Support NeoGAF

[Erigu]

Only Shaw suggsted they were invited. Their origins were merely depicted in cave paintings.

Well, the paintings were maps. Apparently precise enough that they could find LV-223, despite how ancient they were.
(in fact, I'm not sure how one would deduce those paintings have something to do with the origins of mankind... did I miss something?).

Not just specifically humans. Just a weapon.

Maybe not just humans, but we're to understand Earth was targeted, right?

 

[Wilbur]

Hopefully a sequel does a job. I completely understand things like the Engineer's origins and the reason they want to destroy Earth being held back, it's the confusion over things like the goo that is a bit annoying.

I think my problem with the film stems from actual dialogue rather than what happens. But meh.

 

[Exterminieren]

Fuck, I need a sequel to this movie. Forget terrible ideas for Blade Runner sequels, Ridley, and get on it.

Spoiler

Maybe keep Lindelof away from this one.

 

[Wilbur]

Fuck, I need a sequel to this movie. Forget terrible ideas for Blade Runner sequels, Ridley, and get on it.

Spoiler

Maybe keep Lindelof away from this one.

He's the reason a sequel is being written dammit

 

[Mr. Sam]

Technically speaking, I think Charlie Holloway's penis is the first facehugger.

 

[Chopper]

I just saw this on the IMDB certification FAQs page for the movie and it made me laugh out loud. Perhaps it shouldn't have considering the debate on the Gamer side.

Sex & Nudity

There is a scene were a squid-like creature is eating a humanoid alien. The reason its put in this section is because it looks like the squid is raping the alien.

That did not occur to me at all. Makes the scene even more disgusting in retrospect.

Technically speaking, I think Charlie Holloway's penis is the first facehugger.

LOL! And Shaw's womb the first Alien egg.

This film is fucking ridiculous. It certainly has that going for it.

 

[Wilbur]

I just saw this on the IMDB certification FAQs page for the movie and it made me laugh out loud. Perhaps it shouldn't have considering the debate on the Gamer side.



That did not occur to me at all. Makes the scene even more disgusting in retrospect.


LOL! And Shaw's womb the first Alien egg.

This film is fucking ridiculous. It certainly has that going for it.

There's a rape discussion on gaming side? Now I know why I never go there.

Anyway yeah, sexual imagery is so fucking strong in the alien movies haha, it's unreal how blatant it is.

Film's so ridiculous. I'll say it again, it's a flawed masterpiece. Batshit insane, barely held together, but entertaining and interesting as fuck

 

[kaizoku]

I have something resembling a theory brewing...

The key that keeps fuelling yet unravelling all my theories is the black goo. I think the WMD theory doesn't quite make sense. There was a plaque of a xenomorph in that room, the canisters seemed placed in an odd way as if birthing, the room itself also seemed quite ritualistic. Also the engineer who was decapitated was running towards it as if to seek refuge there.

I wonder if the xenomorphs were mistaken as some kind of god like existence by the Engineers and they went on a search for how to find them or bring them back and in the process accidentally created life on earth and met their doom as a species. similar to the Prometheus. What starts off as a search to 'meet the maker' they also unwittingly meet their end while at the same time created a new species never seen before.

Was the black stuff at the start different from the black stuff in the canisters?

The black stuff resembled sperm in some ways, it inseminated life on earth, it impregnated Shaw, but why does it kill the Enginners and Holloway, as parasites it gains nothing from that so it was more like a virus. Why does it behave like sperm/virus/parasite at differents times?

Remember that the alien at the end was not the first xenomorph because we saw its likeness in the chamber with the giant head.

 

[Tookay]

Most of the problems with this movie seem to result from getting a bit too clever for itself. It wants to have its cake (it's separate from Alien) and eat it too (it's connected to Alien!). I think the confusion in this thread in regards to the black goo and the squid indicates how muddy the scripting was. This movie could have been a lot simpler and better for it (like the original Alien).

You either make this standalone and go all the way... or connect it properly as a prequel. This sounds like a half-ass attempt to please everybody, with potential for a sequel if it works, and as a way out of it doesn't.

 

[Mr. Sam]

The goo didn't kill Holloway. Charlize Theron and a flamethrower killed Holloway.

 

[Chopper]

Remember that the alien at the end was not the first xenomorph because we saw its likeness in the chamber with the giant head.

Makes the whole subplot pointless. It just confuses things.

I appreciate the want for a new "world" and the expanded scope of the Prometheus line of movies, but I think the film would definitely have benefitted from fitting into the Alien movies more comfortably. A literal "origin story" for the Xenomorphs would have made much more sense.

The goo didn't kill Holloway. Charlize Theron and a flamethrower killed Holloway.

Are we to assume that he (and the geologist) would have eventually exploded, like the head they brought back to life?

 

[kaizoku]

The goo didn't kill Holloway. Charlize Theron and a flamethrower killed Holloway.

Well yes but it was killing him the way it killed the engineers. I suppose it's possible that the remains we saw were just the exoskeletons and the bodies had actually disintegrated the same way the first engineer did. and the head was preserved because the virus considered it dead so was dormant. When it detected signs of life it got to work destroying shit again.

 

[Chopper]

Well yes but it was killing him the way it killed the engineers. I suppose it's possible that the remains we saw were just the exoskeletons and the bodies had actually disintegrated the same way the first engineer did. and the head was preserved because the virus considered it dead so was dormant. When it detected signs of life it got to work destroying shit again.

There were holes in the bodies' chests. Makes no sense.

 

[kaizoku]

Makes the whole subplot pointless. It just confuses things.

I appreciate the want for a new "world" and the expanded scope of the Prometheus line of movies, but I think the film would definitely have benefitted from fitting into the Alien movies more comfortably. A literal "origin story" for the Xenomorphs would have made much more sense.

I like it, a simple "and this is where aliens come from" goes against everything, I think as a species we're never supposed to find out where we came from and the aliens will be given the same treatment. We took a step closer the same way Shaw did but we've no idea how long this tapestry is going to be and whether it actually is our origin etc etc. And I'm fine with that.

I wonder with a sequel how they'll work in other humans, only Shaw and Dave would be odd.

 

[Wilbur]

I think my biggest question actually is the map/invitation at the start.

Why? That needs to be answered, you don't just leave around star maps or any sort of influence on people to create star maps unless you expect people to find it one day. And why would you send those who find the map to the military testing ground as opposed to their actual home planet?

 

[Chopper]

I like it, a simple "and this is where aliens come from" goes against everything, I think as a species we're never supposed to find out where we came from and the aliens will be given the same treatment. We took a step closer the same way Shaw did but we've no idea how long this tapestry is going to be and whether it actually is our origin etc etc. And I'm fine with that.

Fine. But if you're gonna do that, don't imply so heavily that they descended from us. The abortion scene was instrumental in this. Graphically so.

I wonder with a sequel how they'll work in other humans, only Shaw and Dave would be odd.

I wondered that. If it was just a two-person cast and set on LV-426, I'd watch it. If only to award the audacity.

Why? That needs to be answered, you don't just leave around star maps or any sort of influence on people to create star maps unless you expect people to find it one day. And why would you send those who find the map to the military testing ground as opposed to their actual home planet?

Is it a map though? Or is it just a depiction of five planets close together. For all we know they could have been visible from Earth at certain times of the year/century. How many times in science fiction has some ancient race depicted aliens and space through some scrawl? Loads. Again, it's only Shaw's interpretation that determines it an invite. And she was emotionally steered towards doing so.

 

[Wilbur]

Is it a map though? Or is it just a depiction of five planets close together. For all we know they could have been visible from Earth at certain times of the year/century. How many times in science fiction has some ancient race depicted aliens and space through some scrawl? Loads. Again, it's only Shaw's interpretation that determines it an invite. And she was emotionally steered towards doing so.

But why those five planets specifically? A number of ancient civilisations have knowledge of planets that are intrinsically linked to the Engineers and important enough to their mythology that they're identified with it so many times that eventually the links between civilisations are obvious enough that Shaw and Charlie pick up on it.

How long did they say they'd been on LV-223? Around 2000 years (birth of Christ again...)? That means that LV-223 has been relevant for 2000 years. How long have they been dead, how long have aliens been fucking things up?

 

[Mr. Sam]

What was it that re-animated Fifield? The goo? A serpent? Zombie-ism?

 

[DECK'ARD]

Most of the problems with this movie seem to result from getting a bit too clever for itself. It wants to have its cake (it's separate from Alien) and eat it too (it's connected to Alien!). I think the confusion in this thread in regards to the black goo and the squid indicates how muddy the scripting was. This movie could have been a lot simpler and better for it (like the original Alien).

You either make this standalone and go all the way... or connect it properly as a prequel. This sounds like a half-ass attempt to please everybody, with potential for a sequel if it works, and as a way out of it doesn't.

Yeah, definitely. That's what I said when we left the cinema and then started trying to piece it all together. That it had maybe been trying to be too clever for its own good.

And after having slept on it and thought some more, yep they'd made a mess of things. Not especially excited about a sequel which needs to try and explain even more when they've made such a mess already with the first one. There's always the concern things will just be forgotten about and yet more stuff introduced.

I don't like how such a beautifully simple and effective premise as Alien has been turned into a convoluted mess of mythology. The frustration it causes gets in the way of what Alien did so well, which was the fear of the unknown, that sense of dread. All the problems with Prometheus for me come down to bad or lazy writing, from the holes in the story to the lack of depth and motives with the characters. Falling back on mystery for the sake of mystery and wait for the sequel to maybe find out more is a cop-out.

The incredibly lazy set-up for the sequel also opened up its own hole with how this accident managed to happen on every single ship, and they couldnt avoid it or get away. And even one who did get away then got fucked up anyway to crash on Alien's planet.

So the general conclusion so far is, the Engineers really are fucking useless. And also have servere anger-management issues when woken up.

Interested in finding out more? Not really.

 

[Erigu]

I think my biggest question actually is the map/invitation at the start.
Why? That needs to be answered, you don't just leave around star maps or any sort of influence on people to create star maps unless you expect people to find it one day. And why would you send those who find the map to the military testing ground as opposed to their actual home planet?

Exactly...

Also, that reminds of something that bothered me ever since the first time I saw that scene in the trailer:
"Not a map. An invitation."
Had it been me, I think I might have slapped Shaw right there and then.
"It is a map! Now, you might presume it's also meant to be an invitation, that's fair and all, but don't fucking tell me it's not a map when it clearly is!"
Man, the dialogue really needed a lot more work...

Is it a map though? Or is it just a depiction of five planets close together.

Why those specifically?
And if they actually managed to find the right place just based on those ancient paintings, I can't imagine that wasn't the idea in the first place... Lots of stars out there, the paintings would have to be really precise.

 

[Dascu]

The biologist is just about the stupidest fuck imaginable. After they hear Janek talk about another lifeform, they run away. After they actually meet an alien lifeform, one that is suspiciously like a goddamn cobra, he tries to fucking give it a kiss.

I've seen enough Bear Grylls on the discovery channel to know that that is not what you're supposed to do.

---

How smart is it for the bosses of Weyland (him and Vickers) to spend at least 4 years on a trip to the other side of the galaxy? You don't get on top of the Forbes 500 like that.

---

What were those Engineer holograms running away from? Those little worm and snake thingies?

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

Can anyone honestly tell me they weren't expecting this amount of backlash?
It's an Alien prequel. Even if the film was absolutely perfect in every way -which it is certainly not- it would still arouse these reactions.
Let us also remember that Alien wasn't really received that well upon its initial release.
Hopefully more people will enjoy it years from now, as they did with Alien.

It is certainly not as good as Alien. But it also has many of the same flaws.

 

[WJD]

That caesarean scene. God fucking damn it was intense.

 

[zoukka]

There's absolutely no need for a sequel. It's a complete story and there's nothing more gained from those characters. I mean you think those two characters could possibly approach the jockeys in any reasonable manner?

And you guys seem to get stuck on the assumption that these events were the first to have xenomorphs evolving even though it makes no sense at all? The jockeys in the holograms were clearly running away from xenos and there's a freacking mural of the final phase of it in the chamber. The last scene gave us a glimpse of the xeno that was engineered at that time. The jockeys knew what it looked like and had probably already done experiments with other jockeys.

My take on the plot was that the jockeys are/were in war with each other and that's why they invented the black goo and the xenomorphs. Earth was a testing/host ground for them.

That caesarean scene. God fucking damn it was intense.

Indeed. People were squeming and burrowing in their seats at that point. Same happened with the cockworm scene.

 

[JonnyBrad]

I'm going to assume that the xenocobra things were a result of the worms that were on the floor being mutated. They made pretty sure to focus on them as the party left the ampule rule first time.

Also it was late when the film finished last night. What made us all assume that the proto Xeno was a queen?

 

[JonnyBrad]

What was it that re-animated Fifield? The goo? A serpent? Zombie-ism?

I think it was the goo. The Cobra thing just killed the biologist straight up.

 

[Vagabundo]

Also why did the Jockey come searching for frenchie? How did he even know she was alive and how did David even know he was coming for her? His warning seemed very delayed considering the amount of time the Jockey would have had to exit the downed ship and run to the capsule. As soon as David issues the warning the Jockey is ripping open the air lock.

There's absolutely no need for a sequel. It's a complete story and there's nothing more gained from those characters. I mean you think those two characters could possibly approach the jockeys in any reasonable manner?.

Of course there is, its not a complete film, there are too many dangling plot lines.

I'd have much preferred that this be called Prometheus part 1 so that was clear.

 

[smallios74]

Not sure if this has been answered as yet, but does anyone think the reason they want to nuke us humans is that we are the catalyst for the aliens. Without humans there can be no aliens, and im sure they had contact with us after our creation. This may of led to a possible alien infection on their homeworld and the aliens nearly wiping out the engineers, so the only way to stop the aliens is to destroy human life to stop it from happening again. As for LV-426 ship, this was also thousands of years old so would be about the same time as the LV-223 ships perhaps this one was on the way to earth from LV 223 and had an incident with an alien and thats why it crashed into this planet?

 

[Vibri]

Posting my spoiler thoughts from other thread:

- Clearly the opening sequence is an alternate origin story of life on earth. Read Chariots of the Gods which is a hokey but influential book tracing evidence in Mayan civilisation that our ancestors mistakenly worshipped aliens who originally 'fertilised' earth's ecosystem with the DNA for human life. Scott has cited the book as a major influence for Prometheus.

- The black goo is a biological WMD that is massively adaptive to environment and / or its host. The way I read it, the reaction differed on proto-earth and LV-233, local atmospheric conditions, and characteristics of the host. There is clearly more to be explained here than can be narratively though in this two hour film.

- Loved the symbolism of humankind landing on Christmas day, ie the birth of a new mythological lord. And how the film took place over seven days (creation).

- Interesting upturning of the Adam/eve allegory at the end with Noomi/David exploring the brink of an unknown world. David/Adam being the original proto-species, created by mankind in place of 'God'.

You're either into Lindelof's narrative style (provide answers that stimulate bigger discussion) or you're not. Personally I much prefer a film that explores big ideas with space to think to one that serves up a prescribed solution to the philosphical mysteries of the universe. How could it anyway?

 

[DiscoVampire]

Im just about willing to except the holes in the greater story. Since sleeping on it im starting to feel like Scott has left me wanting more... and maybe this isnt such a bad thing? I think i have faith in his back story and that even though there are holes, perhaps he does have it all figured out....

However, there are still questions i really want to put to GAF. The main problems i had with the film was the dialogue, the character development and social interaction between the human team. Something the first film dealt with so well, giving you a real sense of humanity within the crew drew you in and left you feeling more empathetic towards them and therefore more worried for them when things went wrong. I didnt really care about anyone in prometheus except perhaps Shaw? This meant i was never really too fearful of the threats at hand. Vickers dialogue was terrible (which actually makes me thing she could still be an android? There was a scene where her eyes glimmered in the light much like the androids in blade runner)

Anyway, my main question is why the hell did David infect Holloway with the goo???

The whole time we were lead to believe that there was some kind of hidden agenda within the corporation, this lead me to accept any dodgy goings on because i just assumed some shit was going down that we would find out about later. But when it comes to it, the secret is that Weyland is onboard the ship and he wants to be given the key to life.

So what the fuck does fassbender contaminating the crew with the goo and foiling the whole mission have to do with Weyland making successful contact with the engineers and becoming immortal?

When David/fassbender had the suspicious conversation in the cryo chamber was he reporting to someone even higher up than weyland? Was there a secret secret secret agenda???

Im a bit lost but what i've realised over the last 24 hours is that i want to see the film again, i definitely enjoyed it

 

[DiscoVampire]

Posting my spoiler thoughts from other thread:

- Clearly the opening sequence is an alternate origin story of life on earth. Read Chariots of the Gods which is a hokey but influential book tracing evidence in Mayan civilisation that our ancestors mistakenly worshipped aliens who originally 'fertilised' earth's ecosystem with the DNA for human life. Scott has cited the book as a major influence for Prometheus.

- The black goo is a biological WMD that is massively adaptive to environment and / or its host. The way I read it, the reaction differed on proto-earth and LV-233, local atmospheric conditions, and characteristics of the host. There is clearly more to be explained here than can be narratively though in this two hour film.

- Loved the symbolism of humankind landing on Christmas day, ie the birth of a new mythological lord. And how the film took place over seven days (creation).

- Interesting upturning of the Adam/eve allegory at the end with Noomi/David exploring the brink of an unknown world. David/Adam being the original proto-species, created by mankind in place of 'God'.

You're either into Lindelof's narrative style (provide answers that stimulate bigger discussion) or you're not. Personally I much prefer a film that explores big ideas with space to think to one that serves up a prescribed solution to the philosphical mysteries of the universe. How could it anyway?

I think you've nailed it on the head sir

 

[DihcarEM]

My take on the plot was that the jockeys are/were in war with each other and that's why they invented the black goo and the xenomorphs. Earth was a testing/host ground for them.

I agree, that's also what i suspect. Looking at how diverse our species is and that's just on a global scale. While the Engineers are far more superior and operate on a universal scale. I very much doubt all the Engineers are the same. Looking at our own history, the development of new weapons is explosive during war times. Other Engineers are the only aliens introduced in this verse that could pose a big enough threat to develop such extreme biological weapons. Humans=lab-rat.
That's also why i have no problem with the Engineer going psycho on everybody, when you are viewed as nothing but vermin then there is no possibility for discussion. It doesn't matter if we master space-travel, terra-forming, ect. An ant will always be viewed an ant in the eyes of the beholder. They probably know that we have the same potential as them giving that the engineered us but they don't care about that.

Anyway, my main question is why the hell did David infect Holloway with the goo???

The whole time we were lead to believe that there was some kind of hidden agenda within the corporation, this lead me to accept any dodgy goings on because i just assumed some shit was going down that we would find out about later. But when it comes to it, the secret is that Weyland is onboard the ship and he wants to be given the key to life.

So what the fuck does fassbender contaminating the crew with the goo and foiling the whole mission have to do with Weyland making successful contact with the engineers and becoming immortal?

When David/fassbender had the suspicious conversation in the cryo chamber was he reporting to someone even higher up than weyland? Was there a secret secret secret agenda???

Im a bit lost but what i've realised over the last 24 hours is that i want to see the film again, i definitely enjoyed it

He was talking with Weyland who was inpatient and wanted David to look harder for the all mighty immortality cure. Infecting Holloway was to simply see what it would do, same with the Shaw alien baby. They were going to harvest it and take it back to earth. During that time the guy was infected, David had found a living Engineer thus they could stop with the guessing and go straight to the source.

 

[WJD]

Quick question:

I was reading some spoiler free impressions before I went to see it and a lot of people were saying how Prometheus essentially retconned the AVP movies.

...where did people get this from? Don't remember anything that would have even implied it but then again, I've only seen about 30 mins of AVP and that was about 5 years a go.

 

[DECK'ARD]

There's absolutely no need for a sequel. It's a complete story and there's nothing more gained from those characters. I mean you think those two characters could possibly approach the jockeys in any reasonable manner?

And you guys seem to get stuck on the assumption that these events were the first to have xenomorphs evolving even though it makes no sense at all? The jockeys in the holograms were clearly running away from xenos and there's a freacking mural of the final phase of it in the chamber. The last scene gave us a glimpse of the xeno that was engineered at that time. The jockeys knew what it looked like and had probably already done experiments with other jockeys.

My take on the plot was that the jockeys are/were in war with each other and that's why they invented the black goo and the xenomorphs. Earth was a testing/host ground for them.



Indeed. People were squeming and burrowing in their seats at that point. Same happened with the cockworm scene.

If they created us on Earth purely for host/training ground that's a pretty long-winded plan, not to mention an impressively long-running war. They were capable of terraforming, why not pick somewhere a bit closer to home?

Why does he infect himself with the magic black goo at the beginning to seed earth despite knowing what would happen to him with completely different results? Is it another magic black goo? Or does it just do whatever the plot requires it to do?

Also, you have it going wrong inexplicedly on every ship, xenonorophs busting out of engineers and reeking havoc, yet they are totally unable to stop it? No evidence of them anywhere except they'd gone to the trouble of creating a mural celebrating the creature that they were totally incapable of dealing with?

The film is a complete mess of mythology and unclear motives from everyone concerned. Leaps of logic and convenient events such as the holographic history lessons there purely to advance the plot. David especially seeming to know far too much throughout the film with no reasoning behind what he does except to get us to the end of the film and carry his servered head to the badly set-up sequel. You can try to fill in the gaps with what little information there is to leap from but this is just bad writing. Taking a beautifully simple and effective premise and drowning it in a sea of convoluted mythology and lack of character development or backstory.

There is no way on this or any other planet that this is a complete film, a story that has been told well whether seen as an Alien prequel or as a stand-alone film. There's plot-holes plus unexplained plot-lines and characters all over the place, and a lot that just does not even make sense whichever way you spin it.

 

[MedIC86]

Posting my spoiler thoughts from other thread:

- Clearly the opening sequence is an alternate origin story of life on earth. Read Chariots of the Gods which is a hokey but influential book tracing evidence in Mayan civilisation that our ancestors mistakenly worshipped aliens who originally 'fertilised' earth's ecosystem with the DNA for human life. Scott has cited the book as a major influence for Prometheus.

- The black goo is a biological WMD that is massively adaptive to environment and / or its host. The way I read it, the reaction differed on proto-earth and LV-233, local atmospheric conditions, and characteristics of the host. There is clearly more to be explained here than can be narratively though in this two hour film.

- Loved the symbolism of humankind landing on Christmas day, ie the birth of a new mythological lord. And how the film took place over seven days (creation).

- Interesting upturning of the Adam/eve allegory at the end with Noomi/David exploring the brink of an unknown world. David/Adam being the original proto-species, created by mankind in place of 'God'.

You're either into Lindelof's narrative style (provide answers that stimulate bigger discussion) or you're not. Personally I much prefer a film that explores big ideas with space to think to one that serves up a prescribed solution to the philosphical mysteries of the universe. How could it anyway?

Holy crap! i knew there was more to this film can you post more random thoughts ? i love reading this stuff.

 

[Vibri]

Someone else posted an interesting idea - Shaw carbon dated the decapitated Engineer to around 2,000 years ago.

They were leaving to reset the earth around the time of the birth of Jesus. Why?

 

[DECK'ARD]

Someone else posted an interesting idea - Shaw carbon dated the decapitated Engineer to around 2,000 years ago.

They were leaving to reset the earth around the time of the birth of Jesus. Why?

For no other reason than religious symbolism to tie into the heavy-handed God vs. its creation wankery?

Also when the Hell did they seed the Earth with us? They are a very dedicated bunch to come back after all that time to destroy us. Not to mention lucky to not be extinct, seeing as their magic black goo which created us they found impossible to handle.

What a mess.

 

[zoukka]

If they created us on Earth purely for host/training ground that's a pretty long-winded plan, not to mention an impressively long-running war. They were capable of terraforming, why not pick somewhere a bit closer to home?

Long winded? Who knows what the lifespan of an engineer is. And humans have been at war since the dawn of man. Why would they be different? And it was clearly stated in the film that they do not want that bioweapon shit close to their home.

Why does he infect himself with the magic black goo at the beginning to seed earth despite knowing what would happen to him with completely different results? Is it another magic black goo? Or does it just do whatever the plot requires it to do?

That scene took place so many years before anything else that we can only assume that goo isn't the same stuff that prometheus encountered. It was engineered for its purposes, to create life on the planet earth through an engineers genetic host.

Also, you have it going wrong inexplicedly on every ship, xenonorophs busting out of engineers and reeking havoc, yet they are totally unable to stop it? No evidence of them anywhere except they'd gone to the trouble of creating a mural celebrating it the creature that they were totally incapable of dealing with?

Also when the Hell did they seed the Earth with us? They are a very dedicated lot to come back after all that time to destroy us. Not to mention lucky to not be extinct, seeing as their magic black goo which created us they found impossible to handle.

This was only one remote military base for the engineers. Shit went wrong and no backup could arrive because it was so far away from their home and who would even want to rescue those infected poor bastards?

The film is a complete mess of mythology and unclear motives from everyone concerned. Leaps of logic and convenient events such as the holographic history lessons there purely to advance the plot. David especially seeming to know far too much throughout the film with no reasoning behind what he does except to get us to the end of the film and carry his servered head to the badly set-up sequel. You can try to fill in the gaps with what little information there is to leap from but this is just bad writing. Taking a beautifully simple and effective premise and drowning it in a sea of convoluted mythology and lack of character development or backstory.

Nothing in the movie was a mess for me. The holographs were clearly just normal recording of events in the facility and David could watch them because he had some knowledge of their language and user interfaces. Also we don't need to fill any gaps because there were none in the film. Unless of course you didn't pay attention. Maybe you needed vocal narration to the movie?

And there is absolutely no need for a sequel. The theme of the movie was "the question" as in why are we here. The crew all had different takes on it and they all seeked different answers to that question. Even David as an android was clearly curious about it even though he had a clear view on it. He served his master but was happy when he passed on. He even clearly stated it with the line "don't everyone wish their parents died?".

Ridleys way of saying there really is no ultimate answer was beautifully executed in this film. It left me satisfied yet eager to continue towards more knowledge.

There is no way on this or any other planet that this is a complete film, a story that has been told well whether seen as an Alien prequel or as a stand-alone film. There's plot-holes and unexplained plot-lines and characters all over the place.

 

[WJD]

Looking back at it, how bloody spoilery was this trailer?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1byZkbNB3Jw

 

[Mr. Sam]

Quick question:

I was reading some spoiler free impressions before I went to see it and a lot of people were saying how Prometheus essentially retconned the AVP movies.

...where did people get this from? Don't remember anything that would have even implied it but then again, I've only seen about 30 mins of AVP and that was about 5 years a go.

Well, the basis of the AVP series is that the predators use the xenos as a hunting game of sorts, in the early 21st century. Prometheus suggests that not even primitive xenomorphs existed until the late 21st century. It also suggests that predators (and xenos) were there at the birth of civilisation, which doesn't really match up. Furthermore, Weyland - as an old but not that old man - dies in the first Alien versus Predator film. The AVP films were loosely canon at best anyway.

The "We found these markings done by all different civilisations" bit, the briefing scene, Weyland being an ambitious dying old man that just wants to meet aliens, the alien birthing tease at the very end - these actually reminded me a bit of the original AVP.

 

[zoukka]

Please don't mention AVP movies to me. I might cry.

We now have two excuisite Alien mythos movies. Alien and Prometheus. Both work individually as well as a continuum. Both also shit on every other take related to Alien universe.

 

[WJD]

Well, the basis of the AVP series is that the predators use the xenos as a hunting game of sorts, in the early 21st century. Prometheus suggests that not even primitive xenomorphs existed until the late 21st century. Furthermore, Weyland - as an old but not that old man - dies in the first Alien versus Predator film. The AVP films were loosely canon at best anyway.

The "We found these markings done by all different civilisations" bit, the briefing scene, Weyland being an ambitious dying old man that just wants to meet aliens, the alien birthing tease at the very end - these actually reminded me a bit of the original AVP.

Ah, that makes sense. Cheers.

 

[Chopper]

Please don't mention AVP movies to me. I might cry.

We now have two excuisite Alien mythos movies. Alien and Prometheus. Both work individually as well as a continuum. Both also shit on every other take related to Alien universe.

So, how are there Xenomorphs prior the humans' involvement? I mean how were they able to breed, take over the storage facility and then leave without humans involved. Don't we need humans, a giant rapey squid and an Engineer to make a Xenomorph? That's what this film told me.

 

[Mr. Sam]

The predators did it! It's so clear now - the AVP films are canon after all, and (probably) directed by Scott and Cameron under pseudonyms.

 

[zoukka]

So, how are there Xenomorphs prior the humans' involvement? I mean how were they able to breed, take over the storage facility and then leave without humans involved. Don't we need humans, a giant rapey squid and an Engineer to make a Xenomorph? That's what this film told me.

You don't need humans for xenomorphs. Just humanoids. And we can't even be 100% sure if even that is necessary. Any kind of mammal might do. Though that is just assumption because engineers and humans have identical DNA. That might be the key.

 

[Instigator]

When I bought my movie ticket (late) and got in the teather, the opening credits were ending and the movie started in Scotland. But did I miss anything from before the opening credits?

 

[Wilbur]

When I bought my movie ticket (late) and got in the teather, the opening credits were ending and the movie started in Scotland. But did I miss anything from before the opening credits?

:lol

Yes. Big sweeping shots of a planet (assumed to be Earth. Engineer is by himself by waterfall. Drinks black goo. Falls apart at molecular level into the water, dies but his DNA survives, starting life on the planet

 

[Chopper]

You don't need humans for xenomorphs. Just humanoids. And we can't even be 100% sure if even that is necessary. Any kind of mammal might do. Though that is just assumption because engineers and humans have identical DNA. That might be the key.

But you do definitely need facehuggers. And I don't understand where facehuggers would have come from on LV 233.

 

[WJD]

When I bought my movie ticket (late) and got in the teather, the opening credits were ending and the movie started in Scotland. But did I miss anything from before the opening credits?

Engineer drinking some black goo before breaking apart like a cheap vase and falling down a waterfall.

 

[DECK'ARD]

This was only one remote military base for the engineers. Shit went wrong and no backup could arrive because it was so far away from their home and who would even want to rescue those infected poor bastards?

Went wrong, yes very unfortunate. And on every ship there, which seemingly just hung around while it all kicked off at exactly the same time or just let some xenomorphs in for a party.

Despite them knowing what the xenonorophs were already and having a nice mural celebrating their destructive power in the weapon hold of the ship. Yet there were no contingency plans to deal with something that is HIGHLY DANGEROUS and could be born from ANYONE ON THE SHIP.

And they seeded us millions of years before purely for the plan of returning a couple of thousand years ago to use us as hosts in some fantasy war we don't know about? Come on. The life-expectancy of an Enginner is clearly quite short because they are even worse than us at containing dangerous lifeforms, and they'd been playing around with this for millions of years already? They should clearly be extinct.

I'm impressed with your dedication to explaining away the plot-holes and lack of motives for everyone concerned though mostly using the same leaps of logic and convenient plot-devices that the film does throughout.

Perfect film? No, just no.