P R O M E T H E U S |OT| Ridley Scott goes back to Building Better Worlds

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Well, just got back from the premiere...

- Awesome photography;
- Best 3D I've seen as of yet in films (though I confess I've only seen a couple);
- Great costume designs/crops.

Technically the movie was flawless for me. For those who are scared of (big) spoilers, look away now.

I must say I'm a tad disappointed, especially as I put my expectations quite high with the official trailer. There are big nods to Alien, especially near the end and the movie kind of answers the "this the origin of those ugly bastards" theories Scott was hinting at. However some scenes were not necessary. I was hoping to have the atmosphere I experienced in Alien or Blade Runner; it sometimes got there, but the focus on special effects and crappy story elements blew it when it was getting good.

Elizabeth Shaw and David are definately the highlights of the film character-wise, whereas everyone else kind of falls flat once things start heating up. Both are likeable and resemble both Ripley and the doctor from Alien.

You kind of know that nearly everyone dies in the end, so in some ways the surprise isn't there anymore. Wasn't too impressed with the space jockey either. The surgery scene is great though.

All in all, it is a great movie. I just wish I hadn't rewinded the official trailer so many times. Not sure if it has left a lasting impression on me, will see in a couple of days.
 
I'm expecting it to be a very good blockbuster but not a patch on the first which'll suit me fine because the original Alien is almost unattainable levels of quality.

If I walk out of there thinking money well spent on a quality piece of entertainment I'll be happy.
 
Dax01 said:
Was it a good movie? Or is that tied to the plot elements?
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It will clear up most mysteries around the first movie and as far I can tell some of the other parts of the franchise, while branching itself out for its own sequel. It also destroys any possible canonicalization of the Aliens vs. Predator movies if I interpreted things right. This alone makes it a good movie. lol
 
Amalthea said:
It will clear up most mysteries around the first movie and as far I can tell some of the other parts of the franchise, while branching itself out for its own sequel. It also destroys any possible canonicalization of the Aliens vs. Predator movies if I interpreted things right. This alone makes it a good movie. lol
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how does it compare to alien?
 
The Xtortionist said:
Really? I was expecting jump scares out the ass.
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Since when did being scary have anything to do with jump scares? Jump scares happen when you're startled by something. Tension occurs when the director is doing a good job.

So basically if there's a lot of tension, it's actually scarier than it would be if the whole thing was a barrage of mindless jump scares.
 
brandonh83 said:
Since when did being scary have anything to do with jump scares? Jump scares happen when you're startled by something. Tension occurs when the director is doing a good job.

So basically if there's a lot of tension, it's actually scarier than it would be if the whole thing was a barrage of mindless jump scares.
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It has some jump scares but overall I would describe the horror as even more lovecraftian than the original Alien. And yes, it's really tense.

EDIT: I'm going to bed. G'night everyone.
 
Le Monde reviews Prometheus:

"Prometheus": "Alien" betrayed by its own creator, Ridley Scott

Le Monde 05/29/2012 at 14:50 • Updated 05/29/2012 at 14:50

By Isabelle Regnier
In the prequel trend - those episodes filmed after a saga, but which are supposed to take place beforehand - here comes that of Alien, the Ridley Scott film with which, in 1979, changed science-fiction cinema. Prometheus marks, after three sequels (respectively directed by James Cameron, David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet), the return of its creator. The news in recent months has, one imagines, made a lot of noise. But nothing compared to the film itself.

The speakers of the Gaumont Marignan theatre, by the way, did not resist. As Michael Fassbender just got his head torn off by the hands of a giant, determined to destroy the Earth, the eccentric speleologist (Noomi Rapace) tried to save her skin, by getting back to her spaceship, said ship took off to the sound of music blaring, and the film went silent. The screening went on, then stopped. The same scenes were shown one after another, again, and the sound skipped at the very same moment. The sound level was then lowered.

At the third vision, the audience knew the dialogue by heart, laughed, shouted at Fassbender to watch out for the giant. Too powerful for the theatres, this blockbuster, overflowing with money, found itself caught in its own trap. The sound had finally held on, but the incident highlighted the kitschiness of the direction.

Noise, de facto, is as visual as it is auditive: the debauchery of CGI sets, special effects, shots of spectacular landscapes, almost shocking in these times of crisis.

And not even the scenario could justify these excesses. Two speleologists have the intuition that humanity was created by extraterrestrials. A bedridden billionaire wants to believe in this idea, not out of philanthropy, as we first thought, but because he hopes that meeting with his creators will give him eternal life. For this purpose, he funds a gigantic space expedition, on a ship named Prometheus. The two researchers and the team of mercenaries recruited to help them (what for, we will never know) are cryogenised, and off you go. Arrived safely, the crew discovers the traces of an advanced civilization, and comes face to face with atrociously fierce sticky birds of prey.

Bathed in a spiritual glue that fuses Christianity with new-wave paganism, packed with references to science-fiction cinema - 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Wall-E, Romero's Zombie, Mars Attacks , AI .. -, this film does nothing special. The few interesting leads contained in the script (latent conflicts between mercenaries and researchers or between them and the billionaire) remain in draft form.

It is always question of atmosphere in Prometheus (is the air breathable or not). The trouble is that the film lacks a cruel amount of it. There is nothing left of what was, thirty years ago, the success of Alien, its unique style - the strangeness that pervaded the air, containment, gloomy light, paranoia, the personality of Ellen Ripley... In the role of the good little soldier paid to operate the cash machine, Ridley Scott follows his roadmap with a purely commercial vision. Its mission: to reactivate the Alien licence and give the viewer a copy of what he once loved. No more, no less.

The film does hold/stand anyway, thanks to a certain know-how. With their look of giant hermaphrodite sexual organs, the aliens are well done, let's admit. Their presence merely extend the program of previous films, but with an undeniable effectiveness in the progression of the action, a few visually beautiful ideas... And thanks to Michael Fassbinder, who plays a movie-loving robotic man not so far, basically, from the sex addict he played in Shame, by Steve McQueen. Early on in the film, we see superposing his image on that of Peter O'Toole. That this being of pure surface seeks some kind of depth for himself by drawing from cinema was a great idea. That one too wasn't exploited.
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http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/artic...ropre-createur-ridley-scott_1709013_3246.html
 
MarshMellow96 said:
So the closest 'IMAX' to me has two showings per day: 00:20 and 21:30.

MIB3 is playing all day...

Are you serious?
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It's the same up here. It doesn't start getting more than 2 showings a day until well into next week. Plus it's £12.80 a ticket even for some of the worst seats. I'm in row fucking 2, it'd nearly sold out when I ordered the tickets last week.
 
brandonh83 said:
So basically if there's a lot of tension, it's actually scarier than it would be if the whole thing was a barrage of mindless jump scares.
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Not when you're as jumpy as I am : (

With movies at least. Video games don't bother me. Dead Space 2 is all jump scares and it only got me once or twice. But movies...fuck. I jumped when (Avengers spoilers)
Hulk came out of the darkness
. I think its the loud noises. Loud noises always make me very nervous for some reason. I was sweating and my heart was beating pretty hard through the whole Avengers movie, even in the straight-dialogue scenes. If I turn the volume up high on a song I really like, the same thing happens.

So yeah me and jump scares in the theater don't get along too well lol
 
This is what happens to a thread when everyone goes on media-blackout, they have nothing else to talk about so we spend 8 pages talking about projectors and "lieMAX" lol
 
Im tempted to ask whether the tradition Xenomorph does or doesn't make an appearance but Im not sure if I want to know or not.

I need to be strong and remain spoiler free..
 
VistraNorrez said:
It's 3 dollars more a ticket, make a sacrifice. Don't get a drink and popcorn or see one less film this summer. Support the director's true vision.
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People should only see it in 3D if they're seeing it in IMAX or are sure that their local theater is projecting it at the proper brightness. Seeing it in shitty 3D isn't supporting the director's true vision, it's paying $3 extra for a bad experience.
 
HixxSAFC said:
It's the same up here. It doesn't start getting more than 2 showings a day until well into next week. Plus it's £12.80 a ticket even for some of the worst seats. I'm in row fucking 2, it'd nearly sold out when I ordered the tickets last week.
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Hey, at least you've got tickets! I'm back home in Wales so I'm trying to convince the missus to stay overnight in our Liverpool uni digs. She's not having it because it's going to cost her £25 for the round trip (no open returns from where she lives). I'll probably end up going to see it second time around in IMAX next week or something. More than happy to see it twice anyway!
 
We could have some kind of warning on the thread title to be careful about the reviews posted, couldn't we? No problem posting, for example, general impressions about the movie, the score, etc, but any spoiler should be posted as a link or spoiler tagged...
 
Tron 2.0 said:
People should only see it in 3D if they're seeing it in IMAX or are sure that their local theater is projecting it at the proper brightness. Seeing it in shitty 3D isn't supporting the director's true vision, it's paying $3 extra for a bad experience.
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Of course, but you can say that for every theatre experience ever. Just because it's a 2D showing doesn't mean they are getting a good experience either.
 
uOhlB.jpg


I wish there could be an android version of Jonesy in Prometheus.
 
Amalthea said:
It will clear up most mysteries around the first movie and as far I can tell some of the other parts of the franchise, while branching itself out for its own sequel. It also destroys any possible canonicalization of the Aliens vs. Predator movies if I interpreted things right. This alone makes it a good movie. lol
Click to expand...

:/

I'm scared, so very scared.
 
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