Prometheus (Post-release)

[Guppzor]

My advise is go see it in 3D at imax, it is incredible and converted me fro being a 3D hater. If its not Imax then 2D

No IMAX here :-( so 2D it is. Probably a good thing anyway given that the few 3D movies I have seen have made my eyes feel a little strained afterwards.

 

[Guy Cowen]

Yeh I've had big trouble with 3D in the past and hated the 3D in Avengers, swore I'd never go 3D again

Until prometheus that is.

 

[Guppzor]

Hmmm... Maybe I will just have to see both

 

[MooCriket]

Forgive me for not reading through all the post here, but can anyone answer this for me?

Okay, Ridley has stated somewhere in an interview that the crashed ship on LV-426 crashed long before the events of Prometheus are taking place, and the ship was carrying a different payload than the ships on LV-227 or whatever planet it is.

Okay so I assume that from the eggs on 426, cannisters on 427. Different biological weapons. One used to wipe out species, the other used for DNA seeding? Sound right or am I completely wrong?

 

[moffeaton]

I don't buy the ****** plot point, logically. There have been tons of religions, many instances of saviors within a religion's version of their particular events, and Christianity/***** only has the weight it does now because it was the one that "stuck" with our culture. But 2,000 years ago, the events that form the New Testament was not any more important than a thousand other events that had occurred prior to that. The Romans were no more cruel than the Vikings, I would imagine? I'm sure a pacifist or two had been killed during "Engineer Observation" in any number of civilizations, right?

Maybe the Engineers decided that we needed to be wiped out/reset/phase 2ed/whatever because it was time, evolutionarily speaking, or that we were still war-like in general, so eff it.

 

[JD]

The sad thing is, the more I read this thread the less I liked the film.

Shaw's "birth" scene took me out of the movie. What happened there was just so far fetched - even for a sci-fi movie - that I just didn't enjoy the rest of the movie like I should've (I still did, just not as much as I could've). Up until that point I really liked the ride I was on... but, it never really got over tha 'hump' so to speak.

Now I come home from the theater and I start reading this thread and over bits about the movie. It's then that the plotholes become more and more apparent and Prometheus starts to lose even more of its luster. The more you think about, the bigger the plotholes get and the more apparent the sloppy storytelling gets.

One thing that just nags me: why did David poison Holloway? Was it simply a let's see what this does thing? Were his robot eyes able to detect that this slime was meant to be digested?

It is a beautiful movie. The visuals are just amazing and shining example of CG that works.

 

[Nwerke]

I'm the opposite. I think I've finally reached a point of nothingness. Took 40 years of filmgoing and many disappointments, but I now no longer expect anything, and none of the many ineptitudes in Prometheus detracted from my enjoyment of it.

Thanks, Hollywood! :lol

I think David's actions reflect his interpretation of the 'Try harder' instruction, coupled with a degree of dislike for Holloway (deserved) and a general dislike for humans (based on the examples around him, also deserved). And yeah, a profound lack of Asimovian laws. :lol

 

[SmilingOtter]

Okay so I assume that from the eggs on 426, cannisters on 427. Different biological weapons. One used to wipe out species, the other used for DNA seeding? Sound right or am I completely wrong?

Essentially. As far as we know. Dropping the eggs on a planet already inhabited ought to have the effect of killing off everything and everyone the xenomorphs could get to.

"I will say that the theory that is formed by Shaw by the end of the movie—that the black goo is some sort of weapon and it is headed towards earth and if it gets there the result is going to be terrible—[is] based on the information that she has in the movie, but that's not necessarily the correct deduction for her to make. The audience is privy to pieces of the story that Shaw is not. "

That part I don't get at all. Even assuming the stuff the first Engineer drinks is something different, every instance of a human coming in contact with the goop ends very badly for the human. They either slowly transform into something not human (or Engineer, essentially the same thing) or become a homicidal zombie, or become impregnated with a decidedly unhelpful squid that functions as an industrial-strength facehugger.

So what information does he think we have that would make her assumptions wrong? (Which, if so, meant that the Captain, pilots, and Vickers died for no reason.)

 

[Jeyl]

Huh. I watched the original teaser trailer again and found something interesting.

Remember the scene when that one scientist who's face melted by the cobra/worm's acid came back and assaulted the crew? Well, if you watch the teaser again, you'll notice that Shaw is at the controls of the big eight wheeled land rover and is throwing it in reverse. And the shot of the two guys shooting at the mutated scientist? You can see Shaw and Weyland (in his supportive suit) behind them!

No wonder the scene felt so out of place. It was supposed to happen much later with the main characters involved! What the heck Scott?

 

[Bryancd]

Being realistic isn't the purpose of this image... It's purely symbolic.
The wind of death blows on the Prometheus and its crew... and since Giger's art comes from Symbolist art (and Art Nouveau) it makes sense to use this symbolic image of Death here.

Fred

Yeah, this is what I am suggesting. When they first arrive, the pyramids have Engineer faces at the top. They are temples, places of worship. Then we enter, brininging along and abomination (David) and suddenly a storm comes raging through. Coincidence or wrath? The silica storm ravages the faces on the temples and they become skulls. The temples are now temples of death.

 

[Noeland]

I doubt very seriously that the filmmakers care how erosion works in the real world. Yes, I understand that a giant stone face would not erode naturally into a skull. This is a film with magic black goop that turns a meal worm into a 4 foot long snake monster. For me, it doesn't make much sense to apply reality to any part of the film. I can't watch a scene with monsters, and magic flying red laser scanners and then suddenly think "That's not how erosion works!" ya know?

I think it looks fantastic, either way, the skull atop the temple is just cool looking.

 

[Kit Rae]

My advise is go see it in 3D at imax, it is incredible and converted me fro being a 3D hater. If its not Imax then 2D

I second this. It was fantastic in 3D Imax. The 3D was as good as the 3D in Avatar, as it was there to add depth to the background, not to have things pop out at you.

The best 3D should not even be noticeable as 3D, but simply immerse you in the visual world of the film more, and this does that.

 

[Kit Rae]

That part I don't get at all. Even assuming the stuff the first Engineer drinks is something different, every instance of a human coming in contact with the goop ends very badly for the human. They either slowly transform into something not human (or Engineer, essentially the same thing) or become a homicidal zombie, or become impregnated with a decidedly unhelpful squid that functions as an industrial-strength facehugger.

Shaws perspective comes from these type on infections she saw happening to the crew members, the Cthulu-facehugger that was growing in her, and what David said about where the ship was going, and how the Engineer in the pilot room reacted to them. From her perspective, I would have drawn the same conclusion.

So what information does he think we have that would make her assumptions wrong? (Which, if so, meant that the Captain, pilots, and Vickers died for no reason.)

My 12 year old Nephew figured it out before I did when we were discussing the film afterwards, but I think people will see it on repeat viewings as well. Just look at what happened to each individual, starting with the Engineer on Earth at the beginning of the film, who did what he did to himself willingly, and ask yourself why those particular different things happened to that particular persons once in contact with the black substance.

 

[Bryancd]

I have come to understand that a Cthulhu is from a well regarded book series I have never read but it still sounds like something one would order at a Taco Bell...

 

[Kit Rae]

A Taco Bell Cthulu wold be very, very bad

The first Alien had a very Lovecraftian feel to it, with regards to the type of horror. Even the Alien itself looked like something I would imagine from a Lovecraft story, but the squid-like facehugger thing that grew from Shaw was very definitely Lovecraftian and Cthulu-like to me.

 

[rodneyfaile]

Does drinking the black goo produce a different effect or is the black goo that is leaking out somehow different than what David extracts from the inside?

What killed that pile of space jockeys at the door? If it was a Xenomorph, where did it go?

 

[rodneyfaile]

My 12 year old Nephew figured it out before I did when we were discussing the film afterwards, but I think people will see it on repeat viewings as well. Just look at what happened to each individual, starting with the Engineer on Earth at the beginning of the film, who did what he did to himself willingly, and ask yourself why those particular different things happened to that particular persons once in contact with the black substance.

So the black goo somehow recognizes the willingness or intentions of who it comes into contact with? That doesn't sound right, but it does make David's question about "what Holloway would be willing to go to get his answers" stand out more. Please elaborate.

 

[AxiomUltra]

Huh. I watched the original teaser trailer again and found something interesting.

Remember the scene when that one scientist who's face melted by the cobra/worm's acid came back and assaulted the crew? Well, if you watch the teaser again, you'll notice that Shaw is at the controls of the big eight wheeled land rover and is throwing it in reverse. And the shot of the two guys shooting at the mutated scientist? You can see Shaw and Weyland (in his supportive suit) behind them!

No wonder the scene felt so out of place. It was supposed to happen much later with the main characters involved! What the heck Scott?

I felt like that scene happened to fast!

If Ridley's deleted scenes are anything like what happened with Kingdom of Heaven then we can expect a very different story with the director's cut.

 

[terryr]

I take it all back. Prometheus must be real.
Look at this in Austria.

Must be Aliens. There's no other logical explanation!!

[or maybe something by Ann Rand.. the fountain-head]

 

[Jumpergal]

Saw it on the weekend. I found it compelling in a way I haven't found other movies this summer - for instance, the Avengers was a blast, but this drew me in like a magnet. We saw it in 3-D and I wouldn't want to have seen it any other way, myself. The dimensionality worked for me so well.
The movie itself had some WTF moments, but those are movies I like. I don't want it all handed to me. I've heard it's a trilogy - all I can say is boy, I hope so.