Ridley Scott At his Best.

Rating: 8/10 (15 July 2012)

When I heard that Ridley Scott was returning to the Sci-fi genre where he started his film career with Alien and Blade Runner I was extremely excited. In fact out of the summer movies Prometheus for me was my second most anticipated movie behind The Dark Knight Rises. Sure I was like others who wanted Scott to return to the Alien franchise especially after the bad to downright terrible last three films, but it wasn't the most important thing to me. First I wanted a great sci-fi film with the good writing, great acting and special effects, and excellent directing, which is what you will get with Prometheus. What Prometheus isn't is a direct prequel to Alien. I know some people may go into the film expecting it to be, but if you go into Prometheus expecting a direct prequel to Alien or for certain things to happen or appear you'll be a little disappointed and it will take away from the great Sci-fi you'll be watching.
Now that's been said Prometheus does take place in the same universe, but years before Alien. It starts with Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) finding a painting wall painting on an expedition that were thousands of years old and matched others across the world. The two wanted to find the origin of the human race and to meet god. That leads to the spaceship the Prometheus on its two year journey to find their answers. Arriving on the planet of their destination the crew find what they are looking for, but also so much more. I'm not going to go spoil the story anymore for you. It's really good with a few twists that I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with. I will say that Scott left the ending opened ended as I think he intended for himself or some other director to eventually lead into Alien. I will say the only small flaw to the story were a few of the characters that were misused or underused.
As for the cast and acting it was great with Charlie Holloway, Idris Elba (Janek), Sean Harris (Fifield), Rafe Spall (Millburn) all did really good jobs. With that said there were two who stole the film. The first being Michael Fassbender (David) playing an android. Michael put together an Oscar winning performance as he brought the android to life. Fassbender is quickly becoming one of the better actors in Hollywood now with his performances in Inglourious Basterds, X-Men: First Class and Prometheus. The other actor or better yet actress who stole the film was Noomi Rapace. Her performance was riveting as Shaw as her life dreams became a reality, but then quickly came crashing down. Now I've never seen her act before, but from watching Noomi's performance in Prometheus she is a great actress. Those are two actors really shine in this film. The only flaw with the acting and actors were Guy Pearce and Charlize Theron. Guy Pearce plays Peter Weyland the head of Weyland Industries. I think the character was misused in the film. I think the writers and Scott wanted to connect Prometheus to Alien and it doesn't work really well. In my opinion they should have only used the character in the first scene he was in. They didn't need to use him anymore in the film. Next is Charlize Theron who plays Meredith Vickers. Charlize is a great actress who was misused in the film. I think the writers and Scott weren't sure where they wanted to take the character. Meredith is a really interesting character and had a big plot reveal near the end which ends up being pointless. They could have done so much with her character if writers had given her more screen time. Besides those two characters the acting was great.
The tone and action of the film reminded me a lot of Alien and Alien 3. Yes I am a big fan of Alien 3. I even gave the film 5 out of 5 stars. I think it's highly underrated and to be honest I think it's the second best Alien movie. Yes even better then Aliens. Prometheus like those two films relies less on action and more on suspense as it builds throughout the film, and it will keep you glued to your seat. That being said when there was action is was spectacular especially in the later part of the film. The effects were beautifully done as Scott as always been a visual director as he tries to bring his films to life. In directing Prometheus Scott as returned to greatness from his last few films in Robin Hood, Body of Lies and American Gangster. Scott is master at bringing his films to life visually as he did with his best films. Whether it's bring to life the futuristic city of Los Angeles in Blade Runner or ancient Rome in Gladiator Scott is one of the best visual directors out there, and with Prometheus he continues that tradition.
Is Prometheus going to go down as one of the best Sci-fi films of all time no, but it's still a remarkable film I've given 4.5/5 stars to, and I will go down as a great Sci-fi film. Out of the four summer films I've seen in Avengers, Battleship and Snow White, Prometheus is the best of them. Overall if you don't go into expecting or demanding a direct prequel to Alien you won't be the least bit disappointed as you watch a great sci-fi film.