We open with a unique piece of a white-skinned humanoid drinking a dark liquid and falling into a waterfall as his body comes apart, his DNA spread through the planet he's on. Cut to 2089 as in deep space, the starship Prometheus travels to a moon named LV-223. The ship is owned by the Weyland Corporation whose late billionaire founder, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) is interested in finding the secrets to life. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her partner Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) are archeologists who have discovered the same symbols at various ancient civilizations across Earth. They believe it's a map leading to this moon and the possible origins of life on Earth. In charge of the expedition is Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) with ship captain Janek (Idris Elba) and David (Michael Fassbender) an android who seems to have his own plan. Landing on the planet, they find massive caverns indicating signs of an alien civilization was on hand but also a major threat that could endanger Earth itself.

Yes, the film is a prequal to the classic Alien series but it more than stands up on its own. You can see it coming that a couple of crew members become "infected" but it's not what you expect and the mystery of these alien Engineers is staged well along with some of the conflict within the crew. The script by Jon Spaihts and Lost veteran Damon Lindelof do a good job laying out the mysteries and while we don't get all the answers (there is a sequel already in the works), we get nice throwbacks to the original film as well as a good story on its own. The first half builds the tension of the discovery but the camaraderie of the workers and crew, some truly excited, others thinking this is all a waste and in for the money. It's more down to earth (no pun intended) than the first Alien which adds a nice new layer to things.

This is Scott's show, of course and the veteran director continues to show the young bucks how a sci-fi epic should be done right. The strength of Scott is that he eschews CGI for the most part, insisting on doing things as physically as possible. It's great watching actors on location, the ship and the alien temple and know these are real places, not green screen stages, which makes the film more real and better for the viewer to connect to. The man's style is great, selling both regular moments as characters connect and interact but is also able to showcase the amazing action and awe of the discovery with the danger growing. Some can nitpick the science and reactions (just because the temple has an atmosphere like Earth doesn't mean it's safe to breathe) but you can do that with a lot of sci-fi. The idea that the corporation would have these people spend two years in hibernation on a deep space trip without telling them the reason why fits the theme of corporate horror that's been a theme throughout the series. Scott elevates the story, shooting with moods to fit darkness or even some humor but overall, a tension and sense of wonder that prevails to enthrall you so no matter what you feel of the story, you cannot argue with the visual triumph it is.

The cast is a key reason for helping that along. Rapace is great in the lead role, a woman seeking answers, driven to the truth and shows believable wonder and glee at what she finds. That does lead to horror when things going wrong, culminating in a truly thrilling sequence involving a surgical pod that Rapace sells perfectly to make the terror real. Her relationship with Holloway isn't as developed as it could be but you get their sense of closeness and how it leads to major trouble. Rapace comes into her own in the final scenes with great work by Rapace making you feel Shaw's agony. Theron is brilliantly cold and methodical as Vickers and while you see her character twist coming, the actress imbues what could have been a one-note role with some depth to show the hidden pain of Vickers but still in command. Fassbender is fantastic with David, his brilliant introduction scene having him model himself after Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia and he carries himself with a wry humor but still a sense of danger and hiding some darker secret. It's ironic that like his creator, he too is trying to figure out his purpose and why he exists but also sees the dangers in going too far with that quest.

But it's the visual impact that pulls you along and Scott is at the top of his game here. From the chilling vistas of this alien moon to the high-tech ship with realistic equipment, the film is a true marvel for the eyes, enough to make you overlook the flaws in the story or acting. The climax is wonderfully paced out and thrilling and while it loses a bit of its power on the small screen, still rocks you and sets up the films later to come. There's also the overall theme, that it is sheer arrogance of humans to assume that if we were to ever find our creator (whether God or aliens) that They would actually deign to explain what our purpose is. While not perfect, the movie still ranks as a great achievement by a master of his game and while Alien fans will want to watch it, it can pull in new viewers too. The ending leaves an opening for further films and makes you wonder more of what you’ve seen but still does a good job winning you over and the very fact it doesn't try to wrap everything up in a tidy bow makes it more satisfying. For a great mix of drama and thinking man's action, you can't do worse than Scott and he proves it here with a great addition to an already deep mythos.