PROMETHEUS - Grade and Discuss

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Roshi, May 30, 2012.

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Prometheus - Poll

Poll closed May 30, 2013.
  1. A +

    6.9%
  2. A

    11.6%
  3. A -

    13.8%
  4. B +

    18.5%
  5. B

    14.2%
  6. B -

    9.1%
  7. C +

    8.2%
  8. C

    3.4%
  9. C -

    6.5%
  10. D

    5.2%
  11. F

    2.6%
  1. Mr Light

    Mr Light Admiral Admiral

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    I was disappointed that the freaky appearance of the Space Jockey in the original Alien was just a helmet. I really loved the look of those things. But they probably felt if they didn't have a human expressionable face the audience wouldn't emote to them.
     
  2. CaptainCanada

    CaptainCanada Admiral Admiral

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    That's fairly common in Abrams/Lindelof productions, dating back at least to that giant red ball in Alias (or any number of other Rambaldi devices).
     
  3. The Mighty Monkey of Mim

    The Mighty Monkey of Mim Commodore Commodore

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    Is it possible the black stuff itself IS the xenomorph, an organism that takes on different forms depending on what other life it comes in contact with, albeit with certain innate characteristics that will inevitably present themselves in the process. It seems this life form was worshipped by the Engineers.
     
  4. banzaiduck

    banzaiduck Lieutenant

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2012
    Or that giant red ball in Star Trek known as red matter.
    Seems like that duo has a fetish for red balls and god knows where they like putting them.

    BANZAI!!!!!!!!!!!
     
  5. MichaelDornFan

    MichaelDornFan Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2009
    Enjoyable enough as a stand-alone film. Don't really like its implications for the overall Alien universe, though.
     
  6. The Fatman

    The Fatman Captain Captain

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    Buffalo, NY
    I haven't been this torn about a movie in a very, very long time. Ultimately, I voted C-, and I will say I did not like the movie.

    I do absolutely love the cinematography and set design. Honestly, this may be one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. The cast, particularly Fassbender and Theron, are treating this very seriously, and give amazing performances. This movie is also very clearly attaining to be an actual, honest-to-god film, a la "2001" (as opposed to striving to be a popcorn movie, like "The Avengers"), so it has to be reviewed and considered as such.

    Unfotunately, the script is a muddled, incoherent mess. I will link to Drew McWeeny's spoiler filled re-review of the film on hitfix, which covers a LOT of my criticisms. Bottom line, jaw dropping visuals and good performances do not off set the stunningly bad writing and editing of the film for me.

    http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captur...look-digging-deep-into-spoilers-and-questions

    One thing I'm surprised no one else has pointed out... by the established timeline of the films, unless they are completely throwing out what has come before, "Alien" is set only 28 years after Prometheus. Prometheus ends on Jan 1, 2094; Alien starts on June 3, 2122. The Derelict was clearly on LV-426 for a hell of a lot longer than 28 years. That ship is already down on LV-426, and nothing we see in "Prometheus" is a direct precursor or proto-species to what is on the Derelict.

    Long story short, whatever is happening or being created on LV-223, while it might be related to the Xenomorph, is a new variant/species all together.
     
  7. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    It's already been established that this probably isn't a direct prequel to alien. The connective tissue is tenuous. This is more another story in that universe that fleshes out more of where these things come from.
     
  8. Camren

    Camren Commodore Commodore

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    Prometheus is an absurd movie, how can you compare it to the original Alien movie? And Aliens was miles better than this pile of tosh. The dialogue was fine and the aliens didn't die too easily. They weren't invincible in the first place (afraid of fire ffs!), had the crew of the Nostromo had a gun they would have taken the alien out pretty quickly. It was part of the beauty of that movie that the crew was unarmed and had to try to survive using their wits; repeating that (as they did in Alien 3) would have been a boring reprisal and Aliens was fantastic as an alternative action flick.
     
  9. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    I agree wholeheartedly! And T'Baio, yeah it bugged me that this point is mentioned mere minutes before it becomes important. That's poor writing, it should have been telegraphed much earlier (but maybe not quite in the ham fisted way the medical pod was :) )

    And Sci, didn't want to quote your long posting but yeah, agree with you too, although the missed the fact that they took their helmets off...remember kids, air can be breathable and still filled with noxious elements! sheesh!

    Maybe if the film hadn't been hyped as much I'd be more forgiving, or maybe if there hadn't been so many such messy/stupid moments I wouldn't have minded, but as it is the further away from the film I get the more annoyed I get with it. :vulcan:

    ah well, I might grow to like it on repeat viewings...
     
  10. ncc71877

    ncc71877 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    May 26, 2001
    Location:
    Texas Panhandle of Earth 2
    I liked the movie, it has it's problems, "I'm a geologist, I love rocks!" I went and saw it agian, thought it was better with a second veiwing.

    My cousin however said this, "So an intrepid starship crew travel haflway across the galaxy looking for God and find a really angry guy. Have I seen that before?" Yes he brought out the Star Trek V gun on Prometheus. Although he did say he didn't "dislike the movie." FWIW

    ncc71877:borg:
     
  11. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    The thing that was so annoying about that scene with the helmets was as soon as he takes his off she says "You're a crazy bastard you know that... (hang on, let me take my helmet off too and everyone else can follow suit, just to show you how crazy you are.)"
    You acknowledge it's a stupid idea, and then do it anyway? WTF is wrong with these people? Did they misinterpret the saying "Feel the fear and do it anyway"?
     
  12. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    Whats apparent to me is that most of these scientists (if not all) were not the best and brightest. And it might well be that they were chosen for that very reason.

    What we see of Weyland and Vickers is that they're genuine assholes with agendas that might not be bleeding obvious. Could be they didn't want the best and brightest that could put 2 + 2 together. If they become fodder then no problem.
     
  13. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Which again makes no sense. If you're Peter Weyland, and you bring along a crew full of people who are only barely competent at the job, you're endangering yourself. There comes with such a decision every possibility that they will be unable to make contact with the supposed alien progenitors, or that they will in some way anger the progenitors, or that they will in some other manner endanger the ship (and therefore yourself). If you're serious about wanting to make contact with these alien progenitors in order to try to save yourself from dying of old age, then you need the best and the brightest, the most rational people possible -- not a crew full of scientists who jump to irrational conclusions and behave irrationally while under stress.
     
  14. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    Maybe being two hundred, his mental faculties aren't all there anymore? :p

    He said he he had a matter of days in one scene. So if he was going to save himself he was going to need a group of people who would leap before they looked.
     
  15. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    He's cryogenically frozen. Time is only of the essence once he's unfrozen. As long as he's in freeze, he has all the time in the galaxy, and he should be employing people who will take the time necessary to do what's needed so that they can unfreeze him only once they know it's safe and that they've obtained Space Jockey agreement to help him.
     
  16. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Exactly. I'd add that although Alien was a very good monster movie, it wasn't a masterpiece of sci-fi.

    I thought Aliens was a superior movie, and more influential !
     
  17. DarthTom

    DarthTom Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Location:
    Atlanta, Georgia
    Saw Prometheus over the weekend. I loved it. Part of the problem I think is people had such high expectations from Scott. The film was visually stunning and the dialogue and acting was acceptable - especially from more "B" level actors. The film was about 20 minutes too long IMO.

    One nitpick. Why does science fiction always get the science of evolution and natural selection so terribly wrong? Depositing DNA into the sea codes would not lead to the creation of the human species - it's extremely unlikely. This film gets evolution and natural selection wrong and so did Trek in the episode The Chase.
     
  18. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    20 minutes too long? If anything I thought the film was 20 minutes too short.
     
  19. CaptJimboJones

    CaptJimboJones Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Same here. Far from perfect, many flaws, I get it - but nonetheless I still enjoyed myself immensely.
     
  20. Pingfah

    Pingfah Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Definitely too short. Very rushed in the second half.

    I have many problems with the film, but being bored wasn't one of them, so I could easily have stood another 30 minutes or so if it solved the pacing issues.