Ridley Scott returned to the helm of the Alien franchise with Prometheus, decades after he directed the original film, Alien, in 1979. Prometheus was released in 2012 and is the fifth installment in the film series and also a prequel to the entire franchise. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, and Idris Elba. The film takes place in the same universe as the other Alien films but does not follow the same story; instead, it expands on the mythos and lore of the universe in which the other movies take place.

Prometheus was a highly anticipated film. Much of the marketing and early talk for the movie was cagey about whether the film was actually a prequel to Alien or if it was something new. Despite the marketing clearly playing into the Alien franchise iconography, the filmmakers remained coy until the film's release, where audiences finally discovered the movie was, in fact, a direct prequel to Alien. It was one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, and it went on to gross $403 million at the box office on a budget of $120-130 million. Yet the reaction to the film was greatly mixed. Similar to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, while initial reviews were mixed to positive, the reaction to the movie quickly turned. It has been over a decade since Prometheus hit theaters, and it begs the question: is the movie as bad as people made it out to be?

Update January 30, 2024: Following Noah Hawley's comments on Prometheus regarding his new Alien series for FX, this article has been updated with more information about the controversial Alien prequel film.

What is Prometheus About?

Prometheus looks to explore the origins of the mysterious ship that was glimpsed in Alien. While fans dubbed them "Space Jockeys", the filmmakers gave them the name "The Engineers". Prometheus looked to answer not only questions left over from Alien but also raise many new ones of its own so it could launch its own trilogy. The film looked to explore themes of creation the origins of humanity, and the nature of god. These were themes that Scott previously tackled in Blade Runner, but in Prometheus got to tie them much more into the parallel between man's need to create artificial intelligence and the Enginer's creating the ultimate bioweapons with the Xenomorphs.

Development of this film began in the early 2000s, and Scott originally planned to build off the story of the original Alien film, with star Sigourney Weaver showing interest as well. At this time, Aliens director James Cameron discussed the possibility of a sequel with Scott and began writing a story for the film. Soon after this development began, 20th Century Fox pitched the idea of Alien vs. Predator to Cameron and Scott, and they subsequently dropped out of the project as he had lost faith in the franchise. However, following the disappointment of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007, Scott decided to return to the Alien franchise with Prometheus. While originally planned as a more direct prequel, in the development, Scott decided to try to pitch and market the film as an original piece of science fiction, with the surprise being that audiences would not know it was an Alien film, but by this point, anyone who followed the development knew it was and it became the worst kept secret in Hollywood.

General Criticisms of the Film

The marketing of this film was purposely vague in its connection to the original film in an attempt to draw in viewers. As a sort of origin story for the Alien film, some felt that this film was too far a departure from the original. Others who welcomed the change of pace were critical of the lack of details provided for a film of its type.

The Prometheus storyline, like its marketing, remained vague and neglected to answer questions pertaining to the origin of the Xenomorphs and other questions fans had about the universe. It felt drawn and stretched out, failed to answer questions but also raised more teases, acting more like an episode of a television series than a feature film and giving the frustrating feeling of needing to wait for more movies to get the answers Prometheus seemed to promise. Tom Huddleston from Time Out London sums up the film by saying, “The plot, though crammed with striking concepts, simply fails to coalesce. After an enjoyable setup, the central act is baggy, confusing and, in places, slightly boring, while the climax has flash and fireworks but no real momentum."

There is also the obvious criticism of giving the Alien an origin story. Explaining the existence of popular staples in sci-fi films has a spotty history, just look at how fans reacted to George Lucas trying to explain the Force in Star Wars with Midicholorians. The decision to reveal the Xenomprophs as a creation or weapon as opposed to just being a naturally occurring being in the universe seemed to take away from the mystery behind the creature. This is a sentiment that showrunner Noah Hawley feels, as his upcoming Alien prequel series for FX will ignore the events of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

Related: Alien Movies in Order: How to Watch Chronologically and By Release Date

Another common criticism of the film is the dialogue. Many viewers praise the acting, especially that of Michael Fassbender, but find the dialogue to be unrealistic, unmotivated, and choppy. The lack of realistic dialogue takes the viewer out of the world of the film, but that's not to say that the film doesn’t have any redeeming qualities. This, combined with the characters making various nonsensical decisions, rubbed people the wrong way.

While characters not making logical choices is fine for a narrative, as people are not logical beings and character choices that the viewer would not make is not a plot hole, the characters in the movie felt at odds with the tone of the picture. Despite all the philosophical pondering and characters asking deep questions on the nature of humanity and creation, characters sometimes acted and behaved like teenagers in a slasher movie. It felt like the most expensive B-movie, or better yet a movie that did not want to admit it was a sci-fi horror film.

What the Film Gets Right

Although the film does fail to explore some of the more pressing questions pertaining to the universe of the Alien films, it is still a substantial addition to the lore. Viewers who were okay with the fact that perhaps more questions were raised than answered found Prometheus to be an enjoyable addition to the franchise.

The casting and acting in this film are top-notch. It's hard to beat the performance of Sigourney Weaver in the original, but actors Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron helped to keep the tradition of strong and independent female characters that were established in the original. Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, and Logan Marshall-Green play their roles well. The dialogue may not be perfect, but they find a way to make it their own.

Finally, the proudest accomplishment of the film has to be the visual effects and set design. The original film has an almost claustrophobic feeling to it, which adds to a lot of the suspense. This film moves in the completely opposite direction, and the visuals portrayed are quite impressive. We see sweeping landscape shots, beautifully designed enormous caverns, and lots of action-filled exterior shots of the large spaceship, Prometheus. Looking at this film twelve years later, the effects very much hold up. The grandiose visuals help to establish the conflict shown in this film as existential; this aspect of the film was executed flawlessly.

The film may not be perfect, but it's a valid and interesting addition to the Alien franchise. The effects alone make the film worth the watch, and while some criticisms directed at the film are justified, the movie is in no way bad. James Cameron, after watching the film, says this, "I enjoyed Prometheus. I thought it was great. I thought it was Ridley returning to science fiction with gusto, with great tactical performance, beautiful photography, great native 3D. There might have been a few things that I would have done differently, but that's not the point — you could say that about any movie."

The Last Good Alien Movie?

Prometheus is an interesting film. It feels very similar to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or the Star Wars prequel. These were long-awaited entries in the popular franchises that saw the creative team return to the film, only for the reaction to be largely negative and painting the perception of the film to the general audience. However, as the years have gone on, all three examples have been reevaluated as worthy entries in their own right. Maybe it was a case of expectations just being to high and no film never being able to live up to it, and all people needed was distance to enjoy it.

Prometheus received a lot of hate upon release and still does. Yet it is a solid science fiction horror film whose greatest sin is that it stands too close to other films that are vastly superior. In fact, if you remove all the Alien universe stuff from Prometheus, it's still a solid film that's much better than others in the genre.

Related: 10 Movies That Capture the Space Horror Genre Best

Scott returned again later to the Alien-verse with Alien: Covenant, a direct sequel to Prometheus that simply brought back the character of Fassbender's David, but it failed to make a dent in the franchise and the genre. It was divisive, to say the least, and most people seem to have forgotten about it already. The franchise has been dormant since 2017, but it is expected to return in a big way. 2024 will see the release of Alien: Romulus, a new film in the franchise directed by Evil Dead filmmaker Fede Alvarez. This will be a standalone sequel and distant from what Scott did with Prometheus. Meanwhile, Noah Hawley will be looking to do his own spin on an Alien prequel series for FX, set for release in 2025.

By this point, Prometheus remains an interesting experiment at the hands of an auteur who just wanted to expand on a universe he created. He didn't aim to make a bad film. It was just an expansion of something much bigger. He couldn't just repeat the same storyline from more than 30 years ago because that would have been a cheap move. Instead, he created the questions that confirm Alien is a vast universe that's worth exploring further.

You can stream Prometheus on Netflix.

To stay in the spirit of the Alien franchise, here's a video about the greatest sci-fi films ever made: