My review of Prometheus (spoilers-inside)

[size=5][b]Note:[/b] This review has been marked "spoiler-free". Any spoilers posted will be removed (the entire post).[/size] -----------------------------------------------------------------Major spoilers coming up!! Don't read if you haven't seen the film!! I saw Prometheus yesterday, and I agree with all the lacklustre reviews I've read. Massively disappointing and a seriously wasted opportunity. The one thing above all others missing from this film is atmosphere. Alien had it in spades, as did Blade Runner. Prometheus feels like a more or less random collection of scenes cobbled together to try to give the impression of a weighty philosophical exploration of our origins. On the basis of Prometheus it appears that Ridley Scott's ambition has far exceeded his grasp. Is Prometheus a sci-fi horror film (think Alien)? No. Is it a poetic meditation on man's reasons for existence (think 2001)? No. Is it a cheesy entertainment (think the Star Wars prequels)? Although never falling to the depths of the Star Wars prequels it unfortunately does lean more towards the latter. Yes, there are some visually spectacular moments, and images of quite stunning beauty. There is one sequence – Shaw's 'baby' – that is really gripping and quite gruesome. But the film rushes everything – the action, the plot (such as it is), and the information that is presented to the viewer - with the result that we can never really get to know the characters. We simply don't care about them as we did with the crew of the Nostromo. They are just disposable cardboard cut-outs, subservient to the demands of the plot. That is another major failing of this film. The plot drives the characters' actions when it should be the other way round. The worst example of this is the fate of Fifield and Milburn. The ONLY reason Fifeld has his temper tantrum during the first visit to the 'temple' is so that he and Milburn will be left alone there to a gruesome fate. This event is a serious interruption to any sense of dread that was building up. When the re-animated Fifield returns to the ship to attack the crew, we've seen that kind of body-horror a hundred times before. Holloway is disposed of just as we are getting to know the character and expecting his relationship with Shaw to be developed. Shaw recovers from the emotional trauma of her lover's death in about 30 seconds. And then there's Vickers – the corporate suit whose agenda will be revealed later in the film. She too is disposed of and her death lends no sense of tension to the film. Noomi Rapace does not convince in the role of Elizabeth Shaw. I'm trying to avoid direct comparisons with Alien, since this is a stand alone film, but Shaw is no Ripley. Rapace was stunning in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but here she is seriously miscast. The creatures are not anything particularly new as Scott has claimed, with the possible exception of the 'snake-alien' that attacks Milburn. The final evolution of the giant proto-facehugger lacks originality, and doesn't really work. By that time what little sense of menace there was has been exhausted, and we're left yawning and waiting for the end. The proto-alien that emerges from the dead Engineer was completely unnecessary, I thought. Overall the creatures are completely lacking the originality and disturbing psychological undertones present in Giger's work. My rating: 2.5/5