Prometheus Review Thread (Spoilers)

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

Ok, I am most likely somewhat confused on this part.

[Show spoiler]

I thought that she was referring to him coming along on Prometheus outbound, and that she thought that David communicated to him through subspace radio back to earth.

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Might be right, but also,

[Show spoiler]don't forget that Peter Weyland is supposed to be dead, so David wouldn't be able to talk to him if he stayed on Earth

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

And for that matter.....it's not like Blade Runner was wall to wall action.

Agreed. And that now is in my top 10 also.

So then I guess then that I need to make room in there for this one too.

But how many years will it take.

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[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by BouCoupDinkyDau

[Show spoiler]It was calabrated for male anatomy, not incapable of dealing with female anatomy. It was present for Weyland and Wayland only, and was probably calibrated specifically to him. And Vickers was aware that he was on board. David was talking to Weyland in the hypersleep coffin when Vickers asked David to tell her what he said.

Originally Posted by integrafied1

We (the viewer) and Shaw are introduced to 'her' quarters early on but I believe that she was simply occupying weylands' quarters as well. Foggy, that last statement I quoted from you backs this.

[Show spoiler]"So you decided to come along anyway, I thought you'd refuse to come considering my involvement" Vickers wasn't originally intended to be on the trip, she was supposed to stay home and manage the company while Weyland was away which leads me to believe that the fancy suite was originally intended for him hence the male med pod being there.

OK, I am getting it now.

I especially liked integrafied's explanation-

[Show spoiler]

Vickers wasn't originally intended to be on the trip, she was supposed to stay home and manage the company while Weyland was away which leads me to believe that the fancy suite was originally intended for him hence the male med pod being there.

Thanks guys.

.

[ObiWanShinobi]

- The battle in the vehicle bay also seemed tacked on in the last minute due to a desperate attempt to bring some action/excitement to the movie. Plus the editing of it was pretty bad. Quick cuts from every angle possible making it almost as hard to follow as the Transformer battles from Bay's films. They should have built the up suspense for it, taking it a bit slower such as having the guy maybe hiding around a bit and forcing them to either hunt him down or chase him around a bit maybe. It just seemed like if you blinked, you missed it.

I agree. It happened WAY to fast and the way it was shot was so choppy.

[Show spoiler]One second he's bashing a glass helmet in, in another second hes jumping off a truck onto someone, another second hes hitting someone with an axe, then another second hes throwing someone across the vehicle bay.

When I say this is all happening in a matter of seconds its because IT IS. That whole part came and went in the matter of what seems like a minute or less. Maybe it was longer but it didn't seem like it at all.

It's a shame really because that whole sequence was something I was REALLY looking forward to.

[SirMontyPython]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

Yea but...and I may need to have some help here...

[Show spoiler]that whole section of the ship was devoted to her. And if I remember correctly, she did not know that he was aboard.

Regardless, in that day in age, it just seems VERY ridiculous that it would be male only. Especially since probably some software upgrade would fix that.

Also, being male only would raise suspicion about a hidden secret agenda to the rest of the crew, not to mention Vickers.

.

I saw it as a

[Show spoiler] conspiracy that Vickers kept a secret since she knew about what that was meant for...she had no problem with that. Also on the scene after her surgical procedure, she runs into Vickers with Weyland and David by her side. Since he's so old, and Vickers explaining that if Shaw had raised her own trillion dollars that everyone would be doing everything in Shaw's interest. Clearly that comment laid out the possibility that there would be more than one agenda at hand. I kind of knew that Vickers had more than one agenda when she stood in the hallway alone and aggressively approached David and inquired all these questions like she wanted to know more than she already did...not one person here has mentioned that little fact.

[SirMontyPython]

yeah my response was too slow lol!

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by SirMontyPython

I saw it as a

[Show spoiler] conspiracy that Vickers kept a secret since she knew about what that was meant for...she had no problem with that. Also on the scene after her surgical procedure, she runs into Vickers with Weyland and David by her side. Since he's so old, and Vickers explaining that if Shaw had raised her own trillion dollars that everyone would be doing everything in Shaw's interest. Clearly that comment laid out the possibility that there would be more than one agenda at hand. I kind of knew that Vickers had more than one agenda when she stood in the hallway alone and aggressively approached David and inquired all these questions like she wanted to know more than she already did...not one person here has mentioned that little fact.

Good point.

Thanks for sharing.

.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

Good point.

I'm bummed that you didn't like it, Duff. Of all the people on these boards I was most interested in hearing from it was you. That's cool though, there are a lot of things in it that are worth liking and a lot that are not.

For me, it all boiled down to entertainment. I was entertained from start to finish on both my viewings. There are clunky aspects to this film, but nothing ever killed it for me--similar to my experience with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Some people hate that movie, and the reasons that they do are completly understandable, but I was entertained from start to finish. I felt the same way about Tron Legacy as well. Imperfect, but still fun.

Now by contrast (not trying to beat a dead horse here), I could not stand the Star Wars prequels. While Prometheus, Skull, and Legacy did "pull me out of the story" from time to time, nothing I ever experienced ruined them for me. With SW, it was the opposite. There were times in those films that I nashed my teeth and even turned away from the screen (the romance scenes in particular literally embarassed me for the actors they are so bad), and so I consider all three of them to be failures.

Prometheus may not be perfect, but I still loved it.

[InCali]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

.

I finally saw this yesterday and I am on the disappointed side regarding it unfortunately.

I went in fully aware that this had very little to do with the ALIEN franchise, in fact while watching it, I was fully immersed in it being a complete almost separate entity from the franchise until the every end. So no problem there.

I haven't been reading this thread for the last 5 days, however I pretty much generally agree with the negative earlier reviews of the film.

As I was watching it I became somewhat bored and was concerned about it's replay value later on. Such as televised and on Blu-ray disc. It just seemed very uninteresting through the first 2/3rds of it.




***SPOILERS***




A few things that stood out that bothered me a bit-


- That tough guy biker looking dude with the mohawk and tats on his face. He got frightened, turned and ran away like some kid, and got lost. It seems that part was written for another character and they changed it to him in the last second for some unknown reason. Very unbelievable that they would separate themselves from the main group and then later regretting it(very cliche). Glad when he and that other researcher met their DOOM!

- The captain explaining the whole idea to what the alien base was about to Shaw. It should have been the other way around. At first I just seemed tacked on to help the audience understand the plot better, but in the end it just appears again, that they had the wrong character reading someone else's script, like in the point I made above.

- The battle in the vehicle bay also seemed tacked on in the last minute due to a desperate attempt to bring some action/excitement to the movie. Plus the editing of it was pretty bad. Quick cuts from every angle possible making it almost as hard to follow as the Transformer battles from Bay's films. They should have built up the suspense for it, taking it a bit slower such as having the guy maybe hiding around a bit and forcing them to either hunt him down or chase him around. It just seemed like if you blinked, you missed it.

- And why did Vickers have a male only med-bed in her quarters for? And WHY would they make a male only one for that matter?

- Also, that has already been pointed out before regarding the supporting characters, it seems that their absence during parts of the movie just made me think that they were off set in their trailer rehearsing their one or two lines that they had left.




I believe that those were all of my major gripes from the film.

Now I do have an open mind and will happily listen to any comments explaining some of these problems that I mentioned and others that I and other posters had with it.

I will probably buy the BD on sale when it becomes available as I am a major sci-fi nut and will ABSOLUTELY purchase a non-sale extended version of it if that comes out.


I will hold off on the poll for a while to let it sink in a bit, and to hear some of your guys thoughts on it. But this movie seems that it will be VERY polarizing. Much like AVATAR was, in which I rank much higher then this one do to it's higher entertainment valve, though that one had some major flaws of it's own that should have been taken care of before and during filming.


Also, like I mentioned above, I had no problem with it being far removed from the other ALIEN films. In fact that was a plus. I had no problem with the final scene as I found it kinda creepy. And the final battle between the Engineer and Squidward tuned out much better than I thought it would. Plus I was very pleasantly surprised that the final confrontation between Shaw and the Engineer did not drag on like they do in so many other movies nowadays.


Finally, regarding a possible sequel, I am having a really hard time seeing how they could film one and have it turn out to be somewhat filmable/believable, and entertaining, all the while having it stick to the continuity of the very few threads that it has with the A L I E N and ALIENS universe. It would have to take such a far-out/ludicrous path that I feel only a novel could tackle it. Such as one written by Larry Niven or Dan Simmons.

But...I have been wrong before.

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I can see how those details could bother someone. My take is that there are holes in every story. I've said it before; I stink when it comes to being a film critic. I generally get a half day off on Fridays. If there's a movie I want to see, I have lunch and then go see it. If I don't lose my lunch, I liked the movie. Even if I didn't like it that much (ex Sucker Punch...which I thought might have real potential), I'm just glad to be at a movie instead of at work.

So, color me happy. I figure I'm gonna see some really good movies and some not so good ones. I suppose that you have to sift through everything before you find the good and the not so good is inevitable (the valleys that make the mountains so to speak). The sort of (what I consider to be) mean spirited criticisms of actors, directors, etc. don't appeal to me. Sure, I'll say "I didn't like that" or "I didn't think so and so did a very good job", but my critiques are in my wallet. If I don't want to see a movie, I don't pay to go. If I pay to see a movie I ultimately don't like that much, it's on me to not make the same mistake again.

I like sci-fi, fantasy, and intelligent films with outstanding actors (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were two of my favorites last year). I don't get force fed anything and pay to see what I want to see.

[SirMontyPython]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

Good point.

Thanks for sharing.

.

Appreciate the feedback

[greg_achen]

Originally Posted by Underworld54

Would it hurt you to use spoiler tags like everyone else does?

I just fixed it. The use of spoiler tags has been very inconsistent in this thread. Personally, once a movie I plan on seeing is released I don't visit threads like this again till after I've seen it because spoilers inevitably get discussed at length. I meant no harm.

[SirMontyPython]

Whatever happened to one thread with spoilers galore and one without spoilers? Just curious...no one made a separate thread with no spoilers...

[willbfree]

Originally Posted by integrafied1

We (the viewer) and Shaw are introduced to 'her' quarters early on but I believe that she was simply occupying [/SPOILER]

Absolutely was her quarters, not his. For one thing, he only expected to live a couple days more at most. Secondly, she was presented as the reasonable one in the family - the one who felt this mission was a foolish vanity project (which she'd fought while on the Board of Directors).

She was the one who took precautions, including have the device for him, because she felt he was foolish and irresponsible. Which he was, since he scraped the bottom of the barrel picking scientists to give the mission the superficial trappings of a science expedition, when really it was just a personal quest staffed with science rejects (the mohawk geologist, the foolish biologist, the captain who can't be bothered to attend briefings).

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by BouCoupDinkyDau

I'm bummed that you didn't like it, Duff. Of all the people on these boards I was most interested in hearing from it was you. That's cool though, there are a lot of things in it that are worth liking and a lot that are not.

For me, it all boiled down to entertainment. I was entertained from start to finish on both my viewings. There are clunky aspects to this film, but nothing ever killed it for me--similar to my experience with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Some people hate that movie, and the reasons that they do are completly understandable, but I was entertained from start to finish. I felt the same way about Tron Legacy as well. Imperfect, but still fun.

Now by comntrast (not trying to beat a dead horse here), I could not stand the Star Wars prequels. While Prometheus, Skull, and Legacy did "pull me out of the story" from time to time, nothing I ever experienced ruined them for me. With SW, it was the opposite. There were times in those films that I nashed my teeth and even turned away from the screen (the romance scenes in particular literally embarassed me for the actors they are so bad), and so I consider all three of them to be failures.

Prometheus may not be perfect, but I still loved it.

Don't give up hope for me yet.

Like I said, I have an open mind, and I am very interested in everybody's feedback on this movie as I...did not hate it.

It is VERY possible that all my multiple viewings of trailers and spoilers, plus collected screenshots did this to me. Hopefully the Blu-ray plus televised viewings will help me appreciate this much more.

Which is also why I did not bother to pick a rating in the poll.

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[raygendreau]

Spoilers and some rough language, but absolutely hilarious is my opinion. Prometheus in 15 minutes:

http://m15m.livejournal.com/23209.html

[InCali]

Originally Posted by willbfree

Absolutely was her quarters, not his. For one thing, he only expected to live a couple days more at most. Secondly, she was presented as the reasonable one in the family - the one who felt this mission was a foolish vanity project (which she'd fought while on the Board of Directors).

She was the one who took precautions, including have the device for him, because she felt he was foolish and irresponsible. Which he was, since he scraped the bottom of the barrel picking scientists to give the mission the superficial trappings of a science expedition, when really it was just a personal quest staffed with science rejects (the mohawk geologist, the foolish biologist, the captain who can't be bothered to attend briefings).

OK....now here's something that bothers me...why was her last name Vickers? Had she gotten married and, if so, why wasn't I "Mr. Vickers"??

[SirMontyPython]

Originally Posted by InCali

OK....now here's something that bothers me...why was her last name Vickers? Had she gotten married and, if so, why wasn't I "Mr. Vickers"??

Daughter took her mom's maiden name?

[willbfree]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

Someone else brought this up, and on reflection ya, it seemed pretty stupid. If

[Show spoiler]Weyland was on board, why not just greet everyone personally instead of having the hologram saying he's dead and so on. Makes absolutely no sense

. Still thoroughly enjoyed the movie though.

Because

[Show spoiler]if he revealed he was alive, the truth would go something like this. "You thought you were selected because of your credentials as scientists. Actually I only needed my robot son. The rest of you are just here so the Board of Directors could accept - with much persuasion I might add - that this is a legitimate use of Weyland Corp funds. A legitimate science mission. It isn't. I'm just here to get more life for myself and find out the meaning of life before I kick off. In other words, you are all window dressing, and frankly, you're all from the bottom of the barrel since I didn't want to risk any really good scientists. Look at that geologist for heaven's sakes - tattoos on his face, a Mohawk, and surly as hell. That should have been a clue about my selection criteria. I heard that my biologist got eaten by a worm that he tried to make friends with. Like I said, bottom of the barrel. I chose you lot because you are all idiots. So, um, yeah, thanks for coming along."

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by Duffy12

Don't give up hope for me yet.

Like I said, I have an open mind, and I am very interested in everybody's feedback on this movie, as I did not hate it.

Well, please don't try to like it just because you may want too. I made that mistake with The Phantom Menace, playing the part of fanboy in denial for two years until Clones slapped me hard in the face and screamed, "Stop faking it boy! All of this sucks and you know it!!"

The only thing that irritated me with Prometheus was

[Show spoiler]the biologist. His character was so ineptly handled that it still leaves me scratching my head.

Here you have this guy who studys the process of life for a living, yet wants to run away from the first extraterrestrial mankind has even encountered (and it's friggin dead!). Then, as redlettermedia put it, "when he encounters a sketchy looking space penis later on, he puts his face in it."

What is mind boggling about all of it is how easily these scenes with this character could have been corrected and had the exact same results.

Here's how easy all of this this was to fix:

Geologist (scared): "I like rocks, not dead bodies! I'm outta here!"
Biologist: "Shit, Geologist Guy shouldn't wander off alone. I guess I'll go with him. You people better save me some samples!"

later on...

Geologist (scared): "That looks like a ****ing snake! Stay away from it!"
Biologist: "Are you kidding? This is an alien life form, the first ever discovered alive. We have to take it back to the ship."
Geologist: "Screw that."
Biologist: "Here, hold this specimen box open for me. I'll use this stick and try to pin down the head and then grab it like a snake. Yeah?"
Geologist: "No. ****ing. Way. There is no ****ing way I'm going to help you get that thing."
Biologist: "Hey, who came out here and got lost with you? Who's your pal that's been looking out for you? Me. Come on and do me this one favor."
Geologist: "Fine."

So easy to fix, so mind baffeling that they didn't.

[Duffy12]

Originally Posted by willbfree

Because

[Show spoiler]if he revealed he was alive, the truth would go something like this. "You thought you were selected because of your credentials as scientists. Actually I only needed my robot son. The rest of you are just here so the Board of Directors could accept - with much persuasion I might add - that this is a legitimate use of Weyland Corp funds. A legitimate science mission. It isn't. I'm just here to get more life for myself and find out the meaning of life before I kick off. In other words, you are all window dressing, and frankly, you're all from the bottom of the barrel since I didn't want to risk any really good scientists. Look at that geologist for heaven's sakes - tattoos on his face, a Mohawk, and surly as hell. That should have been a clue about my selection criteria. I heard that my biologist got eaten by a worm that he tried to make friends with. Like I said, bottom of the barrel. I chose you lot because you are all idiots. So, um, yeah, thanks for coming along."

That was great.


I have another question for you guys, which I know has been brought up before but...

[Show spoiler]
If Mr. Weyland was only along for the ride just to become immortal or discover the meaning of life...why did he have David poison Holloway for?

I missed the reasoning to that one.

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