Prometheus

Over half of this afternoon's audience wasn't even born when Ridley Scott ("Blade Runner") started making movies, but they are well versed in his work and reacted right on cue at certain hints of stories yet to come as offered in this prequel to his 1979 "Alien."

Producer/Director Scott does spectacular horror, slime, gore, slime, suspense, slime, tension, and slime, plus massive Computer Generated Images of planets, space ships, aliens and slime.

This cast certainly epitomizes the international nature of today's cinema:

• Charlize Theron ("Snow White and the Huntsman") South Africa gave us this Academy Award winning actress, who holds our attention any time she appears on screen. Here, she's the leader of a scientific exploration that tries to identify the origins of the human race. This gal is tough, authoritative and pragmatic.
• Michael Fassbender ("Haywire") This German import puts Mercedes-Benz to shame: He has played every nationality in every time period; heroes, villains, scientists, and this time he's a robot. David watches an old video of "Lawrence of Arabia" to mimic Peter O'Toole's hair, accent and speech. You've gotta see it!
• Noomi Rapace ("Sherlock Holmes") This Swedish-born marvel was introduced to most of us in the U.S. as Lis Salander in the original "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy. In this latest outing, she seems to be a precursor to Sigourney Weaver's iron-jawed Ripley, because she manages her own self-induced abortion by Cesarean section when she discovers she's carrying an alien.
• Idris Elba ("Takers") is a well-established star in the U.K. His breakout role in the U.S. was Stringer Bell in "The Wire." In this one, he's the no-nonsense captain of a space ship that has carried the scientists to this obscure planet in hopes they can solve the mystery of our origins. He has the best pick-up line. "Are you a robot?"
• Guy Pearce ("Lockout") This British-born actor grew up in Australia, so he is a double threat. In his latest outing, he is virtually unrecognizable as the industrialist who finances this scientific expedition.
• Kate Dickie ("Red Road") Scottish-born Dickie is an award-winning stage actress. In this film, her hard-edged character is courageous supportive...and doomed.

This horror-fest is Nirvana for lovers of CGI, but not so much for some of the rest of us. I appreciated the ambition and self-sufficiency of the three women but reached suspense overload after that long "Don't go in the dripping tunnel!" episode. Like any self-respecting R-rated film, we have profanity, gunfire and blowie uppie stuff, plus Ridley Scott can create more horrific ways to kill off characters than any other director I have ever watched.

YOYO (You're On Your Own)

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Here is a link to a preview:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi497590297/
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