Big Things have Small Beginnings

Ridley Scott is considered one of the greatest science fiction filmmakers of all time despite only making two sci-fi films in his illustrious career. But those two films are Alien and Blade Runner, both classics. So when it was announced that Scott was returning to science fiction, anticipation was high. Especially since he was also returning to possibly make an Alien prequel. The trailer for Prometheus promised big ideas and horrific monsters, sci-fi we hadn't seen in a long time. And it is something.

All right, let's get your first question out of the way. Is it an Alien prequel? Yes and No. While Prometheus does provide more backstory and expands the Alien universe, nothing in the movie directly leads to anything in the other movies (except maybe one thing at the very end but I won't spoil it). But honestly, the Alien connection was the thing I was least interested in. I wanted two things out of Prometheus, big ideas and scary monsters. And I got those. Boy, did I get those.

Let's backpedal. Our story begins with Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) discovering a star map at archeological sites that she thinks will lead to the aliens that created humanity. Yes, the Ancient Aliens thing again. Anyway, the Weyland Corporation (before their Japanese merger) decides to fund an expedition to the planet Shaw discovered and see what we find. What they find is a weird alien pyramid full of weird alien stuff. Deadly weird alien stuff.

The best part of the film is undeniably the visuals. Gorgeous alien landscapes that give off size and grandeur. And the inside of the pyramid is just bleeding with that wonderfully unsettling Giger style that gave us the Xenomorphs in the first place. But visuals will only get you so far, how's the script? Not as good as the visuals. The main problem is that it tries to do much. There are a few too many characters and some plotlines and motivations get muddled. It probably could have used one last edit to trim the fat. Some people have brought up how stupid the characters occasionally act, but I'll let that pass. Yeah, I know it isn't realistic but it's a horror movie and at least one person needs to be stupid. Otherwise the aliens couldn't kill anybody and the movie would be boring.

Ultimately, Prometheus is somewhat undercut by its ambition. It has a grand scope and raises a lot of interesting questions about Life, The Universe, & Everything but tries to do too much and fumbles. But even if it doesn't work as a whole, it does have some great moments in between. In particular the Alien Abortion scene. Yes you read that right. Alien Abortion. It's claustrophobic, frantic, disgusting, and completely horrifying. And Scott only takes the camera off it to show us how freaked out Noomi Rapace is. 

All in all, not the masterpiece we wanted. But Prometheus is still an amazing looking and ambitious science fiction film. I appreciate a movie that tries to do a lot even if it doesn't succeed. Plus, it's the firs thing connected to the Alien franchise that hasn't sucked in a long time*

Final score: 3.5/5

*with the minor exception of Alien Vs. Predator which doesn't suck, it's just really dumb. But dumb in an entertaining way.