Delivers as Promised and More

Rating: 9/10 (10 June 2012)

I don't remember being this excited over a movie in a long time and by god, Ridley Scott's return to sci-fi PROMETHEUS is as close as we could get to a modern day masterpiece.
PROMETHEUS does as promised in the ad campaign and fan expectations; it serves as a semi-prequel to ALIEN but it's also a standalone story by itself. It delivers the space-bound horror in true old-school fashion similar to the original ALIEN; you don't really know what's killing the cast but it's still the stuff of nightmares. But what really impressed me was that the movie does a lot more than that.
The film throws in some existentialist themes that fit in the storyline and don't seem forced. Other films try to do this and instead of sounding deep, they look stupid. PROMETHEUS on the other hand does it seamlessly; nothing is shoved down your throat and no one idea is shown to be better than the other. Mysteries are dropped left and right; not everything may be answered by the end but as one character said in the film, the answers may be irrelevant. What I really liked about this film was it got me thinking a lot even by the time the credits rolled. Sure, connections to the ALIEN universe MAY help answer a few questions and speculations but there is no definite answer. It's really up to the viewer to figure out some parts for themselves. In a time when every answer and plot detail is served on a silver platter and very few movie makers want to make the audience think, PROMETHEUS stands out and confuses you and leaves you asking a lot of questions... and you'll love every second of it.
Visually the movie was engaging; what you'll see on screen is one of the most beautiful yet haunting settings ever imagined. It's also interesting to note that a good number of the places on screen were actually sets, not purely CGI. I've always had a thing for practical effects over CGI ones and the ones used in PROMETHEUS do not fail to awe. The world's desolation and hidden horrors come to life in one hell of a planet.
The cast did their parts really well (props to Rapace, Theron and Pearce) and as mentioned by a lot of people before me, the character David (Fassbender) stands out in particular. What's interesting for me is the fact that there is no one definite protagonist. The whole film could be Dr. Shaw's story of discovery as much as a story focused on David. The only comment I could give about the cast was that I wish Theron and the rest got a bit more screen time since their characters were all engaging.
Another very minor problem for me was the soundtrack placing. Yes, I agree, the score was beautiful but it popped up in some of the most inappropriate moments but this does little to hinder what I feel is the best sci-fi film I've seen since DISTRICT 9.
PROMETHEUS is a god-send; it's one of the few movies in recent memory that got me so pumped up I actually wanted to save money just to watch this on the big screen instead of waiting for the DVD release. Close to 30 years may have passed since Ridley Scott made a sci-fi film and yet he still shows us he's got the skills. It's horrifying, intriguing and makes you think a lot.
If you watched ALIEN from the start or you just love sci-fi, you should see this; it's really worth the wait. If you're new to it, you're still in for one hell of a sci-fi film. Sure, there are a lot of people claiming that this was a "disappointment," "a complete failure," "amateurish," etc. but rest assured these are false. These kinds of reactions always pop up when some popular movie comes out... just look at the reactions that THE DARK KNIGHT, THE AVENGERS and INCEPTION got among others; expect these kinds of reactions every time a good movie comes out (case in point: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES). There will always be someone out there saying that "X movie is such a rip-off of Y" or something along the lines of "OMG this is the worst movie EVAR" and the like.
PROMETHEUS delivers one the best sci-fi stories ever put on the big screen; so far it's one of the best movies of the year and you won't regret watching it. It's worth the money, the long wait and the experience.