Over-complicates and demystifies what needn't be explained; joyless, overly serious and a tad pretentious.

Rating: 4/10 (5 March 2018)

As a distant precursor to the 'Alien' franchise, 'Prometheus (2012)' maintains a generally wide berth but still tries too hard to over-explain what needn't necessarily be explained - retroactively over-complicating and demystifying the previously established lore. The feature itself is mostly joyless, being consistently too serious and just plain dull, and its constant forced existentialism does come across as a tad pretentious. It's really this that kills the piece, as it mistakes itself for some grand comment on the nature of man, and indeed mankind's origins, when it is simply science-fiction schlock. It is almost as if it wants to be classed as 'high-art', to distance itself from the apparent 'B-movie' origins of the franchise, but in the process becomes so much worse and incredibly strained. The simple things aren't even done right, and so the piece isn't even believable on the most basic of levels. For example, the characters keep making decisions that would seem stupid even for children and yet we're supposed to believe they are the scientists chosen to explore a new world. Mostly, though, the movie is just boring. 4/10