Prometheus

Prometheus is the "unofficial" prequel to Aliens.  Ridley Scott, who started off the whole franchise in 1979 has made claims that this is not really a prequel just a different story.

The movie is breathtaking visually.  While, even in 3D, it does not create the entire environment to experience like Avatar did, its similar in the sense, you really feel transformed to a whole new world.  The set pieces were breathtaking and the overall feel of the movie was great.  In line with the other Alien movies, this one is not really a horror movie.  There are a few intense scenes that cause you to flinch or clench up, but its overall just an intense thriller about these unfortunate people.

Prometheus begins with scientists on Earth making cave drawing discoveries.  They believe the drawings prove that man did not descend from apes, but rather from aliens.  The two scientists use a private corporation, The Weyland Corporation (same from previous movies) to fund a search mission to a moon they believe these aliens are on.  Once they arrive they see that all (or most) of the aliens they believe to be mankind's ancestors, are dead.  Horror ensues as other aliens infect the bodies of the scientists and security team and they learn their ancestors dark secrets.

My problem with this movie is that everything sets up to be a sequel in Alien.  Without giving anything away, much of the last 30 minutes of the movie looks eerily familiar, and then they mess it all up.  Things are not where they are supposed to be anymore.  The ship that they find in Alien is the same one they explore in Prometheus.  It is in the exact same location, but there is something missing.  Its hard to describe without spoiling anything, but it just does not make sense.  The director dismisses this with the simple claim, "this is not a prequel", but clearly it is.  Too much matches up, for it not to be a prequel.  I think this was rushed through pre-production or for whatever reason they thought this would be sufficient.  But fans of the Alien stories will be disappointed.  Regular movie goers will probably be entertained.  As a stand alone movie, it was pretty good.

I give this film just 2.5 stars.  As a fan of the original Alien trilogy, I found this to be promising but overall a let down.  Watch it in 3D if you are a visual person, otherwise a rental would do.