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Prometheus has big shoes to fill, indeed any film intending to tell a story set in the universe of the sci-fi masterpiece that is Alien is going to have an incredibly tough time living up to people’s expectations. Over the past few months interested parties have had the opportunity to further immerse themselves in this universe via an inspired viral marketing campaign which has cranked these expectations up even higher. The question I mean to answer here is whether or not Ridley Scott has delivered on these expectations.

The short answer is that I truly enjoyed Prometheus, in fact I intend to see it again as soon as possible. It is however not a film without its flaws. I won’t get into too many specifics here as this review is spoiler free after all, but suffice it to say that the overall story of Prometheus is definitely a compelling one and it explores some pretty big ideas. On occasion it can feel a little convoluted and the motivations of some of the characters are  left a little under-explained but overall it is an interesting story with some neat twists and turns. My one criticism would be that the first hour or so of the film did feel a little rushed with a lot of story points being hit in quick succession. Scott seems to have been keen to cut to the chase and I feel that there was probably a lot of stuff left on the cutting room floor, hopefully we will get a nice 3 hour extended cut when the DVD is released!

Prometheus is also a beautiful film with Scott doing a great job (as he always does) of immersing you in the various environments in which his characters find themselves. The Prometheus herself feels futuristic but not clichéd while the planet’s surface feels gritty and at the same time very relatable. The alien ship however is the star of the show (I hope I am not spoiling anything here but its in the trailers, posters etc) with its biomechanical ‘Gigeresque’ interiors feeling truly alien, dank and organic but at the same time very utilitarian.

It has to be said that the quality of the character work does vary substantially. Michael Fassbender is phenomenal as the android David and he does a great job of pulling off that super creepy vibe perfected by Ian Holm as Ash. Noomi Repace also does well in her leading lady role and does an admirable job as Ripley’s spiritual predecessor though she could have benefitted from a little more fleshing out. Charlize Theron also impresses with her performance as the serious company representative trying to maintain control of a situation which is rapidly spiraling out of control.

There are however a number of  overly simplistic and, quite frankly, uninteresting characters who are pretty much just there as fodder for when the grizzly deaths (and they are grizzly) start. Some of these characters show potential but its hard to feel that involved with them which does lessen the impact of some of the death scenes.

Overall I feel that Prometheus is an entertaining, frightening and speedily paced sci-fi horror film which can certainly hold its head high and stand alongside its venerated forebears without reluctance. Scott leaves as many (possibly more) questions unanswered as he answers here and in fact creates some entirely new ones to boot, but I think that is one of the greatest strengths of the film. It would have been very easy for Scott to film an Alien clone, instead he has does something new and I applaud him for that.