PROMETHEUS Ridley Scott prequel

[richy]

I liked it too. I have to let it sink in, to digest it a bit. But I definately agree it's a damn good scifi flick.

I saw it in 3D IMAX and it looked superb. Well, actually, it looked quite amazing. But it sounds like it looks amazing in 2D too. You might be pleased that there aren't really any of those gratuitous, cheesy 3Dsploitation shots...it's just emersive, like Avatar is.

I think you hit the nail on the head, Cracker, about the marketing of the film and how it's different than Alien.

And I have to say that I like where they left the story. I think there's lots of room for anticipation for the next installment, could be quite an adventure...probably more so than this one.

[Miken]

Originally Posted by richy

And I have to say that I like where they left the story. I think there's lots of room for anticipation for the next installment, could be quite an adventure...probably more so than this one.

Agreed, it really felt like a setup to a bigger story. I've read several negative reviews on other sites and I wonder if we saw the same movie. It was fantastic. There are a few "what are you doing" moments, but then I look over at the mouth breather across the aisle and realize that it isn't inconceivable.

3d was great. I had a free pass to it tonight and will be willingly paying to see it again this week.

[Cracker Funk]

Originally Posted by richy

And I have to say that I like where they left the story. I think there's lots of room for anticipation for the next installment, could be quite an adventure...probably more so than this one.

I love where they left the story.

I would love to see some more proper "Alien" action, but I imagine that's not what you're talking about. If you're talking about the other direction they left the story, I prefer that they just leave it there. Although if they did make a sequel in that direction, I'd want it directed by Zach Snyder. Or maybe Tarantino.

[sonnyboo]

I hated that they ever referenced ALIEN. It was such a distraction from an otherwise great philosophical science fiction story. I am going to see it again, but only to erase as much of the ALIEN aspects from my expectations.

PROMETHEUS was shot entirely in 3D with RED cameras.

[don patterson]

Wife bought tickets on Thursday, son is going too -- 4:00 3D large screen showing (already sold out). Been psyched to see this movie for a long time... but the reviews are kind of cryptic and luke warm.

Washington Post review. Not sure that most critiques are that 'bright or observant', (but this IS the Washington Post). LOL while thinking, if most critics were that ON (to) film, they would be making them... (there are several sayings to that effect).

I hope that Prometheus has better turn out than my first want-to-see movie, John Carter and is 'somewhat' equal to my last-want-to-see summer movie, The Avengers (a loud, explosive crash and big-earn movie)... but... life can have its disappointments. Seen so many weak movies recently, (over hyped), so many in the field of science-fiction and 'lacking-imagination' (or fresh concept) horror-based movies (scripts).

Maybe John Dies in the End will provide 2012's most imaginative and/or challenging movie of the year (if Prometheus doesn't)?

Looking forward to being entertained @ 4 PM.

[Anim8]

The 3D totally sold the epic vastness of the space shots, it literally feels like you are a speck of nothing out there.....
Its a great film, you can definitely see Ridley Scott design work in everything. There were things I loved and some things not so much.....

Spoiler:

A giant squid? C'mon.....
- The Engineers seemed like violent unintelligent bodybuilding aliens.... It would have made more sense for them to just coldly explain that the humans couldnt live or something similar.
- I get the creature at the end is the alien ancestor, it seems a little convoluted with all the different creatures it took to get it to that point.... reptile to exoskeleton...
- Why werent the other Engineer ships able to leave?
- Evidently something reallllllly similar happened on LV-426, chestburster, etc... and the ship even ends up crashing in roughly the same position...... Or, the derelict craft on LV-426 was originally from LV-223....
- I think the film moved to fast... not enough build up. It was a lot of ideas to push in 2 hours.
- Bash CG all you want.... It looked friggin' awesome... You couldnt have done some of those shots with that level of realism and scale practically.
- Seriously..... you have all the talent in the world available and you come up with a squid?? C'mon....

[rayw]

Originally Posted by Cracker Funk

So, as the release moves closer, I'm learning more and more just how many people have no clue that this is a prequel to Alien. It came up in conversation twice today, with two different people. Both were clueless to the prequel aspect.

You want some perspective on what film geeks we are and how film-ignorant most of our family/friends/coworkers are?

Big d@mn search engine Yahoo puts out this headline to spoon feed potential audiences the following, on the second day of the film's U.S. opening:
‘Prometheus’ explained: What’s behind the name?
http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-...233515501.html

"So why are the space vessel and the movie named for a figure in Greek mythology?

The myth itself is this:... [blah blah blah]

In the latest Ridley Scott movie, we can probably take the name of the ship to be a subtle hint of what's to come. It's safe to say it's nothing good."

No sh!t, nothing good.

Just how retarded does a person gotta be to not know at least this much about this film and how films are crafted in their story and "hidden meanings" of elements?

Yes, THAT'S how ignorant the average non-film nut is.



IT-ers: fly your indie filmmaker freak flags proudly.

[richy]

So this whole post is riddled with SPOILERS, so do not pass your mouse over it unless you want to see spoilers galore.



Spoiler: Mmhmm, I meant that I think the ending that has Elizabeth taking herself and David into the heart of Olympus is a good one, I guess, ...and flying off in one of those cool looking Engineer spaceships, no less.

I didn't I mind the showing of the birth of the first(?) Alien-Alien. Not the high point of the film, but probably more-or-less obligatory. Kind of begs some interesting scifi questions. Is Elizabeth sort of the mother of the killer aliens?

I agree about the Engineers looking like giant body builders. That crossed my mind too at the beginning. On the other hand, they looked fairly believable and cool. And after all, if it's correct to suppose that they've been engineering themselves...well, wouldn't you engineer yourselves to be big and strong? So...hmmm.

Some things I don't care for about the story/film:

1. I also and still do not like the chariots of the gods premise. But they way they did it, it really didn't bother me either or prevent me from enjoying the movie when it came down to it. At least they didn't ask us to believe that they built the pyramids. I'm not really bothered by the idea that they're undermining three-hundred years of Darwinian science. I don't know that our scientific understanding of evolution requires that life on Earth had to have been initiated without the help of aliens. So I don't think they're undermining much. They seem simply to be suggesting that the Engineers brought DNA and whatever else. It's probably nothing humans (our variety) won't do if they ever get the chance.

2. Having one of their own (the Engineers) drink the goop and then break apart seems like an awfully silly way to seed the planet. But perhaps it was the choice made because it was a relatively simple way to portray it cinematically, not pushing the budget up to 3 mill, or something.

3. I could do without the faith stuff. But how they handled it was fine, really as just a characteristic of one of its leads. So one of the characters, a scientist, is for some reason also a person of faith? It was palatable enough I guess. But what will they do with that in the next film? Where will they take it? Will they take it further and ask the audience to accept something further? If so, I'm sure I won't appreciate it. But, judging by this first film, I'm guessing they'll be a little smarter than that.

4. I'm not a big fan of the humans/science should not "play God" trope. It has its place, I guess.


*****

I didn't mind the monster fetus thingie looking squid-like. It more-or-less matures into a giant facehugger, so it probably shouldn't look much different from one.

So, these Engineers created us and then decided to exterminate us. Elizabeth emphatically asks the lone surviving Engineer why. Okay. But please, please, please, please, please, please, oh God, please say it won't turn out to be because we're not good enough stewards of the Earth, make to much acid rain, cause global warming, etc etc etc! Please keep the story true to the title and the premise. Please let it be because of something along the lines of... the Engineers are jealous of the their status in the cosmos, and they don't want to share it with our upstart species --which is catching up with them. Uh! Anyway, aaanything other than the former.

[Cracker Funk]

Richy -- great comments.

As to the question of Spoiler: why they would want to destroy us, I think it's worth noting the title of the movie, and the name of the ship they rode in on. I know you're already aware of the Greek connectionSpoiler: , since you mentioned Olympus. Anyway, I think it's reasonable to think (even just from this movie) that their nefarious motivation is simply to wipe-out a species that might compete with them.

You mentioned the Chariots of Fire thing (I'm not wrapping spoilers, because it's in the damn trailer). As I mentioned in my last post, I think this is the only film that has ever taken that ridiculous premise, and done something cool with it. As you and I both noted, at least they did throw in a line recognizing the fact that Darwinian evolution is as irrefutable as any scientific theory can be. And I'm personally fine with this movie tossing out real science because the entire premise of the movie is just one big allegory.

Spoiler: I'm personally okay with (and actually love) the religious undertones of the movie because I feel like this movie takes no sides. It simply looks up into the sky and asks the same questions that every single one of us has asked, at least once in our life. Why? How? What else? And Why?

Oh, and as for sequels, I really hope they don't take it in the Spoiler: Olympus direction. For me, the non-answers to the questions are what make it so great, so they need to leave that place untouched. I wouldn't mind seeing some proper Alien-Alien action, though.

Anim8 -- Spoiler: yep, the Engineers are violent. I think that was on purpose, seeing as how we were created in their image.

It might be the case that some of the ships were able to leave. I'm undecided on the apparent nerd-controversy over whether or not this is the same planet (moon) that "Alien" takes place on. There are a couple minor discrepancies between the ending of "Prometheus" and the beginning of "Alien". Plus, Scott has mentioned that he might turn this into a trilogy, to fill the gaps between "Prometheus" and "Alien". And so that gap could explain how the apparent "discrepancies" are nothing of the sort. Or, it could just be as simple as the fact that none of the other ships' inhabitants were woken from their sleep.

Catching it again on Monday, and this time in 3D!

[don patterson]

I was mildly disappointed with PROMETHEUS -- for several reasons. I expected more. This is not a slam on the talent in front of the camera or behind the camera. At the same time -- I cannot wait to see the next movie!

As many who know me will testify, I have been cursed with being able to grasp an ending well in advance or the direction on a story is going in most cases. I know where Scott is going with PROMETHEUS. This is only possible because Ridley Scott (and writers, cast and crew) appear to be honest, (no one armed-man scenarios in the final minutes of the story). Scott as an honest broker, gives solid clues as to where he is going with PROMETHEUS (trilogy) and appears to rely heavily on the ALIEN universe (the first four movies with a nod to the PREDATOR VS ALIEN series as well).

I will not give spoilers. Even blacked out ones. But I will give some clues. READ only if you dare.

ALIEN:RESURRECTION -- Humans using Aliens as weapons. WHY? Do they know something we don't know (maybe words from the past aka E. Shaw) ? Ripley's evolved alien baby, so big and bad and smart for a baby! Hmmmm.

ALIEN3 -- Did you see the size of the Alien that emerged from the dog? Hmmm?

ALIEN 2 -- How quickly the aliens evolve inside humans -- and those aliens are such hard-core killing machines too!

ALIEN vs PREDATOR series -- Check out what an alien looks like coming from a predator vs a human being?

Now comes PROMETHEUS -- Notice the disposition of the Engineers ? Kind of aggressive, huh? Makes you wonder what other kind of aggressive, intelligent creatures lurk in our galaxy... Did you see the size of the alien coming from an engineer? Compare... with all of the above.

If these clues are too cryptic -- I highly recommend Larry Niven's THE PROTECTOR (1973) from his Tales of Known Space series... different story, characters and science-fiction realm -- but there are similarities.

So, while PROMETHEUS, in itself was kind of disappointing, I cannot wait to see the next installment. Because, it will be awesome (if my sense of where the story is going is correct).

[knightly]

I loved the old Sci-Fi pacing that let you breathe in the environment (pun intended). Very 2001 / Solaris ish (although not quite that slow). The production was lavish (saw it in 3D -- wonderfully done). I really liked it, I liked that it was more about the search and journey than the big run away from the terrifying aliens thing.

Good to see that there's another strong female lead, this one wasn't quite as over the top as Ripley though.

Did I mention that it was Epic and spectacular?

[wheatgrinder]

+1 epic and spectacular.
3d was near perfectly immersive for me. 3D Didn't "add" anything the story, but added to my ability to believe.

Loved the nod to 2001...Spoiler: the score and pacing where david is on the ship while everyone else is in hyper sleep

I did not likeSpoiler: that the professors were really bad at science. Even in the first dig in Scotland had no protocols to speak of! And I cringed at "Here let me insert 20 amps of electricity into the first ET corpse part ever found in history!"

[TomWilliams]

I liked it! I was very impressed by Michael Fassbender's performance of David, and how he started acting like Peter O'Tool from Lawence of Arabia. I thought Noomi Rapace was a great strong female lead too. I saw the film both in 2D and 3D. I'm quite sceptical when it comes to stereoscopic imaging, but like mentioned earlier in the thread, the 3D really emphasised the visual effects and the whole space opera feel. Some moments were absolutely stunning! However, I believe 2D will still remain superior as I find after a while you forget the film is even 3D in the first place! Plus I find the glasses uncomfortable...

Overall I thought Prometheus was an excellent science fiction film!

Well done Ridley Scott!

[Scoopicman]

Originally Posted by Miken

There are a few "what are you doing" moments, but then I look over at the mouth breather across the aisle and realize that it isn't inconceivable.

You make a great point!

[rayw]

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