Niners: Have You Seen Promethius (movie)?
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Two thumbs straight up for me - although with its style and execution, I can certainly understand why the movie has been so divisive.
I was disappointed. It wasn't horrible, but there were a lot of arbitrary character choices that were inconsistent with their earlier characterizations, and which seemed unmotivated by anything other than "the plot requires this." It's full of irrational behavior and plot holes. Amongst my problems with it...
- When presented with evidence of prehistoric contact with extraterrestrial life, Shaw and Halloway arbitrarily decide that this means the aliens must have created Humans. Only, there's absolutely no evidence to support this hypothesis. It comes from out of nowhere.
- Why did Shaw ban the presence of any weapons on the mission? She should have known full well that a first contact mission carried the risk of needing to engage in self-defense, if only against animal life rather than sentients.
- When encountering apparent liquid water that should have frozen into a solidified state, they make no effort to investigate.
- They make no effort to set up a a mobile lab in order to investigate specimens without risking contamination of the ship.
- They make no effort to set up an effective quarantine area aboard the ship which an easily be accessed from the exterior.
- When exploring the interior of the Space Jockey structure on LV-226, Halloway and the others decide, for no particular reason, to remove their helmets, even though they know full well that this is a completely alien biome with the potential for completely unknown pathogens with which a human immune system cannot cope.
- When presented with evidence that the Space Jockeys and Humans have nearly identical DNA, they continue to stick the "alien progenitors" hypothesis instead of exploring numerous alternate hypotheses, including the possibility that the Space Jockeys are an offshoot of Humans rather than the other way around.
- They knew from attempting to revive the Space Jockey that the alien structure had some sort of pathogen in it that had infected the Space Jockeys 2,000 years earlier -- and they knew that for some reason, the Space Jockey corpses didn't rot, which presents the possibility of those pathogens still being active. Why did the away team members not immediately go back into medical quarantine and get bloodwork started?
- When Milburn and Fifield are trapped in the alien structure during the storm, Captain Janek does not treat it like the prolonged emergency situation it is: he for no reason assumes that the probe's detection of alien life must have been a glitch rather than a legitimate sensor reading (in spite of their stated mission to local alien life), and ignores the potential danger therein.
- Why does Captain Janek leave the bridge unmanned when he knows Milburn and Fifield are still trapped in the alien structure? This is a prolonged emergency situation; if he wanted to get laid, he should have at least ordered an officer of the watch to man the bridge.
- Why the hell did Milburn start cooing over an alien snake-creature? He knew full well that there were no life-forms present when the Space Jockey Cathedral had first been entered, and he knew that the Space Jockey Black Oil was reacting to their presence. Common sense dictates that you back away from the suddenly-appearing alien snake creature: You don't know what drives its behavior, you don't know its capabilities, you don't know its diet. The fact that he kept cooing over the thing after it unflapped its "wings" was especially baffling -- that is universally a threat gesture in the animal kingdom on Earth. That he didn't immediately back away and say, "Let's stay away from this thing but keep an eye on it" (and then immediately start running if it were to move towards them) made me want to go all Red Foreman on him: "YOU DUMBASS!"
- When presented with evidence that Halloway is ill, the second away team seems to immediately jump to some weird notion that he's going to be "possessed" ("It's still me!") rather than exploring numerous alternate possibilities -- including the most obvious: that he was infected by an airborne pathogen to which every other member of the first away team was also exposed.
- Upon returning to the ship after Halloway's death, Shaw does not immediately place herself in quarantine lest she's been infected, even though she knows full well that she was sexually intimate with him just a few hours earlier.
- In the course of trying to find the Space Jockeys and convince them to save him from death, Weyland, for no particular reason, instructs David to infect Halloway with the Space Jockey Black Oil -- a decision that makes no sense, since it risks exposing the rest of the crew to a potentially lethal alien infection, jeopardizing Weyland's chances of returning to Earth if he were to obtain a form of age rejuvenation.
- Why did Shaw not immediately inform the rest of the crew of David's attempt to prevent her from obtaining emergency surgery to remove the parasite? Why did she not immediately inform the crew of the parasite's presence aboard the Prometheus? An alien life-form of unknown capacities aboard the ship represents an imminent potential threat t the crew.
- Why did the crew open up the airlock to Fifield's possessed body, when they'd already established that contact with the alien biome carried extreme risk of infect, and when they'd already come to the conclusion that bodily possession was a potential threat? Why didn't they at least do the sensible thing and either LOOK at the body with one of their security cameras, or send out a sensor probe through the side door David used to save Shaw? Or, at the most, send a guy out there through that door, without opening the entire ventral cargo bay?
- Why did Weyland insist on traveling to the alien ship to see the Space Jockey even after it had been very firmly established that the Space Jockey structure was full of dangerous biological weapons? Hell, why unfreeze him in the first place? He's in cryo -- he has all the time in the galaxy until they unfreeze him. The sensible thing to do would be to wait until the crisis is over, the situation is under control, and peaceful contact has been established with the Space Jockeys before unfreezing him.
- Why did the Space Jockeys contact early Humanity and give them a map to one of their weapons depots in the first place? This behavior isn't consistent with -- well, with any of the potential motives ascribed to them by Shaw and the others. It's absolutely baffling. It doesn't make sense if they're Humanity's generous benefactors, and it doesn't make sense if they want to Kill All Humans.
- How the hell did the Space Jockey Parasite grow to such a huge size? There was nothing for it to eat! There was no organic material in the medical suite for it to metabolize, and no way for it to have obtained such a size. Where did all that mass come from?
- Why did Shaw ban the presence of any weapons on the mission? She should have known full well that a first contact mission carried the risk of needing to engage in self-defense, if only against animal life rather than sentients.
- When encountering apparent liquid water that should have frozen into a solidified state, they make no effort to investigate.
- They make no effort to set up a a mobile lab in order to investigate specimens without risking contamination of the ship.
- They make no effort to set up an effective quarantine area aboard the ship which an easily be accessed from the exterior.
- When exploring the interior of the Space Jockey structure on LV-226, Halloway and the others decide, for no particular reason, to remove their helmets, even though they know full well that this is a completely alien biome with the potential for completely unknown pathogens with which a human immune system cannot cope.
- When presented with evidence that the Space Jockeys and Humans have nearly identical DNA, they continue to stick the "alien progenitors" hypothesis instead of exploring numerous alternate hypotheses, including the possibility that the Space Jockeys are an offshoot of Humans rather than the other way around.
- They knew from attempting to revive the Space Jockey that the alien structure had some sort of pathogen in it that had infected the Space Jockeys 2,000 years earlier -- and they knew that for some reason, the Space Jockey corpses didn't rot, which presents the possibility of those pathogens still being active. Why did the away team members not immediately go back into medical quarantine and get bloodwork started?
- When Milburn and Fifield are trapped in the alien structure during the storm, Captain Janek does not treat it like the prolonged emergency situation it is: he for no reason assumes that the probe's detection of alien life must have been a glitch rather than a legitimate sensor reading (in spite of their stated mission to local alien life), and ignores the potential danger therein.
- Why does Captain Janek leave the bridge unmanned when he knows Milburn and Fifield are still trapped in the alien structure? This is a prolonged emergency situation; if he wanted to get laid, he should have at least ordered an officer of the watch to man the bridge.
- Why the hell did Milburn start cooing over an alien snake-creature? He knew full well that there were no life-forms present when the Space Jockey Cathedral had first been entered, and he knew that the Space Jockey Black Oil was reacting to their presence. Common sense dictates that you back away from the suddenly-appearing alien snake creature: You don't know what drives its behavior, you don't know its capabilities, you don't know its diet. The fact that he kept cooing over the thing after it unflapped its "wings" was especially baffling -- that is universally a threat gesture in the animal kingdom on Earth. That he didn't immediately back away and say, "Let's stay away from this thing but keep an eye on it" (and then immediately start running if it were to move towards them) made me want to go all Red Foreman on him: "YOU DUMBASS!"
- When presented with evidence that Halloway is ill, the second away team seems to immediately jump to some weird notion that he's going to be "possessed" ("It's still me!") rather than exploring numerous alternate possibilities -- including the most obvious: that he was infected by an airborne pathogen to which every other member of the first away team was also exposed.
- Upon returning to the ship after Halloway's death, Shaw does not immediately place herself in quarantine lest she's been infected, even though she knows full well that she was sexually intimate with him just a few hours earlier.
- In the course of trying to find the Space Jockeys and convince them to save him from death, Weyland, for no particular reason, instructs David to infect Halloway with the Space Jockey Black Oil -- a decision that makes no sense, since it risks exposing the rest of the crew to a potentially lethal alien infection, jeopardizing Weyland's chances of returning to Earth if he were to obtain a form of age rejuvenation.
- Why did Shaw not immediately inform the rest of the crew of David's attempt to prevent her from obtaining emergency surgery to remove the parasite? Why did she not immediately inform the crew of the parasite's presence aboard the Prometheus? An alien life-form of unknown capacities aboard the ship represents an imminent potential threat t the crew.
- Why did the crew open up the airlock to Fifield's possessed body, when they'd already established that contact with the alien biome carried extreme risk of infect, and when they'd already come to the conclusion that bodily possession was a potential threat? Why didn't they at least do the sensible thing and either LOOK at the body with one of their security cameras, or send out a sensor probe through the side door David used to save Shaw? Or, at the most, send a guy out there through that door, without opening the entire ventral cargo bay?
- Why did Weyland insist on traveling to the alien ship to see the Space Jockey even after it had been very firmly established that the Space Jockey structure was full of dangerous biological weapons? Hell, why unfreeze him in the first place? He's in cryo -- he has all the time in the galaxy until they unfreeze him. The sensible thing to do would be to wait until the crisis is over, the situation is under control, and peaceful contact has been established with the Space Jockeys before unfreezing him.
- Why did the Space Jockeys contact early Humanity and give them a map to one of their weapons depots in the first place? This behavior isn't consistent with -- well, with any of the potential motives ascribed to them by Shaw and the others. It's absolutely baffling. It doesn't make sense if they're Humanity's generous benefactors, and it doesn't make sense if they want to Kill All Humans.
- How the hell did the Space Jockey Parasite grow to such a huge size? There was nothing for it to eat! There was no organic material in the medical suite for it to metabolize, and no way for it to have obtained such a size. Where did all that mass come from?
Fair enough. For me, though, the weaknesses drag it down too much to be truly enjoyable on its own terms.
I almost think that the above 2 views show the real success of the film. This movie has people talking. One of my friends agrees with Sci, but instead of just forgetting about it, she keeps reading reviews and discussions and sending me links.
What is better: make a movie that the masses like/love, then forget about; or make a divisive movie that stays in the public conscious because people need to discuss its merits vs. its shortcomings?
I think Ridley Scott may be grinning like the Cheshire Cat right now...
What is better: make a movie that the masses like/love, then forget about; or make a divisive movie that stays in the public conscious because people need to discuss its merits vs. its shortcomings?
I think Ridley Scott may be grinning like the Cheshire Cat right now...
^ Bang on the money. It should have been great - it wasn't. In fact, the failure to apply any sort of quality checking to the plot / script before producing a visually impressive yet nonsensical movie reminds me rather unfortunately of Michael Bay (although there was only one BIG explosion).
We are still talking about it though, aren't we ?
I have not seen Prometheus. However, I will say that I lost a lot of my interest when it was decided not to make it a true Alien prequel. A quality director like Ridley Scott really needs to make another official film in the Alien franchise to redeem it from the utter crap that was made post-Aliens. While the folks making this film say that it has some of Alien's "DNA," so to speak, that's not the same as being a true prequel. That disappointed me.
Michael Bay? Ouch! I wouldn't go that far.
Prometheus is still a decent movie. It's wrestling with some big ideas and it's not a complete waste of time and money to see it. The problem is not that Prometheus is bad, per se; the problem is that it could have been so much better. I'm convinced there's a brilliant, brilliant movie somewhere hiding in the ingredients they used for Prometheus. It just wasn't in this particular draft.
Watching the theatrical edition of Prometheus is like seeing Albert Einstein when he was a patent clerk: You can't help but be aware that there's so much potential being squandered!
I saw it this weekend and the more I think about it the more I just didn't like it. It felt like the whole movie was a big mess, with not very good character development or characters doing stupid things. Also, the last 30 minutes should have been this shocking twist, but I left disappointed.
That sums it up better than I could have put it. I only saw it once a day ago and I'm still trying to make sense of a lot in the movie. I'll even add a point that really bugged me:
Why the hell did Halloway not do anything when he saw he was infected?! It's not like he only felt bad, there were worms in his eyes! Surely he knew the danger of the situation, and they were on a science vessel, he could have saved everyone had he gotten himself checked out. Wasn't he concerned that he might have infected Shaw? Instead, he tells no one and goes back into the structure with them. What was that all about?
The presentation and atmosphere were great though, and it felt closer to the original Alien than any of the sequels so I liked it. If it had a clearer plot I would have loved it.
