I have extremely mixed feelings about Prometheus.

On the one hand, if all you want is a beautiful big-screen sci-fi image-fest, and you don’t care at all about series continuity, or plot holes, or questionable science, or vague side-plots that don’t really get resolved, then hey, here you go. Enjoy your visually stunning, capably crafted, hyper-self-aware big-budget futuro-suspense movie. I like those things sometimes, and I sometimes enjoyed Prometheus on a strictly superficial level.

On the other hand, if a movie is going to present itself as a deeper, more philosophical think-piece that ponders life’s larger questions, then it should be judged as such. And on that level, Prometheus is a heartbreaker of a disappointment, particularly for those of us whose obsession with Alien has turned that little horror flick into something as substantial, meaningful and allegorical as Blade Runner in its own way.