Prometheus

Make sure people know it's about GOD, TOO!

It's like Ridley Scott had a cool existential horror movie, but then someone in the studio was like, "Make sure people know it's about GOD, TOO!"
Prometheus kind of hammers in the religious metaphors way more than needed. Instead of letting the "creator vs. Creation" theme stand on its own, they keep throwing in references to faith, souls, and God like it's mandatory.

"Who made them?" is a cool question, but the movie keeps looping back to "I believe" moments instead of focusing on what's actually happening.

Shaw wears a cross and constantly brings up faith, even after discovering the Engineers. That is semi-fine, but acts as a direct opposite to the writers probable intent as it only highlights the religion-forcing nature of many Christians. And I would like to point this out especially as it only stands for a single religion.

The prequel movies have incredible visual quality and production value, but the writing is downright miserable. The biggest issue is how forcefully the films inject Christian symbolism, which feels completely out of place. Not just compared to the original Alien films, but even within the logic of their own story. The themes could have been thought-provoking, but the religious overtones are so heavy-handed that they end up feeling forced rather than meaningful.

The fact that only Christian symbols are shown, combined with constant references to time in the scale of a few thousand years, suggests an attempt to fit a Biblical, creationist narrative into the film's themes. This might have been intended as subtle, but it was anything but. It was blatant and completely undermined the movie.

The most unfortunate part is that the sequel, Alien: Covenant, not only continues this theme but reinforces it even further, introducing elements like the "Man of Faith" and scenes that explicitly push a Christian narrative. David, a central figure in the film, directly quotes "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" and perceives himself as Lucifer or Prometheus. However, rather than allowing these themes to emerge naturally through his actions, the film overexplains them, making the symbolism feel forced and excessive.

In the end, this heavy-handed approach diminishes the franchise's depth, turning what could have been a compelling existential sci-fi horror into an overbearing theological allegory that undermines the story's impact.