Prometheus
Spoiler Warning!
Right from the offset I must point out that I do not understand why people are saying this film isn't really a prequel to the classic 'Alien', let me put the record straight here and tell you all that this film is very much a prequel to 'Alien' in every sense. I have read numerous accounts of how Alien fans should go in with their expectations lowered as they will not see the film they want, epically incorrect.
The story is everything you could want for the prequel and has numerous hints and homages to the first three Alien films and even 'AvP'.
As with the original classic the story unfolds with some typically beautiful interior spacecraft work from Scott as the crew awaken from their deep sleep. Scott clearly tries to recreate the same opening from 'Alien' with this new crew and he does make it look good but it still can't compare to the original. I realise its a different kind of ship to the Nostromo but I just preferred the gritty, dirty, grimy sweat inducing environment of the original, you could almost taste it.
The plot in general is very similar to how things develop in 'AvP' but that may be a simple coincidence. The Prometheus lands on 'LV-223' with the same kind of camera/model shots exactly as the Nostromo did on 'LV-426', the crew then disembark and explore the ancient alien tomb in virtually the same way as the Marines from the 'Sulaco' (minus the hardass act).
We see corridors reminiscent of the hive corridors in the bowels of the nuclear-powered atmosphere processing station in 'Aliens', of course we see the main chamber with the big head (we all know what that looks like) and then of course within about 30min of the film starting we see holograms of the 'space jockeys' or as they are known now...the 'engineers'.
As things get heated up the crew must evac the tomb and you hear the cry 'David we are leaving!' which as you all should know is the line 'Hicks' uses in 'Aliens'...'Drake we are leaving!'. Later on the film we see our heroine having to remove an unusual foetus from inside herself which harks back to 'Alien 3' story lines, acid in the face moments, there is evidence of an overgrown facehugger type creature towards the end and then you have all the 'engineer' plot hints that give clues to 'Alien', its very satisfying.
Visually the film is a fudging masterpiece as you would expect from Scott. Everything looks gorgeous and so real it could actually work, the ships (the Prometheus looks beautiful with her roaring blue/white glowing engines) , the equipment, the outfits and the sets are all stunning, epic in stature and perfect in reality.
The effects are also excellent and handled with ease. At first I was disappointed in the reveal that the engineers were in fact ancient humans (exact DNA match), that's a hard pill to swallow, but the design of the face is simple yet so damn good. They actually look very intimidating with their big black eyes and strong body frames, the suits they wear still look really quite eerie but solid and the famous 'space jockey' features are well Incorporated after all these years, it works tremendously well.
Cast wise I must confess to being a little disappointed after all the hype. Don't get me wrong the film is not ruined by lack of effort but Fassbender really is the only decent performance on show here. His clear, calm, smooth demeanor is as suspicious as it is comforting, quite unnerving at times but his appearance and manner did bring thoughts of Kubrick's '2001' (the opening sequence of him and the empty ship whilst he has obviously been monitoring the crew in a 'Hal' like fashion).
Other casting I didn't really take a shine to. It was always going to be hard to use a female lead (again) as the hero and not have her compared to 'Ripley'. I think this was a mistake by Scott trying to recapture previous glory when it wasn't required, I also found her annoying, dunno why. Theron was miscast for me as she just doesn't fit this type of film in my eyes, Elba I think is an actor of the moment and cast for his popularity in previous films hoping to transfer it to this one (common mistake) and Logan Marshall-Green I just didn't like a tall, something about his looks. Surprise hit for me was Sean Harris as 'Fifield', his character may have been total cliche, predictable and unoriginal but his rebellious appearance and nervous disposition is always a smile raiser ('Hudson').
Of course there are issues with the film that many have already mentioned, its not perfect. I was able to follow the plot for most of the film no problem but there are still unanswered questions revolving around the black goo, 'David's' intentions using the black goo, where the eel things actually come from in the first place and mainly how does an 'engineer' ship crash on 'LV-426' in 'Alien', still don't know!
If you ask me it does seem that those eel creatures lived on that particular planet before the 'engineers' got there and they just happened to cause grief, but how the black goo caused Rapace's character to get pregnant with an eel alien I don't know.
The other thing that bugged me was the fact the technology in this prequel seemed infinitely better than the original, shouldn't it be the other way around? There was also the fact that half the crew were excess, simply along for the ride to be killed off, a bit weak that Mr Scott.
So with some minor-ish questions aside I can confidentally say this film is an achievement for Scott and his crews. Yes the film stands as a good sci-fi film on its own but it also should please Alien fans as there is plenty to get your teeth into, just don't expect any actual recognisable xenomorphs this time round.
