Ridley Scott, where have you disappeared to?

Rating: 5/10 (8 June 2012)

Let me start off by saying I have never seen any of the 1970's Alien movies. Therefore, I will not be comparing Prometheus to Scott's apparent 70's "gold". Regardless, I have seen Gladiator, American Gangster, and Robin Hood as of late, the first one mentioned being the best of the three. Hard to argue with that.
Having said that, Robin Hood was awful. This is going to seem like unintelligible discourse but that movie was absolute horse dung. The most boring movie I have seen to date and it cannot even hold a candle close to the 1991 Robin Hood starring Kevin Costner. So needless to say I wasn't expecting much from Ridley Scott's 2012 sci-fi flick.
Prometheus is a futuristic 2093 space science fiction epic film with the basic plot line that contains something along the lines of humans going out to find the beginning to their proverbial existence. This inevitably brings out the taboo topic of evolution vs. creationism but alas, the topic, which has so many possibilities, peaks and valleys, is thrown by the wayside and a much more haphazard design is espoused: one that cannot even be described in words because I honestly do not know what happened.
To explain, there were many instances in the movie where I just sat back and had to say "What?". Shaw gets an emergency c section and subsequently has her stomach stapled shut, but the crew of the vessel hardly pays attention to her. The woman just got emergency surgery yet it is completely dumped from the plot, as if her being pregnant was as common an occurrence as the Patriots making the playoffs. I understand that no one else knew about the happening but the fact that the writer simply waved it off as a minor token in a seemingly bulletproof story line was extremely confusing. There is also the fact that Shaw can run, jump, crawl and play Jenga when she just underwent major surgery, but I will ignore this point due to the fact that she's tweaked up a bunch of drugs during- and post-operation - drugs that are probably futuristic and do a barrage of different things.
When the two scientists get lost near the beginning of the story (the biologist and the geologist), they find a cave with a bunch of alien "vase"-looking pustules. When a completely undiscovered and unknown life form pokes its "head" from the murky depths of the galactic tar, these two geniuses think that it's a good idea to touch it. Needless to say they both die, although the geologist has one more sprite-ly encounter before meeting his doom in the form of APC tires and flamethrower fuel. This movie could have been so much more than 45 minutes of build-up to barely disgusting/spooky horror scenes and an ending that just screams "Sequel". It could have made us wonder about the philosophical journey that the human race made from the expanse of history or had us question whether God does exist. Even a story that had absolutely no thesis besides the "aliens are here, let's look around" synopsis would have been better, when compared to the way were teased with a deeper plot and never got the satisfaction we were craving for.
The good news is this movie revolutionized the way CGI is used in movies today. I would go as far as to say this movie is almost on par with Avatar in it's visual prowess and special effects. The alien planet looks marvelous and the make-up the artists use for the actors/actresses is astounding in quality. This is one visually appealing film that is worth owning on Blu-ray, if only for the eye candy. And alas, Michael Fassbender, you have again saved the show. Being the proverbial gold nugget in a river of dull rocks and Charlize Theron, his portrayal of the android David seals the deal for me as the best acting performance in the entire movie, and one of the best displays in Fassbender's career. Even in extreme situations his soft voice and calm demeanor makes us think that everything is okay - he even makes us chuckle at times, when making a quip about Shaw's vivid surgery (which once again shows that his movie did not take it seriously).
All-in-all, Prometheus provides a stunning display of visual effects and Fassbender's performance almost saves this film for me - almost. If it were not for the completely random plot, lack of character development, and seeming lack of concern for the viewers intelligence, this movie would have gotten a 6, maybe a 7. For now it stays at a 5, until the Director's Cut (crossing my fingers) comes out and fills in some of the plot holes it left.