Strong initiation to a potentially GREAT trilogy

Rating: 8/10 (9 June 2012)

First of all, this isn't nearly as bad as they make it in reviews. We should take a film for what it is and judge it accordingly. So forget the pompous critiques.
As a philosophy enthusiast, knowing Ridley Scott would team up with Lindelof (co-writer for Lost) along with great actors like Fassbender, Pierce and co...; that this would be a sci-fi take on existentialism through the great Alien franchise: I'd have expected a lot more dialog, interesting axioms about life, and long, profound tirades on the human condition. To address that: this is a very good event-based action movie, with underlying, hidden symbolism in stead. The soundtrack, though being a composer, I can't even recall. Typical Hollywood dramatic stuff. The actors, though the level overall is fine, again follow the typical huge production formulas. Sometimes over-the-top and unnecessary, but really just generic mostly. The exception: Fassbender is fantastic, as usual, as the cold android.
Now, about the event-based aspect of this thriller, on one hand it's very beneficial for the film. As opposed to "Inception" for e.g., where all the concepts are explained as if it were a DVD extra about the film; here the action takes place in a solidly crafted, and flawless quite honestly (despite the 2hrs, never gratuitous or wasteful) frame; and then it's up to us to pick up on the implied/concealed symbolism and meanings. On the other hand, with a title like "Prometheus" (awakening epic echoes of Greek mythology), we may all have been waiting for more literature, but we'll learn to accept this in time when the answers come in the sequels and we have more hindsight for this one.
The atmosphere: quite generic, yet fitting. They really didn't go for anything too art-oriented, even though the more conceptual side of the film (the xenomorphic features on the walls and ceiling; the virtual touchscreen when Fassbender examines the room; the goo-oozing poles) does give it a big plus. But while everybody emphasizes that it's all visual-based, it really is rather FANTASTIC CGI and the 3D glasses that do the trick as opposed to something like Avatar or such aesthetic-laden pieces. And furthermore, this film does a really good job at making the viewer feel like it's all real. There's nothing too theatrical or play-like, it's sci-fi and means to be realistic. For eg. the focal male character (the boyfriend) dies off really fast in the development of the story. We follow the main chick throughout her adventure and suffering, and nothing made her invincible during that span; she was just courageous enough to make it out alive. Even the space jockeys/engineers act very real-life like (we would imagine).
All in all, this film is a very promising start to what we hope will be one of the greatest ever sci-fi trilogies made; it raises questions about mankind as it is, through a very originally constructed host of science fiction and tale-telling. On its own, as if isolated from any following sequel, this film is great at being profoundly mysterious and asks one specific question that is possibly the most thought-provoking in all that sci-fi and philosophy can blend to produce: why do our own creators want us...dead ? Despite the genius of our species, and the value of life for such conscious, intelligent, loving beings: why are we obsolete or perhaps threatening to our own engineers ? And, of course: who is Prometheus, and how will the writers integrate that concept intelligently enough into the legendary Alien franchise ?