Impressive watch

Rating: 8/10 (30 May 2012)

Ridley Scott's Alien is my all time favorite movie so I've been anticipating Prometheus ever since the prequel was announced. Since I couldn't resist the wait, I saw it early this morning the day of its official release in my country.
First of all, the trailers showed it, the cinematography is fantastic. Ridley Scott nailed that aspect like a genuine master. The entire movie is basically a succession of grandiose shots which surely will have other directors blush in shame. The cinematography is accompanied by great sets and fantastic special effects for which Prometheus should receive a bunch a nominations.
The acting is flawless, except perhaps for a few minor characters. Special praise goes to Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron whose characters are also extremely well written and convincing. Noomi especially deserves applause for her flawless acting. There are a good number of scenes where her character is understandably very disturbed and terrified, and Noomi's acting is so genuine I wanted to scream out "just throw her a damn Oscar already!". One refreshing aspect of her character is that, contrary to what one might expect, she's not like Ripley from Alien. Ripley was from the start a pretty strong woman, close to a tomboy. Noomi's character, Elizabeth Shaw, is much more impulsive, insecure and feminine. She grows stronger as her situation becomes desperate, but she remains endearing and delicate enough that the extremely shocking things she must endure are genuinely heartbreaking.
The plot for Prometheus is where I have more reservations. The attempt at making some characters seem like scientists, including Noomi's character, made me cringe at times. It's typical Hollywood scientists, by that I mean not very believable. How a teenager would imagine science-speak to be like. The build up for the climax was somewhat disappointing in comparison to the first two Alien films, and to me lacked a distinct atmosphere so essential for a horror film. The action and horror scenes were genuinely good and exciting, sometimes shocking, however I wasn't scared any time, but perhaps I've just grown insensitized to horror by now. I'll also add that if you thought the classic Alien life cycle (queen lays egg, which hatches facehugger, which plants embryo in host, which grows into a xenomorph) was a stretch, wait till you see what Prometheus has to offer, which I find makes little sense and I'll probably be wondering more about that than anything else. Obviously, the creatures in Prometheus are some forms of ancestral or primitive types which may evolve into what we know from the Alien franchise. Regardless, Prometheus offers some very pleasing surprises throughout, and it's great to discover this universe which will surely become a franchise. Ridley Scott wished it, and the end of the movie shamelessly confirms it, to the point that one could expect a "To be continued..." before the credits. Also many questions remain painfully unanswered, which is somewhat cheap.
Anyway, Prometheus remains an impressive watch and paves the way to what could be a grand new mythology. It doesn't match the first two Alien films in quality, and one shouldn't expect it to or he will be sorely disappointed. I will probably go see Prometheus again, because the first time was somewhat overwhelming. I wouldn't be surprised if Prometheus is the kind of film which gets better after a few viewings. I'll add that the ending of Prometheus announces an epic sequel, probably much better, so I'm pretty hopeful for one to happen.