A Big House with Nothing in it...

Rating: 6/10 (14 June 2012)

When this film was first announced, the hype was both overwhelming and expected.
The original "Alien" is considered a benchmark not just for horror genre but for cinema as a whole.
We were treated to a different, yet excellent, vision of the story with James Cameron's "Aliens" in 86' and a couple of sub-par (but passable) entries in 92' in 97' from Fincher and Jeunet (two directors who had a slow start, but quickly came into their own).
When the Alien vs. Predator films surfaced, it seemed all was lost for what is considered one of the most horrific and iconic movie monsters in history.
But a glimmer of hope appeared as it was announced that Ridley Scott stepping back into the director's chair after over 30 years and prepared to bring the series back to its roots.
I thought this film was going to be something special.
But alas...
"I was wrong. We were so wrong" - Elizabeth Shaw (Prometheus)
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It seems a bit unfair to judge this film as a "prequel" to the original 1979 film when Scott himself has stated numerous times that while the film will take place in the same universe as the original film, they are not meant to be seen as directly connected.
Well... that is all well and good I suppose, but when you are dealing with one of cinema's most beloved genre films, it is a ballsy move to say you are not really going to deal with it.
Scott was true to his word. The film's plot does not have much to do with the events of the original film. The origin of the "space jockey" race is revealed and the creation of the alien race is explained, but neither of these do anything to enhance or give new insight to the rest of the films of the series (in fact, the final scene raises questions since it reveals that the Aliens already had strains of human DNA, while Alien Resurrection seems to say differently.)
I feel that inclusion of the Alien canon was interesting, but done more as a marketing ploy.
But I digress... putting the other films in the series aside, what you have is a beautiful, yet hollow film.
THE GOOD:
The opening images of Earth are beautiful and the climax with the destruction of Prometheus is awe-inspiring.
Like all great science fiction films, the themes transcend the generic and deal with the inception of humanity and the afterlife. The opening scene shows how humanity began and ends with our creators on a mission to destroy us. Why they gave up on humanity is not explained, but many hints are given through vocal and visual clues indicating they saw the destruction that humans have caused (death of Jesus Christ, abortion, war, etc.)
The performances were adequate with the standouts being Rapace, Fassbender and Pearce (in a great limited role). The rest of the cast were merely on par.
THE BAD:
I feel this film is a great lesson for our times when digital effects are beginning to take over our cinema screens: no matter how beautiful a film is, without a center, you have nothing.
The biggest problem was the character development. None of the characters had any sort of arc or any development whatsoever. Most of the characters are red shirts whose names you will forget the moment they are killed, but even the leads are left hanging.
The two leads, Holloway and Shaw, are as plain as can be. Both are established as dedicated archaeologists, but their motivations seldom surpass basic human curiosity. There is a brief flashback of Shaw's father (also an archaeologist) giving some insight as to why she herself became one. Shaw's father is revealed to have died of Ebola and she herself is learned to be infertile.
Unfortunately, both of these facts are completely pointless as they lead nowhere. Nothing about Shaw stands out. We have no rooting interest for her. She is basically a no one.
Holloway is even worse, coming off as a colossal dick most of the time so when he croaks, no one really gives a damn.
There is a lot of attention given to David: questions being raised of his own humanity, whether or not he feels emotion, his love for T.E. Lawrence. But once again, none of these little tidbits materialize into anything that let's us care for any of the characters.
The familiar faces of Janek and Vickers are even worse, being terribly underwritten considering the talents portraying them.
With little character development, the entire plot falls apart. There is no sort of drive or goal that Shaw or the characters are searching for. This part does not have to be difficult. In the original film, the goal was simply to escape the ship before the entire crew was killed. Simple as that. Why it was so hard for the screenwriters to add something so simple to this film is beyond me.
Some may argue the extinction of the entire human race is stakes enough to build tension, but the problem is... the characters don't even care about their home planet. None of them are shown to have any connections on Earth and seeing as they lost two years of their life in order to travel to the distant planet, it seems they don't have much to keep them sticking around.
The notable exception is Guy Pearce's character who's quest for immortality was the only interesting part of the film.
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Overall: 6/10
Go see it. You won't regret it, but don't expect a memorable film experience.