Post date: Jun 17, 2012 9:50:34 PM
While Alien Doomsday movies aren't usually my cup of tea, I do like expanding my horizons, and Prometheus seemed as good an introduction to the genre as any. Certainly the writing credits and budget lend themselves to the idea that the movie will be a worth while watch, and the opening credits do not disappoint. The special effects render a breathtaking alien landscape as an alien drinks from some mystery concoction that rips him apart at the genetic level. Just as suddenly we're back on earth as a team of researchers find what they're looking for drawn on the wall of a cave. Just what they're looking at, we will come to find out, is a particular configuration of stars matching a single star system so far away, that the group of five stars is a mere spec in the night sky. This star system, the researchers theorize, may be home to an alien race that could give them a clue about the origins of our species. The story continues about two and a half years later as the spaceship Prometheus arrives at said destination.
Now, at this point, I'm relatively on board. It's a little generic, maybe a little haphazard, but many great science fiction starts you off with a few questions. Unfortunately, from this point forward, the cliche, sensational, and often pointless bits of the plot line just begin to pile on.
The crew of the space ship is mostly misfits, despite half of them being interviewed and selected personally by the representative of the man who sponsored the mission. You are generally given the impression that they're unreliable, rough around the edges, and will likely be problematic. One of the crew members is an android who sounds incredibly like HAL, and he will eventually serve much the same function. As the crew comes out of stasis, the ship is quickly contaminated by crew members who drink, smoke, and prove themselves utterly unfit to be on a deep space mission. The Android has a crush on the main female researcher character, who is unable to get pregnant by the male researcher. The Android calls the representative "Mum", and she soon shows that despite this she has some kind of suppressed desire for the Android. They go out to begin research the very moment they land, barely taking the time to meet each other (no, the crew had apparently NOT been introduced before they took off) and in fact, some of the 17 member crew won't even have a line until near the end of the movie. And the plot points just begin to pile on. An Android with evil intents who wants to destroy the people who built him, the old man who sponsored the mission being barely alive and in fact on board, recordings of aliens running through an ancient structure. DNA matches, exploding heads, two crew members being killed by a snake, the aforementioned male researcher being infected by the aforementioned android that isn't supposed to experience emotion, dead crew members coming back to life, weapons of mass destruction, storms that nearly kill main characters who later die anyway, romantic relationships that never develop, family hatred, undying religious faith, drunkenness, mysterious life signs, a plan for an invasion of Earth, and more, all wrapped in high budget special effects that don't do anything to tie the story together, give closure, or leave any more than a single human alive at the end with a talking Android head that may as well have red glowing eyes and a sad synthesized singing voice.
The movie itself had a minimal amount of potential, and that was overwhelmed by a lack of inspiration. I can't help but find in the movie an example of nearly everything wrong with with today's mechanically produced science fiction and horror industry. If you go to see the movie, I recommend you file it under the "campy sci-fi horror" category, or prepare to be sorely disappointed. Come to that, you might be sorely disappointed anyway.