Art and Science don't always mix.

Rating: 4/10 (3 December 2012)

The first time I saw Prometheus I thought it wasn't as bad as some were saying. The cinematography was great and the performance of Michael Fassbender made it a largely enjoyable experience. I didn't like the 'scientists' Shaw and Holloway at all but I tried to endure.
Then after a second viewing the plot holes and poor dialogue that others had pointed out became apparent. My third viewing was on a flight from Seoul to Taipei. On the small screen the great cinematography wasn't there to save the movie. I now think this is close to awful but I gave it a 4/10 because of cinematography and Fassbender.
The problems are too obvious to point out. From watching Ridley Scott being interviewed it was clear he thought he was making a masterpiece. Whether it was hubris or self delusion I don't know but one thing that became clear was that he had no grasp of the material.
Scott is an artist and he's good at his stuff. He's not so good at science. This was also clear in Alien and Blade Runner. With Alien it didn't matter because it was just a horror movie in space. With Blade Runner the poor science, story telling and editing was hidden by the praise of critics telling us that it was a classic and that anyone who didn't think so was an idiot. The poor dialogue, confusing storyline and the lack of a clear ending were all signs of genius at work. Forget the fact that no one in the movie knew what it was about and that the studio execs were horrified by the final product. Obviously they were all idiots and didn't understand the majesty of the movie! I think that's what Scott thought he could get away with in Prometheus. Any plot holes would be covered over by the critics and his fans. Scientific inaccuracies could be dismissed as nitpicking, poor character development could be explained away by 'symbolism' and a stupid ending as just the set up for a sequel.
As for the characters. As I said Shaw and Holloway were awful. I was so disappointed that Noomi Rapace's character survived the movie. She didn't deserve it. In Alien, Ripley deserved to survive. She was the most sensible, level headed and resourceful of the crew. Shaw was written as a blind and arrogant fanatic. At the end of the movie she was still a blind and arrogant fanatic. No development at all.
I would write about the other characters but there weren't any.