I am genuinely confused as to how this movie turned out to be so bad.

Visuals aside, Prometheus is filled with clumsy ideas and execution.

The story does not answer any questions. The characters are one dimensional. The movie is completely lacking in suspense and terror. The soundtrack is underwhelming. Some story and lore elements are completely absurd.

There were so many plot holes and unanswered questions by the end of the movie.

Its almost as if Ridley was making 2 completely different movies. One visually stunning movie that was truly conceived as an Alien prequel, and another movie about going through space in search for eternal youth and human origins.

The end result was more than just a mess, its downright insulting to Alien fans.

just watch it... too long... too boring and surprisingly bad....
I like Ridley Scott a lot... bu tthis feels pushed, rushed, not very well acted, nothing really happens relevant, weak storyline and ... I will leave the end to you guys.

Sorry have not read your post beofre posting mine... BUT YES!!! I AGREE 100%.

Has anyone seen the movie Sunshine? It's kind of like this movie where they go out to space for resources and it has that similar tone of suspense to it. It's pretty good, and it gets really dark towards the end.

I've seen it, decent film

Sunshine is amazing, the pacing, music, cast, acting, atmosphere and design are all class, best the genre has seen since Alien. Danny Boyle is a director with great range.

To clarify my previous comment, I actually like Prometheus as a movie, it has some great scenes and at times the story is interesting, its just not what fans were promised. Some of the lore is interesting, it does show where the rapid xeno life cycle comes from, shows where humans come from and to some extent the enginers. But it raises just as many questions. 

The fact that the movie was one time canned, then brought back to like via Lindelofs lofty script means that Ridley must not have had the creative control we once believed.

I really enjoyed the movie, I was completely sucked in by the story and having watched the Aliens movies before watching it had me wondering what was going to happen all the way through. I can't imagine the people that havent seen Alien caring about the movie.

well the movie was originally meant to be a real prequel to aliens. But then Damon Lindelof got invovled and scripts got rewritten and turned it into Lost.

Ridley wanted the movie to be a prequel in the sense that it explores the alien universe but went in its own directions and not a direct link aliens. So it would leave doors open to make more sequels to prometheus.

Prometheus opens strong overseas with $35 million start across 15 countries. Film opened at No.1 at 14 of 15 countries. What's important, in UK this film claimed the best opening ever for Ridley Scott. Next week it will open in many more territories, most important of which is, of course, US. Congrats, Ridley!

P.S. Yeah, looks like a lot of people are having problems with messy script by Lindelof. I can unclude myself as well, but still I enjoyed this film (and its beauty as well) very much. And I hope we'll get our answers to some questions sometime.

So, Prometheus is going to do some pretty good cash this week. US release is today.
Also, film received "Certified Fresh" award at RT, which is also nice. Ebert gave 4 stars as well ;)