Prometheus (Post-release)

This reminds me of the anniversary show Letterman did in Vegas years ago. Larry Bud Melman showed up with his arm around a show girl (who must have been two feet taller then he was), and Letterman said it's disturbing to think that those two are made up of essentially the same genetic material :lol
 
AlexBC said:
Well, yeah. It's a movie but you could just argue that Engineers and Humans have the same dna but express different genes.
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Ah, but that would shatter the premise that everything in Prometheus is wrong. Seems most peoples understanding of DNA comes from cop shows like Law and order and CSI, so when they see something saying 'DNA match', that's all they know.

That fact is, in the film Shaw states that their genetic material predates ours, but that we come from them.
 
Well... count me in as one of those people who isn't too clear on how DNA "works" (although I don't watch shows like Law and Order or CSI). :lol

To be honest, I liked the film! It is a "gorgeous" movie (especially the "map of the universe" sequence). And as I said, Fassbender's performance was outstanding.

I tend to watch movies that I like dozens of times absorbing details I may have overlooked, misinterpreted, or forgotten. However I've only watched Prometheus a few times so far.

The biggest problem I have to overcome is how this "fits" into the timeline of the Alien universe (God I hope I'm not providing fodder for more pointless bickering :lol :rolleyes).

The Prometheus seems much more advanced than the Nostromo or even Sulaco yet it predates them by several decades. It also has all this neat hardware such as the "auto-doctor" (for lack of the correct term). Would have been great to have that toy aboard the Nostromo.

However I have to appreciate that the Prometheus is owned by a billionare and is not a commercial towing vessel nor a military warship (neither of which would have any luxuries). So despite it seeming out of place technology wise, I have to think of it more like a cruise ship (even though it is a research vessel) and not a transport truck or aircraft carrier.

For me the one thing that makes or breaks the Alien franchise is the human characters. "Jaws" is about a shark, "Alien" is about... an alien :)lol) however if they had wooden, one dimensional characters with lackluster acting performances neither film would be more tnan a B-movie horror flick with some decent jump scares.

My problem with Prometheus is that the one character I have the most genuine interest in happens to be an android!

Shaw was no Ripley for me. I can't really discuss this in anymore detail without dancing over the TOS.

Captain Janek seemed like they were trying for some cross between Parker and Sergeant Apone. The charisma seemed forced.

Holloway... just not likable. While his death scene was well acted, I just didn't "feel" for him. Certainly not in the same way that I was sorry to see Dallas, Apone, or Drake bite the bullet.

I "didn't" like Theron's character however I guess that is good because I'm supposed to dislike her (I wouldn't go so far as say hate though). However her death just had me thinking "You dummy!" :rolleyes

Peter Weyland's best bit was the deleted scene!

The rest of the cast were useless. A completely unlikable geologist who gets "lost" despite having all these fancy tracking/mapping devices. A biologist scared of a 2000 year old corpse et al.

I cared about the crew of the Nostromo. I cared about the Marines of the Sulaco. And to a degree was even able to have some feeling for the main characters of Fury 161. However I just couldn't feel anything for the crew of the Prometheus.


Hopefully the film will grow on me with more viewings. I don't hate it by any stretch.


Kevin
 
SSgt Burton said:
The Engineers all look the same... like EXACTLY the same.
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No different than any three white, bald humans look exactly the same. They're not clones of each other, if that's what you're saying. There were actually three different actors. When you see them side by side, there are obvious differences. But because we see them so interspersed throughout the film, one at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end, that their unusual features (skin, nose, eyes, etc) become the main thing we focus on.
 
Pretty neat video - but if you have to review bits of trailers, deleted scenes, viral marketing and nit-pick dialogue then the movie doesnt stand on it's own. I've seen the movie once and really dont care to see it again - and that is pretty sad considering it's a prequel to Alien.

I love the first question "is Damon Lindeloff just a lazy writer?"
Well - considering he barely wrote anything by way of the script - please see the leaked first draft that reads exactlty like the film. Spaihts did all the heavy lifting here -
 
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Jet Beetle said:
I love the first question "is Damon Lindeloff just a lazy writer?"
Well - considering he barely wrote anything by way of the script - please see the leaked first draft that reads exactlty like the film. Spaihts did all the heavy lifting here -
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Well, considering how much time Lindelof had on the rewrite...

Lindelof: The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite. Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it. And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in.
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I guess he was being paid by the hour.
 
Jet Beetle said:
Did you get a chance to look at the 1st draft? There's no way the 50% marker was passed granting DL credit
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My theory is that he was given credit to put a more 'familiar' name onto the film. Despite LOST's reputation, he did create something that drew a lot of audiences in. I don't really know, but that's my guess.
 
Jet Beetle said:
Did you get a chance to look at the 1st draft? There's no way the 50% marker was passed granting DL credit
Click to expand...

It has nothing to do with a percentage, if that is even measurable. A "written by" credit means he wrote both story and screenplay elements, solo. Not the entire thing, just that new material was added or rewritten. The core plot point beats were Spaith's, but if you read the two scripts, the whole purpose and direction of the story, and story beats, were changed significantly when Lindeloff was brought on board, as were the characters. A good third of Spaith's ideas that Ridley did not like were removed, and the rest was significantly modified. What is surprising is that Ridley's is not credited, considering Damon has implied he was essentially Ridley's scribe for the rewrites, before, and during shooting.
 
One of the questions that was discussed back in June was the connection to Lawrence of Arabia. The consensus seemed to be that it was Ridley's favorite film so it was Weyland's favorite film and it was referenced in Weyland's speech.

Is it possible that the answer is even simpler? Lawrence was a product of/programed by the British Army, and then he "goes rogue".

Its themes include Lawrence's emotional struggles with the personal violence inherent in war, his personal identity, and his divided allegiance between his native Britain and its army and his newfound comrades within the Arabian desert tribes.

David would have certainly identified with Lawrence as he developed his own thoughts. What really confused me was his comment about "Doesn't everyone want their parents dead?"

(With 93 pages of responses, I may have missed this point earlier)
 
Did anyone else notice the Dragon Tattoo nod David gives to Shaw?

"You have an incredibly strong survival instinct, Lisbet"
 
SSgt Burton said:
The Prometheus seems much more advanced than the Nostromo or even Sulaco yet it predates them by several decades. It also has all this neat hardware such as the "auto-doctor" (for lack of the correct term). Would have been great to have that toy aboard the Nostromo.

However I have to appreciate that the Prometheus is owned by a billionare and is not a commercial towing vessel nor a military warship (neither of which would have any luxuries). So despite it seeming out of place technology wise, I have to think of it more like a cruise ship (even though it is a research vessel) and not a transport truck or aircraft carrier.
Click to expand...

You answered your own question with this statement.

SSgt Burton said:
Shaw was no Ripley for me.
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Nor was she ever meant to be. Why is it people assume that a female lead in an Alien film is some sort of attempted replacement for Ellen Ripley?
 
SSgt Burton said:
Because she is?
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No she isn't. There's nothing that remotely screams "Ripley" about her. If anything, she's more of a slightly ballsy version of Lambert (Ripley wasn't freaking out as much as Shaw did. Shaw was freaking out just as much, if not slightly more, than Lambert).


Jedi2016 said:
Because the audience expects her to be?

Shaw is not Ripley.
Click to expand...

People need to stop making expectations on films in a franchise. From the first scene, you already know that Prometheus is going to be a different kind of experience. Expecting Shaw to be Ripley is completely pointless. Shaw and Ripley are two drastically different people in the same universe. Not every woman you see in the Alien universe can be Ripley. And to believe that every lead female in a film within the Alien franchise is meant to be Ripley is like saying that all Star Fleet Captains in the Star Trek Universe are meant to be James T. Kirk and all of the ships in the fleet are expected to be the U.S.S. Enterprise.
 
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