If you could stare into the eyes of your Gods, what would you feel? If you could ask questions of them, would you like the answers? What exactly constitutes a God if such a thing exists, anyway? These are all questions, amongst many others, that PROMETHEUS attempts to touch upon but doesn’t quite manage to say much new about. Although spectacular and, crucially, worth watching, Ridley Scott’s return to the universe of ALIEN is slightly undone by blockbuster movie logic and a rather shonky, at times appalling, script.

We open in 2089, with archaeologists (and romantic partners) Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshal-Green) discovering a cave painting on the Isle of Skye and getting very excited and teary-eyed about it. The film quickly fast-forwards to 2094, where a hologram of the uber-rich Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) indicates he has funded the mission to LV-223. LV-223 is a moon identified in the cave paintings of several civilisations with no contact with one another, and the crew is here to seek an alien race Shaw and Holloway believe may be responsible for human life on Earth. David (Michael Fassbender), an android indistinguishable from humans, has operated the craft whilst the rest of the crew were in stasis. Also onboard are the cold and businesslike Weyland Corp. representative Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), ostensibly in charge, and Captain Janek (Idris Elba), amongst others.

Ridley Scott is well known for being a fantastic creator of worlds, whether that be a grimy spaceship in ALIEN, dystopian Los Angeles in BLADE RUNNER or the varied landscapes of the Roman empire in GLADIATOR. With PROMETHEUS, he has once again created an excellent visual spectacle. Between opening with sweeping landscape shots across ancient Earth and a stunning sequence on approach to LV-223, the tone and themes are quickly established as far grander in philosophical scope than that of the claustrophobic ALIEN. If this wasn’t clear from the beginning, the orchestral score – highly evocative of the classic sci-fi films through the ages – should leave you in no doubt.

Some of the best sci-fi films (including Scott’s own BLADE RUNNER) have come from pondering questions about the human condition and our existence, but with Damon Lindelof, we have a screenwriter who is not capable of communicating some of these ideas (seemingly sharing much with Chariots of the Gods?) effectively. Although there is often a great deal of ill-informed debate surrounding Creationism versus Darwinism and the origins of life, the main characters in PROMETHEUS talk as if they are chatting at the local university’s Metaphysics Society. Lindelof’s characters don’t speak like archaeologists, geologists, pilots or biologists – they talk like stock cliche Philosophy and Theology students.

“Some of the best sci-fi films […] have come from pondering questions about the human condition and our existence, but [PROMETHEUS’s script] is not capable of communicating some of these ideas […] effectively.”

Scott isn’t blameless, and, almost unforgivably, PROMETHEUS also occasionally falls prey to the worst types of blockbuster logic and plotting – the same decision-making process the characters in BATTLESHIP and TRANSFORMERS go through. A prestige director does not grant immunity from such flaws. Revelations and set pieces arrive without warning and pass without consequence. Characters’ motivations merely follow the requirements of the script. The progression of the film relies on characters subverting their motivations from five minutes earlier and doing some things beyond the limits of credible human stupidity (or, to try and remain firmly within the film’s internal logic, outwith the professionalism of a crew supposedly hand-picked by a corporation with delusions of grandeur).

“Having said all this, the good things about PROMETHEUS are numerous. Besides the visuals, the performances of Rapace and Fassbender are superb…”

Having said all this, the good things about PROMETHEUS are numerous. Besides the visuals, the performances of Rapace and Fassbender are superb – for Rapace, this is primarily due to the more extensive characterisation, which she takes full advantage of. As a crew member with faith in a higher power, her character arc is the heart of the film’s bigger concerns. She delivers an excellent performance filled with a desperate longing for answers while retaining the determination and presence readily evident in her role in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Fassbender almost steals the film and is an actor quickly becoming one of the finest of his generation. Everything about his performance embodies his character – the voice, the economy of movement and even the sinister anti-Asimovian undertones of his demeanour.

On an action and horror level, there are moments to get the heart pounding in PROMETHEUS, and the film executes them well on its own terms, if there isn’t too hard a comparison to ALIEN. PROMETHEUS is a film about concepts and questions, and although these aren’t new and it doesn’t fully deliver in its examination of them, marrying this with the horror sensibilities of ALIEN and the Giger biomechanical visual aesthetic creates an engrossing movie. Although a heavily flawed work, hamstrung by the muddled and often lazy script, PROMETHEUS is an undeniably compelling film.