Lack of Professional (Star Trek) Discipline Prevents "Prometheus" from Reaching Greatness

Rating: 6/10 (24 April 2013)

Yes, I'm late to the party. This would-be science-fiction epic has already garnered over 3,100 Amazon.com reviews with little danger of abating. Therefore, I'm probably adding no new insights into "Prometheus". This review most likely adheres to the criticism most 1-, 2-, and even 3-star reviews have already observed: "The movie is just about flawless technically, cinematographically, and conceptually, but juvenile and superficial (for the most part) in character creation and motivation." Arthur J. Bullock's Question and Answer format Amazon.com review has already ingeniously encapsulated my and many others' views of logic lapses in "Prometheus". So, what's left to say? Well, I guess I'll just basically summarize the aforementioned logic lapses with the opinion that the Prometheus crew's lack of professional discipline grievously hinders the movie.
Contrary to what others believed, I felt that the numerous cave carvings outlining the Engineers' frequent visits to Earth ostensibly to initiate life were sufficient incentive to organize an outer space expedition to contact these progenitors (even if they DID look like albino bodybuilders). What irked me was the unlikelihood that a private corporation would be permitted, or even have the resources, to attempt this interstellar flight. I would have thought that searching for humanity's origins should be a paramount international matter. And yet somehow the wizened, apparently deceased Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce, looking like Goldmember from the third Austin Powers movie) has scraped together a trillion dollars for the half-baked purpose of going to the Engineers' solar system to somehow find an elixir of youth and immortality. Even more baffling, instead of amassing the crème de la crème of biologists, geologists, archaeologists, and other -ologists, Weyland decided to select the motliest of crews for this little space trip. With the exception of the competent, devout but intellectually curious, and surprisingly scrappy Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and the near-infallible but disregarded and even faintly malevolent and enigmatic android David (Michael Fassbender), the crew is an unorganized joke.
In actual charge of the gargantuan "Prometheus" vessel is the sinister, irritable icicle Meredith Vickers, with a gradually revealed connection to Weyland. The rugged, capable Captain Janek (Idris Elba) is reduced to being a passive spaceship chauffeur. Dr. Shaw's colleague and love interest Dr. Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) is cocky, brash, unkempt, and unwisely disdainful of David. Rounding out this ragtag gallery is the really unprincipled doofus duo Fifield (Sean Harris) the geologist and Millburn (Rafe Spall) the biologist, who turn out to be the equivalent of the "red shirt" officers in Star Trek. What a bunch of winners! No Prometheus crew member - not even Dr. Shaw or David - follows any kind of protocol or discipline, military or otherwise. They seemingly act as if they're on some pleasure cruise, with time to play pool, swig vodka, make bets, and make love. Captain Janek occasionally and vainly issues orders. Usually he's idly staring at the schematic of the Engineer cavern stronghold on moon LV-223 or playing his squeezebox. Everyone else does whatever the hell they want without supervision, including Dr. Shaw's do-it-yourself Caesarean to extract a squid fetus. Therefore, it's relatively easy for David to explore the cavern, decipher the hieroglyphics, get samples of the Engineers' DNA ooze, and "vengefully" start the mutation havoc onboard the ship. Again, I recommend you read Mr. Bullock's review to get an outline of the genetic blunders the crew foolishly unleashes upon themselves that utterly unravels the mission for almost everyone.
Watching this movie, I couldn't help thinking that, for all the time-worn techno-prattle and tired, corny humanistic themes, the Star Trek crew (whether Captain Kirk's or Picard's) would have handled the momentous events on LV-223 more professionally and competently. Certainly some crew members would have been infected and even killed, but the main characters would have thoroughly analyzed the terrain, the Engineer corpses, the caverns, and the pods before going into action. The crew would also have heeded any information from Spock or Data and acted appropriately. Furthermore, the Star Trek crew would have had time to address evolutionary, theological, and even ethical implications of the missions meaningfully. Star Trek naval discipline would have made more epochal discoveries about the Engineers without blowing up their ship. But then again, this discipline would have bored some Ridley Scott or "Alien" fans who wanted their icky snake/squid/slimy tentacle thingie fix.
What a waste of a evolutionary/theological vision! Dr. Shaw is practically the only Prometheus member still curious about the Engineers. Others, like the doomed Dr. Holloway, thought that the revelation of the human/Engineer 100% genetic matchup solved the problem - Humanity comes from Engineers. Dr. Shaw perceptively retorts "Who made the Engineers?" The mystery continues, and only she and David's head are still around to pursue it (in the Prometheus sequel). Perhaps the sequel will also answer the questions 1) Are the Engineers attempting to correct their run-amok planetary DNA sowing, including that of Earth's?, 2)What did David say to infuriate the resuscitated, murderous Engineer?, 3) Where is the "Neck-Pillow Shaped" Engineer spaceship escaping to?, 4) Can Dr. Shaw and David follow them in another "Neck-Pillow Shaped" spaceship?, 5) Can Dr. Shaw really trust David? 6) How will the surprisingly humanoid xenomorph emerging at the end of the film figure in all this? Whatever the "Prometheus" sequel holds in store, I hope Dr. Shaw and David encounter a space crew that has more in common with the discipline, philosophy, and mentality of "Star Trek" than that of "Friday the 13th".