Prometheus

Ambition is among the most noble and forgiveable of faults, so I'm inclined to cut Ridley Scott's science-fiction/horror/philosophy hybrid Prometheus a little slack. But ambition isn't Prometheus' only fault, which is why I can't cut it too much slack. This is a big, bold endeavour, vast in its scope and (at first glance, at least) expansive in its thinking. But it's also unwieldy and kind of incoherent at times, either unwilling or unable to meld together the deep ideas it raises and the sharp shocks of its ancestor, Scott's 1979 sci-fi thriller Alien. There's no denying the connection - to my mind, this is Scott's attempt to both answer some questions posed by the original Alien and spin the story off in a new direction. And it's far from a total bust - its imagery is often stunning, as you might expect from a Scott movie. It has some terrific performances, with the gifted Fassbender bringing a beguiling sense of menace and inquisitiveness to his portrayal of David. And it does frequently offer hints of a deep, fascinating mythology that, sadly goes unexplored here.