Prometheus (Post-release)

[AnubisGuard]

And a four-star review from Roger Ebert. (!)

Of course, the guy gave four stars to Knowing as well, and that movie was terrible. So who knows?

 

[blipper]

The writer, who worked closely with Scott on the script, wanted to make sure that the story presented in Prometheus answers enough of the questions brought up in the new film while also leaving the possibility for a sequel.

I think Lindelof is on extremely shaky ground here. It's one thing to have ambiguity in a movie that leaves room for questions yet the final act of Prometheus plays out very much like an episode that is depending on you tuning in for the following episode. Heck, even Twin Peaks had a more satisfying ending to it's run as up-in-the-air as it left it.

 

[NAZGÛL]

I compaire Gladiators style of storytelling with the old greek and roman stories. Cliché super hero, quick battles, black and white characters. Some themes are modern, mainly the womans troubles.

Gladiator was in every sense Scott descending from the level of a genuine master to barely functional 'meh', with some hideous lapses in visual taste thrown in.

 

[Nwerke]

Well, I saw it.

I'm in Camp Birdie/Camp Vos, I'm pleased to say.

 

[pnag]

Personally, I really, really liked it. By no means perfect, and suffers from some clunky scripting in parts. Visually stunning, and thought provoking.

Again, personally, I think Scott still has it in spades.

 

[Guy Cowen]

Well, I saw it.

I'm in Camp Birdie/Camp Vos, I'm pleased to say.

Dont get me wrong on the big P movie, I didn't blink for 2 hours and will be seeing it again and will be buying the blu ray and will be buying the art of book, I just wish it had had more bite.

 

[Nwerke]

Yeah, ditto. There's no shortage of stuff to criticise. There's plenty to mull over too, though, as pnag says. I loved that they took risks with it. They dared to mess with our expectations, even if the very end throws a bone to diehards.

It's flawed, but it isn't quite at the 'flawed masterpiece' level. Some of the problems are minor but others are doozies. For me, yet another case of wishing they'd done one more pass over the script. But I think I pretty much like it and want more. Way more interesting than the average pap we're getting of late.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Way more interesting than the average pap we're getting of late.

To that I can only agree upon. Definitely above the rest.

They just need to get away from the formulaic amateur slasher recipe they copied from crappy wannabe movies.

 

[Birdie]

It's flawed, but it isn't quite at the 'flawed masterpiece' level. Some of the problems are minor but others are doozies. For me, yet another case of wishing they'd done one more pass over the script. But I think I pretty much like it and want more. Way more interesting than the average pap we're getting of late.

That completeley nails how I feel about the movie, and it's frustrating.

The B movie slasher cliches that Too Much Garlic mentions - give me a couple of hours with the script, and even I could fix that stuff up better than it's presented in the movie :facepalm

 

[Too Much Garlic]

What could have saved the Fifield and Milburn sub-plot mess would actually not require all that much.

When Charlie starts messing around with his helmet, the threat from those back on the ship should have been heard that anyone taking off the helmet would not be allowed back onto the ship, thus resulting in making the taking off helmets a more interesting plot point. They don't take off the helmets there, because, there'd be a severe punishment if they do.

Also, there was no indication about how limited the air supply was in the suits. I thought it should have been far less than what it appeared to be to also add some drama there... and when Fifield and Milburn actually got scared, they'd use up more air faster, it would add drama, as they are slowly running out of air when running wildly down the corridors and eventually start breathing CO2, which will cloud their judgments and will be a perfect reason for why they get lost and had to stay overnight, there should have been that sense of dread that they may run out of air before morning.

So, being stranded, suffering from beginning CO2 poisoning, running out of air, it will explain their erratic and weird behavior when they find their way back to the pod chamber. They could even at that point decide to take off the helmets, knowing that there is breathable air in the silo, because they'd rather live than die... and that brings the danger of contamination and the alien infection.

So little needed to add the drama back into the piece.

 

[Birdie]

It's not rocket science, is it? :lol

 

[Nwerke]

The B movie slasher cliches that Too Much Garlic mentions - give me a couple of hours with the script, and even I could fix that stuff up better than it's presented in the movie :facepalm

Auughh - I know - me too! It could be done with a minimum of laborious exposition...as you say, not rocket science. TNG's example is a good one - serves the story and the scare factor and ups the reality factor a bit too. Sigh!!

 

[oota goota]

Just saw it this afternoon in 2d. yay 2d!

Well there has to be a sequel really. I was expecting to see this film set up the crashed ship on LV 426 (not 223) and see a space jockey with a chest burster hole sitting in that flipping great chair for John Hurt to discover and to generally help scare the crap out of us all in the best sci fi horror ever.

I really liked the exo-skeleton-as-spacesuit idea, goes well with the giger biomechanical thing. Overall I enjoyed the film alot except for a couple of things which have all been said but I am going to say them again!

Would you really hand over a trillion dollar ship to THAT crew? I might let them clean it but that would be about it. Seriously was that the best crew weyland could get? It might have made more sense if they were hired with some beat up old freighter repurposed for the mission

Those 'scientists' have got to be the biggest group hacks out there. What a bunch of butchers, oops I just blew up that head but did we get any results?.....only 6 hours of daylight left lets go!.......hey the computer says the airs breathable!......hey don't open that oh well never mind.... ah ha ha ha!!!

Did Weyland really need to be there at all? Seemed completely extraneous to the plot IMO

All that aside, it looked awesome, there were some great moments, it was though provoking I was glad I went

 

[TazVader]

3D last night for a mate's Birthday.

I enjoyed it myself. Sure it wasn't ALIEN. But it did raise so many questions in my mind and interesting "what if's."

I will admit thinking the final engineer would crawl back to his chair before the "queen" emerged. To tie it in with Alien. But being that this apparently isn't the same planet......

The plot point were easy to see coming but I was impressed with the autodoc C section. Truly yuck, a nice idea lol

Alot of Mmmmmm.....what does that mean moments for me.

The design was brilliant. Really really nice. Beautiful in a lot of places and quite epic. I thought the engineers were amazing in their exoskeletons and would LOVE to know more of their background. I mean something that is going to be cannon and not from a bunch of Aliens noevella cliche or some such.

So how likely is the sequel or a trilogy then do we think? Because if that's the point this sets well as a number 1 lol

Best
TAZ

 

[saxe coburg]

Ridley Scott kind of let me down on this one... beautiful scifi movie with mediocre writing. It should be viewed as a stand-alone movie, because it really doesn't work with the already jumbled-up ALIEN story line. Still a decent flick, just nothing amazing though, in my opinion. HR Giger eye candy was worth the cost of admission though.

 

[Nwerke]

Why say THIS is the one that doesn't work? AVP is where the nonsense really lies, IMO.

Oota goota, Scott revealed it wasn't the same planet quite a long time ago. What you describe would be the kind of direct prequel that they announced, well, a couple of years ago? that they weren't making.

It's pretty obvious the script did start out as one, though.

 

[Noeland]

Just got home from a midnight showing in 3D with neosporing. First, I feel bad for anyone who had blurry 3D. We had crystal clear 3D and I cannot imagine watching this in 2D. Nearly every shot of the movie was rendered in some fashion, from simple wisps of smoke near the camera, to the maps, tentacles, flames, the 3D was immersive and to my eyes, incredible. It's what I have been hoping to see from the medium.

I don't want to watch this film in 2D! The storm won't be the same. The 3D was so clear during the storm I could make out individual rocks and specks of dirt with clarity. It was very, very cool. But the film as a whole won't be the same for me in 2D.

I contend that David was the lead character, and that the film feels the way it feels for that reason. The script has been taking a lot of flack for a lot of reasons. The film plays fast and loose, but also quite subtle. The whole story seems a bit off kilter and lacking in emotion. Which is, well, fitting in a way if David is the lead.

OK, lots more thoughts but I will save those for tomorrow. I need to sleep.

 

[neosporing]

okay, i had quite a few questions after leaving the theater last night. AICN has provided me with answers to most of them.

Spoiler

visigoth -
"1) The black goo is some sort of really aggressive retro-viral mutagen designed to turn whatever it encounters into extremely aggressive bio-weapon in the form of an organism with a parasitic life-cycle that ultimately destroys the host.

1a) The parasitic life-cycle is important because it allows for a bio-weapon that can be dropped on a target, forgotten, then safely retrieved after all fauna has been wiped out and the adult forms have died off.

1b) The big worm monsters are mutated versions of the tiny worms living under the pods in the temple.

1c) The squid baby is the result of one of Holloway's mutated sperm impregnating Shaw's egg (she says she can't have children, but that does not mean that she does not produce eggs). It's rapid growth is a bit odd, but in keeping with aspects of the other mutated critters seen elsewhere (the worms that mutate into the big worms are tiny things originally).

1d) The geologist was infected and began mutating after the acid blood from the big worm melted his helmet and he landed face down in the black goo.

1e) The engineer in the end is not infected. He is impregnated by the initial form of Shaw's infected fetus and what climbs out is the adult stage of that particular version of the parasitic bio-weapon.

2) If one accepts that the planet at the beginning is Earth then the mystery of why the engineer race wants to wipe us out seems apparent. The engineer that sacrifices himself at the beginning _is_ Prometheus. He uses a version of the mutagen and his own DNA to seed our world. For those that have read David Brin he is sort of uplifting an entire planet. The sacrificial element and use of his own DNA suggests that this is a quasi religious/ego motivated action not sanctioned by his peers.

3) The autodoc in Meredith's super ritzy lifeboat was programmed for a man because the lifeboat and everything in it isn't meant for her, it was meant for Wayland.

4) The engineer is pissed because the very things he was assigned to destroy have managed to make it all the way to their mutagen storage depot and sabotage his mission. A mission that already claimed the lives of his fellows (the film suggests through some sort of mishap with the mutagen contaminating members of the engineers directly).

5) We aren't told who hired most of the crew (Meredith only hired a few), but one can infer from Wayland's comments about why he funded the expedition and brought along Shaw and her partner that all his decisions regarding this trillion dollar mission were emotion and ego driven. So the fact that you've got some scientists who appear to unstable druggies and the like is not that shocking. Wayland is on a quasi-spiritual quest to turn himself into an immortal demi-god, he doesn't care about the rest of the crew too much, he just wants them not to interfere with him."

there, now i can go to sleep

 

[Too Much Garlic]

All fine and all, but doesn't explain why the space jockeys visitied earth through the millenniums showing us star maps as an invitation if they wanted to destroy us from the beginning.

 

[Mr Webber]

Seeing it in 3D Imax was a great movie going experience, left my Alien hat at the door and was just happy to chomp on any bone from that universe SRS was willing to toss without expecting many. Loved the small tribute to the first with the Captain sucking back a ciggy.
It has flaws and leaves many questions behind but that could describe most of my ten favorite films, not saying that this is in that catagory yet, will have to see it again in 2D, the main concern for me was the ending, most unSRS like. Standout prop is the Flamethrower Vickers has, a must have, whos doin one?