I just saw this for the 2nd time at IMAX. I thought it wouldn't make much of a difference but wow, it did. IMAX makes the film more majestic and grand. I wouldn't recommend watching it for the 1st time on IMAX though since IMAX screen tends to be so huge that you can get lost of the whole picture in exchange of seeing more details. OTOH, if you have seen it once at normal cinemas, you already know the whole pictures so you can now zoom in on the details. And there are a lot of nice things to see in details. I like how being at IMAX makes you feel like you're really inside PROMETHEUS the ship itself.
As for the story itself:
* This time around, I noticed that the trans-mutation substance consumed by the sole Engineers in the beginning is different from the ones found in the cave. There's a beeswax-like texture to this substance and it was stored inside a smaller container. However, that may just be unintentional effect of the CG.
* David was seen consuming food and drinks at the start of the movie, which is amusing because I assume his body doesn't need the nutrient and no one is watching him eating. So I really don't understand why he does it anyway since it doesn't have the purpose of making other humans feel at ease by giving them impression that he's just like them (look at him, he eats like us!)
* Weyland's speech about how Prometheus was cast out from Mount Olympus made me think back to the sole Engineer we saw at the beginning of the movie. IF the movie is not exactly subtle about its allegory then I guess it's safe to say that he's our 'Prometheus'. This is going to go into speculation territory. IF he is our 'Prometheus' then it'd mean that he was cast out into Earth for something that he did. Assuming that the substance was meant to kill him, then it'd also mean that our creation was not intended. We were an accident born from an attempt to abort 'Prometheus' life, so to speak. But again, this is a lot of speculations and it'll depend on two things: that the Engineer meant to die and the substance was indeed meant to kill him but instead seeded his gene into our DNA.
* The whole "We find this cave painting in every past civilizations" suggest to me that the Engineers have paid multiple visits to each separate civilizations. It's impossible otherwise for these civilizations, most of whom have no connection to previous civilizations, to come up with the same drawing. Especially if you know most of these civilizations died/perished before the next big one came up. So my only assumption is that in order for these civilizations to even depict the planet configurations of the Engineers, someone must have shown them that. The only explanation I can come up with is that some Engineers have paid a visit to each past civilization.
* I'm not exactly a geologist/archeologist and I am not very aware of how some of our past civilizations perished. History suggests that it's natural occurrence like lava explosion, tide rising, etc. But WHAT IF, it's the Engineers who terminated each and every past civilizations in the past? Maybe they know that the death of the first Engineer created humanity so they keep a close watch. And every hundreds or so years, they destroy the previous civilization so that we never get to become too powerful. Yeah I know it sounds too much like Mass Effect 3 plot. My bad.
* What if the cave painting was left behind in case they can't get to us in time before our civilizations reach its peak like now when knowledge and technology are in abundance? Maybe it's a way for them to spring a trap for us, which explains them leading us to a military base instead of their homeworld. But then the event of 2000 years ago came into existence. What could this be?
* ASSUMING that this is the event where one Engineer got crucified (aka he's the Space Jesus), then this is the point where they realized how dangerous our species can be. Maybe it's also the point where they realized they can't just wipe us out using normal means. Maybe this is when they start altering the properties of the trans-mutation substance to create the Xenomorph. They were meant to be weapons to destroy us. But before they can use it, the outbreak happened and so on.
* Someone else probably has pointed this one out. But this time around I realized that the chamber where they found the severed head functions more or less like a decontamination chamber. The trans-mutation substance didn't start to leak out of the urns until the door was opened. The Engineer who decapitated his head probably did the decapitation on purpose. Maybe he was infected and the only way to stop the infection was to decapitated his head so that it'll be contained in the decontamination chamber along with the other urns. The question is, what is so different between these urns and the ones seen near the Engineers' control room? If these ones easily leak when the door is opened, why are the ones near in the Engineers' control room are fine when exposed to air?
* Another question following that would be, if the decapitated Engineer ran to the decontamination chamber to stop the infection inside him, then where did he ran away from? Where was the point of the infection? We don't see any other leaking urns in other parts of the cave. Is this the one where there are piles of bodies?
* Fifield and Millburn are still idiots regardless how many times I see this. Fifield for getting lost in the cave that he himself mapped and Millburn for trying to touch a species that he has no knowledge of BUT has a resemblance to a Cobra, which even the dumbest human should have the instinct to stay away from. I can fanwank that Fifield maybe under the influence of drug at that point so he wasn't thinking clearly. But Millburn's survival instinct and rational train of thoughts seem to be lacking.
* I really have no idea how Shaw managed to get into the operating room in Vickers' room without going through Vickers' room in the first place. I saw the sequence clearly and it just shows her going from one corridor to the next and then suddenly she's inside the operating room. It doesn't make sense to me considering we only saw that there's only one way to get into that room the first time around. Not mention the fact that she was stumbling around quite a bit and yet neither Ford (bowl-cut lady) nor Jackson (gruff security guy) manage to catch up to her.
* Shaw basically ripped off the placenta of her baby with her bare hands. I don't know how likely that is since I'm not a doctor or a woman in distress. But I did see the machine close up/cauterized her surgery wounds before stapling her tummy. So at least the machine did a decent job of patching her up. Having said that, you'd think a Biohazard decontamination order on the machine would have triggered some kind of alarm/notification on the ship. I guess not.
* Fifield's original stance before attacking red shirt guy #1 was that of a spider. Since he fell into the puddle So yes, I think his limb was twisted/elongated. Since he was shown falling into the puddle of trans-mutation substance, it supports the theory that the substance does alter the physical body of its target (ie. the worm on the ground, Fifield, and Holloway had Vickers didn't burn him to crisp) into something with Xenomorph-like essence.
* If I have to fanwank it, I'd guess that the reason the sole Engineer in hyper-sleep chamber was still there is because he got into hyper-sleep mode before the outbreak happened. So he had no idea what happened only to be awaken and found what are meant to be their target, standing in front of his eyes.
So why do the Engineers want to kill us. I've already posited several crackpot theories up above but I'll highlight some possibilities (most are probably contradictory to the others):
1. We were never meant to exist. We were an accident from 'Prometheus', who was sent to Earth to die but instead seeded us. So the Engineers watch us and intend on killing us (and maybe have done so every few civilizations). They develop Xeno substance for that purpose.
2. We were intentionally created by them. However, 2000 years ago, we did something to piss them off. Say, we inadvertently killed one of their kind. They went into rage mode and decided to develop a bio-weapon to combat us. That weapon is the trans-mutation substance in the urns as well as some creature they've developed (thus explaining the Xenomorph figure in the altar). But something went wrong on the military base before they went to bomb our planet with the urns.
3. We were created for the purpose of being Xeno's hosts. But in order for that to happen, we'd have to be plentiful and it'd take thousands of years. But then the outbreak happens. I like this theory the least.
I'm still pissed off with the inconsistencies and the lack of observation from the characters. But after the 2nd viewing, I'm quite willing to postpone my criticism about the inconsistencies of the trans-mutation substance as well as the reason for our creation and eventual intent for termination by the Engineers.
