I'm a total fan of Alien and Aliens, and this is a worthy pre-cursor...a visual explosion

Rating: 7/10 (26 June 2012)

Prometheus (2012)
Prometheus in Greek myth created man from clay. This is the key to the movie, and the original notion of this creation is told in a brilliant vivid opening sequence before the titles. Prometheus's body dissolves into the waters, his DNA disconnects, and then it reforms, as if from nothing, and a more known sense of evolution begins, with the pre-ordained final outcome being a human species. When the current story begins it is openly an exploration to find the origins of human life, which are thought to live on a distant planet.
Prometheus is also the god who gave fire to humans, and this is a secondary but important aspect to the story. Not only does the space crew find hints of the creation of man, but also the creation of man's ingenuity and destructive potential. It's good stuff, well done.
This story does not on the surface rely on the Alien movies but it does connect to them both in chronology and in feel. The director Ridley Scott is the same as for the original 1979 "Alien" and he's probably the best of the "franchise," (no offense to James Cameron and his second, also excellent film, "Aliens"). The set design is inspired by (with acknowledgement) the brilliant H. H. Giger, which is now archetypal and remains terrific.
The plot line is similar in a broad sense--a group of rag tag mostly American-seeming space travelers find this planet with some suspicious looking traces of civilization and, eventually, new life-forms. Things are not benign from there. There is the familiar inclusion of creatures inhabiting, and bursting from, human hosts and there is a great android/robot central character. And there is a fight to the end and a near death for our heroes, male female and otherwise.
This gives nothing away, unless you've never seen a movie before. In fact, these are requirements for this series, because the audience is there in part to see how everything is faring. And to see how the Sigourney Weaver "replacement" is doing. And this younger actress (Weaver in her 60s was not right for the part of a young doctor with dreams of having a baby) is Noomi Rapace and she's very good in her own distinct way. It's inevitable for awhile that she is identified as the original "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." She is less fully filled out here, but I think that's because of the kind of film this is, where all the characters play types rather than real full blooded characters. Any attempt to fill in her psychology and inner being are short-circuited by having to survive the ongoing threats all around. And I mean ongoing and all around.
Likewise for the talented Charlize Theron, who is stiff and wooden to the point that even one of the other characters asks if she is really a robot. The confirmed robot is the second main character names simply David, played with perfect restraint and cool detachment (he's a robot after all) by Michael Fassbender. Robots are complicated in nature but emotionally rather simple, and this conflict is a fascinating aspect to the film.
The biggest draw, and the best reason to see the movie, is the experience of being there, of seeing and feeling the places so incredibly conjured up and atmospheric. It's amazing stuff, and the director has to share credit with a whole slew of art directors and set designers. And editors and photographers (photography being the first step in a heavily post-processed final image).
Don't expect an emotionally deep drama, of course. And you'll have to look the other way at a few improbabilities, even in this world of wonderful improbability. For example, why would a billion dollar several year expedition have several disgruntled and apparently unprepared and uninformed crew members? And can someone really have a major abdominal operation and then spend the next hour running, leaping, and gasping (at least)?
But if you do in fact look the other way briefly, you'll be swept away and blown away, and generally pretty darned impressed by yet another take on the confrontation of mere humans with superior species. Which may or may not be related to our own, as you'll see.