I honestly feel like there are two groups dividing over this film that are overstating their arguments. The first is the group who insists that the film is shallow, or stupid or without merit because of its problems in the script. The second is the group that kind of dismisses it's problems as irrelevant because it is a movie full of big ideas and themes.
I kind of disagree with both. This movie does have its problems. I think most of it stems from a screenplay that tries to do too much. I think if [blackout]Charlie Holloway[/blackout] had been the sole one infected and they let him on the ship and he slowly degrades to the point where he starts attacking the crew, as opposed to having him [blackout]commit suicide by Vickers's flames[/blackout] and then a second infected character come in with no build-up, that it would have focused the horror of the film.
Despite having a messy, even muddled middle section of the movie, I do not believe that it's a bad movie, just because it is not a great one.
Even with the flaws, it explores interesting concepts of us meeting our makers and the cynical scientific solution versus religion. It doesn't give answers and that makes it more engaging. In matters of creation (or also in the movie's case, destruction) no answer can really satisfy our cravings, but a small taste of forbidden knowledge to something much bigger can torment the mind and haunt one more. Audiences hate not being given everything these days, but it is a testament to this movie people are arguing about why the aliens would kill us after creating us and what their motives are. Like that of God, it should be beyond human comprehension. These argument we're seeing shows that it did work as intended in that regard.
Also, it does ignore the visual craft of what Ridley did in creating this world that is the most eerily creepy alien world we've seen in a long time.
Also, the performances from Rapace and Fassbender are fascinating to me in the sense of dread and existential angst they both create for themselves and the audiences. Anyone who wasn't on the edge of their seat during the [blackout]abortion scene[/blackout] is probably lying.
I know people want to compare this to
Alien this or
Aliens that. And while I do think it is thematically more interesting than the latter, it really can't match either film because those were flawlessly executed and this was not. What I consider a better comparison is
Blade Runner. Like
Prometheus, BR taps into some really amazing ideas and concepts in a broad and visceral way. However, narratively it is somewhat generic in its use of noir clichés and a very simple detective story.
But it teases the mind to much bigger ideas and despite all the problems BR did have, it is both visually and intellectually stunning. They don't give the viewer all the answers and leave you wanting and questioning more, but what is there, despite some narrative/script problems, is pretty fascinating.
Just a thought.
