The characterization and dialogue was probably the worst part about LOST. I always enjoyed the "mythology" in a pulpy sort of way.
P R O M E T H E U S |OT| Ridley Scott goes back to Building Better Worlds
- Thread starter SCULLIBUNDO
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Nappuccino
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I'm surprised to hear all these writing complaints considering just how much focus the two screen play writers had during interviews. Screenwriters never get that much attention unless they are Charlie Kaufman. I suppose I erroneously assumed they did a great job.
SuperEpicMan
Banned
Just seen the movie at the midnight showing so here's my two cents lol
The movie is fun and entertaining, and if judged on its own merits would be seen as a highly original movie, but this is a movie directly linked to Alien and therefore it is inevitable that comparisons are made.
I felt as though the film didn't quite decide on a tone, on the one hand it is straight up horror and sci fi on the other. But the film doesn't manage to truly excell in scaring the audience due to this. I also think the themes within the movie aren't given the jolt to fully develop, there are some deep questions which fall short in trying to provide a interesting and provocative look on humanity and it's order in life.
But these ideas don't fully come to fruitation.
In terms of characters and acting I thought that Shaw and David were played very well, and I even enjoyed the characters played by Rafe Spall and the guy with mohawk, despite not being very developed.
I felt the story was lacking in many areas, firstly
Lastly the sound track is awesome, but it is always playing and I felt as if some silence or slower music would have benefited the tension in some parts.
Overall I would give it a 7/10
The movie is fun and entertaining, and if judged on its own merits would be seen as a highly original movie, but this is a movie directly linked to Alien and therefore it is inevitable that comparisons are made.
I felt as though the film didn't quite decide on a tone, on the one hand it is straight up horror and sci fi on the other. But the film doesn't manage to truly excell in scaring the audience due to this. I also think the themes within the movie aren't given the jolt to fully develop, there are some deep questions which fall short in trying to provide a interesting and provocative look on humanity and it's order in life.
I really enjoyed the idea of David and his place amongst humans, if he is created by us, and we by the engineers, does that mean we would be no different. Does it mean if we have a 'soul', so must he.
In terms of characters and acting I thought that Shaw and David were played very well, and I even enjoyed the characters played by Rafe Spall and the guy with mohawk, despite not being very developed.
I felt the story was lacking in many areas, firstly
I wish more characterisation was done for the engineer, when he woke up he was little more than another monster. If they had him talk to David and at least have him appear to understand the questions asked by Shaw and Weyland it would have provided the themes more to work with. Also Weyland making an appearance was un nessessary.
Lastly the sound track is awesome, but it is always playing and I felt as if some silence or slower music would have benefited the tension in some parts.
Overall I would give it a 7/10
Lindelof clearly spends a lot more time trying to sell his stories in interviews and such than he does actually working on them...
THE-Pink-Dagger
Member
Seriously?! Yep, Battleship was fun, what's the big deal?! People actually using some of your critics to discredit your opinion, Jesus Christ. Grow up.
Fallout-NL
Member
THE-Pink-Dagger
Member
Of course not, it's all super high tech technology. As Scott said it in an interview "I couldn't have known at the time, could I?" 
It's kind of the same thing with the SW prequels, you have all this technology and you have to go this way, otherwise it would just look silly.
It's kind of the same thing with the SW prequels, you have all this technology and you have to go this way, otherwise it would just look silly.
THE-Pink-Dagger
Member
The hate for Lindelof is really strong indeed, the guy has been hammered for Lost, when it was really innovative and unique.
Guess people dont like mystery.
He's highly aware of it and makes fun of it on Twitter, but he stands by his fondness for mystery, and unanswered questions because it makes it so exciting and justifies this. I have respect for the guy.
Prometheus tries to explain so much, the questions come from it not making much sense.
That's just bad writing.
Seen it two days ago, I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Alien there is, I've seen them but a long time ago...
That said, I loved the movie. It's a beautiful movie, with huge tension, great acting, impressive SFX and sound design, and an interesting scenario. Since the very beginning I knew I'd be immersed in the universe until the end, and I wasn't disappointed.
It's not perfect though, there are a few unclear events to me, and to imagine that a first contact could be that unsupervised and unsecured ridiculous.
But overall I really enjoyed it, can't wait to see it in OV and without shitty 3D.Cinemas really sucks these days...
That said, I loved the movie. It's a beautiful movie, with huge tension, great acting, impressive SFX and sound design, and an interesting scenario. Since the very beginning I knew I'd be immersed in the universe until the end, and I wasn't disappointed.
It's not perfect though, there are a few unclear events to me, and to imagine that a first contact could be that unsupervised and unsecured ridiculous.
But overall I really enjoyed it, can't wait to see it in OV and without shitty 3D.Cinemas really sucks these days...
Fuck that. He's a hack.
THE-Pink-Dagger
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THE-Pink-Dagger
Member
The "problems" is just a lack of character dvpment for characters outside of Rapace and Fass. Plus, having seen all trailers, featurettes, tv spots, there are quite a few shots missing from the movie, which leads me to believe that there has to be a director's cut somewhere.
I did get the impression there was stuff chopped for runtime. Near the end especially there's an encounter which is screaming for more talking and filling in the gaps.
Although there are leaps of logic throughout the film that I'm not entirely sure could be fixed. The core of the story just seems a bit flaky really. Also it won't fix the problems with the character development, there is just nothing there for most of them.
Saw the movie yesterday, and reading all the impressions from the previous pages, I can say I agree with most of it.
I feel like this movie wanted to be both a competent Alien-prequel and a stand-alone movie. There were just too many ideas thrown around; the execution in some parts of the movie is just lacking. Same for the characters; too many faceless no-names without any relevant dialogue.
That aside, it's still a really good movie. Just not the classic I expected it to be. The visuals are gorgeous, the music is perfect, Fassbender was great... But it just feels like the movie could have been so much more. Maybe in the sequel?
I feel like this movie wanted to be both a competent Alien-prequel and a stand-alone movie. There were just too many ideas thrown around; the execution in some parts of the movie is just lacking. Same for the characters; too many faceless no-names without any relevant dialogue.
That aside, it's still a really good movie. Just not the classic I expected it to be. The visuals are gorgeous, the music is perfect, Fassbender was great... But it just feels like the movie could have been so much more. Maybe in the sequel?
-Plasma Reus-
Service guarantees member status
scares me...
I felt the set-up for the sequel was painful.
It was like "Fuck, how do we continue this now. I know!".
So many mixed feelings on this, it was shot beautifully, Fassbender was fantastic
the effects and designs were great, but the script and character development was a big downfall. I especially expected so much more from Theron's character. I know it was a 2 and a half hour film, but it seemed rushed in many parts
What is kinda sad, I think the prequel to 'The Thing' tied in better than this movie did for 'Alien'.
Overall it was an OK film, but I did come out thinking "meh"
and I liked all the shout outs to 'Lawrence of Arabia'
and WTF was with the zombie geoscientist guy! so the eel thing killed one guy, but made the other into an overpowered zombie, WHY?!
Overall it was an OK film, but I did come out thinking "meh"
THE-Pink-Dagger
Member
There's a bit of an over exaggeration on this point of flat characters. Elba is great, the others are enjoyable but lack a bit of dvpt. It's not their story though, you can feel that Ridley wanted a Ripley type of character for Prometheus.
By the way, if there turns out to be a director's cut (a possibility since many shots from the trailers, etc are missing from the movie), the complaints that you guys have could be softened, with for example maybe like 10 more minutes of character development, and one thing that I wish more time was spent on
@QueenDee: the movie is 1h59 minutes.
By the way, if there turns out to be a director's cut (a possibility since many shots from the trailers, etc are missing from the movie), the complaints that you guys have could be softened, with for example maybe like 10 more minutes of character development, and one thing that I wish more time was spent on
third act when they wake up the Engineer, would like more interaction with him, I dont think though that he was ever meant to talk
@QueenDee: the movie is 1h59 minutes.
You could basically cut out the stuff with the biologist and geologist, and the main plot would remain perfectly intact. Very poorly written.
exactly!
My mistake, the movie is 1hr 59 mins. But my point is still valid. It still felt they were rushing through parts instead of fleshing out the story.
Humans arrive and wake up the engineer and one (but is really an android) speaks their language and the engineer's first reaction is to kill. I'm not a morning person either, but c'mon.
pock3tmonster
Banned
Having to wait another week to see this is absolutely killing me! I've already booked Imax tickets for Friday night, right after my last exam, but knowing people are seeing it is agonizing.
MarkMclovin
Member
Isn't the ship in Alien an old mining ship? And Prometheus is a new exploring one? I dunno, but I would imagine that it would look strange if the technologies in Prometheus is far ahead.
THE-Pink-Dagger
Member
I'm getting tired of repeating this OVER and OVER again, but the script is MOSTLY Jon Spaihts', he is the writer of the original script which was pretty much a straight up Alien prequel, Ridley loved it but wanted it to be more independent, hence why he asked Lindelof to come in and touch up the script a bit, to make it less Alien-like. But Spaihts did say on his Twitter (because Lindelof was pretty much the only one doing all the interviews, and getting all the attention, he is also executive producer though) that the shooting script is mostly his with a few changes by Lindelpf, but it is NOT Damon Lindelof's script, END.
-Plasma Reus-
Service guarantees member status
Logic?
Get out of here with that stuff.
Get out of here with that stuff.
THE-Pink-Dagger
Member
Anyway, some of you are not happy with all the questions it arises, but that's the deal and as Ridley said, he has a plan for the sequel, he knows what he's doing, it's not needed to be spoonfed every single answer. Mystery is good, much more interesting for the imagination.
Again, it's not mystery. It tried everything it could to remove the mystery and explain it. But left contradictions, plot-holes and inexplicable actions.
Even the lazy set-up for the sequel makes the entire premise of the film seem incredibly unlikely actually.
Before leaving with it, could someone put some of that stuff in Lindelof's writing? He could really use it.
THE-Pink-Dagger
Member
Spaihts said so on his Twitter, and he has a right to be pissed as Lindelof is taking all the credit, even though he says so himself that he had little to do at the end, and Ridley is a big component too even though he says so himself that he's a way better director than writer.
So you don't really know. You don't know which parts are Lindelof's. You don't know who's responsible for flaw x and issue y.
(and no, I don't either, for the record)
jufonuk
not tag worthy
I was walking past that before any cast was there, I wanted to stay and watch but damn 5am wake up call stopped me, well I can see it on the internet here
cooliosHaving now slept on it, I've no desire to watch this again. It's such a frustrating movie due to characters having no motivations or reasons for doing anything. They just kinda incoherently do stuff... It's a joke really.
Those yet to watch it. Please lower your expectations greatly.
Those yet to watch it. Please lower your expectations greatly.
Yeah, that's the view I'm coming to as well. I did want to watch it again, the more I think about though the less desire there is to do so.
Beautiful film, but makes barely any sense.
I might give it another go if there's a DC but bar that, no desire to watch it again either.
A shame, I was really hoping it'd be good.
I hope we're going to get an extended edition release but the odds seem very slim since Ridley has expressed being satisfied by this cut. Who knows he might change his mind and ofcourse it wouldn't bode well for any director to reveal an extensive cut was made pre release.
I don't think however that we'll get what you want to see,
The engineer's portrayal mystery is exactly that that drives Shaw's quest in the end to seek them out. Just like how the audience was confused on why they turned on us so was Shaw. And that is the set-up for the sequel.
Discotheque
Banned
Is anybody seriously expecting that Blade Runner sequel to be good? Ridley Scott should leave it alone maaan.
It should look good.
symphonask
Member
At least Hampton Fancher is alive for that one. I wonder what Dan O'Bannon would of made of Prometheus.
Just like that new Total Recall movie. That one's going to be great
Either Spaihts is as big a bullshitter as Lindelof... or he has an extremely different approach to writing sci fi.
Yep, not too optimistic about that one...
Wasn't Dan O'Bannon the guy who didn't want Alien to include the Android sub-plot, among with other great things that made Alien into a classic?
symphonask
Member
I don't know about that, but O'Bannon was responsible for getting Giger involved an came up with the facehugger and chestburster ideas so he's largely responsible for why the movie is so iconic.
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