Fans were expecting more...

Rating: 7/10 (31 December 2012)

Probably my most anticipated movie of the year was Ridley Scott's Alien prequel , "Prometheus". Being an Alien fan since basically day one, I was anxious to know the origins of the xenophorm. I later found out that Scott denied the fact that "Prometheus" was a "direct" prequel to the Alien saga, but he would base the story very close to that universe and would heavily reference his 1979 blockbuster. This statement left me a bit cold; in my book, it's either a prequel or not. It's like saying your girl is "sort" of pregnant. Either she is or she is not. He could've made a whole new movie about the Alien's background instead.
Anyway, "Prometheus", in general, was a great movie to watch but it will leave die-hard Alien fans like myself with more questions than answers. The movie not only deals with the origins of the Xenophorm but with the origins of mankind itself: who made us who we are and why? A pretty neat way to put a new twist into the Alien saga, I thought. Noomi Rapace stars as Elizabeth Shaw, an archaeologist obsessed with the theory that us human beings were "engineered" by an extraterrestrial race and for a reason. The ever present Weyland corporation manages to bankroll her and her team of scientists to travel to a planet where they think everything originated from. This planet is the infamous LV223, the same planet where Dallas and his crew met their fate on Alien (1979), although in this movie we see a planet very much like Earth, with an almost livable atmosphere, unlike the hostile environment we see in Alien (1979). When the spaceship arrives, they see what appears to be ancient buildings and huge runways for bigger spacecraft to land in. Assistant to the crew is David, this movie's equivalent to Ash, a human like android who acts mysteriously throughout the entire movie, possessing knowledge about this alien civilization unbeknown st to the rest of the crew (and the audience!). Needless to say, once the crew set foot on the planet, the mayhem is slowly unleashed. It is here where my big questions arise and discrepancies start to abound when compared to the first Alien film. One thing I truly despise about so called "prequels" is their lack of "reasonable continuity". Let me explain: If the events in this movie happened BEFORE the first Alien film, then why the hell are we allowed to see a VASTLY superior technology in the hands of the crew? Sure, Special FX these days allow for a more glitzy showcase; floating touchscreens, intelligent portable devices, superior spaceships, etc. I mean, can you really watch a movie from a 1940's time period with supersonic jets, laptops and flat screens??? Although not as offensive as the STAR WARS prequels, I'm amazed Ridley Scott allowed this. Still, and unlike the STAR WARS prequels, shades of Alien's (1979) technology are present in this movie: the space ship corridors and set up do hold a strong resemblance and the cockpit and some of the navigation controls are practically identical to those seen in the first film. "Prometheus" biggest revelation and probably fan's biggest surprise, was getting to see the origin of the ominous "space jockey", the giant alien corpse that Dallas and crew find inside the alien spaceship in the first film. Although in the first film we are lead to believe that we are watching the skeletal remains of this big alien, in "Prometheus" we find out that the "skeleton" was an "armour" and that a human like creature was inside. Again Ridley makes a sort of continuity mistake: in the first Alien film we can clearly see bone and flesh remains on the space jockey's chest, leaving little doubt that this was no space suit but an actual corpse that "exploded" from the inside. Now in "Prometheus" that "corpse" turns out to be a space suit! In the final scenes of the movie, David (the android) "thaws" out one of these space jockeys and starts talking his language. It is understood that David, as a computer/machine, has spent thousands of hours learning different human languages. Since these space jockeys are direct descendants of us humans, he figures that by making a mix of languages he can communicate with this alien. In a sudden turn of events, the space jockey goes mad and rips David's head off and starts attacking the rest of the expedition. It appears that the space jockey's spaceship was carrying a deadly cargo and was heading for earth before being thawed out. Why was he going to Earth is never fully explained, but Dr. Shaw and David assume that his mission was to destroy Earth.
Oh, and the Xenophorm!
There's something like a "pre-Alien" alien in the film, but again, we are left to wonder where these "pre-aliens" came from and why where they so important to the space jockey race. A movie that could've addressed these origins went by only leaving me with more questions. Ridley could've made the BEST Alien movie since probably "ALIENS" (1986), giving audiences AND fans the treat of our lifetimes by truly doing a prequel, instead of this half baked attempt. True, I really enjoyed "Prometheus" and I will probably watch it more and more as time goes by, trying to find those tiny details that I probably missed, but it's because I enjoyed it that I truly missed a better written prequel.