, I have issues with people who say that Michael Fassbender deserves an Oscar for his performance. The character is seemingly random and illogical in his actions. Quite frankly, I found him quite annoying, especially when he was specifically told not to open the gate, but attempts to do so anyway. I didn't find him to be a particularly likable character, or even a good one.
Speaking of which, there are no characters that have any redeeming qualities to them whatsoever. Scientists act unscientific; like a character removing his helmet in a foreign alien environment just because there's breathable atmosphere inside. Or probing an alien head without doing proper scientific procedures first, or even wearing proper clothing. Any kid who has taken high school science courses recognizes this. Why doesn't the writer, unless they had to find a way to somehow advance the plot through stupidity? There are many more examples of this type of stupidity, but I won't put them here for brevity purposes.
Overall, a highly disappointing film that more often than not enters 'Friday the 13th' territory, which is quite disappointing for a film that purports to be high-minded. And that, fellow filmgoers, is the greatest crime that this film has committed. Rent the film for $2 when it comes out on video, because that's about as much as it's worth.