Another futuristic sci-fi adventure. Another world to conquer.

In a prequel to his game-changing space-horror thriller, "Alien" director Ridley Scott ("Robin Hood") returns to outer space to question the origins of man by setting the stage for the origins of his creature. So, it's a history lesson. But, in this connivance of horrors beyond imaginings there's a decided loss of gravity possibly due to the been there-done that factor.

In a prologue, in an undefined time, a large, over-muscularized man-like figure stops at the precipice of a waterfall. The waters rage as a spacecraft above slowly draws away. He holds a container which seems to boil into a liquid, which he drinks. The effect is devastating. He disintegrates in that marvelous CGI way as his physical parts separate and fall into the waterfall. Underwater, we see his shattered DNA strands float with the currents. The significance being promoted by these super-charged visuals is that this is the manner in which mankind has been born on earth. The alien has performed the kindness of bequething to us his DNA.

A jump cut of eons brings us to 2089. We focus on archaeologist* Elizabeth "Ellie" Shaw (Noomi Rapace, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" Swedish version [pron. No-mee Rahpa'ss]) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green, "Across the Universe"), who dig each other as well as their work. With the origins of man as their goal, they discover a cave containing ancient drawings featuring a humanoid figure pointing to a pattern of symbols. They recognize them as locations in the universe, being indicated as of vital importance. Ellie perceives the gesture as an invitation and, before we know it, the couple are in a two-year state of suspended animation aboard a scientific exploration vehicle, the Prometheus.

During the voyage, the 17-man crew has been watched over by David (Michael Fassbender, "Inglourious Basterds"), an android which appears human in every respect and with an Artificial Intelligence on the super-genius level. He (it?) understands human emotions and motivations with pure intellect, but so well you'd think he felt them. In addition, his ability to absorb research on every topic unknown to him has given him incredible capabilities, including the mastery of alien languages. He is one cool character, a virtually perfect shepherd over his traveling flock -- except that he has a propensity to work against his hosts whenever it's in his selfish interests. A robot with an agenda.

As the spacecraft approaches the target planet, the team is awakened and meet for an orientation. Meredith Vickers (icy Charlize Theron, "Snow White and the Huntsman") appears to be the company's appointed leader and she introduces the projected image of magnate Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce, "The Hurt Locker" in an age-crusted overlay of makeup) appears to deliver a pre-recorded speech made before his death. As the financier of the project, he outlines the mission as finding the painters of the cave drawings, identified as the engineers, a goal which seems to agree with the scientific team's.

If the team knew the full truth, a mutiny would be likely at this point but, soon enough, they are landing on distant moon LV-223 before a huge, mysterious structure and setting out to explore it.

This is one of many settings that are so common to extra-planetary movies that it's a challenge to any sci-fi filmmaker to avoid the cliches of the genre -- a feat more and more improbable as these movies carve out a library of sameness. One such example of this almost identical moment in the story is the one in "Thor" when the title character and his evil brother Loki approach the domain of the evil power by way of a bridge and away from the comfort and safety of their homes or vehicle, toward unknown dangers and discoveries. See also "Battleship."

In this instance, corpses are found within the alien structure, with the largest thought to be one of the engineers. The shock to Shaw and Holloway is that it indicates the species they so long to find is extinct. After realizing that the components of the air within the structure is so close to earth's that they can safely remove their space helmets, David, who needs no special air supply, cops a sample of the engineer's DNA, which is later analyzed. It matches ours - making credible the theory that these "engineers" are our progenitors. Was that figure in the prologue the father of mankind on earth? Is this a heretical concept?

Consider this: the age of "Star Wars" and "Alien" is over. Now, as the tropes of intergalactic exploration and diversity of space creatures approaches sameness, the place to look for innovation is in the characters, human and humanoid. Accordingly, this leads us to casting. A primary asset here is the fascinating Rapace in a role light years away from the one that won her two leading roles in American film, this one and "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Chance" in a relatively subordinate role. Here, her opportunities are vaster, including a sex scene and her wonderful athleticism. Which makes apparent why Scott chose her for the Sigourney Weaver role in the "Alien" spectaculars that presumably follow this prequel.

While a few of the early scenes, when agendas clash, she seems weakly up to the task of breathing life into her character with the feisty push-back of which she's capable. Later, however, she takes hold of her part and I saw much of what Scott had in mind. Besides fulfilling the promise of a lovely, sexy beauty who's new to American audiences, Rapace masters our expectations with the energy and endurance to hold the screen with considerable fascination.

In one stunning and memorable scene she performs a ghastly self-surgery and meets the demands of a panic-edged struggle that had her hyper-ventilating like a diver facing a shark. I thought it revealed the benefit of an intense workout regime. I daresay, taking her away from Swedish film was a stroke of good fortune for everyone except the Swedes.

The role that will engender the most buzz, however, is likely to be Fassbender's. Without resorting to anything obvious to convey the artificial life form of an android, he's a study in utter control of thought and action. This is a delicious new creation in a creative actor's impressive range. It's too early in the year for nomination considerations, but don't be surprised if he takes one of the five seats for the classy perfection he exhibits here.

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Keeping the folks who stay behind on the ship while the main action is elsewhere, Scott and writers Jon Spaihts ("The Darkest Hour") and Damon Lindelof ("Cowboys and Aliens" who also produced) had to find ways to keep them alive in relatively passive roles. Out of that comes a juicy scene in which Theron, conveying the emotionally distant mission chief, at last proves her human creds when challenged by Janek (Idris Elba, "Thor"), the ship's pilot. "My room. Ten minutes," she says as she smartly disappears into the bowels of the ship. Don't know -- was a snappier, more loaded line ever written?

The premise that creatures from outer space "engineered" human life on earth is loaded with cautionary baggage. For one thing, it screams FICTION and FANTASY in a context that strives for the appearance of realism. That aside, Scott's stupendous story and structure support a rich palette of terrifying situation, big scale action, a diverse set of characters and a few thing to go home talking about. This is a recommended product for legions of horror fans, futuristically bent or not.

                                      ~~  Jules Brenner