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[Baller. PhD]

The Nostromo crew were basically space truckers. The Prometheus crew were supposed to be scientists or generally very intelligent people.

Space truckers acting like idiots when faced with the unknown? I'd believe. Scientists acting like idiots when faced with the unknown? Come on.

If you found yourself in a highly stressful life-or-death situation, who would you choose to have your back: a group of rugged truckers or a group of scientists? I'd roll with the truckers every day of the week, thanks. Any idiot would figure out that when you're being hunted by an malevolent alien being that has acid for blood and grows from infant to adult in less than 15 minutes, you should probably not go off on your own.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

So I just sat down and watched the blu-ray of the original Alien that had been sitting on my shelf forever, and I hate to break it to you dudes but that movie was pretty fucking stupid too.

*snip*

tl;dr - Prometheus may have flaws, but it borrowed them all from the original Alien.

My post on the last page:

But damn, the auto-surgery scene is SO GOOD. Fuck. It might deserve to be a Famous Movie Scene. It's actually a microcosm of why the rest of the movie doesn't work--I can forgive everything that's dumb about the scene (they couldn't fit lady-surgery instructions into this thing? how the fuck does black goo sperm result in a squid baby?) because the scene itself is amazing! It's excused. There's just nothing to hang onto in the rest of the movie, so you end up nitpicking it to death.

 

[PrivateWHudson]

That's not the point he's trying to make though. He's just stating that maybe these ancient civilizations drew these giant figures and constellations because it was simply built into them.

I saw the film for the second time today. This was a 2D viewing. Does anyone else find the CG in this film much more palatable in 2D than in 3D? In 3D, you can really see where the CG stands out.

Maybe the "home world", but why would the weapon depot be ingrained in DNA memory?

 

[GhaleonEB]

it makes the reveal of what the engineers look like and what the black goo does less dramatic.

Agree, it would have been much more effective had we been able to participate in the feeling of discovery along with the characters. Instead we know it's a dude under there the entire time. The opening scene undercut two dramatic reveals, and added nothing to the film on its own.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

I saw the film for the second time today. This was a 2D viewing. Does anyone else find the CG in this film much more palatable in 2D than in 3D? In 3D, you can really see where the CG stands out.

I haven't seen it in 2D but I thought the effects were remarkably seamless in 3D. Most of the creature stuff was mix-and-match between practical and digital and I thought it looked great. I couldn't really tell which was which unless it was doing something impossible in practical (like the hammerpede cramming down Millburn's throat).

 

[maharg]

Agree, it would have been much more effective had we been able to participate in the feeling of discovery along with the characters. Instead we know it's a dude under there the entire time. The opening scene undercut two dramatic reveals, and added nothing to the film on its own.

Eh? The opening scene doesn't tell us the dude in the cloak is a space jockey. You may have been spoiled for that some other way, but that scene doesn't tell you that at all.

 

[Erigu]

The dudes in Alien knew they were heading into an abandoned ship, and yet they didn't bring any weapons either.

They weren't prepared for that. It should have been business as usual, and the whole "abandoned ship" thing was an unexpected detour.
The Prometheus guys, on the other hand...

Prometheus may have flaws, but it borrowed them all from the original Alien.

Sure...

Eh? The opening scene doesn't tell us the dude in the cloak is a space jockey. You may have been spoiled for that some other way, but that scene doesn't tell you that at all.

It looks like he's creating life, and a few minutes later, Shaw tells us about "Engineers" who created us, and how they're going over to their place... It isn't much of a reveal when the Engineer turns out to look like the guy in the opening scene.

 

[- J - D -]

If you found yourself in a highly stressful life-or-death situation, who would you choose to have your back: a group of rugged truckers or a group of scientists? I'd roll with the truckers every day of the week, thanks. Any idiot would figure out that when you're being hunted by an malevolent alien being that has acid for blood and grows from infant to adult in less than 15 minutes, you should probably not go off on your own.

I don't know if the space truckers are any more hardened than the Prometheus scientists who routinely explore caves and whatnot. As for the Nostromo folks wandering off on their own with the alien on board, well, the only time that really happens is with Brett, who goes off chasing the cat. All other times, it was groups of at least 2. Except Dallas in the duct, but those were extenuated circumstances.

Regardless, the crew of the Nostromo were actually fairly competent when compared with the circus from Prometheus.

-Taking their helmets off in a foreign environment, when contagions could be lingering in the air?
-Biologist who interacts with an unknown species, treating it like a pet?
-Geologist who manages to get lost in a cave even when the thing was mapped out?
-Ship captain who seemingly doesn't give a single shit about 2 crew members stranded in a cave with a possible threat lurking around?
-The crew opening the hatch for the infected Fifield, even though they had just witnessed Holloway turning into something?
-The CEO of a multi-trillion dollar company tags along on a potentially dangerous mission into the unknown when it's not certain what the expedition will yield, if anything at all.
-Vickers is incapable of running perpendicularly away from the path of a slowly teetering space ship.

 

[Erigu]

Brett, who goes off chasing the cat.

And that was before they knew the thing had grown, right?

 

[Chichikov]

just had a friend show me that just like 20 minutes ago. again, i think most of it can be explained, is asked in the film, or is kinda wrong (it's the geologist who clearly wants nothing to do with biology who wants to leave).

Everything can be explained.

"it was all a dream", there, done.

That's not the mark of a good screenplay.
I mean, this is all just made up sci-fi mumbo jumbu, but it need to sounds plausible.
Because if you keep going "wait a minute, why doesn't he <whatever>?" it takes you out of the movie.
And boy, Prometheus is 80% that by volume.

 

[maharg]

It looks like he's creating life, and a few minutes later, Shaw tells us about "Engineers" who created us, and how they're going over to their place... It isn't much of a reveal when the Engineer turns out to look like the guy in the opening scene.

Alright, but that's a bit different than I interpreted the post I was replying to mean. I thought we were talking about the fact that they're the mysterious aliens from Alien. I.. don't really think the looks of the Engineers as creators of humanity is very important or worthy of some grand dramatic reveal, personally.

 

[Gassey]

The problem is that you have civilizations with the exact same star chart that didn't even know they existed.

Like the Mayans and Egyptians. There's no way they could have the exact same picture without them contacting each other, which didn't happen.

Not quite. I mean a Owl born in Australia knows just as well how to fly, when it's born, as a Russian Duck. If it's a genetic memory, they don't need to have contact with one another, they just all have to share the same DNA.

What I'm trying to say (badly) is that the civilizations don't need to have had contact with one another, but that everyone is born with an innate understanding of where they come from.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Or you know, not put a scene where someone have to outrun a crashing spaceship, because it's fucking stupid?

I could have gone for a scene where a big chunk of the ship just up and landed on Vickers. She's looking up, turns to run, then BAM engine lands on her, Loonet Tunes style. It actually would have been funny than what actually happened.

 

[- J - D -]

And that was before they knew the thing had grown, right?

Yeah, at that point they just assumed the creature was penis sized. That doesn't really excuse Brett's idiocy (or Parker's, letting him go like that) though. They never seemed very bright.

I always had the impression that the Nostromo crew weren't particularly intelligent, just well trained in what they were supposed to do, which is to lug cargo through space.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Eh? The opening scene doesn't tell us the dude in the cloak is a space jockey. You may have been spoiled for that some other way, but that scene doesn't tell you that at all.

He's seen drinking a substance similar to what the crew find. Easy to connect the dots. I did, at least. And as was said, what he does is what Shaw says the Engineers she is looking for does - seed life. I thought it was very easy to connect them to what they find.

 

[Baller. PhD]

As for the Nostromo folks wandering off on their own with the alien on board, well, the only time that really happens is with Brett, who goes off chasing the cat. All other times, it was groups of at least 2. Except Dallas in the duct, but those were extenuated circumstances.

Except after Dallas is killed, Parker goes off to refuel his weapon by himself, Ripley yells at Ash and tells him to get fucked, he supposedly walks off alone -- then she goes to "talk to mother" by her goddamnself, and the other woman is left alone in the community room, though she isn't there once Ash attacks Ripley.

I mean seriously? The original movie was pretty fucking stupid too. You guys just have such huge nostalgia boners so you're overly criticizing Prometheus for doing all the same shit the original did.

 

[maharg]

He's seen drinking a substance similar to what the crew find. Easy to connect the dots. I did, at least. And as was said, what he does is what Shaw says the Engineers she is looking for does - seed life. I thought it was very easy to connect them to what they find.

Ok? This is like complaining that it's obvious the Star Destroyer Star Wars opens on happens to be Darth Vader's ship.

Ripley yells at Ash and tells him to get fucked, he supposedly walks off alone -- then she goes to "talk to mother" by her goddamnself

You do realize she has reason to distrust Ash at that point and is basically going to Mother to confirm her suspicions that the whole thing is a setup right? Ash wasn't exactly the company she wanted on that particular trip.

And she was right, too. But obviously that makes her dumb.

 

[Erigu]

You guys just have such huge nostalgia boners so you're overly criticizing Prometheus for doing all the same shit the original did.

No. Just no. The Prometheus guys were even worse than the Alien ones, despite supposedly being this crack team of experts on a trillion dollar scientific expedition.
And that's not exactly the only criticism leveled against Prometheus either (the dialogue was clunky as shit, for example... claiming the same could be said of Alien would have to be a fucking joke).

 

[- J - D -]

Except after Dallas is killed, Parker goes off to refuel his weapon by himself, Ripley yells at Ash and tells him to get fucked, he supposedly walks off alone -- then she goes to "talk to mother" by her goddamnself, and the other woman is left alone in the community room, though she isn't there once Ash attacks Ripley.

I mean seriously? The original movie was pretty fucking stupid too. You guys just have such huge nostalgia boners so you're overly criticizing Prometheus for doing all the same shit the original did.

Once again, it seems like you're ignoring the differing factor here that I've brought up twice now. The crew of the Nostromo aren't particularly prepared, or bright, for that matter.

The scenes I brought up about Prometheus contained ramifications occurring as the result of the actions of the characters. The ones you mentioned above about the Nostromo crew doesn't actually amount to much because the time they spent on their own was brief, so we don't actually know how much time elapsed before they all came back together to stop Ash from killing Ripley. Doesn't excuse Parker or Ash from leaving the group, granted. Ash did have ulterior motives though. I had the impression that he wanted to find the creature more than anything else.

 

[Baller. PhD]

You do realize she has reason to distrust Ash at that point and is basically going to Mother to confirm her suspicions that the whole thing is a setup right? Ash wasn't exactly the company she wanted on that particular trip.

And she was right, too. But obviously that makes her dumb.

Obviously I realize that. Regardless, why does she let Parker go off alone? She was in command and she ordered Ash to go with him. She should have said "Hey idiot, giant alien just killed two of our crewmen, one of them the captain -- you're not going alone." She certainly didn't seem to have any trouble taking control, so why did she let that slide? Ash just walks off like he's going off to his bunk or something, but no big deal? Hell, why didn't she tell the other woman to go with them too? Or bring her with her to see mother for that matter? Why did she let her stay in the room alone?

That's just one scene too, the movie is filled with shit like that. Again, why was there only one escape pod on that giant ship, and why didn't it have enough stasis beds for -- at a minimum -- the crew it started off with? And if Ripley is so smart, why the fuck did she leave her position to go and get the cat when she heard it meow? There were 3 fucking crewmen left at that point and she had already (stupidly) sent the other two off and was by herself. But damn, the cat! Gotta get that cat!

Watch the movie again, and do so with have of the scrutiny you're levying against Prometheus. Your eyes will roll. Face it, we were younger and dumber when we saw the first Alien so we let the bullshit slide. It was just as silly as Prometheus. Justifying it by saying they weren't scientists is silly. Have you ever met an actual scientist? Most are extremely narrow-minded and are really good at one particular thing, but should never be trusted in a practical situation. Regardless it's a silly argument; obviously there were weapons on the Nostromo, so as soon as they entered SJ's ship and realized what it was (which was clearly obvious as soon as they set foot in it, if not earlier) they should have gone back and gotten them, bottom line. Certainly, proto-chestbuster host shouldn't have been dicking around with the egg sack. Why did he think it was a good idea to go down that hole by himself anyway? Immediately after finding the dead carcass of what would seem to be the first extraterrestrial life form ever discovered? Again, with no weapons. I guess he gets a pass though since he wasn't a scientist. LOL

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Ok? This is like complaining that it's obvious the Star Destroyer Star Wars opens on happens to be Darth Vader's ship.

I don't have a huge problem with the beginning but you generally don't want the audience ahead of the characters in the plot. SW comparison is pointless, there's no "mystery" the characters are embarking on a journey to discover. Certainly arguable from a writer's perspective that that scene is important to have at the beginning, but you definitely sacrifice some of the mystery with the rest of the crew.

 

[maharg]

Obviously I realize that. Regardless, why does she let Parker go off alone? She was in command and she ordered Ash to go with him. She should have said "Hey idiot, giant alien just killed two of our crewmen, one of them the captain -- you're not going alone." She certainly didn't seem to have any trouble taking control, so why did she let that slide? Ash just walks off like he's going off to his bunk or something, but no big deal? Hell, why didn't she tell the other woman to go with them too? Why did she let her stay in the room alone?

That's just one scene too, the movie is filled with shit like that. Again, why was there only one escape pod on that giant ship, and why didn't it have enough stasis beds for -- at a minimum -- the crew it started off with? And if Ripley is so smart, why the fuck did she leave her position to go and get the cat when she heard it meow? There were 3 fucking crewmen left at that point and she had already (stupidly) sent the other two off and was by herself. But damn, the cat! Gotta get that cat!

Watch the movie again, and do so with have of the scrutiny you're levying against Prometheus. Your eyes will roll. Face it, we were younger and dumber when we saw the first Alien so we let the bullshit slide. It was just as silly as Prometheus. Justifying it by saying they weren't scientists is silly. Have you ever met an actual scientist? Most are extremely narrow-minded and are really good at one particular thing, but should never be trusted in a practical situation. Regardless it's a silly argument; obviously there were weapons on the Nostromo, so as soon as they entered SJ's ship and realized what it was (which was clearly obvious as soon as they set foot in it, if not earlier) they should have gone back and gotten them, bottom line. Certainly, proto-chestbuster host shouldn't have been docking around with the egg sack. I guess he gets a pass though since he wasn't a scientist. LOL

The first time I saw and appreciated Alien for the masterpiece it was, I was a fully grown adult with a well defined sense of what I do and don't like. That said, I don't actually have a problem with people doing 'dumb' things in horror/suspense flicks because I recognize it as an element of the genre. That goes for Prometheus as well as Alien.

By ranting on this so much you're basically making yourself out to be a hypocrite. You're ragging on people for pointing out flaws in Prometheus while dragging Alien down on the same basis. And you then imply that Alien is not also a visually stunning movie, which it absolutely is.

Seriously, give it a rest. You're losing whatever high ground you might have started with.

Oh. And by the way? There were no weapons on the Nostromo. They actually make that pretty damn clear. The flamethrowers they build are jury-rigged. Why would they even have weapons anyways?

I don't have a huge problem with the beginning but you generally don't want the audience ahead of the characters in the plot. SW comparison is pointless, there's no "mystery" the characters are embarking on a journey to discover. Certainly arguable from a writer's perspective that that scene is important to have at the beginning, but you definitely sacrifice some of the mystery with the rest of the crew.

I'm not even going to bother much with how silly it is to say "you generally don't want the audience ahead of the characters in the plot" when this is actually an entirely standard thing to do in literature of all sorts, including film. Including the other Alien films.

What's important here is that "who created humanity" isn't an important question in Prometheus. The mystery is *why* and *why they turned against us*. The movie already tried to spin too many mysteries and you'd like it to have spun more? Maybe spent a whole extra half hour on what the Engineers looked like?

 

[sflufan]

I mean seriously? The original movie was pretty fucking stupid too. You guys just have such huge nostalgia boners so you're overly criticizing Prometheus for doing all the same shit the original did.

No, that means Prometheus should be criticized EVEN MORE HARSHLY because it's making the same goddamned logic mistakes as a film that was released 33 years ago.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Now we got people shitting on Alien? SMH.

 

[Baller. PhD]

By ranting on this so much you're basically making yourself out to be a hypocrite. You're ragging on people for pointing out flaws in Prometheus while dragging Alien down on the same basis. And you then imply that Alien is not also a visually stunning movie, which it absolutely is.

Seriously, give it a rest. You're losing whatever high ground you might have started with.

The point I'm trying to make is that dumb shit was in the original Alien too. I love the movie and I thought Prometheus was pretty damn great too, but I walked in to the theater with realistic expectations and a "clear" understanding of the series, if that makes sense. A lot of shit bugged me -- the lack of explanation for the black goo, the way David could perfectly understand ancient alien technology and language by studying neanderthal symbols, the non-explanation of why the engineers wanted to kill humanity in the first place, etc. Those are valid criticisms. The situational stuff regarding the actions of the characters? Business as usual for the series, and for thrillers in general.

Also, I could say the same thing about Prometheus' "lack of answers" that you say about silly characters decisions in horror/suspense films. In 2012, hundred-million dollar summer blockbusters are usually created with sequels in mind. I thought it was pretty damn obvious that Prometheus left us hanging for a sequel. I'd have preferred a more thorough explanation, but hey, writing scripts with sequels in mind is now an element of the summer blockbuster genre.

 

[Rocket Punch]

Now we got people shitting on Alien? SMH.

He's making a point. "Don't take movies too seriously". He's right.

 

[Replicant]

That's not the point he's trying to make though. He's just stating that maybe these ancient civilizations drew these giant figures and constellations because it was simply built into them.

Uh, what does that even mean? That doesn't make any sense.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

That's not the point he's trying to make though. He's just stating that maybe these ancient civilizations drew these giant figures and constellations because it was simply built into them./QUOTE]

Uh, what does that even mean? That doesn't make any sense.

It makes perfect sense. They're super-mechas and so David finally meeting them just confirms Prometheus is a remake of A.I.

 

[Chichikov]

He's making a point. "Don't take movies too seriously". He's right.

Oh please, Prometheus is a movie begging to be taken seriously.
MYSTERY OF CREATION AND HUMAN EXISTENCE!

And Alien isn't stupid.
The hell is wrong with you people?

Uh, what does that even mean? That doesn't make any sense.

nanomachines.

 

[Replicant]

Damn you Sculli for quoting me before I can fix my tag error. *shakes fist*

nanomachines.

Prometheus is MGS4 sequel confirmed!

 

[Doodis]

Just saw this today. Beautiful movie, but yeah, left a lot of questions. A friend sent me this article that I thought was kind of interesting. Haven't read the whole thread, so I'm not sure if this has come up yet.

http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html#cutid1

EDIT: Basically, Space Jesus.

 

[Aaron]

I'm not even going to bother much with how silly it is to say "you generally don't want the audience ahead of the characters in the plot" when this is actually an entirely standard thing to do in literature of all sorts, including film. Including the other Alien films.

What's important here is that "who created humanity" isn't an important question in Prometheus. The mystery is *why* and *why they turned against us*. The movie already tried to spin too many mysteries and you'd like it to have spun more? Maybe spent a whole extra half hour on what the Engineers looked like?

It would nice to have had some mystery and tension in a prequel to Alien, instead of knowing just about everything that would happen and running out the clock for two plus hours. The opening scene, and the scene in Scotland, give the audience information they don't need at that point. It would be much better to open with David's antics, and be in the same position at the rest of the crew, not knowing what's going on until they're told, and even then not really knowing.

Not that it would have helped with the dozen logical holes the movie had, but a little suspense would have been nice.

 

[Gassey]

Uh, what does that even mean? That doesn't make any sense.

Wikipedia almost kind of explains it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_memory_(biology)

Specifically referring to the part at the bottom referring to "instinct".

 

[TRios Zen]

The point I'm trying to make is that dumb shit was in the original Alien too. I love the movie and I thought Prometheus was pretty damn great too, but I walked in to the theater with realistic expectations and a "clear" understanding of the series, if that makes sense. A lot of shit bugged me -- the lack of explanation for the black goo, the way David could perfectly understand ancient alien technology and language by studying neanderthal symbols, the non-explanation of why the engineers wanted to kill humanity in the first place, etc. Those are valid criticisms. The situational stuff regarding the actions of the characters? Business as usual for the series, and for thrillers in general.

Also, I could say the same thing about Prometheus' "lack of answers" that you say about silly characters decisions in horror/suspense films. In 2012, hundred-million dollar summer blockbusters are usually created with sequels in mind. I thought it was pretty damn obvious that Prometheus left us hanging for a sequel. I'd have preferred a more thorough explanation, but hey, writing scripts with sequels in mind is now an element of the summer blockbuster genre.

There were a few times when the characters in Alien did things that seem illogical, but their actions were NOT out of character. You may think their characters were stupid, but they reacted exactly how you would expect that character too. For example, Ripley's feelings for the cat were touched on in the movie, as was her distrust of Ash.

On the other hand, the characters in Prometheus do things seemingly COMPLETELY out of character, for no given reason, other than (apparently) to move the plot forward.

 

[davepoobond]

well, these are my thoughts:

the black stuff seemed like it "modified" whatever it touch to become some fucked up weirdo version of what you are. humans become raging alcoholics, maggots become penis monsters, etc.

the "black stuff" -- i can probably guess that i would buy the explanation that it is xenomorph DNA, with the more likely situation that it is "constructed" by the engineers much like they constructed us. Perhaps they constructed it form their DNA, which i assume is something of the same process similar to what they created humans from.

why the engineers on the base were all chestbursted, and then where did those aliens go is probably a good question. I personally think that those aliens were probably some sort of "test" or maybe some religious thing. i don't exactly get the purpose of the first sequence with the dude drinking the cup of black goo. my reaosning for those aliens still being around on the planet in some form is all of the acid on the walls. all of that stuff happened 2000 years ago, so its probably likely that they moved on from that place and went somewhere else. or maybe they died because the atmosphere killed them and they had no food to eat inside. its kind of a moot point considering they weren't encountered or seen anywhere. it would explain why those hologram guys were running (what were they running away from?)

the engineers for some reason kept those urns in the big face rooms in a different stacking measure than the ones in the cargo hold of the space ship, which would imply they are meant for some sort of use or purpose. my vote probably goes for whatever they were doing in the beginning of the movie for whatever reason. how that differs from the chestbursted aliens, i don't know. maybe it was a different part of the process or the process somehow changed into that as time went on and they began "breeding" whatever it was that came out of the goo.

as for the question of "why" they turned against us, i can only see one possibility that i would prescribe to: we weren't what they wanted. which means what they actually wanted was what we would become once these aliens were birthed, most likely through way of the chestbursting process.

to me, I don't feel like the Engineers "needed" a military directive to do what they were doing. i don't feel like they are intentionally exterminating humans, but rather using them as a means to an end. For some reason they wanted to create something, and they didn't want to use billions of Engineers, and would rather just use billions of humans instead to do it. That feels like the best explanation to me with what we have from the movie.


as for the actual story in the movie: i didn't like how they foribly killed vickers. she should have just "rolled away" 10 feet like Shaw did and it coulda been the two of them traversing the galaxy with David. I think that would have been more interesting. i felt like they think they had to kill her because she was the "villainous" person on their team since she killed Halloway.

the pilot guy was sort of weird in that i felt like he was going to be some sort of puppet or had some ulterior agenda when he was playing as a sketchy character in the beginning. it was weird how he turned face and was a "noble" character in the end.

 

[Nlroh]

Just watched it. Maybe having a -late- release here helped me, because after reading thousands of comments about how it's a horrible film and what not, I went in expecting a really bad movie. I enjoyed it a lot. I don't remember any other recent "big" movie that I enjoyed this much. It was entertaining and made us have a nice little conversation about exogenesis and other stuff.

This is the first time I've been in the spoilers thread and seriously I'm laughing about some of your complaints. It's ridiculous some of you expected more answers, none of the trailers and marketing made me think I was going to watch something that would make me change my views on life or something along the lines. Obviously all the science stuff was made up and didn't make any sense (like in most sci-fi movies or tv shows), most of the characters didn't have reasonable motivations at all, and it's not a deep movie. But yeah, I would watch it again and to be honest, I don't get what some of you are saying about the structure being a mess. It was just a pretty entertaining sci-fi movie with some dumb character writing.

I hope we get a sequel, more Fassbender please.

 

[brandonh83]

Just watched it. Maybe having a -late- release here helped me, because after reading thousands of comments about how it's a horrible film and what not, I went in expecting a really bad movie. I enjoyed it a lot. I don't remember any other recent "big" movie that I enjoyed this much. It was entertaining and made us have a nice little conversation about exogenesis and other stuff.

Well that's certainly better to hear than "oh man I really loved the movie until the internet proved me wrong."

 

[SilentProtagonist]

I don't see any c*ck to mouth scene in Avatar. Prometheus wins the "How can we show porn without making one" award.

Ridley: 1, Cameron: 0.

Yeah watching the proto-facehugger-squid scene again today I noticed that not only does the thing have a vagina that shoots a penis down your throat but also when the flaps that reveal the mouth are closed it looks like a rectum.
So you're getting a butthole, vagina, penis monster. Cameron can't top that.

 

[Salsa]

just gonna quote from the other thread:

Alright, dont know what's in everyone's pipe but I loved the shit out of that movie.

There's a couple things I didnt like, as with any movie, but I certainly didnt felt like it was super ambigious or confusing like i've been told. It was entertaining, suspenful, writing was alright, acting was really good, and it had a certain Ridley Scott touch that I feared would be missed, but it's all still there. The plot wasn't the best ever, but it had all the things i'd expect from a Ridley Scott sci fi film.

Genuinely loved it. Guess one could argue that my expectations were lower since the reception, but still.

Now to the bad part: It looked like SHIT on my theatre. When it started everything was blurry and crappy so I took my glasses off to see if anyone was having the same experience and nobody could care less (the fuck). The whole movie looked reeeeeeeeeally bad at parts, colors messed up, blurry, double-images, weird ghosting.

Left the theatre and went speak to the manager, she told me she was aware of the issue since it was some "new technology" bs and the guys projecting the film werent able to get the hang of it in time. She said she was sorry and offered to give me two tickets to see any movie I wanted any time, lied and told her I was with 3 other people and got myself 4 tickets that i'll probably be spending with Spiderman or something.

Still, super pissed since it really harmed the experience in a big way and i've been waiting for this for so long.. need to sleep on it. Fuckin theatres.

but also, when I talk about the stuff I didnt like I refer mostly to stuff like these:

- Millburn going from pussy to "ITS ALRIGHT LET ME TOUCH THIS THING" from one moment to the next
- "NO!.... FATHER!"


wich in the grand scheme of things, barely bother me

I still very much loved it and I doubt the internetz could change my opinion on that

 

[DeadTrees]

And Alien isn't stupid.

Says who? Outside of Ash's reveal and the "kill meeeee" scene, the second hour was a nonsensical garbage dump of stupidity. The movie as a whole is an example of something that has everything going for it--acting, photography, production design, effects, score--except a script actually worth the effort in the first place.

 

[3phemeral]

I was just thinking of something else involving the space jockey. So, Mr. Space Jockey encounters (and destroys) the crew, but eventually ignores an escaping Shaw in favor of continuing his mission to destroy humans. Yet, upon getting his ship crashed and surviving, decides to attack Shaw from wherever she may be hiding instead of returning to one of the other apparently countless ships hidden on the planet so that he can continue uninterrupted?

I'd say he has more incentive to do that than to go after Shaw, after having proven how dangerous humans have now become.

Meh.

 

[Replicant]

Wikipedia almost kind of explains it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_memory_(biology)

Specifically referring to the part at the bottom referring to "instinct".

Sorry to say but that sounds stupid. What's the likelihood that every past civilizations had the same desire to draw a guy pointing at star system out of nowhere? Moreover, if that were the case then why hasn't our current civilization (or whatever modern civilization the main characters in Prometheus existed) done the same thing? It'd make the film even more of a joke than it already is.

 

[Salsa]

I was just thinking of something else involving the space jockey. So, Mr. Space Jockey encounters (and destroys) the crew, but eventually ignores an escaping Shaw in favor of continuing his mission to destroy humans. Yet, upon getting his ship crashed and surviving, decides to attack Shaw from wherever she may be hiding instead of returning to one of the other apparently countless ships hidden on the planet so that he can continue uninterrupted?

I'd say he has more incentive to do that than to go after Shaw, after having proven how dangerous humans have now become.

Meh.

humans killed space jesus -> engineers tired of their shit -> kill all humans, start over

even Shaw

why would he think that leaving his ship to go kill Shaw and then return to destroying earth would be a risk? he clearly overpowers her.


As to why he didn't do this first instead of after she got his ship destroyed: she fucking got his ship destroyed. We're not enticed to think that these beings woulnd't just be fucking pissed. They're "humans" after all.

Also he never saw her escape from the ship at first, he could have thought he was taking her along.

 

[3phemeral]

humans killed space jesus -> engineers tired of their shit -> kill all humans, start over

even Shaw

Humans killed space jesus?

As to why he didn't do this first instead of after she got his ship destroyed: she fucking got his ship destroyed. We're not enticed to think that these beings woulnd't just be fucking pissed. They're "humans" after all.

Also he never saw her escape from the ship at first, he could have thought he was taking her along.

Pretty sure he saw her run down the hallway but proceeded with the ship's takeoff. I'm not watching it again, so maybe someone can verify.

why would he think that leaving his ship to go kill Shaw and then return to destroying earth would be a risk? he clearly overpowers her.

Seems more of an incentive to kill the entire population of very clearly visualized fragile humans than to bother with a single one stranded alone on a damaged vessel.

 

[Loofy]

Any chance the alien that came out is actually smart and will end up piloting the ship?
Will shaw go back to the engineer homeworld and find that its already been ravaged by aliens?

 

[3phemeral]

Any chance the alien that came out is actually smart and will end up piloting the ship?

Dat genetic memory.

 

[Salsa]

Seems more of an incentive to kill the entire population of very clearly visualized fragile humans than to bother with a single one stranded alone on a damaged vessel.

well that's trying to get into a clearly foreign character's head. I attributed it to: being pissed, deciding to kill every human and starting the job right there with one that's there, he seemingly has nothing to lose.

Humans killed space jesus?

between the name of the movie, themes, and Ridley's Scott early interviews about the movie I figured this was mostly the agreed theory around here.

Engineers create humans, humans turn out to be pretty crappy, they watch them and shake their heads like piccard, they decide to do the whole jesus thing as a last chance of redemption, humans kill the fuck out of jesus, Engineers had enough; decide to go to earth themselves and start over: shit happens they dont go. Engineer dude wakes up years after and decides to continue his mission.

 

[3phemeral]

well that's trying to get into a clearly foreign character's head. I attributed it to: being pissed, deciding to kill every human and starting the job right there with one that's there, he seemingly has nothing to lose.



between the name of the movie, themes, and Ridley's Scott early interviews about the movie I figured this was mostly the agreed theory around here.

Engineers create humans, humans turn out to be pretty crappy, they watch them and shake their heads like piccard, they decide to do the whole jesus thing as a last chance of redemption, humans kill the fuck out of jesus, Engineers had enough; decide to go to earth themselves and start over: shit happens they dont go. Engineer dude wakes up years after and decides to continue his mission.

I've never read any of those interviews, so I don't know how accurate the whole space jesus theory is. Any links to anything regarding this as the case?

Now if true, I don't mind their being no explanation of this until some later reveal. The obvious bugs in this are making less important things stand out to me the more I think about it.

 

[Salsa]

I've never read any of those interviews, so I don't know how accurate the whole space jesus theory is. Any links to anything regarding this as the case?

Now if true, I don't mind their being no explanation of this until some later reveal. The obvious bugs in this are making less important things stand out to me the more I think about it.

Went back and tried to find interviews and found a source on IMDB quoting one (though it doesnt give a link), it's actually even more in line with what I gathered from other bits than I remembered:

According to Ridley Scott: "If you look at it as an 'our children are misbehaving down there' scenario, there are moments where it looks like we've gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, Lets send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it. Guess what? They crucified him."

I mean one could come to this conclusion without being so on the nose with the interviews. The question of "why do the space jockeys wanna go and kill us?" is pretty stupid. Movie's title refers to Titans and humanity has done enough fucked up shit to throw in "creator wants to kill us" without needing to explain.

 

[Clayton Bigsby]

If the film never once suggested a "space jesus", and Ridley himself said they scrapped that idea because it was a bit too "On the nose", why should anyone accept it as a logical reason for what the SJ's did? I loved the film, and I would have loved it if Ridley had the balls to say jesus was an alien, but it just wasnt in the film in any way.