Very familiar yet scary in places.

Rating: 6/10 (22 June 2012)

Prometheus is just a loose prequel of the Alien and that is how I took it, the format is nothing original and if you've seen Sci-Fi about discovery usually involving an expedition it will be very familiar. The characters work pretty much how you'd all expect them to. The plot basically involves a team who discover a clue to the origin of mankind and follow it up to a faraway planet. Like I say if you've seen these kinds of films before you will simply know what to expect from them. The token freak out character who backs out as soon as he sees something unusual but has been in the mission for a long time prior. The heroine, the corporate (borderline in this case) villain and so on. They are adept in their performances but never blow away, going into this film familiar with the Alien series, you are just waiting for some of the more horrific elements to kick in. When they do kick in they are genuinely horrifying and shows that Ridley Scott really knows how to direct it properly especially with the way it is shot. The film is in general shot very well and feels like very much an epic. There are many scenes shot in the dark so the film will work best in 2D as it will supplement the feeling of claustrophobia. Michael Fassbender was the stand out performance in what was very Hal '2001' like but still fairly unique. In a plethora of stock characters he was the one who stood out and made his role his. The decision to make cast Guy Pearce as Weyland was interesting but strange, an older actor may have brought more credibility to the character as knowing who Guy Pearce is has just made it a little odd in this way. Overall Prometheus is decent but one that just becomes too stock with too noticeable plot holes.