'Prometheus' Delivers Sci-Fi Chills, Leaves You Wanting More

The nearest theaters to Coronado showing Prometheus are:

UA Horton Plaza, 14475 Horton Plaza, San Diego

AMC Fashion Valley, 7037 Friars Rd., San Diego

In Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s first foray back into sci-fi since the 1982's seminal Blade Runner, the director has a hit on most levels, but falls short on some as well.

Prometheus was meant to be a prequel to Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic Alien. And while it harkens back to the movie in some aspects, it also is in and of itself a uniquely more engaging story.

The first scene opens on what we assume to be earth, with picturesque panoramas of rivers and waterfalls, and sunrises and trees and lots of other nature. Then a naked, albino being that looks human, but is clearly not begins to decay and crumble.

We then cut to the year 2089 on the isle of Scotland, where we meet two of the movie’s protagonists for the first time. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) are archaeologists who have found what appears to be primitive cave paintings. The paintings match similar paintings they have found from all over the world, and the duo believe that it’s a sign that the human race began in another distant galaxy. 

So naturally, who wouldn’t want to hop on a ship and go find this race of “first humans,” right? Anyone else think this is a bad idea? Anyone?

Flash forward three years and we see Charlie and Elizabeth onboard the space vessel Prometheus, captained by Janek (Idris Elba). We also meet David (Michael Fassbender), an android who serves as the ship’s know-it-all, do-everything form of artificial intelligence, and the coolly-contrived Meredith Vickers, played by Charlize Theron (hey, look, someone I recognize), as she is half naked and banging out pushups. Vickers is a corporate shill for Weyland Industries, the group that built the ship 

Prometheus eventually gets to its destination, a moon that has unbreatheable air and mountains almost twice as tall as the Himalayas. 

I’ll save you any spoilers, and just say that if you love sci-fi, Scott has built two worlds (one on the planet and one on the ship) that are incredibly intricate and detailed. Scott also utilizes the 3-D as a masterstroke, not invoking the pupil-dilating deluge of a Michael Bay summer blockbuster, but using it to provide depth and contrast.

Like its predecessor Alien, Prometheus offers plenty of graphic, vivid violence and for those who pine for extreme close-up shots of gooey, sticky, alien beings, there’s plenty of that too.

But what gets lost in the plot and in Scott’s mastery of sci-fi horror, leaves many unanswered questions.

If these beings created life, how did they die? Who created them? Why do they want to destroy their creation? Are we actually the  “aliens” on their planet? And why only the one scene of Charlize Theron doing half-naked pushups?

Still, the suspense Scott builds with silence and the foreboding sense of danger around every corner remind us what made Alien such an iconic film. While Prometheus probably won’t have the same status in the genre as his two other sci-fi classics, it serves its purpose well.

Rated R for sci-fi violence, including some intense images and brief profanity.