Prometheus
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: June 8, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
18
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJun 6, 2012
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 full review
91
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 6, 2012
Scott briskly blends the high-minded stuff with impressive boo-and-goo sequences, ratcheting tension in tight spots and dark caverns. Read full review
88
New York PostKyle SmithJun 7, 2012
Gorgeous set pieces thrill the senses, but there is philosophical inquiry as well. "Alien" was, after all, just "Jaws" in space, but Prometheus ponders where evil comes from and how it conquers its makers. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonJun 6, 2012
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 full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJun 6, 2012
This is jumbo-size science fiction, with a handsome, impermeable titanium gleam - and a thick coating of creationism lite. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJun 6, 2012
Prometheus is an unquestionable good time, one of the best big-screen science fiction accomplishments since 'Avatar.' Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid DenbyJun 11, 2012
Scott may always have had an eye on the box office, but from "Alien" and "Thelma & Louise" on, he has made women into heroines. In that regard, he's still ahead of the curve. Rapace's scene is a classic of its kind; it tops John Hurt's notorious misfortunes in "Alien." Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 7, 2012
We are left, after all the propulsive action, with great turns by Theron and Rapace, and a tightly wound turn by Fassbender, whose eerie, poetically impish mechanical man might have burst from Bradbury's conscience. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 6, 2012
I really enjoyed watching Prometheus almost the whole way through, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. It's an enjoyable thrill ride, slicked up with a thin veneer of Asking the Big Questions. But do its so-called heroes really have to be such blithering New Age idiots? Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 6, 2012
Prometheus is a good movie, sometimes very good. It's just not a great movie. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 30, 2012
Although Ridley Scott's 3D visual feast is no classic, the oozing alien tentacles hit all the right sci-fi horror notes. Read full review
80
Total FilmJonathan CrockerMay 30, 2012
Flawlessly designed, with the beautiful 3D cinematography contrasting the clean white futurism of Prometheus' interiors with the black corporeal surfaces of the alien catacombs.

 It might not pack the unbearable menace or blazing horror of the saga's first two movies, but it utterly eclipses the last two. It's exciting, tense and fully impregnated for sequels. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJun 8, 2012
There's definite mastery here, but it's hardly a masterpiece. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 7, 2012
Scott seduces audiences with thought-provoking possibilities, then pulls a bait-and-switch, subbing in a familiar monster thriller and fiery explosion-fest. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 7, 2012
The ending isn't squishy scary or deeply satisfying. Bummer. Otherwise, Prometheus – especially in its spellbinding first hour – kicks ass so hard and often that it's impossible not to be thrilled by it. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJun 7, 2012
Prometheus is breezy and comely and sufficiently clever to mitigate most qualms, and Fassbender, especially, is wonderful. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 7, 2012
The real stars here are Scott's behind-the-curtain crew, who fill every frame with tech-savvy details and take the sets to another dimension with immersive 3-D imagery. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 7, 2012
The best of Prometheus is nonverbal and purely atmospheric: Fassbender's "Lawrence of Arabia"-loving character bouncing a basketball as he patrols the spaceship while his human cohorts finish up their two-year nap. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 7, 2012
Prometheus is the antithesis of the "big, dumb summer movie." Its visuals and special effects can stand toe-to-toe with any of the season's spectacles, but are audiences ready for something with an intelligent, thought-provoking screenplay where the action is secondary? Prometheus is flawed, but stupidity cannot be numbered among its missteps. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 8, 2012
It's a different sort of experience: a stately, somewhat plodding but endurable science-fiction saga. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 7, 2012
Prometheus, unlike its predecessors, does not wear its themes lightly. It pushes too hard for significance, which is dicey in and of itself for genre material and contrasts badly with the standard nature of some of the story's plotting. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 7, 2012
The virtuosity on display makes the weakness of the story all the more frustrating. I'll avoid spoilers here, but Prometheus kind of spoils itself with twists and reversals that pull the movie away from its lofty, mind-blowing potential. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 7, 2012
Ridley Scott has made two iconic sci-fi films, "Alien" (1979) and "Blade Runner" (1982). Trying for a hat trick with Prometheus, he comes up short. I'll say this much for it – it's not boring. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJun 7, 2012
It is Rapace, the Swedish actress who gained worldwide recognition as Lisbeth Salander in the original adaptation of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," who ends up the true heroine of Prometheus. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 7, 2012
The script, partly credited to Lost's Damon Lindelof, is so filled with talky lectures about divinity (and boner plot holes) that you realize, with embarrassment, that Scott, at age 74, wants to join the cosmic company of Terrence Malick. Does he not think that making a drum-tight horror film was ambitious enough? Read full review
60
TimeRichard CorlissJun 5, 2012
My advice to Scott and Lindelof is, Try harder - to bring the characters as well as the creatures alive; to extend the grandeur of that music-of-the-sphere scene to an entire movie; to devise new horror-film money shots; and to scare the crap out of me. Read full review
60
MovielineStephanie ZacharekJun 5, 2012
It's imaginative only in a stiff, expensive way. Scott vests the movie with an admirable degree of integrity – it doesn't feel like a cheap grab for our moviegoing dollars – but it doesn't inspire anything so vital as wonder or fear, either. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineJames RocchiJun 2, 2012
Beneath the hype and promises, however, it's almost a letdown that the actual film is merely very good: a better-than-average 3D big-budget space tale. Read full review
60
EmpireIan NathanMay 30, 2012
Buffeted by a lack of suspense, threadbare characters, and a very poor script, the stunning visuals, gloopy madness, and sterling Fassbenderiness can't prevent Prometheus feeling like Alien's poor relation. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 30, 2012
Ridley Scott has counter-evolved his 1979 classic Alien into something more grandiose, more elaborate – but less interesting. In place of scariness there is wonderment; in place of tension there is hugely ambitious design; in place of unforgettable shocks there are reminders of the original's unforgettable shocks. Read full review
53
Paste MagazineScott WoldApr 3, 2018
Despite consistently astounding production values, Prometheus is hobbled throughout by a screenplay that would have been jettisoned out of the airlock normally reserved for scripts rejected by the SyFy Original Channel. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensJun 7, 2012
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 full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 7, 2012
Try as it might, the movie is hardly profound, and the murky atmosphere and the leaden pace drag things down. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 7, 2012
Prometheus, in efficient 3-D, places most of its bets on the wonders that today's visual artists and technicians can work with digital tools. 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 full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 7, 2012
All the God-talk and philosophical musings about morality and "meeting our makers" aside, Prometheus is primarily about delivering those visceral, terrifying jolts. That it does so without generating the taut suspense and moody atmosphere of its antecedents qualifies as one of its greatest failings. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJun 7, 2012
It's clumsy revisionism. As storytelling, its simplistic characters and ludicrous situations would embarrass a ninth-grader shooting a short film on a digital phone. Not one of its alleged revelations has the power to surprise. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesJun 7, 2012
You may feel fussy asking for a coherent narrative, though, because director Ridley Scott delivers so many of the shocking set pieces that are the real hallmark of the series. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJun 6, 2012
It's a promising epic that ends with what feels like a lie. In short, it's a glorious mess well worth seeing, but light-years away from what fans were expecting. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 6, 2012
Watching Prometheus is like opening a deluxe gift box from Tiffany's to find a mug from the dollar store. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJun 6, 2012
The whole of Prometheus - which was written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, and rips off everything from "2001: A Space Odyssey" to "Event Horizon" - feels derivative and passé: The film is a shiny, high-tech relic. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick PinkertonJun 5, 2012
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 full review
50
VarietyJustin ChangMay 30, 2012
Elaborately conceived from a visual standpoint, Ridley Scott's first sci-fier in the three decades since "Blade Runner" remains earthbound in narrative terms, forever hinting at the existence of a higher intelligence without evincing much of its own. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineJohn SemleyJun 5, 2012
It aspires to Stanley Kubrick's "2001", but in its maddeningly unresolved plot threads and cornball cosmic mysticism, it lands closer to "Mission to Mars" -though Prometheus lacks any action set piece as gripping as the Brian De Palma film's sentient sandstorm. Read full review
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