The sci-fi movie that let Quentin Tarantino down: “It could’ve been a masterpiece”
Sometimes, it’s important to remember that movie directors are film fans and, just like the rest of us, are susceptible to being disappointed by some of cinema’s biggest underperformers. Quentin Tarantino, for example, has never hidden his love for popular cinema, picking out the likes of Top Gun: Maverick, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk and even the satirical puppet comedy Team America: World Police as some of his favourite movies.
When you settle down to watch a film by Tarantino, there is a great deal of excitement present in the genuine unpredictability. It seems that all of those movies he’s watched, regardless of genre, tone and intent, have made it so that he can adapt his writing and directing style to deliver a barrage of stories.
It is, indeed, comforting to know that film fans weren’t the only ones to feel like part of their soul was sucked out after watching the long-anticipated Star Wars: The Phantom Menace or Steven Spielberg’s bizarrely bad Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But, there’s one movie in particular fans can share their disappointment over, side-by-side with the great Quentin Tarantino.
This revelation came in an interview Deadline carried out with Tarantino back in 2012, shortly after the death of Top Gun director Tony Scott. Speaking about the filmmaker, who also helmed 1993’s True Romance, a cult favourite penned by Tarantino, the latter stated: “The rule I apply to older directors is one test. Is their best work in front of them? Tony passed that test, but the answer is usually no…Tony’s best movie could’ve been his next one, and that always made his movies cool.”
As well as being known for his celebrated movies, Tony was also recognised as the brother of Ridley Scott, the acclaimed filmmaker behind such classic sci-fi flicks as 1979’s Alien and 1982’s Blade Runner. The director would also take on a Tarantino project, True Romance, a movie many consider some of Tarantino’s greatest writing ever.
Continuing in his discussion regarding Tony Scott and his ever-improving filmography, Tarantino added: “It’s one of the reasons there was such excitement when his brother Ridley made Prometheus. That could’ve been his best movie. It wasn’t, but it was still an interesting movie. But the fact that it could’ve been a masterpiece was what made it exciting.”
Released in 2012, Prometheus was the first movie Scott had directed within the Alien franchise since his iconic 1979 original, understandably attracting much fan excitement in the process. Going back to the very start of the franchise, Prometheus was a prequel that went about explaining the origins of the Xenomorph and the Engineer but forgot to make the movie actually great in the process.
In a later interview on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, the director added, “I loved it, and I was disappointed… there was also a lot of dumb stuff in it.” Tarantino has never been quiet about his critique of movies, even those he also apparently loved. A similar moment came when Tarantino turned his back on Jean-Luc Godard and rejected the French new wave auteur as childish.
Listed at number three in our collection of the most disappointing movies ever made, Prometheus certainly deserves to be rubbing shoulders with the likes of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Matrix: Reloaded and The Godfather: Part III.
Take a look at the trailer for the 2012 movie below.
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