Prometheus (2012)

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  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    DarthDimi wrote:
    I can't see how people say it's not a prequel. To me it is in almost every way. Same setting, earlier time-wise, same characters (jockeys, aliens), same ship, connected ending Prometheus - beginning Alien.

    I'm still a little unsure about that, to be perfectly honest, but I agree about it being a prequel. It may not directly allude to all the main attractions of Alien, but it certainly builds the settings, physics and internal logic of the Alien film(s). I for one am exceptionally pleased that Scott didn't cheap this film out by simply checking off all the boxes on the AvP template. It tries to be its own thing whilst keeping itself firmly within the world of Alien. It expands on the Alien universe but not in such a way that we would be alienated (pun intended) from it. Plus, I love the aesthetics of the film. It's unlike Blade Runner (neon lights and Vangelis) and in specific departments also quite unlike Alien (Prometheus is brighter and slightly faster paced) but there's nothing wrong with it being fairly unique while maintaining a solid connection with Scott's masterpiece, Alien.

    Agree. I would have preferred more subtle hints of the Alien universe, and fewer overt and IMHO less effective links.
    I was totally confused by the black goo/worm evolution.

    Black goo (WMD)--has acidic properties (that we will later see in Xenomorph's blood). Worms interact with black goo and create creature #1 that attacks two dumb scientists. Creature #1 seems to be a red herring that doesn't lead anywhere.

    Robot infects Holloway with black goo (with or without worms? There are the "little worms" in Holloway's eyes). Holloway impregnates Shaw. Shaw removes creature #2 from her body.

    Creator interacts with creature #2 to produce creature #3 (the Xenomorph). However, creature #2 mates with creator by going down its throat in the EXACT SAME MANNER as creature #1. WTF?!?
  • Posts: 12,837
    Hey, did anybody else notice that
    The Alien from Alien/s/3/Ressurection was on one of the murals? Or was that just me.
  • ChevronChevron Northern Ireland
    edited June 2012 Posts: 370
    Hey, did anybody else notice that
    The Alien from Alien/s/3/Ressurection was on one of the murals? Or was that just me.

    Yeah, I think I saw some
    Giger art
    just before the mural disintegrated. :)
  • Posts: 5,745
    Well to post a review I'd say I was disappointed. My biggest grief with the film was the rushed / dropped script elements. The movie had a habit of all of a sudden building up to a sequence in one or two scenes, then something really striking occuring, and then all the characters and the story goes back to normal. The 'twists' in the film didn't really seem to effect the characters.

    I'd have to blame poor script/direction on that part, for the acting was excellent.

    Examples:
    Spoiler ex. #1
    We have this tense build up when David 'poisons' Holloway, and the film quickly builds up the relationship between Shaw and Holloway. Then, strikingly, Holloway dies (sort of) Shaw reacts, but in the exact next scene, she's fine. This leads to #2..

    Spoiler ex, #1.5/2
    After the rather dramatic death of Holloway, Shaw wakes up rather dazed and I assume (and hope, for the script's sake) in shock of his death. Only to find out she's pregnant when she is infertile. David tells her she's pregnant, and the first thing she says is 'that's impossible because we just had sex in the last 10 hours. Um, hey, your kind of 3 months pregnant in 10 hours when you've been infertile for your entire life and your baby is an alien, and that's your reaction? AND THEN only to add on the rather undramatic reaction by Shaw, she wants the baby out. This leads to #3...

    Spoiler ex. #2.5/3
    So now that she is preggo with an alien, she decides to get rid of it - abort it. David doesn't let her, because he likely has some evil robot plan to study her/it. So she goes to the auto-doctor 1000 or whatever, which was flamboyantly portrayed as a forshawdow earlier, to cut the baby out. This leads to one of the best scenes in the movie, but it builds too quickly. So the tense baby scene happens, which it too good to spoil, and then, again, she just seems to drop it like its no biggy. Literally the next scene she's moved on to #4...

    Spoiler ex. #3.5/4
    One of the last irritatingly poorly executed twists is when Shaw discovers Wyeland is alive and on the ship. Her reaction? 'What, your on the ship?'. Um, your hubby just turned into an alien and died, after impregnation you with an alien fetus that then tried to kill you, and your like 'oh hey, Weyland.' SO undramatic.

    Those are my biggest issues. The majority of the films twists are brought on too quickly. Like they were rushed into the script. They all lead to dramatic, excellent scenes, but the build up and sudden drop off of the impact on the characters pulls me from the film. The characters experience the twist, and in the next scene are almost unaffected by it. It's extremely unbelievable.

    While I liked all of the scenes in question, I feel like they focused too much on making the twist perfect, that they failed to build the story around it. Once the film is released, I'm going to make a personal cut which will skip most of these forgotten-by-the-script-and-characters twists and focus solely on the mission and where it goes wrong. I feel like if the film was JUST about
    the hunt for our origin and the reality that our creators were attempting to 'delete' us
    , then it would be more enjoyable.

    Again, I like all the scenes in question, but I wish they molded into the story better, and weren't so rushed and then forgotten.

    Overall, 7/10

    The good parts were David, Vickers, Rapace, and the base plot of the film. Didn't enjoy the twists due to poor execution.

    Alien
    Aliens
    Prometheus
    Alien3
    The rest.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    I didn't see it so much as
    an abortion, but her realizing that if she didn't get the alien out of her, she would die like her husband.
  • edited June 2012 Posts: 6,709
    One thing is for sure. Women are tough. And all boys want their fathers dead. No more Darwin but you can still rely on Freud.

    Good film BTW.
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    edited June 2012 Posts: 4,043
    Saw it yesterday, is this a prequel or is it not? I know Ridley has been trying to play down the association by saying it stands in it's own right but the marketing has been doing the opposite.

    I don't think this films know's whether it wants to one or the other, while it starts out quite different as we edge closer to the end it starts to become very familiar and while I'm not saying that climatic battle between the two beings is as bad as Alien Resurrection's god awful sequence it did remind me somewhat of it.
    The thing is this had some great idea's and the idea (or as I read it) that the planet is part of a series of experiments into biological warfare and other planets where similar things were going on, it makes complete sense this is not the engineers home planet (as they are known) with what they are getting up to but unfortunately with it wanting to also tie itself to the Alien Franchise is it's down fall, something more separate would have been much more refreshing, oh well.

    That being said a number the cast are fine, Rapace handle herself well and Elba does an admirable job with what he's given but it is undoubtedly Fassbender who walks away with the film, delivering another exceptional reading that can definitely sit comfortably next to both Ian Holm's & Lance Henriksen's Android performance's in the franchise.

    3/5
  • edited June 2012 Posts: 5,767
    DarthDimi wrote:
    When will you get to see it, @boldfinger?
    Looks like it will be theaters in Germany from August 9th :-( . That means by then I might have forgotten about it, because my mind will be occupied by TDKR, which starts 2 weeks prior ;-) .
    DarthDimi wrote:
    Btw, Nolan is SO right. I'll add to that: 3D belongs in a theme park.
    Absolutely. Stuff that is just about effects and nothing else can be fun in 3D. E.g. Resident Evil 4. As soon as something like storytelling enters, 3D is in the way.
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 4,043
    My Wife has just pointed out something.
    Why does the medical machine that Vickers (Theron) has bought with her for presumably her use was only configured for use by male patients, unless David has sabotaged it knowing Shaw would attempt to use or it's for Weyland? To be honest it's just a another example of what an infuriating writer Lindelof is, his conclusion to Lost was utter bollocks as well.

    I'm thinking if his grubby hands had been nowhere near it it might have had a chance, instead it's just another missed opportunity. As JWB said if it had been about a search for our origin and wanting to know why they wanted us dead this would have been much more refreshing an original.

    The idea that the planet was the engineers laboratory for constructing a biological weapon and it had gone wrong was great and we presume this being LV233 that the experiment on LV 426 was a far more advanced version that had pretty much been perfected although unfortunately to this Engineers misfortune a little too effectively.

    These points could have been more subtle and in the background and been noticed by them that know but not obtrusive enough to people coming to the story fresh, my conclusions are that this film cannot stand on it's own and it relies far too much on the mythology of the series. I can only hope if they green light a sequel, Lindelof will have nothing to do with it and it will strike in more original territory. Poor Ridley, once a again a great visual director who is crippled by collaborating with people who aren't on same page quality wise I can only think of 3 films where he has been served well in all departments and the overall product has been consistent, them being his debut The Duelists, Alien & Bladerunner.

    Also saw this in 2D could see no reason to pay more during it's duration and visually it's very impressive.
  • Saw it yesterday - first thought that it was hugely disappointing but the more I think about it the more I realize that it was a terribly made film. Both the writing and directing (and perhaps the editing - not of individual scenes but the plot as a whole) were either puzzling or very amateur.

    After reading some (spoiler free) reviews I really had no desire to see it (I was on the fence before) but my girlfriend was quite excited by it. So it wasn't a case of having huge expectations. If anything, that sometimes helps - I had no desire to see Cabin in the Woods but I ended up loving it (again, my girlfriend really wanted to see it). I see that on some websites such as The Onion's AV Club most people didn't like it but there are a minority who are, IMHO, bending over backwards to try to explain away plot holes and unbelievably stupid decisions made by characters. Sometimes someone is so stoked by something and they *want* to like it so badly that they make themselves willfully blind to certain things in the film - I saw this with some friends (usually with sci-fi movies) regarding, say, the Star Wars prequels.

    A bit of context - while I'm a bit older I was too young for Alien when it first came out. I saw it when Aliens was a huge pop-culture phenomenon when I was a teen. I was quite impressed by it although it seemed a little "small" to me - perhaps because it had been built up so much in the years afterwards. I saw it again when the Director's Cut was played in theatres (10 years ago?) and I liked it even more. I thought that it was an exceptionally well-made thriller that built the tension very well. I loved Aliens when it came out and I thought that Alien3 was a huge letdown - I appreciate the *idea* of trying to go back to more of a feel of the original but it felt like a chore watching it. I thought that Alien Resurrection was okay but nothing more - and it was definitely one trip to the well too many.

    There was a great bit in the AV Club's review where they likened Prometheus to the Star Wars prequels. While the technology has improved allowing a much better look at a "larger universe" than the original film, there has also been 30 years of, for lack of a better word, over-thinking how to better explore themes of the original. Sometimes less is more.

    I thought that the film started very well. It took its time to set everything up well, explained some character motivation (although in far too clumsy a way for Rapace's character) and set up the environment of the ship in a very clear manner. But shortly afterwards the film devolves into people making ludicrously bad decisions, plot points telegraphed with a sledgehammer, people being a-holes simply for the sake of being a-holes (because, you know, we need *some* kind of antagonists right from the beginning), some shockingly bad acting. Also, plot points are brought up and then dropped, huge things happen either emotionally or physically and then a couple of minutes later it's no big deal, and things that require an explanation are never explained (I appreciate mystery and I like when a film trusts the intelligence of its audience, but there's a huge difference between that and just letting things be different from scene to scene).

    The scenery and set design are beautiful, the SFX are fantastic, and Fassbender gives an excellent performance (in fact, I'm far more sold on him being a credible Bond after this film - to me wearing a 1960s grey suit does not a Bond make, else John Hamm (!) would be a great Bond). The 3D worked quite well with the film - it added to the atmosphere and was never used for cheap in-your-face scares). But there is so much of the film that is bad - not a lack of good things, but actually bad.

    Apologies for not mentioning specifically what I did and did not like about the film - I trying to be spoiler free. One thing I will say though - when the very first scene in the film is mysterious and intriguing but then never really explained, and fans have to rely on an interview with the director to know its meaning (!) that tells you a lot that you need to know about the film...
  • Posts: 114
    @thelordflasheart mind popping specifics in a spoiler tag? I'd be interested to know exactly what bits didn't really connect coherently.
  • Posts: 5,745
    DarthBork wrote:
    @thelordflasheart mind popping specifics in a spoiler tag? I'd be interested to know exactly what bits didn't really connect coherently.

    You could look to mine on page 3, I spoiler tagged them, but detailed what didn't really fit.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited June 2012 Posts: 40,976
    I showed up to see it and it was only playing in 3D, so I was forced to see it in that: not worth it. Not sure what the views were about, kind of makes me hate 3D even more (which I didn't think was possible.)

    The film was good. Pretty slow at times and just wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be. One time watch for me.

    Here's a post-release viral for 'Prometheus', with Guy Ritchie out of his makeup. What does 10/11/12 mean?
    http://www.slashfilm.com/prometheus-viral-continues-peter-weyland-ready-ted-talk-101112/
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    Having now seen this film and reading through the responses it's worth mentioning Scott has said there are at least two more films to go before we link back up with the original Alien. So this is an Episode I, if you will.

    I thought Prometheus was alright, myself. I don't feel the need to slate it like some others have done.
  • edited June 2012 Posts: 12,837
    I liked it, but I think the massive hype for it let it down a little bit. The same could happen to Skyfall and TDKR I think.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited June 2012 Posts: 13,355
    Not to this level, personally. I don't see that happening. This was a very good, above average film but that was all.

    Both The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall are going to be real winners, with the critics at least.
  • Posts: 12,526
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Having now seen this film and reading through the responses it's worth mentioning Scott has said there are at least two more films to go before we link back up with the original Alien. So this is an Episode I, if you will.

    I thought Prometheus was alright, myself. I don't feel the need to slate it like some others have done.

    Not actually seen the movie yet, but has Scott said he is doing another two films then? So it links up with the other films?
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    RogueAgent wrote:
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Having now seen this film and reading through the responses it's worth mentioning Scott has said there are at least two more films to go before we link back up with the original Alien. So this is an Episode I, if you will.

    I thought Prometheus was alright, myself. I don't feel the need to slate it like some others have done.

    Not actually seen the movie yet, but has Scott said he is doing another two films then? So it links up with the other films?

    That's Scott's plan. This one has to bring in enough money first, so far everything looks OK. We'll get a second film.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited June 2012 Posts: 15,718
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Both The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall are going to be real winners, with the critics at least.

    This is exactly the level of hype that may well hurt TDKR and Skyfall. The hype concerning these 2 films is so big, people will be disappointed even if these films are 'great'. People are expecting so much 2 'perfect' films for TDKR and Skyfall, that there will be major disappointment if SF and TDKR are only 'great' films.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Both The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall are going to be real winners, with the critics at least.

    This is exactly the level of hype that may well hurt TDKR and Skyfall. The hype concerning these 2 films is so big, people will be disappointed even if these films are 'great'. People are expecting so much 2 'perfect' films for TDKR and Skyfall, that there will be major disappointment if SF and TDKR are 'great' films.
    I heavily agree, and they have to live up to. Skyfall to be a success after such a wait and surpass CR and the excitement surrounding the big 50, and TDKR to follow TDK. No easy feat.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    @DaltonCraig007, that's the problem with hype: sometimes I get incredibly hyped for a film, and while it's still a 'great' film, it appears to be 'okay' or 'bad' in my mind, because it wasn't as excellent as I had expected it to be. Case in point: 'Prometheus'

    James Bond films never appear to heavily let me down, and I'm sure my hype for the film will grow as the months go by. I have seen two trailers for 'The Dark Knight Rises' and that's it. I don't know anything else about the film; thus, I'm not hyped. I know it will be good, but I haven't followed the film too much, to the point that the film has to be absolute perfection for me to truly be happy with it.

    Unfortunately, 'The Dark Knight' was so amazing, that's my other fear about its sequel: I just don't know if it can be better than it. Time will tell.
  • Posts: 12,526
    Samuel001 wrote:
    RogueAgent wrote:
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Having now seen this film and reading through the responses it's worth mentioning Scott has said there are at least two more films to go before we link back up with the original Alien. So this is an Episode I, if you will.

    I thought Prometheus was alright, myself. I don't feel the need to slate it like some others have done.

    Not actually seen the movie yet, but has Scott said he is doing another two films then? So it links up with the other films?

    That's Scott's plan. This one has to bring in enough money first, so far everything looks OK. We'll get a second film.

    Cool! That i did not know!
  • Posts: 12,837
    I'm glad we're getting more films. Fingers crossed for the 3rd one having the return of the Aliens, to set up Alien 1.
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Both The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall are going to be real winners, with the critics at least.

    This is exactly the level of hype that may well hurt TDKR and Skyfall. The hype concerning these 2 films is so big, people will be disappointed even if these films are 'great'. People are expecting so much 2 'perfect' films for TDKR and Skyfall, that there will be major disappointment if SF and TDKR are only 'great' films.

    That's what I've been saying. Too much hype could make the film a let down no matter how good the film is.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Wasn't Prometheus supposed to be an Alien prequel until they altered it to be its own film separate from the Alien films?
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Wasn't Prometheus supposed to be an Alien prequel until they altered it to be its own film separate from the Alien films?

    You are correct.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Creasy47 wrote:
    Wasn't Prometheus supposed to be an Alien prequel until they altered it to be its own film separate from the Alien films?

    You are correct.
    So why is everyone talking about sequels of it exploring the Alien universe?

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7, it's somewhat hard to explain, and knowing how you and I are with spoilers, what I'm going to say isn't really a spoiler, but it's more of a nod, of sorts. I'll tag it, anyway:
    The world of 'Prometheus' is like a prequel to 'Alien,' as it takes place in the 'Alien' universe, but it isn't a direct prequel.
  • Posts: 533
    It was one of the most overrated movies I have ever seen in the last decade or two.
  • Posts: 7,653
    DRush76 wrote:
    It was one of the most overrated movies I have ever seen in the last decade or two.

    You should go out more often. ;)
  • Posts: 12,837
    Creasy47 wrote:
    Wasn't Prometheus supposed to be an Alien prequel until they altered it to be its own film separate from the Alien films?

    You are correct.
    So why is everyone talking about sequels of it exploring the Alien universe?

    Because the ending, which I won't spoil, didn't really set up Alien.
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