Great effects ... but some silly and inexplicable bits

Rating: 6/10 (14 September 2012)

I was looking forward to seeing Prometheus for the simple fact it is a Ridley Scott sci-fi flick. The special effects were amazing, from the opening scene with the super-human guy on pre-historic Earth) to the vivid astronomical holograms on the ship.
The general premise seems promising but things quickly turn silly, then just plain inexplicable.
Silly:
1. Scientists take off helmets in strange alien environment because it "seems" safe (even though it took them 2 years to travel there, and cost a trillion dollars). Also, the helmets are nowhere to be found for the next few scenes, and then suddenly, they put the helmets back on as they rush back to the ship.
2. The scientists examine the decapitated super-human head and seem totally oblivious to any potential danger. They are not wearing any protective gear, nor is the head secured. There is strange goo moving on top of the head which they get excited about, and then on the spur of the moment decide to pump some charge into the head (no reason?). This causes the head to start waking up, babbling and then it explodes. Nice job, scientists!
3. The goofy scientists get lost overnight in the alien ship, and come across some moving black goo, which turns into an obviously hostile snake. The scientist keeps moving toward the threatening creature and trying to touch it and compliment it. He, predictably, gets killed by the snake creature.
4. Shaw has robotic surgery to extract the alien baby but never tells anyone what happens, and no one ever asks why she is bloody and has a large incision across her abdomen. Seems like a rather major event you'd want to share with your peers, especially when there is a strange alien creature still on the ship (which grows into a gigantic creature later in the film). She also seems unhindered by her major surgery.
5. Shaw and Wicker don't make any effort to run out of the way from the scary, rolling ship after it has crash-landed from the impact with the Prometheus. They seem to want to get run over by it... which is inevitable.
6. Pilots make reference to a bet at the end. There was absolutely no character building so the discussions seems completely out of context.
Inexplicable:
1. Why did David put the red blob into Charlie's drink, which caused him to turn into another creature (alien?) and, in turn, impregnate Shaw? How did David know what that red blob would do, having never seen it before (although he did seem a little too self-assured when busting open the canister)?
2. What did it mean when David said, in referring to the super-human motives, "to create, you must first destroy"? It seems to imply that he knew why the super-humans were going back to Earth. Were they going to destroy humanity, and then re-create it? Why?
3. Why were there holograms running around from the past in the ship?
4. Why was the super-human in stasis for two thousand years, then once he got woken up, suddenly go flying toward (we are led to believe) Earth? You'd think they would have already left the alien planet with their cargo.
5. What were Weyland's motives, and did he give David his orders? It seemed David had his own motives with his comment "everyone wants to see their parents dead", even though it was mentioned that he was programmed by Weyland.
Bottom Line: I would have rated this movie a 4 or 5 for the writing, except the special effects were pretty amazing. Hopefully Prometheus 2 will fill in some of the plot holes, and cut out most of the silliness. 6/10