I’ve delayed reviewing Prometheus for a week or so, hoping that time would deepen my perspective of it.  My quandary is that while I absolutely applaud it as intelligent science-fiction (which has become ever more rare these days), I actually did not enjoy the film as much as I had hoped I would.  Like Alien (1979), the film which it predates and for which it really establishes a foundation, Prometheus is cold and sterile, with characters that fail to warm viewers’ hearts.  Ridley Scott’s return to the Alien universe is about as unromantic and antithetical to adventure as it can be — just like the original.

That being said, the film is gloriously photographed and filled past its brim with ideas and philosophical arguments, mostly centered around humankind’s place in the universe.  It is a rare modern film that wonders aloud how our species developed, whether helping hands were involved, and if it is wise to expand our reach to the stars.  These are actually fairly common discussions in science-fiction, which has always been a realm of ideas.  Even the clunky space adventure and mutant bug movies of the 1950s (which were derided at the time) often asked big, important questions — it’s one of the factors why so many of us love those movies (along with the cool monsters, of course).  Prometheus is a welcome return to that sort of smart, ambitious, philosophical wonderment.

That the film itself is occasionally stilted and awkward (especially concerning the fates of the two lost astronauts) is unfortunate, because there is so much here to admire.  Scott’s film attacks its subjects head on, unafraid to talk too much about what is happening or stage action so big and dramatic that it seems unreal.  The ramifications of what does occur are actually more dramatic, eventually, than what takes place onscreen — and while movies should be thought-provoking, perhaps more care should have been taken to visually fulfill the script’s scope.

One character is worth mentioning; the android David (Michael Fassbender).  David is, like Ash (Ian Holm) from Alien, a loose cannon on the spaceship.  He is essentially a caretaker for the humans, yet he has his own, secret, agenda.  He is also a bridge to another science-fiction movie milestone, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), because like its computer HAL 9000, David controls everyone’s fate and, seemingly, has HAL’s inscrutability.  There are prominent people aboard the spacecraft but the only one who really matters is David.

I was greatly impressed with Prometheus and fully understand why critics like Roger Ebert are awarding it four stars; I considered doing it myself.  Ultimately, however, the film has lessened somewhat in my mind as its inevitable weaknesses become more apparent as I have considered it.  I love the idea of the film; I wish that just a little bit more care had been given to its execution.  On the other hand, the film ends with more questions than answers, which is not only rare for movies, but perfectly appropriate for this particular story, which is a doozy.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  9 July 2012.