Prometheus

Prometheus had big shoes to fill, but with Ridley Scott in the director’s chair critics myself and audiences alike have been salivating at the thought of an Alien’s prequel. With the exception of ‘The Artist’ and ‘The Grey’, the films I have seen so far in 2012 have been watchable but nothing to write home about. Perhaps for this reason I was pinning all my cinematic hopes on Prometheus to be the shining light in the drab and uninspiring season. The trailer looked great and I deliberately avoided reading any reviews on its release, just to keep the sense of excitement alive.  But alas, Prometheus joins the ranks of this year’s watchable films. The idea is good, a crew of 17 (plenty of expendable victims!) travel through space in search of the origins of the human race but only to be met with a few nasty surprises. However from the very start of the film there is something lacking in the film that was prevalent in ‘Alien’, ‘Aliens’ and to a some extent ‘Alien 3’. An edge, atmosphere, horror and suspense, call it what you will, it just isn’t there. Noomi Rapace plays the lead character Elizabeth Shaw competently enough, although her English accent is a bit dodgy at times. Guy Pearce is good as Weyland, the man who is funding the whole mission, and captures his desire for immortality and big answers. It is Michael Fassbender who really stands out in his role as David, the android, and Fassbender can add another notch to his growing list of critically acclaimed performances. The visual aspect of Prometheus is an effective blend of good CGI and hand crafted sets but in saying that maybe some of the magic of Alien was the lack of CGI. The plot has a few holes in it and at the conclusion of the film the audience ends up with more questions than answers. As a film standing alone it is certainly watchable, but compared to the first three Alien films it falls far short. The trailer is better than the actual film, which is never a good sign! 6/10