10 Most Overrated Sci-Fi Movies Ever Made
They may be good, they may be great - but are these films really worth their salt?
It's been a banner century for the science-fiction genre so far on both the small and big screens. Though classic works such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Blade Runner and Jurassic Park still dominate conversations, we're starting to see more recent fare such as Ex Machina and Arrival join the pantheon of the all-time greats.
But for every genuine barnstormer out there, fans may feel that there's another that isn't worthy of the acclaim that comes its way; that they struggle to see just what all the fuss is about and that such fare is diluting the conversation at the expense of more excellent, underseen efforts across the cinematic medium.
The matter of a film being overhyped is of course subjective - and there's plenty such movies that are still genuinely good, even great, underneath any such consensus of superior quality. With that in mind, there's several entries on this list that some will unashamedly love; it's just, to some of us, they may not warrant quite the level of praise they have received.
10. Prometheus (2012)
Though it takes place in the same wider universe as the Alien franchise, the creators of quasi-prequel Prometheus have always shied away from referring to it as such. Ridley Scott's long-awaited return to the sci-fi world he created originally started life as a fifth entry, before undergoing some nip-and-tuck production to distance it from the overall series - but the explicit title of follow-up Alien: Covenant would put paid to any suggestion this was not the real deal.
Alas, away from Michael Fassbender's particularly brilliant performance, the end product doesn't hang together with the panache and power of Scott's original forays into this universe, often feeling split between the high-minded intellectualism it wishes to install into proceedings and the more expected genre trappings without ever quite bringing the two sides together in a satisfying manner.
The sequel earned broadly similar notices but both aren't quite as clever as they think they are, with this one more of a particular offender than the other.