10 Wildly Overpraised Movies

What The Critics Said: “Flawlessly designed, with the beautiful 3D cinematography contrasting the clean white futurism of Prometheus’ interiors with the black corporeal surfaces of the alien catacombs.” (Total Film)

The highest grossing entry in the Alien franchise to date, Prometheus seems to start out with the intention of giving the audience something if not entirely new then at least surprising. But when the surprises fail to materialize it turns into more of a re-tread with supposedly intelligent people behaving in stupid ways.

Not only does Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) turn out to have an ulterior motive (what’re the odds?) but this crew of brilliant minds are very, very good at putting themselves in harm’s way. Is it Standard Operating Procedure for biologists to wander off from their group or start prodding foreign objects as soon as they see them? You will not find much credibility here.

Nor will you find much in the way of tension. There’s no risk, and when it becomes clear that any attempts to subvert expectations have given way to following the formula, no reason to get involved. Here’s hoping Alien: Covenant makes up for its predecessor’s shortcomings.