Support NeoGAF

[lazybones18]

So....old man Weyland was alive after all. Only to receive what I considered to be a pretty shitty death >_>

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

So....old man Weyland was alive after all. Only to receive what I considered to be a pretty shitty death >_>

I'm also of the opinion that he emptied his bowels at that moment.

 

[vas_a_morir]

Nevermind the haters.

The movie was awesome. I love how everything remains mysterious. I don't consider them plot holes, personally. Now for a ton of awesome theories.

 

[dagZ]

so what was the point of the beginning scene??

 

[DancingCactus77]

Any one has a theory as to what's happened in the beginning of the movie?

 

[Spotless Mind]

so what was the point of the beginning scene??

To show the origin of life on earth.

 

[vas_a_morir]

To show the origin of life on earth.

I don't think so. The Engineers had the same DNA as humans, but not every living thing on Earth.

I have no idea what that scene was. He must have been drinking Tab.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

So, this has probably been discussed, but its interesting that they were planning on destroying us around 2000 years ago, aka Jesus. This movie was one of those awesome make you think of the implications style movies. So much to take in.

PS. I loved the movie.

 

[x Power Pad Death Stomp x]

I could tell this was from a writer of Lost because Shaw gave birth to a squid monster and then didn't tell anyone.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

So....old man Weyland was alive after all. Only to receive what I considered to be a pretty shitty death >_>

And your sentence is exactly how the movie treated it.

Weyland reveal: Yep, he's alive.

Weyland death: Yo, old man just cracked by dat Engineer.

W E Y L A N D

 

[glaurung]

So I saw this last night... the theater was pretty much empty, which just shows how ignorant the locals are. It was the premiere session.

Loved the first act. Liked the second act. Liked the third act.

There are some bad narrative points here, that I cringed at while watching the movie. The heroic end of Prometheus for one. Then the back story of Vickers. Then the pointless Promemtheus crew. Then the zero content end battle.

And one thing that I was mad about: the scene where Noomi tries to desperately pray in front of the mirror wasn't in the movie at all (which perplexed me the most with the trailers). Removed completely. What a bullshit move.

Prometheus is a first rate horror movie. But it is only a third rate science fiction drama.

 

[vas_a_morir]

I thought the fan service shot at the end was in terrible taste.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

Was it only fan service though? I think it may have some interesting implications.

Also, was it a 'proto-queen'?

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

I thought the fan service shot at the end was in terrible taste.

Yep. Really awful. It was a bad idea and tastelessly handled - which was very surprising for Ridley.

 

[glaurung]

I thought the fan service shot at the end was in terrible taste.

There was no real reason for the facehugger to grow to that monstrous size. Really. no reason at all. Plus its design looked wonky.

And thirdly, considering the canon of the xenomorphs, the drones were supposed to take over the properties of the host DNA, the engineers shared the DNA of the humans, why did they bother with the new design for the xenomporh?

 

[Net_Wrecker]

And one thing that I was mad about: the scene where Noomi tries to desperately pray in front of the mirror wasn't in the movie at all (which perplexed me the most with the trailers). Removed completely. What a bullshit move.

That was a shot people really loved too. Conveyed such a feeling of desperation but it's like they cut away right when it was going to happen. I was shocked.

 

[Jarmel]

What a piece of shit film. It's mostly the script that is a complete clusterfuck.

Visually the film is interesting to look at and the intro sequence is quite breath-taking. The soundtrack also made some decent impressions.

But in the second and third act everything goes to shit and all logic is thrown out of the window. Events just happen without any build-up, without any explanation or motivation. Things "just" happen and no one reacts to what goes on.

Examples:

1. "YES....FATHER...."
2. Stringer Bell tells his two lost crew members to chill the fuck out, while dead bodies are lying around them and a ping signal has gone off. Then he goes off to fuck robot girl, and apparently misses their screaming and camera feed. The next morning everyone wonders what happened to them, yet someone forgot to set the feed to record.
3. The characters engage everything non-nonchalantly. Douche-bag college bro' taking everything light-hearted and playfully, like it's some fucking theme park trip. How are these characters biologists and geologists? How is several billion dollars being spent on something as serious as this expedition, yet most of the non-characterized crew think it's just the whole crazy family going to McDonalds. No one acts like a professional, except maybe Dr. Shaw.
4. One of the "infected" crew members attacks the other crew members in the cargo bay, yet I don't know who the fuck these people are or why I should care about them being attacked by Zombie Biologist. Why not make a cool looking alien or some shit? Nope, instead we some actor who got sprayed with some black paint.
5. After the attack in the cargo bay, not a single fucking character react to the events. Not even a "oh shit we just lost 3 crew members, shit just got real." Every one just carries on with their daily chores like it ain't no thang. Instead Stringer Bell just strides casually up to Dr. Shaw and say some shit about rescuing his personnel, while Dr. Shaw apparently has shifted from getting her husband inflamed by another crew member, being impregnated with an Octopus Alien, doing a violent self-abortion, filled with adrenalin shots, to striving to find the questions about life/aliens. Everything is completely rushed.
6. Apparently the fact that Weyland Yutani Man is aboard the ship is supposed to be a twist, yet his role in the story is completely useless. He is introduced, says some shit about his remaining days, gets punched in the face by Space Jockey, and dies.
7. When Space Jockey wakes up, he just looks at the humans and then immediately kills them, hops in the space chair and suddenly wants to fly to Earth and bomb it with Weaponized Alien Goo. It's so fucking rushed.
8. In one moment Dr. Shaw tells Stringer Bell that the ship is about to take off and bomb Earth, so he would have to kamikaze into it in a completely abhorrent and cliché-ridden scene with Asian Guy # 1 and White Guy # 3. Five minutes later Dr. Shaw suddenly knows there are other ships out there (thanks to David), but she now says that they chose not to bombard Earth and she needs to know why. This contradicts what she told Stringer Bell and apparently she just wanted them to kill themselves for fun, along with her ticket off world.
9. The film suffers from a scene where two characters run away from a giant donut, without both characters simply stepping to the side and avoiding the donut. Dr. Shaw has to fall down and about to die before she figures out that she can just roll 2 meters to the side and avoid it. Great fucking job.
10. The film basically ends with Dr. Shaw flying around in a space ship across the universe, finding Space Jockeys with the head of an Android. What the fuck...

And a poster on another forum also mentioned:

1. The two scientists who got left behind in the ruins. First off they are really scared when the captain mentions signs of a lifeform, and they run like hell in the opposite direction. Yet, when they encounter the Alien-snake, the initial reaction is to cuddle with it, which eventually leads to their deaths.
2. Finding the ruins within ~30 seconds. So they travel to a planet so far away, when they enter the atmosphere they manage to find the ruins right away, and they just land there. If this had been real, then I would expect the ship to at least circle the planet once and look for other possible sites, what if there's an even more interesting place just a few miles away from the ruins? And I think a lot of people will agree with me when I say that the characters had little depth. They could have easily added 5 minutes when the ship flew over the planet, where characters could have gotten a little more time to "shine".

Buttloads of other terrible scenes, pacing, and writing, but I don't want to spend more time explaining it. I cannot see how anyone is able to consider this a "good" film, when there are so many flaws in it. Waste of time and money for everyone involved.

I agree with most of these reasons. This had to have been butchered to death as the movie suffers a lot of explanation problems and editing problems especially in the second half.

There was no real reason for the facehugger to grow to that monstrous size. Really. no reason at all. Plus its design looked wonky.

That was ridiculous.

 

[vas_a_morir]

There was no real reason for the facehugger to grow to that monstrous size. Really. no reason at all. Plus its design looked wonky.

And thirdly, considering the canon of the xenomorphs, the drones were supposed to take over the properties of the host DNA, the engineers shared the DNA of the humans, why did they bother with the new design for the xenomporh?

See, I'm starting to see why I liked the movie where all of you didn't.

Imagine if you'd only ever saw Alien, and only saw it once. I felt going into this movie the same way I felt going into Sunshine or Moon. "Space movie? Fuck it, let's do this." But, I always thought the way the xenomorph grew in Alien was ridiculous enough.

Also, where the gym be on that ship? Mo'fuckin Rick Bruiser in space.

 

[wwm0nkey]

so what was the point of the beginning scene??

Note how cells started multiplying in the ocean as in new life forming. He created life on Earth.

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

There was no real reason for the facehugger to grow to that monstrous size. Really. no reason at all. Plus its design looked wonky.

And thirdly, considering the canon of the xenomorphs, the drones were supposed to take over the properties of the host DNA, the engineers shared the DNA of the humans, why did they bother with the new design for the xenomporh?

While the DNA may have been a "100%" match, odds are it was different at its core. Also, that was not a traditional 'facehugger' and thus not a traditional 'Alien'. It could have been handled better, but the designs being different wasn't a flaw, as they were not the same thing.

 

[Erigu]

So, this has probably been discussed, but its interesting that they were planning on destroying us around 2000 years ago, aka Jesus. This movie was one of those awesome make you think of the implications style movies. So much to take in.

I'm crying inside, now. I hope you're happy!

considering the canon of the xenomorphs, the drones were supposed to take over the properties of the host DNA

Wasn't that largely introduced with Alien 3 though?

 

[Jarmel]

Note how cells started multiplying in the ocean as in new life forming. He created life on Earth.

However he took a similar looking goo compared to the one at the military installation and had a similar effect in that his body started to break down.

 

[glaurung]

Note how cells started multiplying in the ocean as in new life forming. He created life on Earth.

I have a different theory. The engineer we see at the beginning was sent to Earth as a punishment, to die. He ingests the poison, the mothership withdraws, he is supposed to be destroyed down to the level of the ribonucleids, but some trace remains survive and mix with the local primordial material, kicking off the human origin story. That is why the engineers decide to destroy the traces. Why they are doing it a couple million years later? Who knows.

This of course means that the starmap cave paintings and clay tablets are a marker for genetic memory. Which is kind of bogus.

 

[MBison]

As a huge fan of Alien and Aliens..... this was pretty blah.

1) No flair to the direction. It's just goes through the motions. Some compelling shots here and there but for the most part, fairly bland.

2) Flaws others have mentioned are definitely there. Noomi running around bloody, everyone's like MEH.

3) The "abortion" scene was decent and kind of the anti-chest burster scene.

4) I got chills when the title came up almost just like the Alien title.

5) I got chills when the Space Jockey's seat came up. Even though I was pretty meh on the whole movie by that point.

6) Very little tension in this movie.

I'm so bored I can't even critique the movie.

 

[zoukka]

There was nothing subtle about this movie.

Yeah which is totally why we don't have have a near 20 pages spoiler thread, where every other poster missed half of the movie, some of those posters being self-proclaimed movie geeks.

 

[Jarmel]

Yeah which is totally why we don't have have a near 20 pages spoiler thread, where every other poster missed half of the movie, some of those posters being self-proclaimed movie geeks.

Alright father.

 

[vas_a_morir]

I have a different theory. The engineer we see at the beginning was sent to Earth as a punishment, to die. He ingests the poison, the mothership withdraws, he is supposed to be destroyed down to the level of the ribonucleids, but some trace remains survive and mix with the local primordial material, kicking off the human origin story. That is why the engineers decide to destroy the traces. Why they are doing it a couple million years later? Who knows.

This of course means that the starmap cave paintings and clay tablets are a marker for genetic memory. Which is kind of bogus.

I just figured the planet at the beginning was an alien planet. We are indeed sure that was Earth? (I didn't pay close-enough attention.)

 

[glaurung]

I just figured the planet at the beginning was an alien planet. We are indeed sure that was Earth? (I didn't pay close-enough attention.)

EDIT: Yep, it's Earth.

Yeah, I recognized Island lol.

The valley at the destination planet had multiple domes/ships/warehouses. For all we know, the planet we see during the prologue might be a different place too.

But the simplistic moron inside of me says that it was played out to be Earth and nothing more.

 

[Cesar]

Is it just me or did some parts with the giant octopus/facehugger scene looked like stopmotion?

 

[vas_a_morir]

Yeah, I recognized Island lol.

The valley at the destination planet had multiple domes/ships/warehouses. For all we know, the planet we see during the prologue might be a different place too.

But the simplistic moron inside of me says that it was played out to be Earth and nothing more.

I think the beginning showed a lot of 'alien' looking landscapes for a reason. I had the distinct impression that it wasn't Earth... but, I could see how it could be Earth.

 

[glaurung]

Is it just me or did some parts with the giant octopus/facehugger scene looked like stopmotion?

I think that is just you. For me it looked like a really smooth, Kraken meets Death from Darksiders II full on CGI scene. The waxy surface of the engineer seemed almost too CG.

Edit: I just realized I wrote Iceland in my native language (Iceland = Island). Bah, I need coffee.

 

[Gvaz]

So basically the movie is:

- Space Jockeys create humanity
- Some either stick around or come back later to check up on their progress
- Weyland spends a trillion dollars in 2091 to send a bunch of dudes into space to find them
- the place ends up being a military facility on some backwater planet to either store or deploy Alien mutagens
- 2000 years ago there was a catastrophe where apparently some aliens got loose/evolved and killed everyone
- four dudes were in stasis on the ship prior to this event or around the same time, though only 1 survived
- David infects dude he didn't really like, because he knew he'd fuck the girl, meaning somehow david knew that his sperm would get infected and make weird squid proto-facehugger?
- running sideways from a spinning donut apparently doesn't cross anyone's mind
- no one says anything about the dead baby alien chestburster thing
- what did the little worms come from, and where did those earthworms come from? Were those proto-facehuggers, even though they didn't act like facehuggers per se?
- what was the point of weyland coming on the ship? what was the point of the daughter?
- why did the space jockey say "fuck these guys" and decide to continue his mission to earth anyways?
- it was shown to the viewer they were going back to earth, but why the fuck ram the ship and why is everyone okay with killing themselves?
- What the fuck does the worm things do that turns these dudes into zombies? Huh?
- Why does every single aliens movie have the androids get their heads ripped off by the end of the movie?
- why create humanity only to infect it with proto-aliens?
- where does the evolution come from between the proto aliens which are shown to be much more primitive and every single other alien in the older movies?
- what the fuck was with that enormous starfish facehugger?

 

[Brimstone]

Had a great time watching in IMAX. Got a free poster when leaving the theater.


Very impressive 3d and visuals.

 

[Nameless]

I don't think so. The Engineers had the same DNA as humans, but not every living thing on Earth.

I have no idea what that scene was. He must have been drinking Tab.

Seemed to me they were the origin of DNA on Earth, period. Humans share DNA with other living things: 98% with Chimps 50% with Bananas etc.. etc.. Our DNA matching the Engineers' completely is precisely what made us special; clearly we were created in their image. They were fully aware of what would emerge--hence the invitations.

Last time I watched Alien I found myself thinking how convenient it was that the human anatomy made for perfect hosts for these parasitic alien creatures that existed light years from Earth. Prometheus was an awesome film, but for me, I'm surprised how much it enhanced the Alien universe. The "Aliens" are essentially our younger siblings, created by our creators to destroy us, but instead they destroyed the creators. The Drakes & Sagans considered whether or not it's an intelligent species' fate to destroy itself. Despite reaching an absurd level of advancement this was certainly the case for the Engineers. I'm all for another film focused on David & Dr. Shaw searching the galaxy for The Engineers.

 

[shintoki]

Feel like jolting down a few points.

The movie had very little tension. This was the biggest fault to the movie. They would introduce something, and it may get 2-3 minutes of screen time, before it would be gone again. Boyfriend showing signs of infection. A few minutes later, getting burned. And its not the first. Had one of those creatures cut out. Forget about it till the end and no one bothers to check, ask questions, etc. It just jumps right next to the next point, which is Weyland. The one dude gets infected and disappears for 30 minutes. Shows up and just kills a bunch of people, before dying in a pretty anti-climatic fashion. Same way with the finale. David says its coming for her, 5 seconds later its there, 5 seconds later the squid has it.

And this is basically how it goes. Weyland rise from your grave. Bitch slapped to death. And to be blunt, it was a shitty plot point anyways. This feels like a shitty script on top of shitty directing. I mean Elba saying relaxed when they are in a tomb... really now?

Now here is the thing, it does some points well too. Like BF getting burnt pretty quickly. It worked for that due to the sense of urgency with out the big dramatic set up. Or the end where she still wants to pursue the Space Jockeys. Or in general, Fassbender's character. I think they had the right idea for the film, but it lacks an editor to put all the pieces into place. It felt completely chopped up, with some needless points added in just to way it down. So instead of really getting that proper build up for many moments. Events kind of just happened.

Sorry for the coherence, I'm tired.

 

[Erigu]

Note how cells started multiplying in the ocean as in new life forming. He created life on Earth.

(there was grass already)

Yeah which is totally why we don't have have a near 20 pages spoiler thread

C'mon, man. That doesn't mean the movie was subtle.

where every other poster missed half of the movie, some of those posters being self-proclaimed movie geeks.

"You just didn't get it!"

Seemed to me they were the origin of DNA on Earth, period. Humans share DNA with other living things: 98% with Chimps 50% with Bananas etc.. etc.. Our DNA matching the Engineers' completely is precisely what made us special; clearly we were created in their image.

The Engineers seriously need to learn about cloning.

 

[Buckethead]

Edit: I forgot to mention that very weak point of Stringer Bell leaving his spot to have sex with Charlize Theron and no one noticed that the 2 people that they were stuck at the cave screamed and died.

It's the future but they're not simultaneously recording peoples audio/video feeds?

 

[lazybones18]

They should of have had Weyland be in his 50s (and leading the whole mission of course). Would have made for an more interesting movie

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Is it just me or did some parts with the giant octopus/facehugger scene looked like stopmotion?

Yeah! I got that impression too - obviously it wasn't, but i got that stopmotion 'The Thing' vibe from it.

The fact those two guys died because the rest of the crew were too busy fucking was pretty funny.

 

[sweetvar26]

Had a great time watching in IMAX. Got a free poster when leaving the theater.


Very impressive 3d and visuals.

Yeah I just got back from my IMAX screening too. Not very impressed with the 3D but definitely impressed with the visuals.

The movie is awesome from a technical point of view but not so much for the story. As everyone is saying, there a lot of questions unanswered.

I did get the free IMAX poster too.

 

[Nameless]

Oh.. the "Alien Birth" scene was fucking amazing. AMAZING. Can't decide if that was my favorite scene, the opening, or the 3D Star Map scene.

 

[Gvaz]

Are you that stupid?

There was life on earth but the space jockeys were making HUMAN life. that's what the whole fucking intro was about.

 

[Count Dookkake]

More like PROCHOICE, lol, amirite?

 

[glaurung]

More like PROCHOICE, lol, amirite?

I felt there was more of a pro-christian agenda to the narrative. Which I loathed.

 

[Atruvius]

Saw this yesterday and the theater was much more packed than I thought. It was almost full. No one talked during the movie so it was a better cinema experience in a long time.

I enjoyed the movie a lot, I don't like nitpicking stories because it hampers down the perceived enjoyment I got from the movie. I'm more of an experience guy than a story guy. I didn't mind the plot holes, I didn't really even notice, except how the map guys got lost in that cave. Didn't they have a holographic map with them? I thought Fitfel could see where his "puppies" went...

The worst part off the movie was Theron's "father". I knew everyone complain about it and I wasn't wrong.

Concerning the big facehugger. I see it the same way as dinosaurs and birds. The big facehugger is the huge ancestor to facehugger, just like dinosaurs are to birds.

About why the big bald white guy attacked humans. I see these ancestor aliens more loyal than humans. When they have a mission they'll complete it no matter what. The guy was probably a soldier so of course when he sees these human he attacks them and tries to complete the the mission of his people: wiping out humans.

--------

Did anyone else grin alot during some parts, like at the beginning David was walking around the Prometheus and someplaces looked a lot like Nostromo, and at the space jockey room. Those parts were the best.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Saw this yesterday and the theater was much more packed than I thought. It was almost full. No one talked during the movie so it was a better cinema experience in a long time.

I enjoyed the movie a lot, I don't like nitpicking stories because it hampers down the perceived enjoyment I got from the movie. I'm more of an experience guy than a story guy. I didn't mind the plot holes, I didn't really even notice, except how the map guys got lost in that cave. Didn't they have a holographic map with them? I thought Fitfel could see where his "puppies" went...

The worst part off the movie was Theron's "father". I knew everyone complain about it and I wasn't wrong.

Concerning the big facehugger. I see it the same way as dinosaurs and birds. The big facehugger is the huge ancestor to facehugger, just like dinosaurs are to birds.

About why the big bald white guy attacked humans. I see these ancestor aliens more loyal than humans. When they have a mission they'll complete it no matter what. The guy was probably a soldier so of course when he sees these human he attacks them and tries to complete the the mission of his people: wiping out humans.

--------

Did anyone else grin alot during some parts, like at the beginning David was walking around the Prometheus and someplaces looked a lot like Nostromo, and at the space jockey room. Those parts were the best.

The opening was great.

I really expected to be tearing this film apart but even with the problems I can't hate it, especially when I enjoyed it so much while watching it. So many really cool moments.

 

[glaurung]

About why the big bald white guy attacked humans. I see these ancestor aliens more loyal than humans. When they have a mission they'll complete it no matter what. The guy was probably a soldier so of course when he sees these human he attacks them and tries to complete the the mission of his people: wiping out humans.

We never knew what David told the big guy. And there are hints at David's psychotic tendencies.

Did anyone else grin alot during some parts, like at the beginning David was walking around the Prometheus and someplaces looked a lot like Nostromo, and at the space jockey room. Those parts were the best.

David living the everyday android life on board the quiet vessel were awesome. Fassbender at his best.

 

[Erigu]

There was life on earth but the space jockeys were making HUMAN life.

So we're not related to other lifeforms on Earth?
Was there even some kind of evolutional process, or did modern man just magically emerge from that waterfall?
How does that shit work?

I felt there was more of a pro-christian agenda to the narrative. Which I loathed.

But it was so subtle!

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

Are you that stupid?

There was life on earth but the space jockeys were making HUMAN life. that's what the whole fucking intro was about.

Not necessarily. Who's to say that it wasn't the creation of all complex life on earth? I would say there was likely some flora and fauna on the planet beforehand though, but it is very possible more than humans were created.

I felt there was more of a pro-christian agenda to the narrative. Which I loathed.

Really? I didnt get that from the film at all.

 

[Brimstone]

Yeah I just got back from my IMAX screening too. Not very impressed with the 3D but definitely impressed with the visuals.

The movie is awesome from a technical point of view but not so much for the story. As everyone is saying, there a lot of questions unanswered.

I did get the free IMAX poster too.

I'd probably need to watch again and over time think about the movie more but...


I got the impression The Epic of Gilgamesh sort of influenced the story. In the Gilgamesh the gods are capricious and in Prometheus the Space Jockeys come across as capricious. Why did you make us, and now why do you want to destroy us. The line about being a King and just have your time to reign, just like Gilgamesh being a King but wanting to be more.