Grade: B

“Prometheus” follows a team of explorers out to find the origins of human life on Earth. While searching all over the globe scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) have linked several images together suggesting that the human race was created by a race of beings with similar, if not exactly matching, human DNA.

Shaw, Holloway and a team of scientists, funded by the corporation Weyland-Yutani, set out to find whomever may have created them. However when they reach their destination and find only one of the aliens, they realize a terrible truth about their not so distant future. Shaw must face the gravest of dangers and overcome terrible loses in order to escape the alien world alive.

“Prometheus” is the recently released “Alien” franchise prequel from original “Alien” director Ridley Scott. It’s pretty awesome that after 32 years and three Oscar nominations, a director such as Scott would want to return to the franchise that brought him his initial fame.

With that said, that might have been what led to my disappointment for what I thought would be my favorite film of summer 2012.

Prometheus is a very ambitious concept that undoubtedly attracted a lot of media and “Alien” fan attention.

With big name stars like Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, and Michael Fassbender, it was a star-studded film destined to do well.

Unfortunately for an “Alien” fan, such as myself, it just didn’t deliver the experience I was expecting.

However, putting aside the “Alien” fan within me and looking at it as a film major, it does a lot of things well, but also has its faults.

First off, the cast did a spectacular job and everyone seemed to fit their parts well. With Rapace stepping into the Sigourney Weaver role she performed it well for what the part was — a slightly scared, over dramatic heroine.

The lead roles, however, were more so perfected by the supporting cast around Rapace and Marshall-Green with Fassbender playing the role of the android who is slightly more interested in this newly found life-form than he is with the safety of his human counterparts. Then there’s Theron, who plays the role of the over aggressive “suit” who clearly has lingering daddy issues. Again, she fits the part well and helps bring the whole cast together.

The acting, alongside the spectacular visual effects, were not the largest problem the film faced however.

What is so mixed about the “Alien” franchise is the films go from being science fiction horror with “Alien” (1979) to science fiction action adventure with “Aliens” (1986). In here lies the problem because with “Prometheus,” it wants to be both instead of deciding to be one or the other.

There are slight hints of both genres, but the film needed to decide what it wanted to be. In some ways it led more towards being strictly a sci-fi movie because at the end I found myself asking a massive amount of questions about how certain things fit within the “Alien” universe, instead of merely being an action adventure movie, where all of the questions are answered at the end.

When a film sways in multiple different directions within multiple different genres it loses its focus of what and who it’s trying to speak to. It should’ve swayed more within the genre of sci-fi horror if it wanted to truly be an “Alien” prequel. But instead, it started a whole new storyline that left questions completely unanswered about the “Alien” films. And while it was said to be a terrifying movie, it never once contained truly terrifying imagery or made me feel scared.

So if it’s not horror and leaves questions about the “Alien” universe unanswered, is it truly an “Alien” prequel? I say it’s not.

While characters were cast well and the graphics were astonishing I don’t think “Prometheus” really gave audiences anything to cheer about. As I left the theater, reactions were the least bit promising which is disappointing because I had very high hopes for this film.

Putting all of my expectations and “Alien” fandom aside “Prometheus” is a good movie but may leave fans of the franchise disappointed.