Less than intelligent science fiction

Rating: 4/10 (19 June 2012)

In 25 years of movie-going this film accomplished the unique feat of actually making me angry, which has never happened before.
Let me start off by saying that I did not walk in particularly expecting a horror or action film but rather a thoughtful piece in the vein of Scott's "Blade Runner", which ranks high among my favorite films of all time. I expected the "intelligent science fiction" so many other reviewers have touted. Instead, what I got was one of the dumbest and most shallow pieces of cinema I have seen in years.
For starters none of the characters are particularly likable, nor do most of them seem particularly believable. Throughout the film none of them behave reasonably but rather continue to make the most imbecilic decisions available to them. The "science" part of the science fiction is complete hogwash to a point that--together with the ridiculous plot and characters, seriously hurts the suspension of disbelief of the audience. Mine disappeared approximately after the first 30 minutes and things only got more ridiculous from there. A scene involving a surgery machine, which is heavily foreshadowed, is one of the highlights of abject stupidity. The same goes for a biologist's interaction with an alien life form.
The only positive aspects to the film are the beautiful imagery and Michael Fassbender's performance as David, which is the acting standout. Most of the others are (except for Idris Elba) forgettable, though not particularly bad as such. What lets them down is the terrible script, which unfortunately makes little use of the potential that arises from Fassbender's performance or the concept of an humanity as an engineered life form. The film's purported existential questions are ham fisted and less than subtle. They are not conveyed or discussed in remotely interesting ways. Instead, the film seems insistent upon embracing the continued idiocy of its plot and characters.
The awful script by Lindelof makes this one of the worst and dumbest films I have seen in recent memory. If you want intelligent science fiction look elsewhere. Even as a hollow and empty summer movie it fails to achieve any sort of positive standard.