A Very Unscientific Science-Fiction Movie

Rating: 6/10 (7 June 2012)

In the year 2089, a couple of archaeologists(?) Holloway (Logan Marshall Green) and Shaw (Noomi Rapace) find pictograms in various caves and ancient temples that suggested alien origins of human life in a faraway star system. They earn the sponsorship of old trillionaire Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce in atrocious old-age make-up) to launch a 2-year expedition with more scientists to travel to that planet in a vessel called "Prometheus" to study it and search for these "engineers" of the human race. They get more than what they bargained for as the crew members, as well as the very existence of Earth itself, were threatened by the aliens they encounter there. Can the crew of the Prometheus escape this alien threat that they have unleashed upon themselves?
The set decoration, cinematography, editing, sound and visual effects are by all means top-notch under the direction of veteran Ridley Scott. This is certainly a beautiful film to watch. However, the utter disregard for any scientific principles of research investigation and medicine is really very distracting. These scientists in this crew do not follow very basic scientific procedures. Would you really remove your helmet in an unknown atmosphere just because your equipment says it is safe? Would you do an autopsy of an alien head with your face mask hanging around your neck? Could you get up and run right after a bloody do-it-yourself Caesarean operation? Would the DNA of the ancient "engineers" still EXACTLY MATCH with human DNA after all these years without any mutation?
There simply too many mind-boggling questions. Was that breath-taking opening shot of a volcanic lake supposed to be Earth? When that white alien drank the black stuff, his DNA was seen mutating in the water, what then? Could an android (Michael Fassbender) really be deceitful, and why would he be? What is the point of Charlize Theron's icy character Vickers? Even the epilogue puzzles with even more questions. The way that last alien looked with the big horn on its head felt totally forced, and obviously shoehorned to coincide with the original "Alien" movie, also created and directed by Ridley Scott.
So overall, this movie is just OK. It is indeed a visual spectacle, but the story development leaves so much to be desired. Some movies you could enter and leave your brain checked at the door, but not this one. In this type of movie, you will expect some scientific credibility in order for it to work. Unfortunately, "Prometheus" fails in that regard.