( CNN ) -- Thirty years ago , on the basis of `` Alien '' and `` Blade Runner , '' Ridley Scott looked as if he might become the most important sci-fi director of his time . No matter that Harrison Ford played Rick Deckard in `` Blade Runner , '' the way Scott made that picture it was as if `` Star Wars '' never happened . Of course `` Blade Runner '' flopped on its initial theatrical release , and ever since Scott has restricted his time-travelling to the other direction : period epics like `` Gladiator , '' `` Kingdom of Heaven '' and `` Robin Hood . '' Until now that is , when the 74-year-old has decided to go back to the future , with a movie that 's a prequel , sort of , to his first big hit `` Alien . '' Ironically `` Prometheus '' starts in the far-distant past , and though the opening shots look like another world it turns out we 're seeing a primordial Isle of Skye , a remote outcrop off the coast of Scotland . Flash forward several millennia , 77 years from today . Cave paintings discovered at this location convince an aging businessman to bankroll a wildly ambitious interstellar mission . It 's said that `` Star Trek '' creator Gene Roddenberry only ever had one story idea , the one where Kirk and crew met their maker . It 's giving nothing away to say that Roddenberry would have liked `` Prometheus . '' So too Erich von Daniken , whose `` Chariots of the Gods '' is an obvious influence . As in `` Alien , '' a small crew wakes up from cryogenic sleep . The ship has been tended by a humanoid robot , David ( Michael Fassbender ) , who 's been boning up on ancient languages and rewatching `` Lawrence of Arabia '' during transit . If he models his forelock on Peter O'Toole , it seems like a good bet he 's modulated his soft , impassive vocal pattern on HAL , the ship computer in `` 2001 . '' You may not believe it , but next to nothing happens in the movie 's first hour and more . And this is probably the most effective and impressive part of the ride . The slow , atmospheric ascent to the top of the roller coaster as scientist Elizabeth Shaw ( Noomi Rapace ) and colleagues ( they include Sean Harris , Kate Dickie , Idris Elba and Charlize Theron ) explore the mysterious planet LV-223 . Not many filmmakers have the nerve to make us wait these days , but Scott knows his audience is primed for exploding chests and toothy extraterrestrials , and he enjoys playing on our trepidation while showing off the stunning production design . Even so , before long the movie feels rushed . When things start to slide for Shaw and her partner ( Logan Marshall-Green ) it 's like watching a drag racer spinning its wheels , kicking up dust to hit the checkered flag at 90 miles per hour . Screenwriters Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof have devised some ingeniously nasty set pieces , but after that deliberate build-up it 's disappointing that it still feels like corners are being cut . There is nothing to match the shocking biological horror that erupted in `` Alien , '' but you could n't accuse them of giving up without a fight . Scott has assembled an engagingly rough and ready , workmanlike cast , but does n't give them anything interesting to say for themselves . Theron 's brittle executive officer is just too close to caricature , and she 's not the only one either . Although she 's likeable enough I ca n't see Noomi Rapace 's Shaw proving as durable as Sigourney Weaver 's Ripley either . The movie 's stand out is clearly Fassbender . So it 's too bad David 's actions do n't make a lot of sense , at least not to this perplexed viewer , who could n't be sure if the robot was following orders or following his own agenda . The more you think about this movie , the less it stands up . Scott 's philosophical grandstanding is just that ; there 's less here than meets the eye . Mind you , it is spectacular . Dariusz Wolski 's visuals are lustrous to behold , the CGI is amazing , and Scott proves adept at handling 3D . This is one sci-fi movie with a palpable sense of space . And I 'll say this : even if the movie 's logic ultimately spirals down into a vortex of hysteria , horror and hokum , I enjoyed the bulldozer intensity of the climax , which barely keeps a lid on the crackpot cult movie that 's wrestling for the soul of this multimillion dollar blockbuster . It may not be quite the `` Alien '' resurrection we were all hoping for -- Wait ! They already used that one ! -- but it 's at least as good as the second and third sequels .
In `` Prometheus '' Elizabeth Shaw and colleagues explore the mysterious planet LV-223 . The discovery of a new exoplanet is one of the most exciting events in astronomy. There is nothing to match the shocking biological horror that erupted in `` Alien ''