So... who saw "Prometheus"?

[Ragsnstitches]

SPOILER WARNING... This topic is based on a recently released movie. There is a high probability that spoilers will be present. Don't read if you don't want to have it spoiled.

Also, for those of us who have seen the film already, be courteous, Tag those spoilers.

******

So, I've just got back from watching Prometheus, Ridley Scotts most recent foray into the expanses of science fiction. I won't beat around the bush about my take on it... it was pretty good. One of the better Sci-Fi films in recent years, let alone of the best Sci-Fi horrors of the last decade (if not longer).

Spoiler: Mild spoilers, Trailers would likely have told as much

For those who don't know, this Film is a predecessor to the Ridley Scotts original "Alien". It's the same universe which inhabited the Iconic, Giger designed, Xenomorph, though it is long before its time. It does not appear related to James Camerons "Aliens", which expanded on the original creatures biology, and it is completely unrelated to the AvP universe, which has it's own rules and origins for the Alien race. Those of you who care, would be glad to hear Giger returned to design this new iteration of the lore.

With that out of the way, I can only add one more thing... I'm dreadfully confused. But that isn't a bad thing. It has been a long time since, upon leaving a cinema, I have ever needed to process aspects of the plot. There is a lot going on, and if I was to hazard a guess, a lot of it ended up on the chopping board in editing for its theatrical release. I say this due to a few jarring transitions and some seemingly absent details. This is actually pretty typical for a Scott made film.

Without spoiling anything I think I will jump straight into the discussion side of this thread. What did you think of the film? Did you find it scary? Did you find it intriguing? Did you find it meh? Whatever it is, say it... there doesn't seem to be any topic on it at the moment, so let this be the Prometheus thread.

Theories? Opinions? Whatever it is, put it out there.

 

[Eamar]

Surprised no-one else has replied yet, but I'll weigh in with my opinion.

Saw it on release day (Friday) and was massively disappointed. It was just... messy. It started off promising, but after

Spoiler

the "abortion" scene, when Shaw stumbles in on Weyland et al

it just went to pieces. No-one even mentions all the crazy shit that just went down, and Shaw seems to recover more or less immediately. One review I've read since said the script felt like a first draft, and I agree. It feels like every new idea they had just got thrown in along the way, and it ended up completely nonsensical. It was also all very style over substance- the characterisation and psychology that made Alien so great is completely absent, meaning that I just don't give a fuck when people start dying. I found both main characters infuriating, and everyone was that special brand of stupid that's reserved for science fiction/horror movies. Part of what made Alien scary is that the crew tend to make good decisions. They do everything right and STILL get screwed over. These guys were just idiots, I had zero sympathy for them.

It wasn't anything like as intelligent as it promised it was going to be, and didn't come close to answering any of the questions it loved to throw out there all the time. In fact, I just think the script was shockingly poor.

There were good bits though: Michael Fassbender was fantastic, it was a stunningly good looking film, the 3D was well done, and there were some really scary moments. I was genuinely horrified by the scene I mentioned in the spoiler above (though how the hell that got a 15 rating in the UK is beyond me).

Overall, it's not a *terrible* film, but it's definitely not what a lot of people were hoping it would be. I don't feel like I wasted my time seeing it, but I was hoping for a 5 star classic and ended up with a 2.5/3 star experience, tops.

So yeah, looks like we've got two opposing views here at the moment. Maybe this'll spark some debate, I'd really like to see what more people thought of it.

 

[Buizel91]

Want to see it, probably in the next few weeks...

Btw, is it a prequel to Alien or is that just something someone made up?

 

[Eamar]

Want to see it, probably in the next few weeks...

Btw, is it a prequel to Alien or is that just someone made up?

It's in the same universe, using some of the same elements as Alien, but it's not a direct prequel. As in, it doesn't really set up the events of Alien and you're not going to be left horribly confused if you aren't familiar with the original film or anything.

 

[lordlillen]

at first i thought it was good but the more i thought about it i noticed tons of things they did not explain and plot holes.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I agree with this:

There were good bits though: Michael Fassbender was fantastic, it was a stunningly good looking film, the 3D was well done, and there were some really scary moments. I was genuinely horrified by the scene I mentioned in the spoiler above (though how the hell that got a 15 rating in the UK is beyond me).

Just gonna put a SPOILER WARNING here because I cba with tagging each individual bit.

I enjoyed the film but it did miss things out a lot. After whatshisface gets flamethrowered, the woman just wakes up on a slab thing. Did she get sedated or what? And after she does wake up, she never has a go at the silver haired woman.
And then after the scene you mentioned, noone asks anything like 'what happened to you, how come you have stitching now?'
Also, out of the two guys who get trapped in the head room overnight, we only see one of them again. What happened to the other one? He obviously died, but before that he got impregnated by a black goop-worm. There was no chestburster type scene after that. Hmm...
How did the removed squid-foetus thing get that size with no food?


Plot holes aside, it was a good film. The acting was solid and sometimes outstanding, the visuals were amazing, the horror was good (the surgery scene... oooooh God that was intense) and the story was at least ambitious, even if it did end up being a bit messy. I suspect that some bits were cut to save length (the film is 2 hours long as it is) and we might get an extended version or director's cut or whatever that fills in the gaps.
And H.R.Giger's design work was as creepy and effective as ever.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I saw it last friday and my opinion of it is that it's a flawed diamond.

It has a beautiful and grand scope, and it was really nice seeing a sci-fi movie like that again. It's worth it seeing this movie for the visuals alone. And I don't mean that in a, "ooh, look at the shiny, expensive CGI" way, I mean the amazing sets, the fantastic cinematography, the grand sweeping shots, and just the visual design of everything. That opening shot was already breathtaking.

The acting is terrific, but a lot of the performances are very underused. Especially Charlize Theron whose character gets rather shafted. There was great potential for her character to grow and expand, but she ultimately ends up doing very little.
Michael Fassbender was great as David, and in hindsight they should've made him the main character of the movie. The film plays around with the relationship between the creators and the created, and David could've served as the central hub for all this; Observing his creators come in contact and questioning the motives of their creators, in the same way he does. He sorta kinda does this in the movie, but it never really comes full circle.

Spoiler

They should've never added Peter Weyland as it made the whole third act top-heavy, and never even resulted in much at all as he gets killed within five minutes of his appearance.

I feel the movie should've went with the 2001 angle way more as it was clearly its biggest strength. Instead they still tried to make it as much a horror film as well as structuring it like one, which works to the film disadvantage. By that I mean structuring it basically like Alien, which just doesn't work because Prometheus goes for a much grander science fictional scope.

All in all, I really liked it despite its failings and I would very much like to see it again.

 

[nick2150]

There seems to be allot of fan angst about the poor editing and plot holes.

I personally really loved the film and all of its 'plot holes' but I can see this one going the same way as Mass Effect 3 by getting defined by the consensus of the internet.

so my list of possible theories are....

** large spoilers ahead**



The ship that crashes at the end is NOT the one from ALIEN. That is fact. they are on different planets. (just thought id make that clear as some people dont seem to understand that point)

The gray goo in the pods/from the beginning are nano bots. Its the only thing that makes sense to me. what else could have such a fine control over breaking down and re-assembling proteins and DNA at the molecular level? This would also explain why the effect on each organism is so different and why the effect at the beginning of the film is so different compared to on .

The Xenomorphs are/could be a biowepon designed by the Engineers. The version seen in this film is one of the earlier strains they have engineered. It is also possible that the version seen in this film could be a 'domesticated' version of a naturally occurring species. With an overly convoluted life cycle it stops them from being able to reproduce and overwhelm their creators while still allowing xenos to be bread in a controlled way (allowing the engineers to use humans as intermediates perhaps).

We are either an experiment to the Engineers and show too many aggressive tenancies for them to allow us to continue developing, or genetic material to propergate the bio weapon that is the Xenomorphs. The main thing that conflicts with this theory for me is the Engineers interference and guidance in our early development. This would imply we were being bread to be a subservient slave race (like synthetics are to humans) but needed wiping out when we rebelled against them approximately 2000ish years ago, or maybe it was that whole exodus from the pyramids thing. I could imagien them making pretty bad ass Pharaohs which is implicated pretty heavily in the beginning.

I also saw another interesting theory that suggested we we're simply a terraforming agent meant to prime a potential planned with the compatible DNA and amino acid based life. Humans are just a bi product of this process. It doesnt quite tally up for me but its a cool theory.

Another theory I saw was that there are different factions of engineers. Some who are benevolent creator types, others that see this created life as a threat that needs to be eradicated (note the different ships). Again im not sure if I buy it but its an interesting theory.



well anyway, those are my possible theories on the main things. Feel free to pick 'em apart. I like discussion!

 

[AstylahAthrys]

Michael Fassbender is in it. That's all I needed to know to watch it. Hope it ends up all right so I can give a damn about any other characters besides him. I've trudged through some movies that were pretty sub-par, aside from him.

(Seriously, I would rent my uterus to that man. His babies would be beautiful and I want to have them. Now, if you excuse me, I'll be on Google images for the rest of the night.)

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

It was good but not that good

Spoiler

{I appreciate that they tried to step away from the other Alien movies but the Alien is only in there as a minor irritation. Also they failed to answer the main question of the movie, why is massive pasty white guy such a dick, also at the end why would you fly to the planet of the engineers who like to tear humans heads off on sight.I'm sure she would receive a warm welcome.}

 

[Eamar]

There seems to be allot of fan angst about the poor editing and plot holes.

I personally really loved the film and all of its 'plot holes' but I can see this one going the same way as Mass Effect 3 by getting defined by the consensus of the internet.

To be fair, ALL the attention it's received so far has been mixed (EDIT: by which I mean critics' opinions have varied widely as well as the viewers', not that every single person has given it a middling score), not just that of internet fans, and I imagine it'll continue that way. Mass Effect 3 was pretty much universally critically acclaimed, which isn't the case with Prometheus so far.

But if you loved it, fair play to you. As I said, reactions have varied massively. I think a lot of it has to do with how much you bought into the hype and what expectations you took into the cinema with you.

 

[ViolentCrimesJr]

well im going to see Prometheus tomorrow for my 15th birthday at the midnight showing so I'm excited but I got to know is The 3D worth the extra couple of bucks?

 

[repeating integers]

Saw it, good film. Everything I expect from a sci-fi movie.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Saw it, and while I think some elements were really well made (the interior of the ship, for one, reminded me of the Nostromo), it left a rather disappointing after taste (got my expectations too high after hearing it was an Alien prequel). Still, it was better than other movies I'd seen recently, so that was a nice break.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I really enjoyed it, and I'm not one of those people who notices plot holes and shit, so it was really good.

Spoiler

But why did the guy who looked like Voldermort start attacking them? And what was the other ones running from?}

 

[HouseOfSyn]

!!SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!

Me and my brother saw it last night and really enjoyed it. A proper science fiction film with a heavy horror element - which I forgot going in so some of the scenes really shook me - and like a good science fiction film we're all here talking about it afterwards.

Fassbender is perfect as David and shows the perfect amount of non-emotion until *SPOILER* Shaw questions how he knew about the infection, then his eyes say everything about his intentions.

My only big question was why Shaw decides to find the creators home planet? The one that they woke from it's sleeping pod was pretty pissed to see them and going to a whole planet doesn't seem to the brightest idea. Also, going home to warn Earth of the Xeno threat should be a priority surely?

I was hoping for lots of answers or leads into the origins of the Aliens and the films answers a few (or hints at an answer) but raises a hell of a lot more and I'm OK with that. People speculating that it's an Alien prequel has a lot to do with that, Ridly Scott went as far to say that it isn't a prequel but it is set in the same universe. I don't want to be spoon fed all the plot lines and spoilers to a film, especially a science horror film and perhaps, like the crew of Prometheus, we're not meant to know these things.

 

[wooty]

I liked it, but then again any Ridley Scott film gives me a hard on.

He did say in press conferences that he didnt want to make another Alien movie because he didn't want to retrace steps he's already taken. I also read he didn't want sequels to Prom but the suits did. I can't verify this but I know I read it.

Overall I enjoyed it, it had recognisable sets, recognisable items, recognisable aspects from the alien franchise. Though I'm not a full on alien fan so I dont know the lore of alien that well or any fiction on alien or......who their president is.

What I can say for certain is that Prometheus makes for a better "Alien orgins" story than Alien vs bloody predator.