Prometheus - Why Am I Here?

Having not yet seen the original Alien, I thought it appropriate to check out this 'quasi-prequel' before travelling to the depths of space with Sigourney Weaver. It's ambitious for sure, but when the answers to questions raised don't live up to their intriguing promise, perhaps ambition is not enough. And it's not all that scary. However, it's very well made and features stunning visuals in tandem with a mixed bag of performances.

Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her partner Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) are chartered by Weyland Corp to investigate the origins of humanity in the outer reaches of the universe with a crew after finding a star map repeated in numerous ancient civilisations' cave paintings. Their ship touches down on a moon with Earth-like properties and they explore the place, finding a mysterious structure that seems to suggest that their makers originated here. But there also appear to be the remains of some horrific biotech and an absence of 'Engineers' (the name bestowed upon these primordial creators of life) which hints at some past destruction which puzzles the crew of our titular spacecraft. Elements of classic body horror are driven wild in the next hour or two and the plot gets closer to its prequel premise. As events take a turn for the worst, Shaw and Co. must a) work out what the hell is going on and b) save the world. Just an average day at the office then...

As far as horror goes, there are some nice moments, but it's ultimately more about inducing a few squirms than all out fear. The production design is uniformly excellent, boasting some filthy beasties, space-age technology and some alien architecture that evokes the stunning work of H. R. Giger and Gothic cathedrals in equal measure. Marc Streitenfeld's score is effective in generating unease thanks to some unusual techniques such as recording the music backwards then flipping it for the film. Our cast acquit themselves well (with the exception of Noomi Rapace's attempt at an English accent), with Michael Fassbender's android David stealing the show in his artificially intelligent ignorance of emotion and cold delivery. It's also well shot with some sweeping panoramas in counterpoint with tight, claustrophobic close-ups that tense the audience right up. While I caught it only regular 2D, I can only hazard a guess that the 3D would be pretty spectacular. Ultimately, the let down that undoes all the other good work is the script. It wants to know so much, and sets its own bar too high to ultimately clear. The ending in this sense feels rushed, as though they couldn't be bothered to resolve all the issues.

While not brilliant, it deserves a sequel purely to bring the same production quality and cast to what will hopefully be a better script. Prometheus wants to answer big questions like 'Why are we here? Where did we come from?', but I felt left asking 'Why am I here without a finished film to enjoy?'. With this said though, it's a fun ride up until you realise that some of it just makes no sense, so I'm awarding it 3 out of 5 doomed crew members.