Prometheus - the great expectation

Rating: 1/10 (22 June 2012)

Why am I happy I saw Prometheus today? Answer: 1. My brother-in-law treated me so I didn't have to pay for the ticket. 2. I had really tasty ice-creams after the movie. 3. Now that I've seen it, I won't be trying to see if a DVD rip is available...ever.
Why Prometheus sucks? I sometimes really believe that sci-fi movies are the only kind of movies one should watch. This is because sci-fi movies usually deal with the eternal questions - ones that modern science cannot answer. Question like: - Origin of man (2001 Space Odyssey) - Perceived superiority of man over all other creatures (Planet of the Apes) - End of the world (2012) - Man's obsession with control and biotechnology (Outbreak, Contagion)
just to list a few..
Out of these, the 'origin of man' is perhaps the most complex and most interesting topic. So, when you pick a topic of this magnitude, you just DON'T, I repeat you DON'T treat it lightly.
Prometheus' first ten minutes is awesome. The premise of other-worldly beings responsible for human-kind's existence should be the most important finale/punchline/climax. If this first scene was the last for a movie then that would have made a lasting impact on a viewer.
However, Prometheus decides to start the movie with this. Fast-forward >> you have the familiar team of people in space-hibernation while an android takes care of the spaceship till destination is reached. This is followed by familiar mission briefing >> followed by underground cave exploration.
Seeing the holographic images of the 'engineers' was also pretty impressive. I must say the special-effects especially the way 3D has been used (if you watch in 3D) is great. The expectation from the movie is at maximum around this moment.
This is the point after which things start going horribly horrible :). Sequence of events: Maggot spotted >> turns into large snakelike creature >> kills crew. Everything beyond this is as predictable as a Tom & Jerry cartoon where Jerry has the last laugh except that the cartoon is a lot more entertaining.
Did the makers of the movie expect the declaration of 'yes father' by the character 'Meredith Vickers' a breaking moment for the movie? I think most people would have guessed it. In any case this revelation has absolutely zero significance in the movie .. so moving on.
The 'old man' responsible for the entire mission is found to be still alive & sitting in the spaceship the whole time; maybe not predictable but it still does not have any significance in the movie since he dies soon afterwards.
The most important moment where I still had some hope was when the crew finally meets the other-worldly 'engineer' .. and then what? He (the engineer/God etc) just acts like a 'gansta' and kicks the hell out everyone. The old man dies almost instantly (maybe that's a good thing since this character slowed down a lot of scenes) followed by just one human-survivor and a robot's-head.
It's all negative from then on and the end really does not close any of the things.
There is a line where one scientist says something like 'so they(other-worldly engineers) made us (humans)' and the other says 'then who made them (other-worldly engineers)?'. Now I think this particular line has immense potential - a movie could end with such a line and we would then have a sequel. Yet again Prometheus takes this too lightly and does not explore the most important topic i.e. man's origin in the spirit it should.
The problem with Prometheus is that is sets up a huge expectation in the first ten-to-fifteen minutes BUT the main concept is birth of aliens which I believe pales in front of the question about man's own origin.
Yup - though I can watch every sequel of Aliens as many times as they air on TV, I do admit they are all brain-dead movies. So, brain-dead movies are better off NOT trying to include complex topics like the ones mentioned above. What happens when you do that? You just end up really really pissing-off the SCI/FI community.
Prometheus R.I.P.