201, Prometheus

My anticipation for this movie was high - having originally believed it to be a prequel to 'Alien' and then having the entire cast at interview say its definitely NOT a prequel to then reading reviews saying it is a sort of prequel only with different characters only to then draw my own conclusions that have left me in no doubt that this movie is............................

Well, I'm not saying! but I'm sure each of you who see this will make your own judgements when you see it - just be sure to let me know what you thought!

This movie starts with the weird introduction of one of the Alien beings - right off the bat which is nice but slightly confusing as you'll see.  Then there is a bit of title sequence and we jump to the isle of Skye where an excursion unearths a few caves and the finding of some cave drawing aged at about 35000 yrs.  Once confirmed by two intrepid adventurers we then get a feel of the year - 2090 (ish) and now, outer space with an awaking crew after a 2yr stasis sleep on board the exploratory ship, Prometheus. 

It did amaze me that they at this point in the movie they decided to explain to the crew the mission they all signed up for, surely if you were going to miss 2yrs of your life there (and an expected 2yrs back) you'd want to know why before you counted sheep but our oblivious crew all seemed pretty happy with the fact they were sailing into the unknown, completely unknowing!

Captain Janek (Elba) is my favourite of the characters here - pretty laid back and chilled to whats going on around him but the intensity here is served up by Charlize Theron as the lady representing the company funding the mission alongside David the Android (Fassbender) who between them bring a slightly creepy side to the proceedings.

You'll notice Guy Pearce in the credits but I went the whole movie not actually noticing him it, but that was down to some pretty lengthy time in the make-up chair as he plays the ageing  Peter Weyland - the man behind the company represented by Theron.  We then have our explorers, Shaw & Holloway who are the excitable kids opening their best ever presents as they start to uncover the mysteries of the planet they have arrived upon and finally there is a mis-match of Biologists, Scientists, Pilots etc who make up the 17 strong crew of the Ship. 

That's everyone accounted for so whats this movie all about - Well, I was a little confused.  I don't want to entirely give the game away but its a search for the origins of the human race and the creators of it.  Questions need answering for our intrepid adventurers but before they get a chance to find the 'makers' they encounter some space nasties that kind of put a halt to proceedings and its becomes a survival lottery as the audience get to guess who get picked off next.

As far as special effects go - I was pleasantly surprised with this movie - the Alien world, its structures and 'residence'  were realistic and inspiring it just seemed to be let down a little by the speed of the story.  The whole plot just plodded along with a few storms and chases thrown in for good measure.  I only saw it in 2D but didn't really see how 3D would have made much of a difference - but I could be wrong.

To sum this up though I have to say it wasn't bad - it certainly wasn't as groundbreaking as it was built up to be but in my mind it was better than the slating I've seen it receive in some circles.

I have my feelings on if this is a prequel to Alien but as I said before - I'm sure you'll have your own ideas.  But if it is or isn't part of the grand scheme of things then as a stand alone movie it ticks a percentage of the sci-fi boxes so not all bad!