Yes of course it's a prequel

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2012)

I must state at the start that this review contains spoilers. That is because of the absurd claim in the early days of this movie that it is not a prequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 movie Alien. Of course it's a prequel - it sets up the scene where the Nostromo exploratory party discover the "sky pilot" in the alien ship, for a start off. To say it's not a prequel is ridiculous.
This movie starts with a very striking and mysterious scene following which it switches to scientist Noomie Rapace who, it turns out, has discovered a clue to the secret of where human beings originally came from, which leads mega-rich (and dying) Guy Pearce to fund a mission to the point in space indicated by the clue. The crew of 17 includes Rapace and her bloke, Charlize Theron in charge, and Michael Fassbender as the android assistant of Pearce's character.
I was disappointed in Alien back in 1979. After all the hype, I found the first hour slow and boring and the second hour a standard monster in haunted house / last man standing yarn in a spaceship setting. Prometheus, I am glad to see, while referencing many of the moments in Alien which were fan favourites, is a much more consistently entertaining ride, and very much its own thing rather than just a reprise. The visuals are terrific, there is a fair amount of gory and revolting stuff, and it's quite a good story (albeit the philosophical issues are ditched eventually in favour of blowing sh*t up). Some surprises are revealed along the way.
It's not perfect. There are elements of character set up which are never used, and there is at least one misplaced laugh moment, like the one in the original when the Muppet baby alien skitters across the floor, taking all the steam out of the otherwise shocking chestburster sequence. If I just say "staples" and say that everyone in the cinema burst out laughing... And - big spoiler coming up - after setting up the sky pilot, who was it in the lifeboat grappling with Noomie Rapace's hitcher, and how did the sky pilot's chest burster happen? Or was that a different craft (it was established that there were others)? And how did the android know that? Perhaps not all questions were answered after all.
But this was a good, entertaining, horror oriented science fiction movie.
There were times when the 3D was stunning but, overall, it wasn't essential.
I am adding these comments after a second viewing. It is clear on second viewing that the Engineer spacecraft seen in this film is NOT the same one seen in Alien: to that extent, there is no direct link between the films.
The music and eye candy are terrific.
And the film is full to overflowing with illogicalities, inconsistencies, matters unexplained which need explaining, and downright errors (nearly all of which have been covered in other reviews, although I can't recall anything mentioning the disembodied head gurgling despite having no lungs with which to propel a gurgle upwards). It is as if the filmmakers have devoted so much effort to imparting Significance, Art, and Meaningful Subtext to the piece that no-one had any time to go over the script for fundamental c*ck-ups. How come the storm blows away the scooter and not Shaw? Is she heavier than a piece of machinery?
The more I think about this film, the more it annoys me.