The release this week, available in the Media Center (lower level, room 2) of Parks Library, is the 2012 film “Prometheus.”

Over the summer I wanted to see this film, but for the same reason the trailer made me want to make for the theater, it made me want to run away. I love suspense, but I kept freaking about alien gore and people dying in odd, sci-fi ways.

It begins with Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) searching a cave with her partner and boyfriend, Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), as well as the rest of their team. Within moments we are informed they have found the evidence they needed to go searching space for alien life. Their discovery finds them aboard the spaceship “Prometheus” with a new larger team of experts to aid them in their exploration of the alien world they find. But then science goes awry and terrible things begin to happen to them putting their lives and our home in jeopardy.

Originally, I was going to try and do some research on the “Alien” series, in the hopes that I could pick up anything I would need to know as an outsider to these films. After asking a few friends, I’ve decided to offer this from an outsider’s standpoint for the sake of simplicity and my worry of messing something up out of ignorance. There be my disclaimer.

I actually enjoyed this more than I had expected, but I had a few issues with the plot. I like to think I’m a fairly intelligent human being, but I simply could not work a few things out. Neither could my other fairly intelligent human friend that also had little knowledge of the “Alien” movies. I hope these problems are ones that could be solved with a second viewing, but I also wonder if they were gaps that those in the know would understand. I have been told that this film acts a prequel, in some way, to the previous films, but as an outsider I was left very confused. The significance of the opening scene is a big part of it, in that while it explains something that comes later, it feels out of place.

Otherwise, I think the characters were fun to watch and while a bit off, meant to be. None of these characters are particularly bright, except maybe David (Michael Fassbender), who was particularly well played and often frightening. Even he has his stupid moment however, in just another scene that had me bewildered.

The alien gore and special effects that I was so worried about is limited to a handful of scenes, making the trailer actually more frightening than the movie leads you to believe and is also one of my favorite movie trailers. The special effects are also quite dazzling, and the sets are great.

There are not a lot of special features on this DVD with only a selection of deleted scenes that range from helpful to mouth-gaping odd. It gives you a little more detail in some scenes or provides some alternative approaches to other which you may or may not like. I recommend checking it since you can go through them all in fewer than 20 minutes.

Short version: If you’re feeling a hearty sci-fi flick that will likely leave you with more questions than answers, you would love this.

Currently available?

For more information, check out IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/