Great Scott, Is it Pro-xenomorph or Space Odyssey

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2012)

I saw this movie yesterday and I thought I would check the reviews to see what other people thought of the film. I'm very surprised to see so many negative reviews. I agree with some of the comments when they mention the film is not a contender for the best film of the year or not even the best Alien spin off movie, but I do not understand people being disappointed because the story or characters are not realistic. What do viewers want these days? Everyone seems to be extremely analytical when it comes to reviewing films, yet the general content of these films is detailed in their genre, science FICTION. This particular film is mostly set in 2093 and involves scientists searching far distant planets in search of alien life-forms in spacecrafts with gravitational fields that are capable of travelling light years whilst their astronauts are in cryogenic sleep. Anyone who watches a sci-fi film should know the film will contain elements of fantasy, so how the hell can anyone complain that these films are not realistic??? Onto my review of the film. The films starts well with an impressive and original opening sequence set on earth thousands of years ago, in which it could be interpreted as the creation of mankind from DNA extracted from a super human alien life-form. Thousands of years later, two scientists, Elizabeth Shaw (played by Noomi Repace) and Charlie Holloway (played by Logan Marshall-Green), find ancient artifacts on earth that leads them to believe they could discover the origins of mankind by travelling to the distant planetoid LV-233. They receive funding for this space exploration mission from the presumed dead Peter Weyland (played by Guy Pearce).
Whilst the astronauts are in cryo-sleep, the first space exploration scenes starts with the humanoid, David (played by Michael Fassbender) occupying his time on the spacecraft by carrying out chores and playing games. Michael's performance as the clinical and subtle, but sinister humanoid is excellently played throughout the movie. He plays this role as well, if not better that Ian Holm's performance as Ash in the original Alien film. Without explaining too much, you can probably guess the route this character will take with my reference to the original film.
When the spacecraft reaches the planetoid LV-233, the astronauts wake from their cryo-sleep. The captain of the ship, Meredith Vickers (played by Charlize Theron) is the cool and calm character who we later find out has ulterior motives for being on the mission. Again I cannot explain too much without creating a spoiler review.
The rest of the characters are relatively undeveloped and are there as canon fodder in the inevitable fight with the alien life force they encounter whilst they search for the super human alien beings, but they play their role well before, one by one, they reach their demise.
The futuristic computer generated graphics of space, the human spacecraft, the planetoid LV-233 and the alien craft were visually stunning, as you would expect from the eagerly anticipated Alien esc film from Ridley Scott, but the story confused itself as to whether it wanted to be an Alien prequel or a totally independent film. The start of the film and its main theme bore no resemblance to an Alien prequel. It was original and would have worked on its own merit. However as the film progressed it became obvious it has distinct links to the Alien film and went on to explain the origins of the Alien species seen in the 1979 film. In the end the story lost its way between the two independent themes and it ended leaving more questions than it answered. Hopefully it will generate sequel to this film and a prequel to the original Alien film.
This film was not a direct Alien prequel and should not be judged as such. I enjoyed the film, but I would have enjoyed it more if I knew there was another film in the making that explained the unanswered question posed by this film.