See all 6 photos
Idris Elba as Captain Janek
See all 6 photos
Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), and David (Michael Fassbender) explore an alien structure.
See all 6 photos
Exploratory vessel Prometheus.
See all 6 photos
Michael Fassbender as David, examining a holographic display.
See all 6 photos
Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers
See all 6 photos
Promotional poster for the movie

WARNING: SPOILERS!!

In Greek myth, Prometheus was a god, responsible for giving man the gift of fire. For this, he was punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten by an eagle for all eternity.

In Ridley Scotts’ new film, Prometheus is an exploratory vessel, dispatched across the cosmos to a distant moon on a search for extraterrestrial life. Of course, this being set in the same universe as Scotts’ 1979 classic ‘Alien’, things start to go badly.

Actually, if Scott hadn’t said this movie was a prequel in an interview, you could be forgiven for thinking this was something new. Except for a short sequence at the very end of the film, the beloved Xenomorphs are nowhere to be found. Instead we have a new alien menace. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Prometheus’s mission is headed by Drs. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), archaeologists who have discovered the same iconography in cultures separated by both time and space. This leads them to conclude that life on Earth was seeded here by aliens, and that this iconography was left behind as an invitation. Captain Janek (Idris Elba) commands the ship, and tagging along are corporate overseer Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) and David (Michael Fassbender), an android. Guy Pearce also makes an appearance as Peter Weyland, in thoroughly unconvincing old-age makeup.

Mrs. Rapace is a capable leading lady, but she’s out-shined by Michael Fassbender, who turns in what is easily the best performance of the whole film. Mrs. Theron also turns in a good performance as the aloof and somewhat menacing Weyland Corporation director in charge of the mission.

The story starts off good, but begins to fall apart in it’s second half. A black goo that, early in the film is seen to kill an alien, and is implied to have seeded it’s DNA on Earth, is encountered by some earthworm type creatures that mysteriously mutate into something reminiscent of the face-huggers of previous films. Later, Dr. Shaw becomes infected with an early chest-burster, and operates a computerized surgery suite to give herself a cesarean section while concious, then proceeds to spend the rest of the movie being the action hero. I had difficulty suspending my disbelief after that point.

But for me these were minor complaints. Actually, my real complaint has to do with the nature of the film, I went in expecting to be scared, just as I remember being when I watched ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens’ for the first time. And I was disappointed.

‘Prometheus’ is a good summer popcorn movie (at least for those with a strong stomach), though not on the same level as ‘The Avengers’. But it is definitely worth the cost of a ticket.