Prometheus · reception & legacy

How Prometheus has been received, argued over, and remembered.

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 canonise — and one of Letterboxd's favourite films to argue about in the reviews.