Ridley Scott seems to have solved that problem by making Prometheus a prequel to Alien, that only shares "DNA", rather than an all out prequel.
I have a couple of issues with that, but overall, Scott has made another competent sci-fi film.
The film follows the crew of the spaceship, Prometheus after Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discovered clues to the origin of mankind on a far off distant planet. Funded by Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), the spaceship, led by the Captain, Jenek (Idris Elba) and monitored by Weyland employee Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), the crew soon realise that they must fight for their own lives as well as saving the lives of everyone back on Earth.
Firstly, Prometheus does start on familiar territory. A space crew awake from their cryo-sleep after years of travelling and then go out on the unfamiliar planet to explore the new surroundings. Eventually, the crew come across something not too friendly and they all start dying one-by-one until the secret of the planet is understood. Sounds a bit like Alien, right?!
Secondly, Prometheus is definitely set within the same universe as Alien, made obvious by such things as the Weyland Corporation, the 'Space Jockey' alien and the android David (Michael Fassbender), but you shouldn't go in expecting to see the familiar jet black aliens with acid blood...
Where Ridley Scott's films largely succeed is in the casting and Prometheus does not change any of that. Fassbender as the android, David really steals the show in many scenes that he is in, delicately treading the fine line between emotionless robot and compassionate crew member. Theron as the heartless Weyland employee, Meredith amply fulfils the antagonist role well as the selfless corporate monkey. It's just a shame that her character never really gets her full comeuppance. And finally, Rapace as Elizabeth plays her role brilliantly, on the one hand being the tough scientist but then acting childlike when her religion and beliefs are challenged.
The main thing I liked about Prometheus was the questions that it raises about humanity and the origins of where we have come from. It seems that the popularity of religion has definitely decreased in recent years. Not many people like to believe in an all-powerful God anymore. If we are to believe that something created us, we need to see it to believe it, right? That is Prometheus' main hook - the crew need to have evidence in order to believe that these "Engineers" (the name given to the alien race) created us. It also creates a neat little hook to the narrative when the android, David starts to question Elizabeth's belief in Christianity by questioning her Mother and Father's deaths.
However, despite having such a strong theme running throughout, Prometheus does suffer from trying to ask too many questions. This isn't so surprising, considering the writers of the film are Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, the latter being one of the writers of the TV series, Lost. Where did the "Engineers" come from? Why did they create us? Does David work for the crew or against them? (I'm trying to word that last question so I don't give anything away!)
If Prometheus spent as much of it's screen time answering these questions as well as asking them, then the film would have a much more satisfying conclusion. I know that a lot of people are claiming that this is the first film in a planned trilogy by Ridley Scott, but having a half-baked conclusion is no excuse.
Another smaller issue I had with Prometheus is that it could have built a lot more tension in certain scenes. When some characters are left behind in the "Engineers" building/temple alone, they suddenly act like horror film character cliches ("Hey, look at that weird thing. Let's touch it!!"), rather than the scientists and geologists that they really are. Also, certain scenes and shots could have been played out longer in order to ratchet up the tension even more. However, this was a minor gripe in an otherwise competently made film.
So, is Prometheus the perfect film like it's predecessor, Alien? No, unfortunately it's not. But, my biggest advice is to not go in comparing it to any of the Alien series, otherwise you will be severely disappointed. Go in expecting a sci-fi film that tries answering one of the many life-long questions - where exactly do we come from?
**** / *****
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