Lots of pop, but too muddled to become another classic!

Rating: 7/10 (9 June 2012)

I originally saw the teasers for "Prometheus," and to be honest I wasn't really looking forward to it.
Then, after reading some of the reviews on other websites, and seeing the more recent trailers, I became more interested. And then, seeing the cast (Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace in particular), my interest was fully stoked, and I went into this expecting to see a classic.
What I got...was modest entertainment, but a far cry from what I was expecting.
The story, as it goes, is that two researchers near the close of the 23rd century find cave art from various, primitive civilizations, which seems to suggest that humanity may finally be able to find the "engineers" who engineered...us.
Fast forward a few minutes, and a full crew in cryostasis on board the trillion dollar ship called the "Prometheus" arrives at a planet that seems to be very Earth like...but for the fact that it has no atmosphere that is capable of sustaining human life.
The crew ironically enough without a short time of arriving on the planet discover topographical markings that seem to suggest that we may have found them. And upon further exploration, it is discovered that they have found them: humanoid creatures that apparently share our DNA completely...except that they seem to average 8 to 10 feet in height, and are considerably stronger than us.
And for the most part, they are dead.
Naturally the crew are scientists, so they recover the head of one of these beings, while the android David (played by Fassbender) embarks on his own secret, clandestine, malevolent mission...which includes engineering the demise of his master, and infecting another crew member with an alien organism.
The alien organisms start to pick off the human crew members of the Prometheus, resulting in chasing and carnage and leaving a sole survivor who is effectively stranded on an alien world, without the hope of rescue, and the birth of a new species...which suggests that this film may have been intended to be the prequel to the "Alien" saga.
The film is effective at keeping you engaged, and providing some mild scares...but for the most part, as I watched it, I found myself completely underwhelmed. This is a new role for Noomi Rapace, and she's decent in the film, but she has more talent than gets showcased in this.
The same goes for Michael Fassbender: coming off a year where he played a psychologist with an ethical dilemma ("A Dangerous Method"), a short lived but a suave, extremely sexy and ruthless assassin ("Haywire"), a tortured mutant with almost unmatchable powers who kills a madman and leads a rebellion ("X-Men: First Class") and a conflicted man struggling with a sex addiction ("Shame"), this seems like a real come down for him.
This isn't a bad film...but I think it's been over-hyped, and if you buy the hype, you may not enjoy what you get to see.