PROMETHEUS - Grade and Discuss

[Asbo Zaprudder]

gturner wrote:

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Heck, they could've turned it into a different movie with a 15-second subtitle. When the revived Ancient grabs the android, just add some text so he says "This planet is level 14 quarantined! None of you may leave or you'll spread the infection to other worlds!" Then the android says, "But we must return." and the alien says "So be it. I must kill you to save your species."

Boom. Whole new movie.

The Proto-Indo-European that was intended to be spoken by David:

"This man is here because he does not want to die. He believes you can give him more life."

However, some of the David's exchange with the Engineer was cut so I'm not sure what actually made it into the film. As it is, unless you happen to understand the lingo, David might as well have said "See your bike, it's a girl's bike."

[JarodRussell]

Someone needs to subtitle the scene where David speaks to the Engineer with a "Your mom" joke. That would explain quite a lot.


Why did the Engineers leave a map to their military facility on Earth?

And apparently, the final Engineer was so pissed about David's your mom insult that he totally forgot about the toxic atmosphere. He just ran all the way to the escape module without a helmet.



And seriously... I'd like to see a film where things go wrong even though people are professionals at what they do. Seriously, it wouldn't have been hard with that kind of setup. Those characters were some of the greatest movie idiots I've ever seen.

[Disruptor]

JarodRussell wrote:

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Speaking of Engineers... it would have been something had the Engineer they've woken up in the end actually recognized friend from foe. He wakes up after 2000 years of sleep. Shaw talks to him, gets beaten up by the other guys. I would have expected that he would have at least TRIED to understand what the hell was going on all of a sudden.

David: "This man is dying..."

Engineer: "Woah, woah...let me get some coffee first. Jeez, I've asleep for awhile....*checks clock*....2000 years?! Damn, I gotta piss really bad, too."

[Warped9]

Disruptor wrote:

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David: "This man is dying..."

Engineer: "Woah, woah...let me get some coffee first. Jeez, I've asleep for awhile....*checks clock*....2000 years?! Damn, I gotta piss really bad, too."

[Gary7]

JarodRussell wrote:

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Why did the Engineers leave a map to their military facility on Earth?

I have a couple of ideas. At the time that the Engineers left all of those maps, that was their "diplomatic outpost" with sentient life forms around the galaxy. But as we all know, sometimes things change. After a thousand Earth years or so, the planet was repurposed for military testing. "But what about the map hints left on Earth?" They didn't have high hopes for humanity and figured that they'd never make the connection or develop the technology to get there.

I have another idea, that the map was a "trip alarm". Maybe the Engineers had made the determination that if the humans developed in a way that they approved of, there would have been a signal sent from Earth out into space, directed at various places that expected sentient life forms to receive it. What they'd consider the most appropriate form of "first contact." But, if instead the humans made an unannounced visit to the planet outlined in the map, that would mean humanity was inherently hostile. The Engineer being awakened realized "Oh shit, they're here! This went all wrong. Damned it, I've got to kill them all."

[gturner]

Or the engineers just stock planets for the Predators.

Another twist they could've taken is if the Ancient looked at the old man and took a measure of his evil, perhaps using ESP or some other sense to see his aura (shown with a quick visual effect) or parts of his memories (also easy with a longer visual sequence). Then he'd have a motive for wanting to kill the crew, but of course that would make too much sense.

[JarodRussell]

Gary7 wrote:

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What they'd consider the most appropriate form of "first contact." But, if instead the humans made an unannounced visit to the planet outlined in the map, that would mean humanity was inherently hostile.

I can't really follow that logic. Just because someone personally shows up doesn't mean he is hostile.

[Warped9]

I dunno. I've long thought it to be very rude to show up unannounced during the middle of dinner.

[Eddie Roth]

RAMA wrote:

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Kind of surprised by the early feedback, I really would have though this would have been better SF than Avengers, and would get better notices. Still, I can't wait to see friday it...I very rarely go see movies on the first day of release!!

RAMA

Of course it's better SF than Avengers, because Avengers isn't science fiction at all. But this is. Whether it's the best it could have been is another matter, but it's certainly science fiction. That is commendable.

As for the rest, it is indeed predictable - but then again, so are all the Alien films to a degree.

It's a certainty that an alien will show up and wreak havoc at some point. The somewhat bigger problem is that it's structurally so similar to the 1979 Alien. The old ones, up to and incuding Resurrection, all had a distinct style and managed (more or less successfully) to tell a horror story with the xenomorph that was distinct from the other ones. This one surely doesn't

.

But that said, I found it tremendously entertaining, pleasantly scary and EXTREMELY well-designed. The central hook of the story,

the search for extraterrestial "Gods", hooked me indeed. But it may have been a better choice ultimately to either tie the film in to Alien more or to do so less. As it is, the "Engineer" story, what they are about, the threat they pose (all very interesting in and of itself) competes for attention with lots of questions regarding "How is this related to the xenomorph?", thus losing focus. Or I did as a result.

Whatever the case may be, I'd be on board for a sequel, which this deserves, and requires.

[JarodRussell]

Problem is that this film is basically just sequel bait. Just do a film as best as you can, save nothing up for later.

[Eddie Roth]

True. But that's less a problem of this film but of the current film industry as a whole. The original Alien films were made in an era where most if not all films were made without any sequel potential - because they weren't the norm. These days, even movies such as The Hangover get a sequel because they do well financially. Or even more obscene (IMO) the greenlighting of sequels before a first film has even premiered (yes, Star Trek included), because quality or audience reaction doesn't matter as much anymore as audience tracking and the very accurate box-office projections that studios make.

That's why filmmakers and studios, Scott and Fox included, can write and film their project to allow for sequels from the get-go. Sign of the times...

[Set Harth]

From this film and others it's increasingly clear the studios won't spend the money on a scientific adviser anymore.

[Harvey]

Set Harth wrote:

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From this film and others it's increasingly clear the studios won't spend the money on a scientific adviser anymore.

They had a whole slew of science advisors, apparently. Doesn't mean they always listened to them (Hollywood productions rarely do; see: every incarnation of Star Trek).

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tech...requel-9514210

[Set Harth]

Harvey wrote:

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They had a whole slew of science advisors, apparently.

Doing a heck of a job, Brownie.

[Professor Zoom]

Set Harth wrote:

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From this film and others it's increasingly clear the studios won't spend the money on a scientific adviser anymore.

The science was one of the lesser problems of the movie. They didn't need a scientific adviser to not write idiotic characters.