Sightlines · reception
How Prometheus was received
2012 · Ridley Scott · Prometheus on Sightlines
The arc
Landed in 2012 as one of the decade's most divisive blockbusters — gorgeous, ambitious, and script-shredded on arrival — and it's been relitigated ever since, with a steady 'Prometheus was actually good' reappraisal wave gaining ground over the years.
What’s debated
The eternal fight: do its big cosmic questions excuse characters making baffling decisions — and how much of the blame belongs to co-writer Damon Lindelof?
Its footprint
It gave the internet the 'Prometheus School of Running Away from Things' — the trope name for fleeing a falling object in a straight line — plus David's endlessly quoted 'Big things have small beginnings,' and 'scientist pets the alien snake' as shorthand for dumb movie experts.
Where it stands
A permanent cinephile battleground — too gorgeous to dismiss, too messy to canonize — and one of Letterboxd's favorite films to argue about in the reviews.
Did you know? Michael Fassbender has said he modeled the android David on Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, David Bowie, and Olympic diver Greg Louganis — studying Louganis's precise, gliding physicality for how David moves.