decent sci-fi picture that turns into a below average horror movie and features lots of bad "science"

Rating: 6/10 (13 June 2012)

like sunshine, prometheus is a true sci-fi picture that turns into a below average horror movie. fassbender was really, really great, but the picture features many career-worst performances, such as the weakest work i've ever seen by theron and elba. this isn't a surprise, given the director--- harrison ford has never been worse than he was in blade runner.
i still don't understand what the opening scene meant--- why the thing altered it's dna and killed itself. or how exactly elba knew that it was a weapons depot. this seemed like a throw in to explain missing stuff to the audience.
additionally, the tie-in to the alien franchise is unneeded--- those are horror/action movies and have almost no science.
and the amount of dumb science was truly incredible.
1. "hmm. we are in an alien environment. let's sends balls of brilliant red lightning ahead of us--- that couldn't ever be construed as hostile, could it?" i bet ridley said, "cause it looks cool." 2. even more idiotic is the removal of helmets when the adjacent environment is toxic. they hit one air vent and they're all dead. 3. and then, after people are infected, they return...and remove their helmets again. yikes. scientists shouldn't be dumber that the dumbest person in the audience, but here they are. 4. and from what matter/energy source could the octo-alien increase its size by over 100 times in just a day? how did this 5 pound creature generate the body mass to become a thousand pound creature while stuck in a sterile lab? i bet ridley said, "cause it looks cool." 5. and more bad science is how a massively advanced ship would be destroyed by a lame human craft scuttling it. that ship would obviously have something to deal with matter in space that travels at far higher speeds than this slow human ship. 6. and even more bad science is the ergonomically awful "future" ship that requires the pilot to pick up a recorder and use two hands and a mouth to activate something and later move his hands across vast spaces to pilot the ship. this is like putting a turn signal in the back seat and the ignition on the hood.
overall, there were some striking images--- especially the resuscitated alien's head and the c-section sequence--- but it seems like prometheus was a three hour movie that the studio shortened by an hour to make more exciting, because lots of scenes were really rushed and none of the characters--- except fassbender's--- were at all developed.