Rent Prometheus (2012)

Excellent photography and effects - shame about the rest - Prometheus review by RP

Alien' is a superb sci-fi film, and 'Prometheus' was hyped as a prequel - which it is, sort of. I say 'sort-of' because the storyline is very, very confused and without reading an explanation on IMDB or Wikipedia or whatever it would be difficult to make it out. And that's a great disappointment.

The film looks great, with the same use of dark, densely-realised backgrounds that Ridley Scott films are famous for (cf 'Aliens', 'Blade Runner', 'Black Rain'). The effects are great. The sound is great. The acting is so-so - 'wooden' comes to mind - and to say that the best acting comes from the android character David is to damn the film with faint praise.

Unfortunately instead of 'Prometheus' being a prequel to a sci-fi thriller / horror film it falls into the somewhat over-ambitious and certainly over-pretentious trap of trying to make a film about the origin of man. And in this it fails. If it had simply stuck to the formula it would have been really good, but as it is - and despite the excellent photography and effects - it becomes just another over-complex, messy film. Which is a pity because it could have been great rather than just average. Or perhaps I'm missing something and the inevitable 'Prometheus 2' will reveal it to be a masterpiece...

3/5 stars - very average.

Alien - Prometheus review by JD

Noomi Rapace has got a lot to live up to since "The Girl.." trilogy. I think she is an outstanding actress (do you have to say actor?) and is entirely convincing and entertaining, but the film is poor generally relying on mucus covered C.G.s to revolt and shock. The space shock scenes have not changed since Alien and I would suggest that if you can't improve on them, do it differently. The plot is broken and uninteresting with too much straining of incredulity. The slimy monster up the nose trick I have seen so many times (men in black is the best) recently I think it should be banned except for satirical or comic purposes. Ultimately pointless and unoriginal.

Prometheus (2012) - Prometheus review by CP Customer

As with any Ridley Scott movie the viewer either loves what he makes or hate it. Personally, I thought that compared to the Alien movies the was a comparatively poor spin off. Saying that it wasn't what I would describe as consider to be a terrible sci-fi movie and as far as that goes I thought it to be average and overall I can't say I disliked it for what it turned out to be.