A grand, sweeping science-fiction spectacle that is utterly hampered by the script’s atrocious dialogue, clunky exposition, weird pacing, and scientist characters that never act like scientists. It’s as if Jon Spaihts’ original script for Alien: Engineers were run through a machine-learning tool which inserted as many of Damon Lindelof’s late-’00s to early-’10s writing quirks and thematic obsessions as possible.
On the plus side, the production design is very good resulting in some great visuals. It’s never as inventive as Giger’s ALIEN design but, on the whole, it works. Fassbender’s David and Rapace’s Shaw are character highlights as the only characters with actual arcs. Overall PROMETHEUS reaches for heights that it can’t reach and its allusions to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY do it no favours.
Full review available on The Xenopod from 25th October 2023: https://takeonecinema.net/thexenopod/