Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2012

The titular space research vessel (named, not insignificantly, for the god who gave fire to humanity and then paid a terrible price) arrives at a distant planet that could be the home of the “Engineers,” a cosmically ancient race that may have brought life to Earth. The humans and requisite android crewperson on board (Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green & Michael Fassbender) want to know why. You may have heard that this is Ridley Scott’s prequel to his 1979 Alien. Well, yes and no. It’s true insofar as that movie could start after this one, but the genesis of the creature is almost a divergence, and the film could stand on its own. It’s got several of the necessary “boo and goo” sequences, but overall it’s very cerebral, resembling in places perhaps 2001 or even The Tree of Life. It’s elaborate and busy yet slow-paced. It’s full of philosophical inquiry, but these grandiose ideas all but dwarf the characters, making it emotionally distancing. It’s gorgeous and certainly entertaining, but whereas images from Alien and Blade Runner will remain forever in my head, Prometheus is already fading to a flicker.