merely OK

Rating: 3/10 (19 June 2012)

Prometheus was a huge letdown for me. I'm a big fan of some of Ridley Scott's earlier movies, like Blade Runner, Gladiator, and of course, Alien. Prometheus simply isn't in the same league as those.
Sure, it looks fabulous. The sets and special effects are terrific. Even his judicious use of 3D works, for the most part. But really, so what? Scott forgot that story is the most important part of any movie. Prometheus glosses over essentials like character development, backstory and suspense in its rush to get everyone into space as quickly as possible so the extraterrestrial slimefest can begin. It's not even all that scary. There's nothing that even comes close to the famous chest bursting scene in Alien for shock factor. It's all rather tame. You never gain any insight to any of the characters so you never have a clue what their motivations are. The movie opens with an archaeological expedition on Earth and suddenly in the very next scene we're in space enroute to meet our makers. Huh? Care to provide us with any plot development there, Ridley?
I have to grade Prometheus as only a C+, and almost all of that is for nothing more than set design. Pity.