Next on the summer blockbuster chopping block is Prometheus. The Alien franchise is a hallmark of the sci-fi horror genre. The first Alien film was groundbreaking and has often been duplicated. Like all film franchises that are turned into cash cows the quality has a tendency to decline. Prometheus was a film that both bucked the trend and reinforces it.
Visually Prometheus is stunning. Ridley Scott tends to be particularly good at building imaginary worlds. Even small details, like the Weyland Corporation’s 
logo being imprinted on the android’s finger, speak volumes. The casting of each actor is spot on for the sci-fi archetype they’re trying to fill. Concept wise fascinating. The search for man’s origins in outer space is hard sci fi which all too often in neglected in modern fiction. With all that going for it Prometheus has to be good Right? Unfortunately no. Prometheus’s most important element, the plot, was an incomprehensible mess. It full of vague ambiguity, unexplained plot holes, unexplored potential, and characters whose gross stupidity was necessary to create any forward movement.
I could rant about all of Prometheus’s faults. I could go on about how the scientists acted unscientific, or complain certain characters motivation was never apparent. If I had to make a list of defects it’d probably fill several pages and I’d walk away kind of
Check out this artist’s great interpretation of Prometheus
depressed. Prometheus was intended to be a horror movie so let me ask did it scare me? The original Alien played off of sexuality, and claustrophobia to be scary. It specifically targeted the male audience with the fear of rape and pregnancy. (For a great analysis check out this Cracked article). Prometheus had traces of this, as well as hypochondriac fear of disease. Overall the horror was too broad and unfocused to really hit its mark. The black slime, the Engineer’s unexplained omni purpose genetic manipulation device, causes all manner of mutations. It creates zombies because zombies are scary. It turns innocent worms into phallic cobras, because snakes are scary. It impregnates people with facehuggers suffering from vagina dentata because that’s scary too. If it had one specific cause and effect, the characters had to face and defend themselves against that would have been wonderful. It is some kind of contagion after all. What if the element of horror was a mutagenic disease. Crew members slowly became infected after it was brought on the ship. It could have the crew at each other’s throats over who is infected and who isn’t. One by one the crew would be turned into something other than human, until there’s only one option left: turn to the last surviving engineer for help.
Special mention should be given the surgery scene. **Spoiler alert: Naomi Rapace has to perform surgery on herself to remove an alien fetus.** Though the scene is horrific and intense it wasn’t believable. The heroine has the equivalent of a botched caesarian, and is stapled closed. Hours later she is seen sprinting in an uncomfortably tight spandex suit only barely wincing. I have female family members who have had perfect medical care during and after a c-section and still have months worth of recovery time. Most people would pass out if they were cut open, yet she has the fortitude to tear apart the umbilical cord with her bare hands. The scene felt exploitative and unnecessary. If that part was never in the movie the plot (or whatever Prometheus has as a reasonable facsimile for a plot) would have moved forward unhindered. It was as though the writers said “We need to fill five minutes. What can we do to get the audience to cringe and what excuse do we have to make this actress run around in her underwear.”
On a scale of 1 to Epic (Epic = 10) Prometheus gets a 6.7
On a Scale of 1 to Epic (Epic = 10): 
