Visually stunning, but utterly frustrating

Rating: 5/10 (23 August 2012)

Well... let's start with what works: Visually, this movie is amazing. The production design, the visual effects, and the cinematography are completely stunning and unlike anything I've seen before, and the sets and landscapes are often literally breathtaking. Technically, 'Prometheus' is a marvel. And the cast isn't too bad, either - Michael Fassbender in particular is very convincing as a morally ambiguous android.
It's just a crying shame that all this technical excellence and these good actors work in service of such a terrible screenplay. It's not even that it lacks fascinating ideas or doesn't ask interesting questions, but that it just doesn't put any of its (too) many ideas to good use or provide compelling answers to its questions. But that wasn't even my biggest problem. I probably could have done without the answers if the characters had worked for me at all. However, almost nothing they did seemed even remotely like something real scientists (or real human beings, for that matter) would do, none of their reactions seemed genuine and believable. It's telling when the emotionless robot is the only compelling character in the movie...
All in all, I'd say this was one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had with a movie. On the one hand, I was constantly marveling at the technical achievements and the dense, creepy atmosphere, and on the other hand, I was extremely annoyed and utterly frustrated by the characters and the half-baked ideas and story developments. Still, while I think the movie is ultimately a failure, it's certainly a very interesting failure and I don't regret having seen it.