A team of scientists and explorers travels to the darkest corners of the universe searching for the origins of human life. Instead they find a dark, twisted world that hides a terrifying threat capable of destroying them and all mankind. A film by Ridley Scott, starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, Emun Elliott, Benedict Wong, Kate Dickie, Patrick Wilson, and Guy Pearce.

In 2023, a young Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), the ambitious founder of Weyland Industries, takes the stage at the TED Conference to share his vision for the future. Drawing parallels to the myth of Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the gods and gifted it to humanity, Weyland describes fire as humanity’s first true piece of technology — one that has driven our civilization forward. He highlights a timeline of remarkable advancements: starting with the invention of stone tools around 10,000 BC, followed by the wheel around 4,000 BC, and the sundial in 800 BC. The journey continues with the development of gunpowder in the 9th century AD, the printing press in 1441 AD, and the innovations of the 19th century, including the steam engine, railway, and light bulb. Moving into the 20th century, he points to the automobile, television, nuclear weapons, and spacecraft. Finally, he looks to the 21st century, where breakthroughs in biotech, nanotech, fusion and fission, and M-theory promise to shape the future even further.

By 2023, humanity is on the brink of terraforming planets. The genetic factors behind 98% of cancers have been identified, and effective cures are now available. Cybernetic individuals are advancing rapidly, and Weyland envisions that in just a few years, they will be indistinguishable from humans. He concludes that we, as humans, are now the gods, wielding incredible powers to transform, destroy, and create. Weyland boldly announces that with his limitless ambition, he is prepared to break all the rules, laws, and ethical guidelines that he believes have been established to hold humanity back. He is determined to change the world.

On an unknown planet, a humanoid alien (Daniel James) stands on a clifftop overlooking a waterfall. A gigantic spacecraft hovers in the sky above. The humanoid alien steps forward and carefully places a half-black, half-sphere object on the ground.

The humanoid alien opens the lid of the half-sphere object, revealing another cup inside that contains a mysterious bubbly black liquid. He slowly drinks the liquid as the alien ship departs, disappearing into the clouds.

Suddenly, the humanoid alien begins to twitch in agony as his body starts to disintegrate. The black liquid quickly breaks down his cells, dismantling the molecules and DNA. As his body disintegrates into black dust, he crumbles down the waterfall. The black dust dissolves into the water and begins to recombine, forming a new DNA strain and creating new cells that transform into a zygote.

Year 2089, archaeologists Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Dr. Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a pictogram depicting men worshiping giant beings pointing to the stars among 35,000-year-old cave paintings in an uncharted cave on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

They discover that this particular pictogram appears in several ancient cultures, including Egyptian, Mayan, Sumerian, Babylonian, Hawaiian, and Mesopotamian, which were separated by centuries and had no contact with one another. The only galactic system that matches the formation of the stars in the pictogram is located so far away from Earth. Elizabeth believes that the pictogram is an invitation from an alien race she calls the Engineers, the creators of humanity.

Peter Weyland, CEO of Weyland Industries, is immensely impressed by their discovery and decides to fund their expedition with a scientific exploratory vessel named Prometheus, which costs a trillion dollars to build and can travel faster than light. The crew of 17 includes Elizabeth, Charlie, Captain Janek (Idris Elba), pilot Chance (Emun Elliott), pilot Ravel (Benedict Wong), geologist Fifield (Sean Harris), biologist Millburn (Rafe Spall), medic Ford (Kate Dickie),Weyland’s estranged daughter Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), and Android butler David (Michael Fassbender).

They are aboard Prometheus, traveling in suspended animation on a four-year journey to LV-223, a moon capable of sustaining life in the star system that matches the pictogram. They arrive at LV-223 on 21 December 2093.

As they enter LV-223’s atmosphere, the crew scans the area for any signs of civilization. Charlie spots an unnatural straight road in a valley and asks Janek to land Prometheus near a series of dome-like structures, each surrounded by a circular stone wall. Excited, Charlie and Elizabeth lead the survey team to explore the structures, and Charlie specifically asks David to join them.

Fifield deploys several spherical probes equipped with omnidirectional lasers to scan the cave-like alien structure. These probes autonomously explore the area and send data back to Prometheus, creating detailed 3D maps of their environment as they navigate through the alien structure in real time.

David stumbles upon a stone panel with alien symbols embedded in the wall. He randomly presses it and accidentally activates a 3D video replay of humanoid aliens running along the corridor. The survey team follows them to a door, where the video shows one of the aliens being slammed down and decapitated. As the team approaches the door, the body of the decapitated alien still lies there. However, Fifield freaks out and leaves the survey team with Millburn to return to Prometheus. David manages to open the door by randomly pressing the symbols on the stone panel.

Inside, they find the severed head of the decapitated alien on the ground, perfectly preserved. They also discover hundreds of mysterious black stone cylinders, strange murals on the ceiling, a monolithic statue of a humanoid head, and a bas-relief of a Xenomorph. Elizabeth and Ford quickly bag the head after realizing that the air from outside is affecting the atmosphere in the room. David secretly takes a stone cylinder without anyone noticing. With a massive silica storm approaching, they race back to Prometheus. On the ship, David taints Charlie’s drink with a drop of black liquid he extracted from the contents of the stone cylinder.

Meanwhile, Fifield and Millburn miss the exit and find themselves lost inside the alien structure. They stumble upon a pile of humanoid alien bodies. Janek contacts them via radio and asks them to check on a nearby probe, which is picking up a life form. However, Fifield and Millburn decide not to investigate and instead return to the room where they split from the team earlier, needing to spend the night there while waiting for the storm to pass. Unfortunately, they are attacked by an alien life form lurking in the black gooey liquid.

Directed by English filmmaker Ridley Scott, PROMETHEUS features an original screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, drawing on elements created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. The film delivers top-notch production that exceeds my expectations, with a captivating narrative and impressive world-building that explores the origins of Alien.

Despite some strange character decisions, PROMETHEUS benefits from its outstanding ensemble cast. Noomi Rapace brilliantly combines a love of science with steadfast faith as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, while Michael Fassbender delivers a chilling performance as the android David. PROMETHEUS is a visual feast, featuring breathtaking cinematography, realistic special effects blended with spectacular VFX, and impressive production and sound design. It’s a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen.

PROMETHEUS was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 1 June 2012, and in the United States on 8 June. It grossed over $403 million worldwide against a production budget of $120 million.

PROMETHEUS received a 4K UHD Blu-ray release in the United States on August 15, 2017. The 4K UHD Blu-ray version features a 2160p resolution with HEVC (H.265) encoding. It maintains a cinematic aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 soundtrack. Additional features are found on the included standard Blu-ray disc, which contains two audio commentary tracks — one by director Ridley Scott and another by writers Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof — as well as various behind-the-scenes documentaries.