Had potential but blew it.

Rating: 4/10 (13 February 2013)

Meh..., kinda lame. Too many inconsistencies and bogus "science". Not enough hard science fiction. For example, the alien who first disintegrates into the water of ancient Earth to kick-start life supposedly had identical DNA to modern humans. But what about the the other animals on earth? Since he dissolved into the primordial soup, should he not have been an identical match with fish and cats, too? The archaeological-astronomical connection is so pathetic that it is laughable. How would ancient people know about their creators who, rather than visiting them in flying machines, simply put their DNA in the water? The star pattern that is supposedly common to all the archaeological digs across thousands of years is identical, even though the positions of stars is constantly changing (albeit slowly). Then, the stars in that pattern are called a "system", even though every amateur astronomer knows that just because two stars may appear very close in the sky, it does not mean that they are actually close or part of the same "system.". Space is three-dimensional, after all. Equally inept is the treatment of the topography of the alien planet. Unlikely as it may seem, the Prometheus lands practically on top of some pyramid-looking structure, even though there is no beacon that leads them to it. They begin to map the thing out using remote drones only to find out that it is actually horseshoe-shaped, which prompts one genius crew member to exclaim that it is a space ship (I guess because horseshoe-shaped space ships are common by 2090?) But then later in the movie the entire pyramid structure completely disappears and the terrain from which the alien spacecraft takes off looks like a featureless plain.
Moving on to the story, I could see that Ridley Scott wanted to create as interesting a crew for the Prometheus as he did for the Nostromo, or as likable as the marines in Aliens 2, but he failed miserably. About the only crew member that is relatively convincing is the android, David. The rest of them are rather boring. Attempts to give them some life by having them act eccentrically or being aggressive (for no reason) to other crew members, or sleeping around (again, for no reason) falls flat. For a bunch of scientists who go on a trillion-dollar 4-year (assuming round trip) expedition to another planet, they sure are a lot of misfits. They take their helmets off on an alien world, because the "air was breathable", completely ignorant of the possibility of alien microbes or other biological dangers, or of the fact that they could be infecting another planet with their bacteria. One is also never quite sure how many crew there are on the Prometheus. People come and go. We are made to think that only 3 of the crew were on board when the ship crashes into the aliens near the end of the movie, but what happened to all those other members of the crew that we did not see die earlier? They were not given the option to evacuate? Or did they die in scenes that have been cut? I could go on and on about the nonsensical plot, which seems more like bad cut & paste job of several pointless sub-plots. Why did the android want to preserve the alien creature inside the lead female character? Speaking of which, why did the implanted alien inside the girl start moving around and bulging out only after she found out that it was inside? Then, when we finally see it, it must be about 15 pounds. How did it fit inside the woman who did not look one day pregnant? Finally, there is the lame lead-in to the Alien movies. Rather then leave it up the the imagination, or make the connection subtle, they overdo it by actually showing the alien space ship resting exactly like it would be later found in Alien, but from like... all angles, in case some moron would not get it. Then, they actually show a creature hatching that looks unmistakably like a forerunner of the aliens from the other movies. Get it now? It's a prequel. Jeeeez.