Here's my review: CAUTION HEAVY ON SPOILERS
Plot
The idea that the engineers created life on earth is a very intriguing one, and leads into some very good questions such as Why did they create us in the first place?, Why did they (apparently) plan to return to destroy us? and Who created them? It didn't bother me that the majority of these questions were left unanswered. I liked the God/evolution spin the film takes regarding life on earth, but it is by no way unique to a sci-fi film (something that Scott has stated that he was trying to do - create something that hasn't been done before). There were far too many plots and sub-plots in this movie though which resulted in more questions being raised than answers being given. Although I didn't mind some questions going unanswered this film left too many mysteries remaining for my liking, it was as if the writters came up with a plot device and just went with it without thinking about were it was heading. For this I blame Lindelof based purely on the fact that he's got form for such over stretched story arcs (see Lost). The fact that so many arcs were crammed into this film meant that certain parts of the story were rushed and resulted in the characters moving on from one thing to another far too quickly, I'm still can't get over the fact that no-one seemed to care that Shaw had operated on herself, removed an alien mutation, and left it for dead in the med-pod. The med-pod scene itself was one of the best in the film but was completely undermined by the characters (lack of) reactions. The black goo was used too much as a get out of jail free card for answering the mysteries of the film, I don't mind they we never find out exactly what it is or what it does. But I do mind that it appears to hold so many and differing qualities. The twists in the film were so bloody transparent it was as if the director took the audience for idiots, mainly Weyland being on the ship, Vickers being his daughter, the lifeboat being jetisoned. There are alot of nods to Alien and the saga in general in terms of set design, dialogue, scenarios and costumes.
Set Design
The visuals in this film were amazing and it is good to see Scott back at his best in regards to designing a set (the dude extended the largest sound stage in Europe because it wasn't big enough), and it was refreshing to see a film not rely so heavily on CGI. The design of the Prometheus was very impressive and contained traits of the Nostromo but was very obviously a different ship, far superior and designed for very different uses 10/10 on the Prometheus design alone. The Pyramid design was impressive enough but nothing new, it was a mash up of the interior to the original derelict and the pyramid in the first AvP film. The terrain of LV-223 was quite impressive though and held elements of that abbandoned Dune script and the original LV-426 planet seen in alien (especially as Prometheus enters the atmosphere and the storm approaches). The exterior shot of the Prometheus as it approaches LV-223 is very impressive and harks back to the original Alien and holds elements of 2001.
SFX
Like I said the visuals of this film are impressive due in no small part to it not being too reliant on CGI. One scene that relies heavily on CGI though fails on so many level but I shall get to that. Other parts that do rely on CGI though such as both the engineers and the Prometheus digital maps are very impressive. The collision scene between the two ships is very impressive and only let down by the two characters on the ground.
Characters
Noomi Rapace as Shaw - shows potential but never quite delivers. Her blind faith is an intriguing plot but never quite fulfils it potential. The med-pod scene was her shining moment.
Charlize Theron as Vickers - Another charcter that never reaches her potential. Could have been a bloody good company hack character like Ash and Burke before her but turns out to be just an emotional screw up looking for daddy's affections.
Idris Elba as Janek - A brilliant actor in a brilliant role. But again just not enough screen time to fulfill his potential. An obvious nod towards Dallas but just not quite there.
Logan Marshall-Green as Holloway - Just there to act as the audience partcipation into Shaw's motives and views. Doesn't appear to offer much else.
Guy Pearce as Weyland - His team briefing via 3D hologram scene was very impressive. This was due more to the SFX rather than his acting though. Other than this the film would have probably benefited more had his involvement been excluded. Just seemed pointless really.
Sean Harris & Rafe Spall as Fifield and Milburn respectively - Bloody good character chemestry that harked back to Brett and Parker, once again not enough screen time to deliver on this though.
Benedict Wong as Ravel - Still can't work out what his contribution was.
Kate Dickie as Ford - See above character profile and change his to hers.
Emun Elliott as Chance - Emun Elliott as Who?
And saving the best till last Michael Fassbender as David - This was by far the best character in the whole film and the only one with some actual depth and a decent amount of screen time. Whilst his motives and intentions are not always clear (that's a script problem not a character/actor problem) his portrayal of David was brilliant and probably on a par with Ash and Bishop in terms of an android character, if not better. He has a rather long scene all to himself at the begginning of the film and he delivers perfectly in every frame. The media have dubbed him "the actor of the moment" and it's not hard to see why. He steals the whole show.
Overall character summary - Some intriguing personalities but with the exception of David just not enough charcater depth or screen time for any of the charcters to reach their full potential. Perhaps a few less characters (like Alien) would have remedied this.
Creature design
The worms in the pyramid - So So but don't have enough screen time or infuence on the script for their design to be of any concern one way or the other.
The engineers - a rather bold move to make them more human rather than the elephantine creatures hinted at in Alien and one that worked brilliantly, they were brillinatly designed and their human like features with their god like bodies perfectly complemented the god/evolution story arc.
The squid hugger - Not so bad when surgically removed from Shaw but when matured this is by far the worst creature design I have seen for a long time. More akin to something I'd expect to see in the likes of Deep Rising than something that belongs in the Alien universe. Being used to seeing actors play the creatures in this universe (the xenomorph and later the engineers) the CGI heavy squidhugger just didn't fit. And tentacles please someone tell me I dreamt that bit.
The Xeno-prototype - I didn't want to use that phrase as I don't like to think of it as a precursor to the original xenomorph. But I like even less the Pure-Xeno term that has also been used. I refuse to see this as the early evolutionary ancestor to the Xenomorph that we have all come to know an love. That said I really didn't mind the design of the creature. Yes it wasn't without it's flaws but compared to the squidhugger this design was near perfection. We've seen hybrid xeno's before with the runner/dog/ox alien and the god awful newborn and pred-alien designs. So it didn't bother me that this creature had traits of the xeno but was not one as we've come to no it. The original xeno's have varied reproductive techniques and vary in traits that they display, so perhaps if their origins lie in the mystical black goo this could explain why as this product too seems to hold very versatile qualities.
Summary
Whilst an intriguing film there are just too many plot holes for my liking. Such as how were the star charts on the walls around the earth in the first place considering the only person who could have directed anyone to them died so that life could be created? Was the life being created all life on earth, just vertebrates and/or mammals or just humans? And what exactly was the black goo other than a deus ex machina device to introduce various plots? I didn't mind at all the majority of plot holes but these few and a couple more really bothered me. Don't get me wrong this wasn't a bad film by any means, I like a film that gets you thinking rather than being told exactly what is happening. And I fully expected this film not to be a good as I hoped - a mixture of too much hype and films very rarely being anywhere near as good as the original film to which it is related. The main failing poin on this movie though was the writters/directors/producers couldn't make up their mind if they wanted an independant sci-fi or a prequel to Alien so went for somewhere in the middle, they should have definatly made up their mind one way or the other and teh film would have undoubtedly been alot better for it.
A good film that becomes a very good film the more you analyse it, and I assume (hopefully to soon find out) after a second viewing. Overall a 7/10.
I'll finish with this: Alien was a B-movie that's legacy turned it into an A-movie, I fear Prometheus is an A-movie that's legacy will become a B-movie.
