Prometheus: great buildup but lazy writing

Rating: 10/10 (1 June 2012)

AGAIN: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD.
I went to see Prometheus yesterday here in the Netherlands after months of anticipation, and tried not to expect too much of it. The first part of the movie was sheer perfection imo, it was how I expected it to be - the whole build up of characters, the build up leading to going into the temple and showing a lot of different things that you know isn't good but you're not sure what it is, the duststorm- scene, and even some funny interactions.
So that's everything I liked, without any complaints: the build up. The moment where Milburn and Fifield got *beep* up by snakes and black goo, was pretty intense and I hoped to see more of that: things spiralling out of control quickly and gruesomely. The story was sadly enough now trying to tell too much, which wasn't really needed at this point.
In my opinion the whole Weyland part was really lame and could have easily been cut out. And the terrible reveal of Vickers saying 'father' to him... well you could hear the whole audience cringe. This was where characters started to make illogical decisions just for the plot.
This isn't the clever movie we've secretly expected it to be, but it most certainly isn't another horror/sci-fi flick. It had a lot of potential at first but then started to drop in quality plotwise, and characters were killed off too early - with no real implications. They tried to put all the action in the ending but this was done way too hasty. The way David and Vickers were just killed off was really disappointing, and Cuddles being a horror-cliché tentacle monster: meh. Of course followed by a CGI xeno-type creature coming out of the SJ, which was really lame.
These were all complaints. But I can still say I've enjoyed the movie a lot - heck, if it wasn't the best film I've seen in a long time. It doesn't spoonfeed everything to you and that's why you have to see it again - and it's why A L I E N and Bladerunner didn't get good reviews at first but in the end became classics.
The whole build up of the characters (David, Shaw, Vickers and the captain, Idris Elba) and the discovery of the creepy tombe, the MedPod- scene, Fifield being run over twice while on fire, the visuals, every scene David was in... I've got to see it again!
This is the kind of movie that leaves you confused and full of questions - I talked with my friends about the movie for hours and that's something I've never done. It was always like: 'hm good movie right? yeah.' But this is the kind of movie you really have to see twice. Or thrice. The less you know about the movie before you go to see it, the more you will probably enjoy it.