The writers defended a very weak hand with convincing poker faces.

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2012)

Prometheus is a visual feast with ambitious ideas on an epic scale and should win awards for set design, visual effects and cinematography. It's director, Ridley Scott, having given us defining moments in science fiction cinema, has rightly raised fans' expectations.
Unfortunately this Alien prequel is let down by its script. It's a cavalcade of unfinished ideas and rushed character development that falls short of its ambitions despite Scott wrapping everything up in a stylish veneer. The two writers previously scribed the likes of The Darkest Hour and Lost, the latter of which never got to the point despite100-hours of trying. In just two hours, with far bigger concepts, Prometheus never stood a chance.
The first act starts well but it's always easy to sell an idea initially. The utilisation of the Alien Universe, Peter Weyland's quest for immortality, the very name of the starship Prometheus and the large themes of existentialism, creationism, destructionism and evolution make the story interesting. This is explored on micro and macro scales, the micro being Elizabeth Shaw's (Noomi Rapace) inability to conceive a child and her father's death at the hand of the Ebola virus; destructionism at its finest. The flip-side, the bigger-picture themes, explore the creation of life on Earth and its impending destruction at the hands of its creators. Running parallel to this is the analogy between mankind, as the creators of the Android, David, and the alien creatures themselves, the creators of mankind. The manner in which this is explored, complete with analogies between the robotically human Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) and the very-human robot, David (Michael Fassbender), breathe life into the story. Faith and religion are other major themes, albeit to a lesser extent. In Prometheus, humans have met their makers, but the question being posed is: what created them?
Prometheus struggles to assemble its parts into a satisfying story. Only Michael Fassbender's android, David, interests, whilst Rapace and the rest of the cast are given little to work with. Rapace's character never feels real, neither does her colleague, Charlie Holloway, (played by Logan Marshall-Green) whom, having just arrived at the planet he's dedicated his life to finding, inexplicably turns to alcoholism. Surely the initial excitement would last longer than a few hours after touchdown? The sinister motives surrounding the Android, David, are loosely explained by the introduction of Peter Weyland of the 'company' (Weyland-Yutani from the Aliens Universe), however I would question Weyland's motivation. He is dying so his agenda should be different. The motivations behind the remaining characters are equally confusing. Shaw, having seen her lover burnt alive, has to fight unsympathetic companions and conduct her own cesarean. Moments later her stomach is stapled and she's charging all over the place, her motivation an enigma. It's also baffling why the Captain of the Prometheus would power his ship heroically into the alien vessel. Perhaps this is to explain more of Alien's back story, albeit a slightly misaligned one. This isn't the same planet as LV- 426 (Acheron) and yet the action that gets played out mirrors what is eventually found there in Alien. It is confusing. I also took issue with the roles of Fifield and Millburn (Sean Harris and Rafe Spall) who spend their time bickering and constantly reacting in terror. Their characters are inappropriate for a hand-picked team dedicated to the mission. Why bring them? Fifield wouldn't have passed a psychometric test for a construction job in the UK let alone be eligible for deep space exploration.
Prometheus at least attempts to explain the origins of Scott's Alien. When our scientists arrive at new planet, they discover a 'head chamber' full of cylindrical, slime-oozing plinths; a seemingly less-evolved version of the egg chamber from Alien. From these come snake-like creatures that could similarly be less-evolved face-huggers. This evolutionary thread is more evident during the final moments, when a squid-like 'chest burster' from these less-evolved face-huggers impregnates one of the 'alien creators.' This gives rise to a familiar sight, the alien from Scott's 1979 film. Sadly this moment is swept up in CGI, belonging more to Alien3 than the original classic.
Creationism and evolution in Prometheus are not mutually exclusive. This is demonstrated by the liquid used by the aliens to begin the process of life. It's creationism that runs an evolutionary course, requiring life that has already evolved to make it work. It's a sequence illustrated in the opening stages, where an alien creature drinks black liquid and breaks down into the sum of its DNA. This DNA evolves into all life on Earth, suggesting the God-like maker will go on to become everyone and everything. Ergo God is everywhere. Conversely, when Holloway's character consumes a drop of the liquid, his body reacts differently. Why? This is not explored. Instead the writers' prefer to end that 'difficult' plot thread by having him killed. Similarly they never explain why some of the aliens are resting in hyper sleep or the big question of why they create and destroy life. They prefer to hide behind the guise of mystery. This is never more evident than when one of the 'creator-aliens' has the opportunity to talk to its creations. Instead of an interesting 'reveal' it simply embarks on a killing spree and is intent on destroying the Earth. We don't know why, but after much screaming the film grinds to an anticlimactic finale with few answers.
Ultimately Prometheus is a vacuous experience. Nothing more than well-directed nonsense with magnificent production values. Plenty of it makes little sense and one can only hope that a Blu Ray 'Director's Cut' will prove more satisfying. Why did you create us? Because we could. Why do you believe? Because I choose to. These one-liners could be a metaphor for all of Prometheus' secrets. Ultimately, like Lost before it, the writers defended a very weak hand with convincing poker faces.