Well, I just went to see Ridley Scott’s newly released Prometheus, which I predict will do excellent business over its opening weekend.
More later, but I will say this. First, it’s a heck of a scary movie, and admirably written and directed as far as that goes.
Second, it is indeed premised on intelligent design, but pretty much the darkest possible interpretation of ID. The origin of DNA and of the first life is the key question being investigated by the protagonists, heroes and villains alike. Signature in the Cell, anyone?
If the source of the design in life isn’t a benevolent deity, as all those wicked fundamentalists believe, there’s always the possibility it’s a malevolent humanoid civilization from another star system, as in Prometheus.
Without spoiling the plot for you, one of the first characters to, uh, pass away under rather unpleasant circumstances is a biologist who earlier protested that the space ship Prometheus‘ mission — to explore an alien planet in search of life’s intelligent-designing “engineers” — is a crock because it flies in the face of “three centuries of Darwinism.”
Despite the ID theme, I can’t recommend this movie for ENV’s family audience. Better to stick with a nice, uplifting, and scientifically solid Illustra Media documentary.