Exactly what the doctor ordered

Rating: 10/10 (8 June 2012)

Ridley Scott's grim return to the sci-fi genre is one of the most marvelous comebacks a director has ever pulled off. Prometheus has reinvigorated the space flick like no other movie since the immortal 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is a Scott film in every sense of the term. The landscapes are picturesque, the set design is magnificent to the simplest detail, and the visual effects are cutting-edge. It has that great Ridley Scott pacing, too. Few movies in Hollywood today have the courage to make an audience wait for the action, but Sir Ridley always has and the payoff is truly awe-inspiring here.
The score by Marc Streitenfield is amazingly incorporated. It gives each dramatic scene an added intensity. One of the highlights of the film is the editing, though. There is seldom a scene that feels misplaced, and the arrangement creates a layering that builds the suspense until the breaking point. This deserves to win the Best Film Editing Oscar this year, not to mention Sound Editing.
I am not familiar with Noomi Rapace's work, but she gives a strong performance here as Elizabeth Shaw. I think Sigourney Weaver would be proud to know that the role was aptly reprised. The casting was even superior to the original cast of Alien. David, I'm proud to say, is the greatest android of the entire franchise. Scott has finally given some life to the character, and is no longer trying to deal with morality. The other crew members also make the movie more suspenseful and sometimes funny.
Prometheus has instantly established itself as one of the all-time great science fiction films. It is all around a near perfect resurrection of the franchise, and in my opinion Scott's second great masterpiece, next to Blade Runner. Some may not immediately fall for it, as it is quite shockingly graphic and colossal in scope, but without a doubt, Prometheus is the best of the year so far and exceptionally worth seeing. If you're looking for a movie that fulfills the sci-fi/horror/thriller tag like never before, look nowhere else.