Ambitious, but completely implodes as it progresses

Rating: 5/10 (14 April 2013)

Is there such a thing as being too ambitious? If so, then Prometheus would certainly qualify as a case study. Lots of ink was justifiably spilled over the news of director Ridley Scott's return to the Alien universe - made even more intriguing in that he would not be making an "Alien" film, but making a prequel that took the storyline in a completely different direction. So far, so good.
Prometheus opens with an enigmatic scene of a strange muscular white alien conducting some bizarre ritualistic experiment on a planet we come to find out is Earth. The storyline then jumps ahead to the future where archeologists Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall Green follow clues that seem to indicate that there are engineers of the universe and they are laying out a map for us to find them. With the help of a dying corporate billionaire (Guy Pearce buried in old age make-up), an interstellar journey is set in motion to find the answers on the secret of life.
The filmmakers deserve quite a bit of credit for the most part. For a film set in the "Alien" universe, they never opt for an easy predictable path. The film looks spectacular and delves into BIG, DEEP questions, much like writer Damon Lindelof's TV series Lost. Unfortunately, like that series, Lindelof and company cannot gel his ambitious notions into a cohesive and satisfying whole.
The set-up for the film is great, but as the story proceeds huge problems and holes become become too hard to ignore. The characters never really develop in any satisfactory way, which keeps the viewer often at arms length of what happens. Like Lost, Lindelof's plot twists begin to take on a rather frustrating and simplistic phony religiosity that fails to fit comfortably into a film which is suppose to thrill and terrify while making one think. Conversely, the film more often than not does not thrill or terrify, and makes one think too much in that one starts to pick apart the illogical notions and inconsistencies. Lindelof seems determined to make us believe in a higher power even when the evidence he presents to us is scattershot and contradictory.
The film could do with a healthy dose of a strong central character like Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. There are two stand-out performances. Michael Fassbender is usually a fascinating actor and his work here is no exception. Playing an android with a Lawrence of Arabia fetish and major daddy issues, he often seems the most interesting person on screen, even when the story is positively schizophrenic about his character. Similarly, an underused Charlize Theron is also strong as the icy company rep overseeing the mission, who keeps us guessing what she may really be up to. She is solid even when spouting groan-worthy dialog. By contrast, Noomi Rapace's scientist searching for God and higher meaning is downright boring, although she does get the film's most memorable and suspenseful scene forced to give herself a desperate make-shift abortion. Marshall Green, as her fellow scientist/love interest, is saddled with playing a shallow jerk, while Idris Elba is wasted as the ship's captain.
The film sports an unhealthy list of ill-conceived decisions. Fassbender's android repeatedly reminds us that he is not subject to emotion, but his actions throughout the film seem to belie that. This subplot ultimately gets forgotten or bungled. Further, Marshall Green may be a bit of a jerk, but he definitely does not deserve the nasty fate assigned him by Fassbender. If Fassbender is emotionless, why does he single out the one character that needles him for his "experiment", when there were many other far less essential players that would have fit the bill better. Characters insist on wearing protective suits in one scene only to blithely discard them a moment later on the flimsiest of pretext, and then insist on the importance of using them AFTER their exposure to foreign elements. Pearce's subplot of the dying man seeking immortality is one of the few truly predictable things in the film and does not make a whole lot of sense in the final moments. Why is the attack/deaths of the first characters handled in such a klutzy fashion (and why are they so stupid and unlikable)? Why do these engineers seem to suffer from such uncontrollable rage? Why would Theron leave her escape pod for no reason to simply place herself in harm's way? Am I the only one that finds the ultimate denouement of Rapace's aborted alien fetus and its tie-in with the "Alien" a bit silly? Finally, after all that she has witnessed, why would Rapace insist on pursuing the "engineers" across the cosmos to demand they answer her questions about life? She already witnessed that they feel humans beneath contempt and not worthy of even one word of response - so why is she under the rather dumb notion that a horde of them will react differently to her queries? It seems a rather badly thought out effort to leave the door open for a sequel, especially since this film answers almost none of the high-minded questions that it presents.
In final analysis, the film is ambitious to a fault, beautiful to look at, but almost criminally unsatisfying on any intellectual, emotional or thrill level. The cast is filled with competent performers, but only Fassbender and Theron make an impression. Much like the frustrating Lost, the screenplay has a lot of questions or thinks it has a lot to say, but delivers nothing in the way of answers or closure on any front. All combines to make this a royally frustrating misfire.