Prometheus

The crew of a space ship in search of the origins of man, land on a foreign planet, but what they find is not what they expected...

After various archaeological discoveries on earth, which they believe proves the existence of the human creators, a group of scientists persuades a company to invest in a mission to a distant galaxy. After two years of travel, having slept most of the time, the group of doctors, geologists, scientists, archaeologists, one robot and general flight crew find the planet they have been searching for, and it's time to go exploring.

One by one, the crew starts getting killed by weird occurrences on the planet. Unexplained happenings on the ship also seem rather weird and the only non human member of the crew "David" exploring the planet by himself, his motives, completely unclear.

Instead of finding the race which created the humans, they find the last surviving remnants of a culture that wanted to destroy us, and a little something extra. Beware of what you look for, you might just find it...

There were many rumors circulating that visionary director Ridley Scott was making a prequel to the legendary "Alien", and although they were strenuously denied, there were far too many references in the film, for the audience not to connect the two. The closing scene alone proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that although this film could certainly stand on its own, somewhere in the back of his mind, the director saw this as part of the series.

The film has some really good special effects, creating an entirely new virtual world and some wonderful work with lasers. The script is respectable, although it does drag in places and has none of the expected suspense or horror which the various trailers would have you believe it contains. This is a bit of a let down, as I went into the film expecting to at least jump a few times, but there was none of that.

Michael Fassbender makes amends for his horror showing in "Shame" and not terrific outing in "Haywire", with a memorable showing as the robot "David". His tranquil demeanor is somewhat disconcerting, the audience never too sure of his motives or intentions, but he gives a very good performance and provides a bit of comedic entertainment when his head gets removed from the rest of his body.

Charlize Theron once again gives a wonderful performance as the incredibly bitchy "Meredith Vikkers", her character summed up in the classic line "It's my job to make sure you do your jobs". It is hard to hate her hard assed attitude and you actually end up respecting her by the end of the movie. Her father "Peter Weyland" is masterfully played by the talented Aussie actor, Guy Pearce, who has to add 50 years to his age to master this difficult role. The make up for his character is incredible and he does very well to adopt the mannerisms of somebody who is at death's door.

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace makes her first outing since "Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows" to do a decent job as scientist "Elizabeth Shaw". I do however wish that she could have chosen one accent and stuck to it. At the start she is Scottish, then English and occasionally lapses into a French twang, so is hard to take seriously. Logan Marshall Green does well as her husband "Charlie Holloway", but does meet his end in rather a too normal a way for a sci-fi film.

For comedic value, look no further than English born actor Sean Harris, who delivers a good few ironic laughs as geologist "Fifield". He seemed to have met his maker far too early in the proceedings and I think the film would have been a lot better, had he survived. Countryman Idris Elba does a find job as captain of the ship "Janek", looking after his crew to the very last. It would be good to see more of this talented actor on the big screen.

The 3D was well used in this film, especially on the surface of the planet, in fact the special effects were probably the highlight. The script does drag in places, but the ending will have people who saw "Alien" squirming in their seats with delight. It also leaves it wide open for a sequel....Maybe this time with Predators?

This is worth the watch, but don't expect an Oscar winning script

6.5/10