Tacky

Rating: 3/10 (2 June 2012)

Prometheus is a classic example of how money and art do not sit easily together. It shamelessly rips off themes from the successful Alien series and, whereas that could have been a tribute, there is no comparison between that series and this film. The original Alien was characterised by a skilfully-maintained tension and introduced a ground-breaking lead character in Ripley – the convincingly tough and determined woman – remarkable at that time. Prometheus has little tension and no sustained pace. Its special effects are impressive but, aside from the fact that they have all been seen before in a variety of other films, they are not embedded in a film that is worth them. Finally, what could have been a really interesting theme about humanity's origins is handled as tackily as the 'cave painting' which opens the film, where all the graceful beauty of our ancestor's paintings is rendered like an overblown illustration from a comic. Sorry that there is nothing good to say about this film. Perhaps the murderous hostility that the "Engineers" show to us, their creation, reflects some knowledge of just how bad it is.