Definitely a prequel...and then some!

Rating: 8/10 (6 June 2012)

PROMETHEUS is a unique film in that it's a mishmash of all those space adventure movies that we've seen so far...and then some!
Its opening sequence felt pretty much like Stanley Kubrick's "2001" where it all began with man's discovery of the beginning of life and his inquisitive drive to find out the real truth. But instead of drawing a metaphoric picture of primates evolving into more sophisticated creatures as theorized by Charles Darwin we were spared from those dry images of the Kubrick's iconic film.
However, there's that unmistakable similarities from the 1968 film in which a single character was then introduced in an isolated environment of a spaceship in the distant universe.
Then as more characters are being introduced I couldn't help but feel like there was also an essence of the 1997 intergalactic horror, EVENT HORIZON, in which we certainly feel like we're totally alone in deep space and that something fatal was about to happen.
No doubt that there had been speculations and even rumors that this film is a prequel to Scott's 1978 ALIEN or that it reflected that film. Even I refused to think this was so given the fact that otherwise it defeats the purpose of Scott even considering making this film to mimic his original masterpiece. But indulge me for a little.
But the truth of the matter is it did reflect Scott's original ALIEN and there was that predictability of what's going to happen next in each scene.
And like I said earlier about this film being a mishmash of other space (or rather, alien) movies, towards the end it felt so much like the suicidal version of Will Smith's 1996 INDEPENDENCE DAY.
But here's the real kicker, the ending was somewhat a giveaway to all those speculations and rumors that we're forced to face with. Let's just say that the predictability of it (for those familiar with Scott's ALIEN) explained a lot to why most people would say that PROMETHEUS was a prequel to ALIEN.
As for the characters there was not much of development in them except that we would see striking similarities to ALIEN. Another thing was that it was strange to see how the coldness in Charlize Theron's portrayal of the evil queen in SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN sort of rubbed off in her stiff and rigid role in this one.
Nevertheless, there was no short of suspense in PROMETHEUS and the visual effects were equally spectacular to reflect the futuristic image of space.