PROMETHEUS - Grade and Discuss

[Starbreaker]

B+

I was pretty disappointed with some of the nonsensical script. The inclusion of Weyland was stupid, Vickers being his daughter was stupid, and almost all of David's motives just left me extremely confused. Why did he unleash that virus? Just testing it out??

 

[Kirkman1987]

Spoiler: no

Seriously though, The film does not take place on the same planet as Alien, so the crashed ship is not the same ship as in Alien.

 

[Roshi]

To me, the jury's still out concerning Vickers parentage with Weyland. She could very well be an android but Weyland preferred a synthetic son in stead od a synthetic daughter.

 

[Kirkman1987]

To me, the jury's still out concerning Vickers parentage with Weyland. She could very well be an android but Weyland preferred a synthetic son in stead od a synthetic daughter.

Yeah, I really got the feeling she was a synthetic.

As for David's motivations in releasing for releasing the virus

Spoiler: David and virus

In addition to testing, David didn't like Holloway. Holloway was very disrespectful to David the whole film. It also wasn't explicitly spoken, but it appeared to me that David is clearly infatuated with Shaw. He looked into her dreams and in general acts different around her. I think he was jealous of Holloway's relationship with her.

 

[jmc247]

I just got done with it... the film was really great besides so many members of the crew acting like such idiots. Fassbender really made the film.

Why the hell was this film rated R? I have seen far worse gore and more sex/skin in tons of PG 13 films.

 

[MacLeod]

To me, the jury's still out concerning Vickers parentage with Weyland. She could very well be an android but Weyland preferred a synthetic son in stead od a synthetic daughter.

Yeah, I really got the feeling she was a synthetic.

As for David's motivations in releasing for releasing the virus

Spoiler: David and virus

In addition to testing, David didn't like Holloway. Holloway was very disrespectful to David the whole film. It also wasn't explicitly spoken, but it appeared to me that David is clearly infatuated with Shaw. He looked into her dreams and in general acts different around her. I think he was jealous of Holloway's relationship with her.

Agreed, something seemed off about her character. Though it might just be a simple case is thats just her personality.

AlsoI would tend to agree with David around Shaw.

 

[MacLeod]

I just got done with it... the film was really great besides so many members of the crew acting like such idiots. Fassbender really made the film.

Why the hell was this film rated R? I have seen far worse gore and more sex/skin in tons of PG 13 films.

Well for referrence sake, it was rated 15 in the UK. Which is the closest BBFC rating to the MPAA rating of R. PG13 would be a 12/12A in the UK.

 

[BillJ]

Saw it and thought it was decent. Though I think the characters were way off on the whole Engineer/Alien relationship.

Wish we'd get a Trek film with that type of scope.

 

[sidious618]

Ebert's the best movie reviewer working, bar none. The fact that his tastes are his own and an occasional source of offense and disparagement by the fanboise is not a failing on his part.

He also doesn't think that his word is God's and he reviews films based on their genre, knowing that a four star action film is not the same as a four star drama film. He's a great reviewer.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

He's no Mark Kermode.

 

[Trubinator]

I caught the midnight showing last night and I have to say the film was pretty disappointing. Almost everything about it was wrong and somehow even with a great cast they managed to abuse their screentime. C- at best.

 

[Pauln6]

^

Spoiler: Spoilers

No, No and No

The planet in this movie is LV-223 with a very different appearance and atmospheric composition to LV-426. Also no distress signal, among other discrepancies.

I thought that David viewed the crew as subjects upon which he had carte blanche to experiment. He was a fascinating character. He simply lacked a moral compass although in fairness, he did essentially trick Charlie into volunteering.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

So...rental, huh?

Fancy pants astronomer gives them some shit.

In the immortal words of Barbie, "math is hard!"

 

[BillJ]

So...rental, huh?

It's visually stunning. I think it's worth the money just for the imagery.

In the immortal words of Barbie, "math is hard!"

Everyone needs something to complain about or they don't feel special.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Spoilers, I guess? I mean, if you're reading this thread that discusses the movie, you're going to be spoiled.



It was bad and the more I think about it afterwards, the worse it gets. I don't care that it was pretty or that it made references to the Alien franchise. The movie was boring, cliche and poorly written. Creature CGI was overused and not quite right shading/color wise, so it looked like CGI.

For instance, the fetus in what was one of the few tense, gross-out scenes with Noomi, would have been much more horrifying had it been an actual prop and not clearly another "effect" no one but the digital artist could see until post.

The script came across at every turn like a mash-up of the worst Ancient Architect bits from the AVP movies (films I otherwise don't mind, actually) and EVERY SCI-FI HORROR MOVIE made since the first Alien. Everyone makes insanely stupid decisions or is prevented from making a sane decision by some other moron at every opportunity. It's like everyone on board the Prometheus didn't want to be there, didn't care they'd found alien life or (ugh) possible origins of human life, and actively sought death at every turn. Except for Theron's character, who had the few brain cells the crew could scrape together, was capable and clearly wanted to live.

I thought a huge error was made in putting so many characters in play and then setting up Noomi (who isn't that good) as the clear heroine with a character shield from word one. She should have died about half way into the film suddenly and with great violence, so that Theron's character (the justifiably paranoid asshole who couldn't get along with anyone) could step in and try to salvage the inevitable disaster, if only for herself and maybe the audience would have been surprised at a turn the film took.

Elba, Theron and Fassbender were all good, but they weren't given anything to work with. Noomi was meh. Her boyfriend was lame just like he is in every movie he's in and the rest of the dozen other characters are ciphers, with little or no dialogue, only there to hold up the sets and then die.

As for the deeper message? Engineer Aliens are assholes. And humans are assholes to robots. That's it. Having characters say there are Big Things out there that need Big Answers is not the same as actually having those characters explore those Big Things or find those Big Answers.

I'll give it one more go with a Director's Cut (Kingdom of Heaven DC is frickin awesome compared to the wreck of a theatrical release). The only reason to see this in theatres is to see the pretty scenery on a big screen.

C+ (Leaning towards C/C- as time passes)

 

[Pauln6]

Everyone makes insanely stupid decisions or is prevented from making a sane decision by some other moron at every opportunity. It's like everyone on board the Prometheus didn't want to be there, didn't care they'd found alien life or (ugh) possible origins of human life, and actively sought death at every turn. Except for Theron's character, who had the few brain cells the crew could scrape together, was capable and clearly wanted to live.

I thought a huge error was made in putting so many characters in play and then setting up Noomi (who isn't that good) as the clear heroine with a character shield from word one. She should have died about half way into the film suddenly and with great violence, so that Theron's character (the justifiably paranoid asshole who couldn't get along with anyone) could step in and try to salvage the inevitable disaster, if only for herself and maybe the audience would have been surprised at a turn the film took.

Elba, Theron and Fassbender were all good, but they weren't given anything to work with. Noomi was meh. Her boyfriend was lame just like he is in every movie he's in and the rest of the dozen other characters are ciphers, with little or no dialogue, only there to hold up the sets and then die.

As for the deeper message? Engineer Aliens are assholes. And humans are assholes to robots. That's it. Having characters say there are Big Things out there that need Big Answers is not the same as actually having those characters explore those Big Things or find those Big Answers.

I'll give it one more go with a Director's Cut (Kingdom of Heaven DC is frickin awesome compared to the wreck of a theatrical release).

C+ (Leaning towards C/C- as time passes)

Yeah now that would have been interesting. You are not the only person who would have liked to see more development with Theron's character as the only one who didn't really deserve what they got. If Noomi had been placed in stasis and Theron had to step up, that would have been a WAY better finale. Theron could work the doctor bot (far less silly) and they could have worked towards several characters with potential for development surviving to the end (or not)

 

[Admiral2]

B+

The + is mainly for Charlize Theron and the half-naked and wet push-ups, Charlize Theron in the "power" suits and Charlize Theron in the space suit. The rest was a B movie.

For those of you who thought the story was disjointed or incoherent: It was nothing of the kind. There were three human characters with agendas that were propelled by the Space Jockeys' agenda. Think of it that way and it's easy to understand.

For those of you who thought the scientists were stupid: My Brother The DOCTOR once asked my mother for help cooking a turkey and she started her instruction by telling him to wash it before he prepared it, which he did...with dishwashing liquid. The moral: smart people can do really stupid things. That makes them human, not a problem with the narrative.

Those of you who didn't like the Alien references: It's a movie about the Space Jockeys. How do you do a movie about the Space Jockeys without referencing the movie that introduced the Space Jockeys?

Speaking of, those who think this is not an Alien prequel: Willful self-delusion is allowed, but not recommended.

Those of you who think Noomi Rapace is no Sigourney Weaver: Well...yeah, that's true. I think the silliest part of her story was when she turned herself into The Girl With The F***ed Up Abdominal Scar.

Also want to mention that I found it interesting that the lifeforms in this movie are closer to what Dan O'Bannon said he envisioned for the original alien seeders before Giger started drawing for the movie.

 

[Pauln6]

For those of you who thought the scientists were stupid: My Brother The DOCTOR once asked my mother for help cooking a turkey and she started her instruction by telling him to wash it before he prepared it, which he did...with dishwashing liquid. The moral: smart people can do really stupid things. That makes them human, not a problem with the narrative.

My problem was with them having no concept of any scientific method (as well as being stupid). If they had taken even the most basic precautions but the situation got out of hand due to one or two stupid things (or David's desire to get the ball rolling) the general stupidity level would have come down a few notches.

They could have lifted really basic safety pointers from Stargate SG1 and seriously improved the plot. In fact low tech MALPS would have been better than the mildly irritating floaty things that inexplicably failed to help the guy that owned them find his way to an exit.

STUPID.

Another example is that in Alien there is a defined quarantine protocol that took place in the airlock. It didn't take long to explain in the plot and Ash broke it due to his own agenda. In this movie they had the cargo bay open to the atmosphere...

So you have somebody that you think need to be quarantined. Do you:

a) Shoot them with a tranquiliser dart, breaching their encounter suit, potentially suffocating them, and allowing the pathogen out of the suit?

b) Decide that the established quarantine procedure, if drafted by these idiot scientists, probably isn't worth the paper it's written on and flame them instead, killing them and limiting you chances of getting useful information from an autopsy?

c) Tazer them to incapacitate them to carry out a exam under your established quarantine procedures while they are hopefully still alive?

d) Examine them in your sterile mobile lab that you set up outside the ship?

 

[Admiral2]

For those of you who thought the scientists were stupid: My Brother The DOCTOR once asked my mother for help cooking a turkey and she started her instruction by telling him to wash it before he prepared it, which he did...with dishwashing liquid. The moral: smart people can do really stupid things. That makes them human, not a problem with the narrative.

My problem was with them having no concept of any scientific method (as well as being stupid). If they had taken even the most basic precautions but the situation got out of hand due to one or two stupid things (or David's desire to get the ball rolling) the general stupidity level would have come down a few notches.

They could have lifted really basic safety pointers from Stargate SG1 and seriously improved the plot. In fact low tech MALPS would have been better than the mildly irritating floaty things that inexplicably failed to help the guy that owned them find his way to an exit.

STUPID.

The first part of the scientific method is to Test. Shaw's boyfriend tested a theory about the air the expedient way. Shaw tested a theory about the Space Jockey's head. David tested a theory about the black oil. Shaw's only real derivations from scientific method were driven by emotion, not stupidity.

And I thought the two guys who tried to get back to the ship before the blue meanies came out showed incredible intelligence usually lacking in monster movies. Then they got lost. Their real problem was that they were wise-asses. Wise-asses generally think nothing can hurt them.

 

[Pauln6]

For those of you who thought the scientists were stupid: My Brother The DOCTOR once asked my mother for help cooking a turkey and she started her instruction by telling him to wash it before he prepared it, which he did...with dishwashing liquid. The moral: smart people can do really stupid things. That makes them human, not a problem with the narrative.

My problem was with them having no concept of any scientific method (as well as being stupid). If they had taken even the most basic precautions but the situation got out of hand due to one or two stupid things (or David's desire to get the ball rolling) the general stupidity level would have come down a few notches.

They could have lifted really basic safety pointers from Stargate SG1 and seriously improved the plot. In fact low tech MALPS would have been better than the mildly irritating floaty things that inexplicably failed to help the guy that owned them find his way to an exit.

STUPID.

The first part of the scientific method is to Test.

Yes - test the air throughout the entire complex by sampling to make sure there are no atmospheric black spots, harmful chemicals, or pathogens. You might test the air on animal subjects in laboratory conditions long before you would expose a human volunteer. I am assuming that they had equipment that checked for airborn pathogens and found none so I'll give a pass there - but assuming that there would be no pathogens in any other chamber would be grossly negligent. By the time you'd detected them, you would already be exposed.

I can get behind the smart ass archaeologist doing it. It's that everybody else, including the biologist and MD also did it that was so stupid. Did they all think that alien bacteria would always kill instantly so there obviously wasn't any?

My issue with the geologist and biologist was that they took no samples and contributed nothing to the trip. How did they get lost? It was his own drones that mapped the complex. Everybody was on the same comms system and the ship monitored their locations. They should have got the message about the storm too but asked for no assistance? If they'd been delayed taking samples on the way out I might have forgiven them. I can only assume they must have switched comms off so they could have a shag. It could have been a glitch in the system I suppose but if so it was poorly represented in the narrative.