A Complex Question Gets Lame, Unintelligent Treatment

Rating: 2/10 (11 June 2012)

What is the origin of human life? It's a comples question. But that doesn't mean a movie trying to address it has to be confusing. Confusing does not equal depth.
The movie is simply bad. Some good CGI, but overall, bad plot, bad character development, bad story line. Here are some examples: The archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her boyfriend Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a star map among the remnants of several otherwise unconnected ancient cultures. They interpret that map as an invitation. How is it an invitation? We don't know. No one explains. I could give them that, but then they make another unbelievable leap by interpreting that the large people depicted in the ancient star maps are not only aliens, but "the Engineers" of humans Huh? How did they arrive at that conclusion by looking at ancient star maps? The Weyland company pays a trillion dollars to fund the scientific expedition and yet they have no security backup. No one would invest that much money in a multi-year project without security. It's ridiculous.
As soon as they arrive, by chance, to the location of the alien structure, they immediately investigate with only 6 hours of daylight left. In that time, they decide that all of the engineers are dead and no one is left. HUH? Did they not notice the umpteen other alien structures? Did they check those out? Look inside? Send probes? No. But nonetheless, Charlie Holloway is thrown into deep depression and begins drinking heavily because the engineers are dead. In six hours, this multi-year project has been rendered a failure.
The android David "spikes" Charlie's champagne with a drop of fluid that contains alien DNA. By the next morning, Charlie is begins to mutate in a very similar way as the Engineer alien did in the opening credits. Except when the Engineer alien drinks the DNA potion, he disintegrates, falls into a river and spawns life for that planet. Charlie, however, obtains superhuman strength. Even after Vickers uses a flamethrower on him, somehow Charlie comes back to life. When he does, he goes on a rampage and kills a bunch of people. Okay, but what does this have to do with the plot? Nothing. Charlie is killed again. He serves no threat to anyone but himself. The movie goes on. What was the point of this scene? Near the end of the movie, we learn that Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) is Peter Weyland's daughter. They have a contentious, bitter relationship and Weyland favors the android David like a son. What does this character dynamic have to do with anything that happens in the movie? This contention does not move the story forward in any way, shape, or manner. We see a little rivalry between Vickers and David, but not much and what we see has no influence on the overall story. Again, what is the point? The scientists don't act like scientists. The biologist "flirts" with the snake-like alien like he's a child. No professionalism at all. Elizabeth Shaw, despite being a renowned archaeologist "believes" in the engineers. It's like she completely discounts data. This could actually be an interesting character development: A scientist who has an internal conflict between what the evidence says and what a belief system might purport could be worth exploring in the narrative. But it is not explored. It's glossed over and only touched upon when convenient.
And even Shaw asks, "Who made the engineers?" Good question and the fact that it's not even explored by anyone in the movie reduces the film's theme, which is about the origin of life. Are we supposed to feel awe that Shaw is simply asking the questions? How about getting at some of these deep questions? How about a hint? When the disabled Engineer ship crashes to the planet and begins rolling (ala Raiders of the Lost Ark) toward the fleeing Shaw and Vickers, are we supposed to feel anxious when they run in the direct path of the tumbling ship? Here's an idea: run perpendicular. Is this supposed to be a suspenseful scene? Lame.
Lastly, we have no hint at why the so-called Engineers developed the aliens in order to destroy humans. Why did they need to go to such lengthy measures to destroy Earthlings? These are the same questions Shaw is asking and the ones that ultimately drive her back into space to seek out the Engineers. But at this point, the whole story is so convoluted and dissatisfying that I don't really care to follow her.
This movie is a huge disappointment from someone like Scott who did such a great job with Aliens and BladeRunner. It wasn't scary, it wasn't deep, it didn't have a thread, the character development was lame and the plot riddled with holes.