Prometheus

[tokan 16826]

Hi all. Just wondering who is going to see, or has already seen Prometheus this weekend. I just got back from seeing it and was curious as to what everybody's thoughts are on it. I'm still kind of processing it so still not sure what I think of it, lol.

 

Just an FYI, no spoilers, but just wanted to say that if you haven't seen it yet don't go in expecting a direct Alien prequel. It is definitely not. But it does take place in the same universe and does make some nods to the Alien movies.

[Smithwick 7122]

They are showing this in IMAX here, and I haven't seen an IMAX movie in about 15 years. Would seeing this in IMAX make me vomit?

[Mister T 45020]

Same here. Still digesting what i think of it. It has some interesting ideas.

[Jhena Grey 25615]

I will be seeing it Tuesday. But after reading the last two post I am setting myself up for disappointment.

[Maverick 2873]

I thought it was a really fun movie to watch, but it didn't fully click for me. The pacing was a bit off and overall I think the screenplay was weak, but everything else was great. Specifically the special effects, practical effects, and the whole look/feel of the movie was fantastic. I really felt like I was there with them.

 

As for how it's tied into the Alien movies, I think it has a lot more to do with it than tokan has said, but you could still enjoy it without having seen Alien.

[Athos 108589]

The reviews I've seen haven't been very positive. I may wait until it comes out on DVD. Too bad. I was really looking forward to it's release.

 

Porthos

[Randman 1424]

I have heard some fans' reviews saying it is as bad as The Phantom Menace. I think that may be exaggerating a bit! I hope it's at least better than the Aliens Vs. Predator movies! : )

[Athos 108589]

I have heard some fans' reviews saying it is as bad as The Phantom Menace. I think that may be exaggerating a bit! I hope it's at least better than the Aliens Vs. Predator movies! : )

 

It would have to go some to be worse that those!!

 

Porthos

[castle 38816]

I have heard some fans' reviews saying it is as bad as The Phantom Menace. I think that may be exaggerating a bit! I hope it's at least better than the Aliens Vs. Predator movies! : )

 

Hey I kinda liked the Alien vs Predator movies!! Well, the first one anyway :p

 

I dunno, I saw it last night. I think the whole "it's not a prequel, but takes place in the same universe" business is a total cop out for a huge plot hole. Without revealing too much there were waaaaaay too many similarities for it to not be a direct Alien prequel. But with a huge hole in the continuity which just ruins the flow of the series (I'm a stickler for continuity). They were CLEARLY on the same planet that the Nostromo later stumbles upon in Alien. I was thoroughly enjoying the whole movie up until the last 10 or so minutes. The entire movie felt like an Alien prequel.....all the signs were pointing to that. And then the last few minutes just trashed that notion. The sudden change in Alien continuity felt forced to me. Like Ridley Scott suddenly felt that he was "above" doing a prequel, even to his own movie, so decided to change the ending. I really did enjoy it but as an Alien fan the ending left me feeling a little put off.

[tokan 16826]

It definitely wasn't phantom menace bad, and I would have to say that it was better than AVP1, although to be honest I kinda really didn't like AVP and refuse to see the second one, lol.

 

There are definite similarities between Prometheus and Alien but the reason I didn't consider it a direct prequel was the plot holes that Castle mentioned. I am also a stickler when it comes to continuity and attention to detail and I did notice a few goofs. I'm gonna let my super nerd come out here, lol, but the planet the Nostromo touched down on was LV-426 but if I remember correctly in prometheus they were on LV-221, so maybe it wasn't the same planet. And the ending was kind of a little to up in the air. I kind of like it when things dovetail into the next movie like the Thing prequel, which did a great job of explaining certain things from John Carpenters Thing. I loved though that Ridley Scott actually built most of his sets and didn't rely on CG to much though, cause the CGI he did use I really didn't care for. Say what you will about guys in rubber suits, they look way more believable on screen than CGI. And the sets and scenic shots were gorgeous. I did enjoy it too it just wasn't exactly what I expected, though to be honest I'm not sure what I was expecting, lol.

[MightyPen 67414]

I actually saw this at a midnight showing on Thursday night/Friday morning, just to do something different.

 

I've been really looking forward to this movie for quite a while, and the marketing campaign did a promising job of setting up an atmosphere of suspense, mystery, and horror, all mixed together with thoughtful underlying themes. But then I read some mixed-to-poor reviews from the earlier opening in the UK so I had lowered my expectations quite a bit.

 

Ultimately the movie was a moderate disappointment, somewhere around 6.5/10. It LOOKS great, and that alone makes it worth seeing in some form. And it's clearly working very, very hard to do interesting things with the character of David. Fassbender does the best job in the film with that character, and I think he's the closest we come to a key to understanding the film (moreso than Rapace's Elizabeth).

 

But that one role can't hold up the rest of the movie. Various actors do the best they can with the material they're given, but it doesn't really gel into a consistent whole. Several scenes don't really move the plot forward at all. Other characters make weird leaps of logic, or declare significant things about the situation without any evidence that we in the audience have seen.

 

Ultimately the story is kind of shallow, characters make weird decisions without explanation, and the threat doesn't really come from a consistent source or follow intelligible rules. Solutions to some of the major problems are more coincidence than character-driven. And I find the last big decision that's made by a character in the movie to be just bizarre.

 

That's all I can say without spoiling like crazy.

 

The movie has two big underlying themes it tries to examine:

 

a) where did we come from, why, and what's the relationship between the creator and the thing created? It tries to deal with these on large scales (for species and their origins) and on small scales (for individuals and their parents/creators/victims). But the movie doesn't really resolve any of these very well, it just shows you a bunch of stuff related to these ideas without taking a position.

 

b) the virtues of self-sacrifice versus greedy self-interest (you can go pretty deep with this one throughout the movie, starting with the very first action of the movie, taken by the first character we see). Again, I can't say much more without spoiling.

 

So ultimately...? I'm glad I saw it, and it was fun in some places. But not at all the grown-up, deeply philosophical, or even just plain scary movie I was expecting. Whatever business it does this weekend, I think it's going to plummet in week two from bad word of mouth.

[Sappho 1247]

I was actually going to go to this movie this evening, but with what I'm reading I think I'll wait for it to hit the cheap theatre. Thanks for the reveiws! :)

[Guest p**h*x]

They were CLEARLY on the same planet that the Nostromo later stumbles upon in Alien.

 

I didn't get that impression myself. It seemed to me a very different looking place. As Tokan pointed out the planet names were different as well.

 

I thought it was excellent. It was beautifully filmed and surprisingly I found the 3D was well done too. I usually hate 3D but thought they did a nice job with this one. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[MightyPen 67414]

But with a huge hole in the continuity which just ruins the flow of the series (I'm a stickler for continuity). They were CLEARLY on the same planet that the Nostromo later stumbles upon in Alien.

Nah, that wasn't the same planet, just similar. It's a prequel, but not a direct prequel. These events are in the neighbourhood of Alien, and precede them in a different place, but that's all.

[loopie 15358]

Yeah, I found this to film to be a bit scattered too. I liked the ideas, the acting from the three leads (Rapace, Theron, and Fassbender), the special effects, and the design. The plot just went off in all these different directions and the film didn't really pull them all together in the third act in a particularly meaningful way.

 

I especially thought that Rapace and Theron's characters were such opposites that they were on a collision course. There's one big event in the second half of the film that I thought would bring about a conflict between these two but then it just seemed like other more important things took priority.

 

I think Ridley Scott probably overcut this one, as he tends to do with his theatrical cuts, and I think a longer cut of the film would probably be better. I liked the ambiguity of the film and didn't need more answers, I just needed the movie to take a bit more time with the characters.

 

I can't call it a bad movie, but it was a bit disappointing. I do intend to see it again and I expect it will grow on me more. I hope he puts out a longer cut on DVD.

[tokan 16826]

Now that you mention it Loopie I'm kind of curious as to what was left on the cutting room floor and what the directors cut will look like. I know the directors cut of Kingdom of Heaven definitely improved the film, and of course who can forget Blade Runner where the theatrical cut and the directors cut were very different. We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

[Sappho 1247]

well I did go and see it, and I'm glad I did. It wasn't as bad or confusing as the 'word of mouth' let on. I thought it was a pretty good movie and will buy it when it comes out on DVD.

[loopie 15358]

Here's an interview with Ridley Scott and he's already talking about an extended cut DVD that will likely be 20 - 30 minutes longer.

 

http://collider.com/ridley-scott-prometheus-deleted-scenes-interview/172202/

[Lowdark 5613]

I was looking forward to it as well, and the hype leading up to it heightened my expectations. Maybe that's why I was a bit disappointed. It wasn't a bad movie, but the story was a little loose and it's connection to the Alien movies dubious at best (after the halfway mark I concluded it was ignoring the recent AvP movies entirely; maybe not a bad thing). If there is an extended cut on DVD I'll definitely check it out but if not I don't believe I'll be adding this one to my collection.