Prometheus (2012)

[LobsterPot]

Originally Posted by 42041

If only the Prometheus screenwriters would've fleshed out their characters into human beings rather than a bunch of numbskulls spouting corny platitudes...
I liked the movie, but I won't go so far as to defend the mess of a script.

Actually they were real fleshed characters.

All of the other Alien films on the other hand had cardboard characters.

[LobsterPot]

Originally Posted by IlGialloMondadori

Yes, the film absolutely tries to say this about scientists, and present the faith choice as the proper one versus the crap portrayal of David as pure logic, which leads to testing on people, etc. Which is what I'm trying to say - the film gets it totally wrong, it's stupid, and simple.

No, it gets it completely write.
Unless you're an unintellectual viewer who wants opinions of writers forced on him in exposition.

This film lets you make up your own mind, and doesn't baby its audience.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by IlGialloMondadori

Yes, the film absolutely tries to say this about scientists, and present the faith choice as the proper one versus the crap portrayal of David as pure logic, which leads to testing on people, etc. Which is what I'm trying to say - the film gets it totally wrong, it's stupid, and simple.

How so? It never draws any conclusions on either side of the table. I think you are drawing your own conclusions, which is fine, but I think you missed a lot of the points. Battlestar Galactica plays the same game with faith and religion, but often leaves the decisions about it up to the audience (just as this movie did).

At the end of BSG though

[Show spoiler]we find out that God really was leading them to a new beginning via two angels and Starbuck's ghost.

[42041]

Originally Posted by LobsterPot

Actually they were real fleshed characters.

All of the other Alien films on the other hand had cardboard characters.

Clearly, we disagree.
I didn't say anything about the other Alien films. But at least they didn't have any pretension of being cerebral, high-minded science fiction.

[greg_achen]

Originally Posted by Monkey

Nope, the trailers showed the entire movie pretty much. I enjoyed what they provided, but it felt like incomplete product/half of a movie. The potential to be so much better was there.

I agree and this is why the film is so polarizing. I think both people who love and hate the film will acknowledge that the potential for brilliance was there, but ultimately fell short. However, either you are able to look past its flaws or you feel the film utterly collapses underneath them. I happen to love the film, warts and all, and think the positives outweigh the negatives. But the legacy of the film really now depends on how strong the sequel is. Considering Fox explicitly said they want to take their time to do it right is very encouraging.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Oh man, you've got to be kidding me. Every single character in Alien is about as one-dimensional as you can get. They only feel more real because of the performances of the actors. Cameron did a better job in the second film with characterization, but he seemed to almost completly abandon it for Avatar.

[Monkey]

Definitely, a sequel could make for one hell of an experience all together.

[IlGialloMondadori]

Originally Posted by BouCoupDinkyDau

How so? It never draws any conclusions on either side of the table. I think you are drawing your own conclusions, which is fine, but I think you missed a lot of the points. Battlestar Galactica plays the same game with faith and religion, but often leaves the decisions about it up to the audience (just as this movie did).

At the end of BSG though

[Show spoiler]we find out that God really was leading them to a new beginning via two angels and Starbuck's ghost.

I actually love BSG, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, I liked it more than Lost's ending.

I think we've got off track here. My real issue with the film is the erratic behavior and that, as scientists, the characters act incredibly stupidly, completely aside from the faith issue. They also perform tasks unrelated to their fields, like an archaeologist performing an autopsy, etc. They act stupid, and erratically, all the time. You know what I'm talking about. The points, I'm sure, have been brought up time and time again, like,

[Show spoiler]the character who got lost in the tunnels after mapping it while everyone else made it out okay (which is just awful writing to get us to the point where this character can die), touching a giant, sharp toothed snake that is in the process of a threat display, the characters running in a straight line while a giant rolling donut chases them (and the main character is saved by tripping and falling about five feet to one side), smoking weed while lost in an alien ship, having sex while crew members are in danger instead of posting people to monitor the readouts and communications, etc. They really behave just as dumb as slasher film victims.

[IlGialloMondadori]

Originally Posted by BouCoupDinkyDau

Oh man, you've got to be kidding me. Every single character in Alien is about as one-dimensional as you can get. They only feel more real because of the performances of the actors. Cameron did a better job in the second film with characterization, but he seemed to almost completly abandon it for Avatar.

They don't just feel more real, they are more real. They feel like real people. At least they bring the conflict with their android to a head. Everyone just lets David go off touching things and taking things and acting like a jerk. "Stop it David." "Don't touch that, David." No one says, "Hey, David is really a huge problem. People are dying because he's touching and screwing with things. He's not listening to us. We need to do something about it." That would be much better, to at least talk about the problem with the jerk robot they've got on board.

[R0CK0X]

Originally Posted by IlGialloMondadori

At least they bring the conflict with their android to a head.

Badum. CHHH!!

[groove93]

I will say this again, if Alien was made in these times, it would never have a chance. The complaints regarding the actions of Cain, Brett, Ripley and her cat..............................

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by IlGialloMondadori

I actually love BSG, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, I liked it more than Lost's ending.

I think we've got off track here. My real issue with the film is the erratic behavior and that, as scientists, the characters act incredibly stupidly, completely aside from the faith issue. They also perform tasks unrelated to their fields, like an archaeologist performing an autopsy, etc. They act stupid, and erratically, all the time. You know what I'm talking about. The points, I'm sure, have been brought up time and time again, like,

[Show spoiler]the character who got lost in the tunnels after mapping it while everyone else made it out okay (which is just awful writing to get us to the point where this character can die), touching a giant, sharp toothed snake that is in the process of a threat display, the characters running in a straight line while a giant rolling donut chases them (and the main character is saved by tripping and falling about five feet to one side), smoking weed while lost in an alien ship, having sex while crew members are in danger instead of posting people to monitor the readouts and communications, etc. They really behave just as dumb as slasher film victims.

Yes, the character behaviors are a step backwards for the horror genre. I think we've all grown past the moron walking into the basement with a half-working flashlight bit by now.

But for me, the film's flaws do not outweigh its strengths. I chuckle at the stupidity of the biologist running from a dead alien specimen but sticking his face in what is clearly an animal displaying hostile intentions. It's dumb, but it doesn't do enough damage to make me hate the film.

Now show me the Anakin and Padme love scenes again and I'll kindly ask you to rake your nails over a chalkboard while I gargle with broken glass.

[groove93]

Originally Posted by BouCoupDinkyDau

Now show me the Anakin and Padme love scenes again and I'll kindly ask you to rake your nails over a chalkboard while I gargle with broken glass.

Never before in my life have I seen a crowd of young children simultaneously cringe during their scenes in ROTS. I actually shed a tear for humanity.

[MovieMan31]

So anyone else having problems just watching the weyland files, watched one and then nothing, didn't go back to menu our anything, only thing that worked was stopping out and starting all over.

[CF FilmFan]

Originally Posted by IlGialloMondadori

I actually love BSG, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, I liked it more than Lost's ending.

I think we've got off track here. My real issue with the film is the erratic behavior and that, as scientists, the characters act incredibly stupidly, completely aside from the faith issue. They also perform tasks unrelated to their fields, like an archaeologist performing an autopsy, etc. They act stupid, and erratically, all the time. You know what I'm talking about. The points, I'm sure, have been brought up time and time again, like,

[Show spoiler]the character who got lost in the tunnels after mapping it while everyone else made it out okay (which is just awful writing to get us to the point where this character can die), touching a giant, sharp toothed snake that is in the process of a threat display, the characters running in a straight line while a giant rolling donut chases them (and the main character is saved by tripping and falling about five feet to one side), smoking weed while lost in an alien ship, having sex while crew members are in danger instead of posting people to monitor the readouts and communications, etc. They really behave just as dumb as slasher film victims.

I agree. And I have a theory why they were portayed this way in the film. The crew rushed out there to explore things without first meeting to formulate a solid game plan (which includes a back out plan). The outcome might have been different, had they stopped to talk things over prior to rushing out the door like kids at a water park. To me, that act alone started a domino affect or chain reaction of bad events that spiraled out of their control. They were never a crew and their lack of teamwork cost them dearly. Just my two cents...

[ObiWanShinobi]

Milburn and Fifield were the two whose actions confused me the most. The Milburn/worm thing of course and Fifield being so wound up and coming off as mentally unstable. I did wonder to myself "all the money they spent on this trip and THESE are the best guys they could find?....budget cuts perhaps?"

When Shaw was helping with the autopsy that did seem weird to me at first but then I started thinking that surely theyve been preparing for this trip for years so perhaps every crew member was expected to know a little bit about everything, just in case. Who knows, the move can be nit-picked to death but I think it accomplishes what it set out to do.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by CF FilmFan

I agree. And I have a theory why they were portayed this way in the film. The crew rushed out there to explore things without first meeting to formulate a solid game plan (which includes a back out plan). The outcome might have been different, had they stopped to talk things over prior to rushing out the door like kids at a water park. To me, that act alone started a domino affect or chain reaction of bad events that spiraled out of their control. They were never a crew and their lack of teamwork cost them dearly. Just my two cents...

I chalk it up to ego and power.

[Show spoiler]Weyland

did not want any personality on his ship that was a superior force to his own. He only needed scietists for basic purposes, as his goal was never exploration and discovery, but for contact to feed his own ends. Shaw was the only force that ended up putting a kink in his plans.

Think about it. Had that been a real scientific expedition, the crew would have been triple in size. You don't want one biologist for a alien contact mission, you want a lab full of them.

[itMFtis]

Anyone feel this movie lacked horror elements to it? I thought the trailer was scarier than the movie. The only part that had any sort of suspense (for me) was when Milburn and Fifield were left alone in the pyramid and found the mutated worm. The rest of the movie was more sci-fi action than sci-fi horror.

[groove93]

Originally Posted by ObiWanShinobi

Milburn and Fifield were the two whose actions confused me the most. The Milburn/worm thing of course and Fifield being so wound up and coming off as mentally unstable. I did wonder to myself "all the money they spent on this trip and THESE are the best guys they could find?....budget cuts perhaps?"

When Shaw was helping with the autopsy that did seem weird to me at first but then I started thinking that surely theyve been preparing for this trip for years so perhaps every crew member was expected to know a little bit about everything, just in case. Who knows, the move can be nit-picked to death but I think it accomplishes what it set out to do.

Fifield's reactions can be compared to Lambert's. He studies rocks, that's why he was hired, but when you're literally out of your element surrounded by dead bodies of an unknown lifeform, I'd say his behavior was justified. He wanted to get back to the ship because he was scared, plain and simple.

Milburn, I treat his character like any animal expert. Those crazy scientists that walk up to a lion and want to pet it, or swim with sharks, that's Milburn IMO.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by itMFtis

Anyone feel this movie lacked horror elements to it? I thought the trailer was scarier than the movie. The only part that had any sort of suspense (for me) was when Milburn and Fifield were left alone in the pyramid and found the mutated worm. The rest of the movie was more sci-fi action than sci-fi horror.

The surgery was the most intense part of the film.