Credit : 20th century fox

In the small theater, the ads were just over and they just turn off the lights as the 20th Century Fox logo appears on the screen (not that big) with light steely blue shades. I lean toward Him and told Him : "I've just read reviews on the web, the movie is awful, there's no plot at all... Actually, i've read only one review but still..." He turns to me : "Why didn't you tell me sooner ?"... "Shh ! it's starting now"...

SPOILER ALERT ! READ THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Prometheus from director Ridley Scott is a long awaited movie. It is said - though never officially presented as - to be the prequel of the 1979 Alien movie of the same director. Before going to theaters, I've shared several discussions with friends and colleagues and I was surprised to know that some people do know that Prometheus is said to be the prequel of Alien while others never heard about this fact. This unsaid fact makes me think a lot. Is it truly a prequel or is it a fantasmed prequel ? Isn't it rather a fandom dream because a director who created a mythic serie is now filming another movie in a far away space involving alien species ? Will we ever see babies alien ? Will an innocent being be stung by a monstrous spider and then transform itself to the lean and lethal creature we all know now ? And then, beyond the writing issues, why a director would deprive himself of such a commercial hook ? His very own creation...

The tagline said : "They went looking for our beginning. What they found could be our end..." and the trailer (as any other trailer, by the way), is presented as a riddle... What have they found ? Let's get the answer in the movie you know... So that may be a reason why nobody really said that Prometheus is an Alien prequel... because you'll have to find it out... This is not common in Hollywood strategies but why not... At least, this is a new move and Ridley Scott can also claim a whole new cycle if the riddle remains unanswered. Concealing this information leaves him open doors and ensures that he won't be tangled with continuity issues with existing prequels... Why not ? This may be possible.

The reality looks much more trivial, so much that it did not even cross my mind.

Anyway, for me, it looks very much like an Alien prequel. But, it is not an Alien movie. (This may be another reason why this is not announced to be an alien prequel). Prometheus starts with a very common fictional plot about superior beings who created us first. Those supreme beings were worshipped by primitive civilizations (gods and primitive myths). They eventually leave the Earth and clues of their existence were printed (or carved) all around the planet, on early civilizations remains and legacies. Until this point, there's nothing really extrême or unusual for one who likes to read science fiction books, or even science fantasy books. Of course, starting from this point, the writer gains more freedom to develop the plot and to lead us in wherever direction he likes.

SPOILER !! SPOILER !!

Prometheus direction lead us to cross the path of Weyland Corporation and the obsession of the aged Peter Weyland to gain immortality. As scientists found evidences of the existence of supreme beings and how to, eventually, reach them, Weyland can see there an opportunity to meet his creators and to ask them how to avoid death. Eventually, to avoid others the same fate too, against substantial incomes, of course. In the meanwhile, Sir Peter Weyland never loses opportunity to explore new concepts and new biological experimentations. This lead us to several mutated creatures, involving human genom mutation too. In a cave, worm-like creatures mutated to a blemish reptilian giger-like creatures after a contact with a local black virus. These vertebrated creatures already share the same properties of our well known xenomorphs : very acidic fluid and the need to attach itself and parasite a host. The same black virus was ingested by a human. The man dies after his organism rejects the mutation process but his mate gets impregnated with his mutated genes. Their genetic materials combines (there's three genetic materials in fact : his, her and the virus) and she gave birth (unwillingly) to a mutated vertebrated cephaloppod creature. This creature has some biological links with the creatures found in the cave : its blemish color, the giger-like design. But this one develops 4 vertebrated members (but very more like octopus arms) and one prominent head. It ends up finding an host to attach to. After an incubation time, a new creature will burst out of its host's chest. Since we are witnessing from the beginning of the movie that creatures are mutating very fast from one to another sexual or asexual reproduction encounters, we can easily understand that this new creature is a result of the mutation between the host genetic material and the cephalopod like creature. This new creature still has the prominent head of its ancestor but develops arms and legs from the host genetic material. And this last creature is black, has a full dentition and is shiny black. It's already some xenomorphic features.

As we can see, this may be a film about Alien, but it's not an Alien movie. But it's carefully set in Alien's universe.

After a few nights while you get time to think about the plot, you'll find some errors in the storyline : the lack of scientific protocoles while exploring the planet, the behaviour and reactions of certain characters but this is not spoiling the pleasure of the whole movie after all. Prometheus is a good prequel movie. It starts from mythic ideologies and lead us to genetic explanations about a lethal xenomorphic weapon. I won't call it an over-all excellent movie but it's entertaining and we didn't expect more, did we ?