Prometheus Review Thread (Spoilers)

[Cremildo]

I cannot not love it wholeheartedly.

It has everything that makes me love cinema - awe-inspiring visuals and music, an intriguing storyline that favors mystery and ambiance over action and jokes, enough thematic substance not to render it intellectually vacuous, at least two very memorable characters. It's the stuff daydreams are made of.

Right alongside Snowpiercer, Interstellar and Her, I consider it the most stimulating science-fiction of the decade. I've given it 5 stars since watching it for the second time in 2013 - the rating isn't going to decrease anytime soon.

[P-Rock]

The second half feels rushed to me. A lot of stuff happens and a couple of things are revealed, but because everything happens so fast there's no impact whatsoever. It also gets dumber by the minute. Like Scott said: "F*** this shit, let's wrap it up!".

I really wish he'd left in a couple of the deleted scenes that give some explanation to what's happening. He wanted to keep the movie under 2 hours but cutting so much wasn't a good idea.

[Gamma_Winstead]

Originally Posted by levcore

How do you feel about Covenant essentially sweeping all of those story threads under the carpet?

Personally it never bothered me. Ridley is an atheist, and the Alien films are dark and nihilistic. I never assumed we'd get anything more than "nothing happens after we die, there is no god, and we exist as dinner and a method of procreation for the ultimate being."

[Indiana Jonezzz...]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

It's more that it starts off so well and then pisses it all away on a raft of thoroughly unlikeable characters, tin-eared dialogue, slasher-movie-level plotting and a denouement which is literally rushed through so that the movie can just....stop. Yes, you can have great concepts and ideas and whatnot but - as I say whenever people wax lyrical about those kinds of merits of the Star Wars prequels - that stuff means **** all to me when it's presented in such a cack-handed fashion.

I'm not sure where you get the impression that I'm somehow being harder on the film now than I was back then, e.g. this post from 2012 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...54#post6581854 or this post from 2013 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...us#post7764702 would seem to suggest that I've always been down it.

I'm a glutton for punishment to be sure, as the visuals and the music and Fassbender are enough to draw me back in, but upon actually watching it I feel like throwing rotten vegetables at the screen whenever Fifield appears, and when the movie enters the third act it just falls apart. And, as I said all of four years ago, I'm DYING to see an extended cut which restores some deleted scenes as they add so much to the movie IMO, but it's likely we'll never see one and that makes me feel even more bitter.



Uh, I'll still buy the UHD though. Maybe I'll have a Star Trek Into Darkness kind of epiphany when I watch it, whereupon I will Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Prometheus.

I totally see your points, and I generally agree, although I don't think the third act falls apart. But I do agree that the final engineer "fight" at the end with Shaw does seem rushed, and sort of anti climactic. I understand that Ridley felt that the Engineer would have just broken her like a toy, so he chose not to keep the fight longer, but I think everyone pretty much agrees that it would have been better to extend it. However, like a lot of the other issues, it doesn't spoil it for me, I see it as a creative choice (which I understand, but would personally not have chosen).

I really thought you were getting harder on the film as time went on, so maybe I missed some of your posts about it over the years. I'd just noticed you seemed to strongly dislike it now, but I didn't think you hated so much to give it only a 2 out of 5 rating. I guess it's just one of those films that infuriates some people because of the accumulation of a number of elements that irritate them, which then just spoils the whole experience too much for them to be able enjoy it much at all.

Regarding an extended cut though, I can honestly say that it would top of my list of potential new cuts for any film. I'm sure the film could be improved quite substantially, which would make a lot of people find it considerably easier to enjoy. Can Fifield EVER be fixed though? Maybe HDR will improve him by 0.7% .

[Geoff D]

The only way HDR could improve Fifield is if it nuked the image so brightly that it burned him out of every frame, as well as muting his nonsense on the soundtrack.

As P-Rock said above, the latter part of the movie rushes through so much that there's no time to absorb any of that impact. What cracks me up about the c-section scene - as good as it is - is that NO-ONE seems bothered that she just birthed an alien baby which is still there in the medipod. Yeah, they've just defrosted Weyland (as surprising a reveal as water being wet) but even so, it's got such a weird vibe as it lurches from scene to scene and the cut-down engineer stuff (both him talking to David and the stalking of Shaw) mortally wounds the finale.

[P-Rock]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The only way HDR could improve Fifield is if it nuked the image so brightly that it burned him out of every frame, as well as muting his nonsense on the soundtrack.

As P-Rock said above, the latter part of the movie rushes through so much that there's no time to absorb any of that impact. What cracks me up about the c-section scene - as good as it is - is that NO-ONE seems bothered that she just birthed an alien baby which is still there in the medipod. Yeah, they've just defrosted Weyland (as surprising a reveal as water being wet) but even so, it's got such a weird vibe as it lurches from scene to scene and the cut-down engineer stuff (both him talking to David and the stalking of Shaw) mortally wounds the finale.

David wandering off and nobody cares, Fifield and Milburn getting lost while there's a whole 3D map on the ship, Weyland being aboard the Prometheus and still alive, Vickers being his daughter, Shaw who escapes from being put into deep sleep and no-one is coming after her, no-one acting surprised when a bloodied Shaw stumbles in the room, Janek and his 2 man crew committing suicide a little too easily, Vickers who can only run in a straight line and getting crushed by the derelict...

It's all just so stupid, and most of it happens in the second half. Scott and Lindelof are to blame for these changes in the script.

I'm going to see A:C this weekend, so hopefully that redeems Prometheus somewhat.

[MisterPilgrim]

Originally Posted by P-Rock

David wandering off and nobody cares, Fifield and Milburn getting lost while there's a whole 3D map on the ship, Weyland being aboard the Prometheus and still alive, Vickers being his daughter, Shaw who escapes from being put into deep sleep and no-one is coming after her, no-one acting surprised when a bloodied Shaw stumbles in the room, Janek and his 2 man crew committing suicide a little too easily, Vickers who can only run in a straight line and getting crushed by the derelict...

You forgot Fifield rigging his suit to allow him to smoke weed.

[MJD64]

All that talk in Prometheus waxing philosophical about the existence of god...if I'd been on board the Prometheus all it would have taken was seeing the beauteous Charlize Theron doing push-ups in her underwear to convince me that, yes, there is a god...you can turn the ship around now.

[Gremal]

Originally Posted by P-Rock

David wandering off and nobody cares,

They were a bit preoccupied and David had a different directive that we learn about later. What exactly is your problem with this?

Fifield and Milburn getting lost while there's a whole 3D map on the ship,

They weren't on the ship, and the verbal directions from the ship weren't very useful. Symbolically, the scientists getting lost fits in the narrative that technology/science can succumb to evil just as easily as being used for good.

Weyland being aboard the Prometheus and still alive, Vickers being his daughter,

Sure, we never see any business leader pursuing greater power/longevity, or place his daughter in a position of authority. Er...

Shaw who escapes from being put into deep sleep and no-one is coming after her, no-one acting surprised when a bloodied Shaw stumbles in the room,

Deep sleep is being put in the fluid chambers for space travel. Shaw was not in deep sleep but had been temporarily restrained. She regained consciousness and was super motivated to reach the auto-surgery device by any means. The crew that would have prevented that were dealing with Weyland as a higher priority and were not motivated to even acknowledge her when she showed up, although David certainly came to her aid. Now that she was not hosting the life form, he had no motivation to continue his mistreatment of her.

Janek and his 2 man crew committing suicide a little too easily, Vickers who can only run in a straight line and getting crushed by the derelict...

It's pretty easy to kill yourself when you're crashing a ship into another ship; the point wasn't that they wanted to easily commit suicide but they recognized it as an opportunity to save Earth from destruction. Both Vickers and Shaw weren't thinking clearly in trying to escape the falling ship and debris. If you had many tons of ship falling down on you and probably knew that you'd soon be dead even if you managed to survive the next few minutes, you wouldn't be thinking clearly either. The point of that: Shaw was a believer and Vickers was not.

It's all just so stupid, and most of it happens in the second half. Scott and Lindelof are to blame for these changes in the script.

All due respect, you haven't thought through the script to the extent they have, and you don't have as much insight into it as you think. But if you convince a studio to give you tens of million$ and make a "smart" sci fi movie, let us know.

I'm going to see A:C this weekend, so hopefully that redeems Prometheus somewhat.

It needs no redemption. I hope to see Covenant soon myself.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Gremal

All due respect, you haven't thought through the script to the extent they have, and you don't have as much insight into it as you think. But if you convince a studio to give you tens of million$ and make a "smart" sci fi movie, let us know.

This seems to be a common trait among haters: they think they know better than the filmmakers themselves, and that their own ideas if implemented would automatically be better than those by the people who actually make the movies.

It's the epithome of delusional arrogance. To go and watch a film not to enjoy it or to discover an artist's vision, but to feel superior by nitpicking it to death. And most of the time their issues with the film stem from the fact that they simply didn't understand it!

[Seymour]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

This seems to be a common trait among haters: they think they know better than the filmmakers themselves, and that their own ideas if implemented would automatically be better than those by the people who actually make the movies.

It's the epithome of delusional arrogance. To go and watch a film not to enjoy it or to discover an artist's vision, but to feel superior by nitpicking it to death. And most of the time their issues with the film stem from the fact that they simply didn't understand it!

Right, because nobody's ever made a bad movie before. Or a highly flawed one?

[P-Rock]

Originally Posted by Gremal

They were a bit preoccupied and David had a different directive that we learn about later. What exactly is your problem with this?

David wandering off, exploring the ship on his own and even finding the time to bring a vase with him, without anyone questioning where he is. He was supposed to assist the crew. They don't know about his secret agenda.

They weren't on the ship, and the verbal directions from the ship weren't very useful. Symbolically, the scientists getting lost fits in the narrative that technology/science can succumb to evil just as easily as being used for good.

Yet the ship contacts them when they are wandering around about some blip on the map. They could've asked for directions?

Sure, we never see any business leader pursuing greater power/longevity, or place his daughter in a position of authority. Er...

They bring it like it's supposed to be some big reveal, but both scenes have no impact whatsoever because everything feels so rushed.

Deep sleep is being put in the fluid chambers for space travel. Shaw was not in deep sleep but had been temporarily restrained. She regained consciousness and was super motivated to reach the auto-surgery device by any means. The crew that would have prevented that were dealing with Weyland as a higher priority and were not motivated to even acknowledge her when she showed up, although David certainly came to her aid. Now that she was not hosting the life form, he had no motivation to continue his mistreatment of her.

They were going to give her a sedative so they could put her in cryogenic sleep. It's not a normal reaction for people to see someone covered in blood stumble in and not be a little shocked.

Your are really grasping at straws here.[/QUOTE]

It's pretty easy to kill yourself when you're crashing a ship into another ship; the point wasn't that they wanted to easily commit suicide but they recognized it as an opportunity to save Earth from destruction. Both Vickers and Shaw weren't thinking clearly in trying to escape the falling ship and debris. If you had many tons of ship falling down on you and probably knew that you'd soon be dead even if you managed to survive the next few minutes, you wouldn't be thinking clearly either. The point of that: Shaw was a believer and Vickers was not.

The co-pilots didn't have to think about it to offer themselves up for the greater good. It's just bad writing.

Shaw rolled to the side of the ship and survived. Vickers could've done the same. Maybe she would've survived. It's just a dumb, yet convenient way to kill off a character.

All due respect, you haven't thought through the script to the extent they have, and you don't have as much insight into it as you think. But if you convince a studio to give you tens of million$ and make a "smart" sci fi movie, let us know.

The number one platitude people use when they are out of reasonable arguments. "Well, why don't you direct a movie yourself and then we talk!" When I smell bullshit I call it.

It needs no redemption. I hope to see Covenant soon myself.

Good for you.

[Gremal]

Originally Posted by P-Rock

David wandering off, exploring the ship on his own and even finding the time to bring a vase with him, without anyone questioning where he is. He was supposed to assist the crew. They don't know about his secret agenda.

They weren't interested in him and he had a directive not at all aligned with theirs.

Yet the ship contacts them when they are wandering around about some blip on the map. They could've asked for directions?

Directions wouldn't do any good. They were stuck until the storm ended and couldn't get back to the ship until then.

They bring it like it's supposed to be some big reveal, but both scenes have no impact whatsoever because everything feels so rushed.

It was a twist, to have a guy you thought was probably dead back on earth appear living on the ship. Scott wanted to go even further with it by exploring the relationship between Vickers and her father, but that couldn't be included.

They were going to give her a sedative so they could put her in cryogenic sleep. It's not a normal reaction for people to see someone covered in blood stumble in and not be a little shocked.

Well, they just had the incident with zombie Fifeld and so a little blood didn't seem at all out of place to them. David acknowledged her. You may as well point out she was running and jumping with a huge incision in her lower abdomen. There are a lot of issues one can take with any sci fi film.

Your are really grasping at straws here.

We're just watching the film on different levels of understanding and interpretation.

The co-pilots didn't have to think about it to offer themselves up for the greater good. It's just bad writing.

They think about it but it's not a situation where you can hem or how. The co-pilots are offered pods to go to the surface if they want, and they decline.

Shaw rolled to the side of the ship and survived.

No, that's not how she survived because the ship rolled and followed her. She survived by collapsing next to a rock that had just enough height to protect her from being crushed.

Vickers could've done the same. Maybe she would've survived. It's just a dumb, yet convenient way to kill off a character.

You can go through any character killed or not killed in the entire franchise, from Scott's first Alien film on, and second guess why they died or survived. That's rather silly. In this case we had an exploration of faith vs faithlessness and the one character who survived kept her faith. The others succumbed to the evil of the engineers. It was written that way for a reason.

The number one platitude people use when they are out of reasonable arguments. "Well, why don't you direct a movie yourself and then we talk!" When I smell bullshit I call it.

In the room the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo.

[stvn1974]

Wow, I just noticed I gave this a 5 star rating after getting home from the theater. I must have been hit in the head there because I hate, loathe and despise the film now.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Gremal

We're just watching the film on different levels of understanding and interpretation.

Translation: We just justify issues with making things out to be how we'd like them to be, not how they actually are.

Guys, there's nothing wrong with loving Prometheus to bits, everybody respects that. That's your right of opinion. But when people give constructive criticism to a movie that has issues and you slap 'em in the face with wet fish by saying "We're just watching the film on different levels of understanding and interpretation." Expect nit-picking galore, [initiate snarky font] as we're just watching the film on different level of understanding and interpretation of filmmaking and storytelling and we can spot pretentious malarkey a mile off [discontinue snarky font].

But you never know, we just not might be able to see all Prometheus's glory because we've fallen down a plot-hole and can't see shit.

And that's from someone who likes Prometheus (for the most part) quite a bit.

[Indiana Jonezzz...]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The only way HDR could improve Fifield is if it nuked the image so brightly that it burned him out of every frame, as well as muting his nonsense on the soundtrack.

As P-Rock said above, the latter part of the movie rushes through so much that there's no time to absorb any of that impact. What cracks me up about the c-section scene - as good as it is - is that NO-ONE seems bothered that she just birthed an alien baby which is still there in the medipod. Yeah, they've just defrosted Weyland (as surprising a reveal as water being wet) but even so, it's got such a weird vibe as it lurches from scene to scene and the cut-down engineer stuff (both him talking to David and the stalking of Shaw) mortally wounds the finale.

Yeah, when Shaw walks into the room, nobody asks her anything, the focus is then really on Weyland now being awake. However, I don't think anybody else actually knows about the alien baby, I don't think David told anyone she even had it in her when he requested help to put her into cryosleep. Obviously, it would have made sense to see someone asking her what had happened to her, and it would also have been nice showing Shaw talking to the Scottish (British? ) actress who she had just previously knocked unconscious with a metal bar, before seeing them going on a little expedition together, but that's Prommy for ya!

Getting back to Shaw's alien baby, Shaw having it could have been the basis for a huge plot thread in itself, with people investigating and analysing the creature, but it was used instead simply as the big bad to overpower the Engineer. Ah well, if you can't get the film you want, love the one you got, love the one you got (cue accordion music).

[Cremildo]

There is a Prometheus renaissance!

A few days ago, Slash Film posted a reappreciation of the movie.

Now, it's The Hollywood Reporter's turn.

[Blu Myers]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

Wow, I just noticed I gave this a 5 star rating after getting home from the theater. I must have been hit in the head there because I hate, loathe and despise the film now.

I don't get the downright hate for a film that attempts (and succeeds imo) to revive an arguably tired franchise, and offers new insights and bold storytelling devices. I applaud filmmakers that even attempt to do this.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by MJD64

All that talk in Prometheus waxing philosophical about the existence of god...if I'd been on board the Prometheus all it would have taken was seeing the beauteous Charlize Theron doing push-ups in her underwear to convince me that, yes, there is a god...you can turn the ship around now.

Amen to that, brother!

Originally Posted by P-Rock

I'm going to see A:C this weekend, so hopefully that redeems Prometheus somewhat.

I really wouldn't count on it.

[AaronJ]

It's funny that you hear so much complaining about this movie around here, yet in the poll nearly 77% of the votes are 4 or 5 stars.