Prometheus 2012

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: I saw Prometheus without my trusty guide-wife next to me to describe the creepy stuff yet watched every second of the movie. And not once did I jump out of my skin. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Prometheus is more interested in piling on big questions than in answering them. It's deep without being particularly smart, although the dazzling design and special effects keep you from noticing that basic flaw until at least an hour in. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: This is a remarkably scary and eye-popping headrush of a movie, an experience that offers a maximum adrenaline boost at the same time as it engages your intelligence. Don't miss it. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Mr. Scott's sense of visual scale, which has often produced hectic, hectoring grandiosity (are you not entertained?), achieves, especially in the first hour, something like genuine grandeur. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This tale of an interstellar search asks cosmic questions about the meaning of life, but comes up with lame answers in a script that screams attention-deficit disorder. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: While its vast sets and production values are simply stunning, "Prometheus" ultimately disappoints. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Though Prometheus follows Alien's story beats, it's a looser and less satisfying story, more intellectual than visceral, and not fully satisfying on either level. But in part, that's because it's trying to do so much more. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: You're more likely to enjoy the film if you go in thinking less about "Alien" and more about Scott, with his emphasis on images, tone and atmosphere over -- sometimes at the expense of -- plot and story. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Watching "Prometheus" is like opening a deluxe gift box from Tiffany's to find a mug from the dollar store. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The plot of this Alien prequel was a carefully guarded secret -- so carefully guarded, in fact, that not even the movie reveals it. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: God (or Alien) knows this movie is derivative. But as someone else once said, originality isn't everything. Read more

Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times: Unlike any of the sequels between it and the original, Prometheus is a horror movie first and foremost, gnawing at subconscious terrors even as your conscious mind attempts to bat it away. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: I'll say this much for it -- it's not boring. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: If you have fond, 33-year-old memories of averting your young eyes from a propulsive parasite critter, Prometheus might just be your kind of return trip. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Much like Rutger Hauer's turn as a replicant in Scott's Blade Runner, Fassbender's performance may launch Prometheus into the cult stratosphere. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "Prometheus" is genuinely epic. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Prometheus elicits Alien memories for viewers who have them, but works on its own, too, as a model of a contemporary (and, as is the contempo mode, long-winded) sci-fi horror pic. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Ridley Scott means to bring wonder and horror back to summertime spectacle, and Prometheus mostly succeeds in that regard. (Mostly.) Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: It does supply enough visual spectacle, tense action and sticky, slithery monster attacks to hit the spot with thrill-seeking audiences worldwide. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Making up for the expected nature of some of the film's plot twists is Arthur Max's spooky, H.R. Giger-influenced production design, Dariusz Wolski's fluid cinematography, as well as Scott's moment-to-moment storytelling skill. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Why are we here? What is our purpose? Is there a God? When does this movie get good? Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: Prometheus is scary only in the sum of instincts and talent for movie-making that have been lost. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Prometheus" repeats many past glories, and its plot is squishy nonsense. But its grand sets and intricate effects are dazzling, and in at least one scene, Scott almost manages to top himself. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: The movie may be a scare show that leaves many questions unanswered, but Scott's craft earns an exhausted kind of respect. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: An impressive epic about the extraordinary vastness of the universe, and the immense puniness of us. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: What resonates in Scott's graceful, grownup, pristine film is its majestic mind. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: With its creepy caves and yawning space, "Prometheus" is on one level a somber dialogue between man the aspirant and man the mortal. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Narratively, it's a mess. There's a through-line Darwinism vs. creationism thing going on that ping-pongs big religious and philosophical ideas, but whiffs the return. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Prometheus is a prequel that works as a stand-alone but offers added benefits to those familiar with the Alien series. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Brilliant. Epic. Haunting. Grotesque. Great. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" is a magnificent science-fiction film, all the more intriguing because it raises questions about the origin of human life and doesn't have the answers. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The ending isn't squishy scary or deeply satisfying. Bummer. Otherwise, Prometheus kicks ass so hard and often that it's impossible not to be thrilled by it. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Prometheus" damn near lives up to the unsustainable hype, at least at the level of cinematography, production design, special effects and pure wow factor. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "Prometheus" has the integrity of a serious and sincere attempt, but ultimately it won't please anybody. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: The paranoia becomes palpable, and a lot of its impact comes from how dramatic and dazzlingly seamless the special effects are. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Scott delivers a visually exquisite, unmissable film that demands and deserves to be seen on the biggest screen available. It is also unforgivably stupid. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Aping Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," Scott and his screenwriters have designed this towering puzzle to provoke debate, with liberal allusions to gender, race and religion. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Prometheus--like, in its telling, the human race itself--is a creation spliced from the DNA of superior forebears. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: There's definite mastery here, but it's hardly a masterpiece. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Alien DNA plays a big role in Prometheus, but it's the DNA of Alien that this new movie just can't quite live up to. The less you think of this new film as part of that legendary series, the more you'll enjoy it. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: There's no denying that Prometheus will make for a perfectly entertaining night at the movies -- but we were promised so much more. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The setup is familiar-the mysterious planet, the slick tunnels, the shocking bodily violation, the broken quarantine, etc. So why is there a gaping hole where the dread should be? Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Stripped to its visceral essentials, the franchise is meant to frighten us and gross us out, and Prometheus rises to that modest challenge. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: When it comes to technical wizardry and sheer visual spectacle, Prometheus unequivocally delivers. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Remains earthbound in narrative terms, forever hinting at the existence of a higher intelligence without evincing much of its own. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: With this overreaching Prometheus, Scott seems a bit like David carefully arranging his hair in imitation of O'Toole's Lawrence. He can still mimic the appearance of an epic, noble, important movie -- but the appearance is all. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Prometheus tells a much bigger story and does it well, but it's missing what matters most. It's inorganic. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Visually impressive and featuring one or two breakout performances, this anticlimactic exercise too often plays as though it has been cobbled together from archetypes, imagery and tropes from countless other movies. Read more