PROMETHEUS UNMARKED SPOILER THREAD!

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Pretty good movie but the dialogue treated the audience like a bunch of idiots.

Geologist:

"I DIDNT SIGN ON FOR THIS, THIS IS JUST MY JOB! IM GOIN BACK TO THE SHIP".


Biologist encountering slimey cobra critter:

"Oy baaaybe! Hey Girl, Lemme get in your face for no reason"

Dont get me wrong, I liked the movie but I felt like Scott went away from what makes his work successful and it hurt the movie. The dialogue was so ham fisted it came close to ruining the film for me.
 
Ether_Snake said:
Why are there vials of black goo in the tomb, laid out like in a ceremonial room, when there is a cargo hold full of the stuff anyway?
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The ceremonial room could be where the engineers create the black goo. The cargo room that leads to the star map and the control room I believe is part of the alien craft that flies away at the end to carry out the mission with the weapons on board.
 
zoukka said:
Maybe it was a ceremonial room.
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It was a tomb, that is spelled out. My point is why are the vials stacked horizontally in the cargo hold, but in the tomb they are laid out vertically as if they had some significance that they didn't have in the cargo hold.
 
Some initial, errant thoughts:

The last Engineer's brutal attack on the expedition can have three explanations:

More humorous: Similar to the reactions of the human crew vomiting after emerging from a 2 year stasis, the Engineer also had a physiological reaction upon being activated from 2000 years of slumber. In this case, 1000 times the stasis duration, 1000 times the blowback reaction. If anything, violence might have been a tamer response.

More conventional: The Engineer did not initially know what to think upon being confronted by a suave human being speaking long dead Proto Indo European while an unnaturally old man bicker with a alert young female. With his quick intuition, or perhaps a nascent understanding of the English language due to his "native" fluency of PIE however, the Engineer figured that his cover was blown when gazing upon Dr. Shaw's questioning. Knowing that his imperative has been exposed, he quickly launched upon a desperate frenzy to achieve his goal(s).

Less conventional: The Engineer withheld judgment when first confronted by the crew. But upon touching David and analyzing his features, he came to a conclusion that the being before him is a pure, AI construct. Artificial life engineered almost like the black Xenomorph seeds. From here we have a glimpse to perhaps the true reason why the Engineers sought to target Earth: they realized the humans have advanced to such an extent they are now capable of manipulating and creating their own life, a advance of such potential power they would defile their Creator's own perogative. Perhaps the Engineer civilization also have long standing loathing and taboo upon creation of AIs. Realizing this fact, the Engineer knew humanity has gone too "far" and proceeded on his attack.
 
maharg said:
It's weird how so many apparent fans of Alien get up in arms about this film asking more questions than it answers. Alien answered basically nothing about the questions it posed, and that's actually one of the absolute great things about it. To me picking on Prometheus because of this is just looking for problems to explain unarticulated reasons you didn't like it.

Where this film is extremely weak compared to Alien, to me, is characterization. David is awesome, Liz Shaw is pretty good, but everyone else is incidental or forgettable. Alien had a small and tight cast where, even though most of them were basic archetypes they still felt like real people. This movie had about 17 people who didn't matter, had no clear motivations, and weren't interesting. The two pilots who stick with the captain at the end? Who cares. I'm pretty sure one of them barely spoke a line before that.

There's a good movie in there somewhere, but I think the flaws lie in the script and not the premise or the mythology. To me this was a much much better expansion of the mythology than Aliens was. Where Aliens forced the outwardly focused grand mystery of Alien into a little bottle of corporate greed and resource acquisition (a common Cameron trope), this one gave us a glimpse into that wider universe. It just needed a better script and a smaller cast.
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As a huge Alien fan, I thought most of the mythology was well done. My main issue with the film is its structure.

It desperately tries to be a grand sci-fi epic while tossing in a few Alien-esque horror set pieces to somehow connect it back to the Alien franchise. By doing so, they ruined the film's pacing and created a very sloppy, inconsistent tone.

It felt like they were pandering to folks like me who loved the original film while still trying to do something completely different. And they failed, because I would have preferred scrapping the Alien-esque scenes and instead placing greater focus on the characters and the mythos. Everyone knew it was connected to Alien, but that doesn't mean we wanted an Alien rehash.
 
Saw it last night and was a little disappointed as some things didn't make sense to me:

Why would the aliens come to earth, seed it with life, and return throughout history to send us messages to head to that planet? If they wanted us to travel somewhere, why not tell us their home planet?

also, they were coming to earth to destroy life on it. Three of the engineers made it into the command chamber to fly the space craft yet, instead of taking off for earth, they decide to go into their deep sleep chambers for 2000 years....wtf?

I remember hearing of an earlier script that was leaked but said to be fake later, that the engineers get us to go their home planet and start to teach us a heap of stuff to take back to earth and advance civilization. Then weyland steals some of the terraforming technology off them but they don't believe that we were ready for that so they try to stop the humans from leaving. In order to kill us, they release a xenomorph on board of the ship and then the horror ensues.

I would have prefered this script so much more as, the mystery of the space jockey is kept in tack and ridley still gets to show his ancient aliens angle.
 
Ether_Snake said:
It was a tomb, that is spelled out. My point is why are the vials stacked horizontally in the cargo hold, but in the tomb they are laid out vertically as if they had some significance that they didn't have in the cargo hold.
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I don't know that it being a tomb is spelled out. Could be that it's a testing chamber for the black goo. Organise the vials horizontally, change the rooms atmosphere, watch the goo secrete and voilà, whatever hapless creature that was sealed in there has now turned into a hideous monster! Sort of like the Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus) story.

I don't get why people feel like they need definite answers to this. It's an Alien installation housing some crazy dangerous chemical weapon. What more do you need?
 
Because it seems inconsistent? In one scene it created life on Earth and in others it destroys life or transforms it into Xenomorphs. Which is it ?
 
symphonask said:
I don't know that it being a tomb is spelled out. Could be that it's a testing chamber for the black goo. Organise the vials horizontally, change the rooms atmosphere, watch the goo secrete and voilà, whatever hapless creature that was sealed in there has now turned into a hideous monster! Sort of like the Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus) story.

I don't get why people feel like they need definite answers to this. It's an Alien installation housing some crazy dangerous chemical weapon. What more do you need?
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I'm pretty sure douche-scientist dude explicitly says "this is just a tomb" or something like that before they run out because of the storm, while touching the green stone.

It could be that the black goo is a trap system: if someone goes into the tomb, it activates and infects them.

This would explain why the cargo hold has vials, but in the tomb it's laid out differently: The vials are from the ship, and placed in the tomb by someone, serving as a trap to protect the tomb.
 
Posted in the wrong thread I think. Here is what I've started:

I watched Alien and Aliens this week and have seen this movie twice. I've had a day to reflect on it and think the best way to break it down is start with the Pros:

Pros
1. This is as good of a prequel as we could have hoped for given the popularity of the franchise.
It is basically everything that the star wars prequels weren't. The events are tied to the originals, but there aren't any forced associations. It illuminates the past and left me wanting to know even more about that universe's history.

There aren't any young Ripley's introduced; all of the inferences are clean and subtle: serving those who were even moderately familiar with previous movies without alienating new viewers.

2. Casting was spot on.
I understand that there were issues with Theron's contract which prevented her from taking over the role of Shaw, but her performance didn't overshadow any other actors and I fucking loveeeeeeeeeeeeed Noomi. Charlize was perfect for Vickers, I'm so fucking glad that they didn't pull in Jolie. Theron's name was promoted too heavily given how little she was involved in the actual plot, though.

I believed that every one of the specialists were 'new school' (read: irreverent), but still the best in their fields. Given the trend of increasingly dumbed-down, NCIS-esque sci-fi movies, I didn't have to suspend disbelief that these actors were as intelligent as they were presented. Everyone played well off of each other and I can't wait to see these people again.

3. Sci-fi elements
Why I bought my second ticket. Absolutely wonderful. Everything was presented as being near-future-sci-fi, but 100 years younger than the events of Alien. The suits, the tools, the ships, the interfaces; all completely within the realm and reasoning of progressive engineering given the timetable set by Alien 1 and 2. Alien 1-3 were created before the age of CGI, but never felt futurist; everything was pragmatic. Same fucking vibe here.

Every tool was subtly introduced, understated, and no one took the time to spell anything out. There weren't any new toys introduced that became a running theme that saved them in the end.

I would put it into the hard-fi category, myself, but can completely understand that one might disagree.

4. 3d
Best use of 3d to date. Really showed how it could be used. I think even the notorious Roger Ebert is on board.

5. Spectacle
Nerdgasm. Everything about the presentation was minimalist and understated which allowed me to pick out the details. I wasn't beaten over the head with the future.

The scenery and environments were crafted so well that I was instantly lost in that world, eerily similar to the way Alien absorbed me. That scene that shows the Prometheus running along the surface blew my mind -- I had to tell myself that what I was seeing wasn't real.

I ended up writing more than I thought that I would. I gotta go, but you have to see this movie!
 
JB1981 said:
Because it seems inconsistent? In one scene it created life on Earth and in others it destroys life or transforms it into Xenomorphs. Which is it ?
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It destroys the host. The whole point of the thing is that it requires a sacrifice. Through that sacrifice, life is created (the beginning of the movie). Again, I'll refer to my previous post on this:

Here's what I think about the black goo. Massively destructive to the user but also has the power to engender life where there is none. The engineer sacrifices himself by ingesting it to create life. Also can be used to inseminate a previously infertile woman.

However if the black goo comes into contact with naked skin then the host is mutated and becomes a predatory creature. The snakehugger attacking Millburn; Fifield attacking his crewmates.

If you take all this, it's pretty easy to see what happened to all the engineers that died. Somehow, this black goo was released in all the compounds and some of the engineers got infected like Fifield and started attacking the others. We can see this via the decapitated head the crew bring on board - it had the black goo on it's head. They weren't running from xenomorphs or other creatures, they were running from mutated engineers. How did this happen? Maybe one of their own sabotaged them. Maybe they were careless. Who knows. I don't think it really matters.

Well that's my take on it anyway.
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JB1981 said:
Because it seems inconsistent? In one scene it created life on Earth and in others it destroys life or transforms it into Xenomorphs. Which is it ?
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Something being capable of either is not exactly an uncommon idea in SF or Fantasy. See the Genesis Device in Star Trek 2, for example. The Judeo-Christian God is also both a creator (In the beginning...) and a destroyer (the great flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the apocalyptic prophesy in Revelations). Creation and destruction being two sides of the same coin is a very common theme.
 
I'd really have liked it if we had David's words to the Engineer subtitled, and a subtitled response from him. It was an interesting opportunity, but wasted in the interest of oh look it's an alien being it MUST ATTACK EVERYONE.
 
symphonask said:
It destroys the host. The whole point of the thing is that it requires a sacrifice. Through that sacrifice, life is created (the beginning of the movie). Again, I'll refer to my previous post on this:
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Ok so did the space jockeys engineer this with the ultimate intention of creating a Xenmorph or is that just a biological accident ??
 
maharg said:
It's weird how so many apparent fans of Alien get up in arms about this film asking more questions than it answers. Alien answered basically nothing about the questions it posed, and that's actually one of the absolute great things about it. To me picking on Prometheus because of this is just looking for problems to explain unarticulated reasons you didn't like it.
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The difference is PROMETHEUS literally asks questions. I mean, characters actually say, "Don't you ever think about the big questions?" ALIEN doesn't ask questions--it's just elliptical and mysterious and makes you wonder, offhand, what fills in the blanks. But it's primarily about other things.

PROMETHEUS is about the blanks but it has nothing interesting to fill them with. It's on-the-nose where it should be vague and non-committal where it should be profound.
 
GhaleonEB said:
I'd really have liked it if we had David's words to the Engineer subtitled, and a subtitled response from him. It was an interesting opportunity, but wasted in the interest of oh look it's an alien being it MUST ATTACK EVERYONE.
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I would have liked it if before the Engineer started fucking everybody up, he took a minute to consider the organisms that had come to him. Look at them inquisitively, almost studying how they've come along. Then become angered and ripped them up.
 
Antiochus said:
Some initial, errant thoughts:

The last Engineer's brutal attack on the expedition can have three explanations:
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You didn't cover the actual, true explanation:

What David said to the Engineer was: "You should rip off my head and go on a murder spree. Fuck these humans, am I right?"
 
Scullibundo said:
I would have liked it if before the Engineer started fucking everybody up, he took a minute to consider the organisms that had come to him. Look at them inquisitively, almost studying how they've come along. Then become angered and ripped them up.
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My sarcasm detector is long busted. Not sure how to read this post, since that's pretty much what he did.

I would have liked to get a response from him when he was - unexpectedly, surely - spoken to in a way he likely understood.
 
I'm glad they didn't subtitle David. Viewing the film as a human, it was suitable to only understand what Shaw was understanding.

That said, it will inevitably be an option on the blu-ray.
 
Do u guys feel that a sequel where she visits the Engineer homeworld will actually work? Wasn't it reported that some pre-production work has already started ??

I kind of feel like this is another Robin Hood for Ridley, where the sequel seems far more interesting
 
Joe Shlabotnik said:
The difference is PROMETHEUS literally asks questions. I mean, characters actually say, "Don't you ever think about the big questions?" ALIEN doesn't ask questions--it's just elliptical and mysterious and makes you wonder, offhand, what fills in the blanks. But it's primarily about other things.

PROMETHEUS is about the blanks but it has nothing interesting to fill them with. It's on-the-nose where it should be vague and non-committal where it should be profound.
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While I agree that I prefer the way Alien approached it (as with many sequels/prequels, it tries too hard to out-do its roots), I think this is just a stylistic difference brought to you by a more than 30 year gap between films. If Alien had been made now I think it would have done the same thing. I don't have any objection to thinking the way they did it 30 years ago was better, because I agree with that. It is, however, what it is.

But I disagree with you that "[Alien is] primarily about other things." Alien is very much about the mystery and that's what sets it apart from most other horror-SF. The mystery is an integral part of the terror, and I think that's no less true of what terror Prometheus has.


timetokill said:
You didn't cover the actual, true explanation:

What David said to the Engineer was: "You should rip off my head and go on a murder spree. Fuck these humans, am I right?"
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Haha. I like this a lot.
 
JB1981 said:
Ok so did the space jockeys engineer this with the ultimate intention of creating a Xenmorph or is that just a biological accident ??
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I think the Engineers goal in creating the black goo was to engender life in barren planets. I think it was created for benevolent purposes. However, like any intelligent species would (i.e. humans) they started testing the technology for warfare and found that they could create extremely deadly lifeforms (xenomorphs) - Janek does call the place a military installation. Maybe this was their downfall.
 
chicko1983 said:
Saw it last night and was a little disappointed as some things didn't make sense to me:

Why would the aliens come to earth, seed it with life, and return throughout history to send us messages to head to that planet? If they wanted us to travel somewhere, why not tell us their home planet?

also, they were coming to earth to destroy life on it. Three of the engineers made it into the command chamber to fly the space craft yet, instead of taking off for earth, they decide to go into their deep sleep chambers for 2000 years....wtf?

I remember hearing of an earlier script that was leaked but said to be fake later, that the engineers get us to go their home planet and start to teach us a heap of stuff to take back to earth and advance civilization. Then weyland steals some of the terraforming technology off them but they don't believe that we were ready for that so they try to stop the humans from leaving. In order to kill us, they release a xenomorph on board of the ship and then the horror ensues.

I would have prefered this script so much more as, the mystery of the space jockey is kept in tack and ridley still gets to show his ancient aliens angle.
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i assumed it was a warning.

Don't go THERE.
 
So I'm going to question the Engineers' endgame when it came to humanity. Supposedly, they were going to use the black goo as a WMD and destroy all of humanity. The thing is is that this black goo seemingly reacts to different people in different ways. The stuff created a zombie that was extremely strong and we also have the quick-growing face squid and the mutated worms.

Now humans are pretty squishy and weak compared to other animals and especially compared to the Engineers. Sure, we have technology to compensate for those weaknesses, but I have a feeling that the Engineers could handle us pretty quickly in an invasion. But when they infect us with this black goo, they run the risk of dealing with creatures that can be stronger than them and they can get infected as well. And the entire environment would turn against the Engineers since everything is pretty much getting infected.

Basically, the Engineers are dumb
 
heliosRAzi said:
So I'm going to question the Engineers' endgame when it came to humanity. Supposedly, they were going to use the black goo as a WMD and destroy all of humanity. The thing is is that this black goo seemingly reacts to different people in different ways. The stuff created a zombie that was extremely strong and we also have the quick-growing face squid and the mutated worms.

Now humans are pretty squishy and weak compared to other animals and especially compared to the Engineers. Sure, we have technology to compensate for those weaknesses, but I have a feeling that the Engineers could handle us pretty quickly in an invasion. But when they infect us with this black goo, they run the risk of dealing with creatures that can be stronger than them and they can get infected as well. And the entire environment would turn against the Engineers since everything is pretty much getting infected.

Basically, the Engineers are dumb
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The only time we see an Engineer handle the goop themselves is in the opening scene, and as far as we know it does exactly what it's supposed to there. I don't imagine their plan would be to just blanket the planet in goop, it'd be to use the goop to make creatures to use as weapons.
 
heliosRAzi said:
So I'm going to question the Engineers' endgame when it came to humanity. Supposedly, they were going to use the black goo as a WMD and destroy all of humanity. The thing is is that this black goo seemingly reacts to different people in different ways. The stuff created a zombie that was extremely strong and we also have the quick-growing face squid and the mutated worms.
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Small but important detail, the black goo does not turn angry geologist dude into roid man, the acid blood from one of the super worms does. Which implies the stuff has different effects as it moves from organism to organism; just like how the goo passed into Shaw and did something different.
 
Scullibundo said:
I would have liked it if before the Engineer started fucking everybody up, he took a minute to consider the organisms that had come to him. Look at them inquisitively, almost studying how they've come along. Then become angered and ripped them up.
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I think he did, as soon as he saw Liz get hit, he knew he was dealing with a violent race, after being asked a question he attacked because if he didn't answer torture would be the next step.
 
maharg said:
The only time we see an Engineer handle the goop themselves is in the opening scene, and as far as we know it does exactly what it's supposed to there. I don't imagine their plan would be to just blanket the planet in goop, it'd be to use the goop to make creatures to use as weapons.
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That makes more sense
 
I'm a little confused as to everyone's complaints about the character development in Prometheus vs Alien. Was there a lot of development in Alien? I honestly cannot remember a lot. Everyone keeps comparing it to Alien in certain aspects, while comparing it to modern standards in others. Cliche writing? Cheesy dialogue? Stupid actions by characters? All in Alien.
 
GhaleonEB said:
My sarcasm detector is long busted. Not sure how to read this post, since that's pretty much what he did.

I would have liked to get a response from him when he was - unexpectedly, surely - spoken to in a way he likely understood.
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what if he realized David was a cyborg when he touched him and assumed the rest were inorganic monstrosities? Would explain the fuss about David wearing a suit.
 
Stinkles said:
i assumed it was a warning.

Don't go THERE.
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Out of the billions, possibly trillions, of planets in the universe, it would be better not to tell us about that planet than say don't go there.

We would be far more likely to go there out of curiosity than picking it out at random.
 
Saw it early afternoon and enjoyed it.

In an inverse of some other impressions, I actually thought Shaw and Holloway came off fairly natural with what time and scenes they were given together. Holloway had been given enough character that David's machinations against him elicited anger. Though Holloway as a character gains favor in no small part due to his importance to Shaw. I must say I liked Noomi Rapace in this flick and think she did as good a job as she could with her role.

Fassbender's David...I don't know if the overtly sly/arrogant robot interpretation works. Inappropriately unsubtle in my estimation. Not the only thing unsubtle or misjudged, such as I couldn't care less about the the pilots, even "btw, I know what this place really is" Janek. And of course the obvious missteps such as the willfully blind curiosity of the scientist encountering the "cobra-worm" alien or the later related "zombie" attack.

But still, we were entertained. And the person I went with was largely unfamiliar with the Alien movies. As for the bigger-picture questions regarding the Engineers, the goo, and what motives and goals were behind what happened from prehistory to this point, I'll sit back and chew on that some more for now.

Oh yeah, and the movie looked quite good, with smartly measured use of 3D. I had also been given the impression that the violence was extreme, especially the oft-mentioned auto-surgery scene which I had taken in as a spoiler. So I forewarned my friend (she was again, unfamiliar with Alien movies) what might be in store. Movie actually seemed a slightly soft R, which I thought was a good choice. Graphic, but you could tell it took angles or cut at just the right moment to avoid excess, imo.
 
Ashhong said:
I'm a little confused as to everyone's complaints about the character development in Prometheus vs Alien. Was there a lot of development in Alien? I honestly cannot remember a lot. Everyone keeps comparing it to Alien in certain aspects, while comparing it to modern standards in others. Cliche writing? Cheesy dialogue? Stupid actions by characters? All in Alien.
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Character actions and decisions in Alien were not as illogical and "huh?!" inducing as Prometheus

Like those 2 dudes on the ship
Yay! Lets suicide!
I bought it from Idris Elba, but them? It was just...lol what?
 
Ashhong said:
I'm a little confused as to everyone's complaints about the character development in Prometheus vs Alien. Was there a lot of development in Alien? I honestly cannot remember a lot. Everyone keeps comparing it to Alien in certain aspects, while comparing it to modern standards in others. Cliche writing? Cheesy dialogue? Stupid actions by characters? All in Alien.
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Alien gets away with it because of the small cast and unambitious nature of its characterization. Prometheus was clearly striving for more and failed miserably.
 
There is actual comradare in Alien, despite them being cliche's (when looking back, maybe they were new back then), they felt like real people and you knew them within minutes. They joked with each other had dinner together, seemed to genuinely care about each other and so on.

None of that in Prometheus. I have no clue what anyone on the ship is like at all except David. Nobody cared about anyone except Shaw/Charlie and perhaps David/old guy. They just put way too many characters, too large scale. I really wish it was a small crew of maybe 5 and they hung out together, went on this expedition because they all believed in what they were doing and so on. Then it would matter when they started dying.
 
maharg said:
Alien gets away with it because of the small cast and unambitious nature of its characterization. Prometheus was clearly striving for more and failed miserably.
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I can see what you mean, but don't think its entirely fair imo. It just seems hypocritical to me to compare Prom to Alien in only certain aspects.
Angry Fork said:
There is actual comradare in Alien, despite them being cliche's (when looking back, maybe they were new back then), they felt like real people and you knew them within minutes. They joked with each other had dinner together, seemed to genuinely care about each other and so on.

None of that in Prometheus. I have no clue what anyone on the ship is like at all except David. Nobody cared about anyone except Shaw/Charlie and perhaps David/old guy. They just put way too many characters, too large scale. I really wish it was a small crew of maybe 5 and they hung out together, went on this expedition because they all believed in what they were doing and so on. Then it would matter when they started dying.
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The big thing here, like you said, is just the scale of Prom. There is a shit ton going on and just not enough time for characterization. I guess I just didn't need the characterization to make the movie good. Who cares if I didn't care about the geologist or biologist as much as David. I still squirmed when the snake when into his suit and Fifield got his face burned. I didn't need any more, but I guess I'm in the minority in thinking that.
 
maharg said:
It's weird how so many apparent fans of Alien get up in arms about this film asking more questions than it answers. Alien answered basically nothing about the questions it posed, and that's actually one of the absolute great things about it. To me picking on Prometheus because of this is just looking for problems to explain unarticulated reasons you didn't like it.
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Alien:
Egg -> Facehugger -> Chestburster -> Adult Xeno

Pretty simple. "Aliens" is mostly the same, with the addition of the Queen.

Questions about the Xenomorph:
"Acid blood? How does that work?"
"How does it grow into an adult so quickly?"
"How were the eggs made?"

Questions about the origins/mystery:
"Where did the Derelict come from?"
"Who was the Space Jockey, what was he trying to do?"
"Where are the eggs from, what are they meant for?"

None of these questions interfere with the logic and plot of the movie. The characters bring up a few of them, but ultimately decide that the answers are irrelevant to their plight.

Prometheus:
Black Goo + Engineer -> Dissolves into DNA?
Black Goo + Worms? -> Space Snakes
Black Goo + Vodka -> Bloodshot Eyes, Massive Headache, Death by Fire
Black Goo + Human + Sex -> Squid Baby -> Giant Squid
Giant Squid + Engineer -> Retarded Xenomorph
Black Goo (or snake acid?) + Melted Helmet -> Super-strength human hell-bent on killing redshirts.

Pretty convoluted.

Questions about the Black Goo:
"Mutations? How does that work?"
"How does the squid grow so quickly?"
"How is the black goo made?"
"Why does it behave so inconsistently?"
"Why did the Xenomorph come out so large?"

Questions about the origins/mystery:
"Why did the Engineers make humans? Why did they stop visiting? Why did they want to kill us?"
"What did the cave paintings really mean? What did the space mural signify?"
"What were the Engineers in the hologram running from? What killed them?"
"What was the giant head for? Or the green crystal?"
"Why was an Engineer still alive? Why was he asleep, why didn't he wake up earlier?"
"Why did he try to kill the people that woke him up?"
"If there were other ships on the planet, why didn't the Engineer go there after his first ship crashed?"
"Did Shaw find more Engineers at the other ship? More black goo monsters?"

These questions aren't just backstory outside the scope of the plot (like the Alien questions). These are vital to the events in the movie. They're the basis of character motivation.

Ridley didn't care where the Xenomorph came from, she just wanted to kill it.
Weyland wanted answers, but just got a punch in the face.
 
What I find interesting about the plot is that many of it matches the description of the story that was leaked not too long ago except with a few modifications, most only served to make it complicated.

In the original description, we went to meet the Engineers and they greeted us with open arms, telling us that we're the first of their creations who managed to grow at such incredible rate. But then one of the crew steals the terra-forming technology (the black goo?) that they own, angering them in the process. Because of this, they unleash their bio-weapon but it ended up backfiring on them as well, giving birth to a more nasty species. As their population is decimated, a lone ship can be seen traveling in space with the intention of going back to Earth to bring the wrath of the Gods.

If the story had gone as originally specified, it'd be have been a one-movie deal. An open and shut case where the intentions of the God and the point in which this film intersect with Alien is very clear. So if this is true, then I think the attempt to sequelize it is what makes the film feels plodding and lacks direction.

I also think making the Xeno-like creature as something that already existed in mural painting (which means it already existed) as opposed to something that got birthed accidentally, kind of messed up the story when we see the proto-Xeno appeared at the end of the film. It's like the film merged 2 different ideas but forgot to wrote off one of them so that the story makes more sense. If you want to go with Xeno birthed due to accident then don't depict him as something that you draw in mural painting.
 
Ashhong said:
I can see what you mean, but don't think its entirely fair imo. It just seems hypocritical to me to compare Prom to Alien in only certain aspects.
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Well it's not the same movie, so it'd be impossible to compare it in every aspect. It is, however, a Ridley Scott science fiction film, and the first of that sort for nearly 30 years. It's gonna get compared and I don't think that's at all unfair.
 
JB1981 said:
Because it seems inconsistent? In one scene it created life on Earth and in others it destroys life or transforms it into Xenomorphs. Which is it ?
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One and the same.

It's simply highly reactive biological material they use to seed life on a lifeless planet, or absolutely disrupt life on a planet where it already exists.

I doubt they had much control over what grew out of the goop. The shit just grows and mutates extremely rapidly. There were no specimens on the ship to suggest they were growing a engineering a particular species.
 
All the creatures created by the black goop were extremely similar in design to the Facehuggers. The Mutated worm? Once it opened it face it looked like a facehugger. Giant Squid? Giant facehugger.

The Xenomorph lineage pretty much starts with the black goop. Its just a question of what conditions led to the Derelict and eggs in Alien.

The Xeno at the end of Prometheus imo is meant to without a doubt reflect the Queen from Aliens btw.
 
Replicant said:
What I find interesting about the plot is that many of it matches the description of the story that was leaked not too long ago except with a few modifications, most only served to make it complicated.

In the original description, we went to meet the Engineers and they greeted us with open arms, telling us that we're the first of their creations who managed to grow at such incredible rate. But then one of the crew steals the terra-forming technology (the black goo?) that they own, angering them in the process. Because of this, they unleash their bio-weapon but it ended up backfiring on them as well, giving birth to a more nasty species. As their population is decimated, a lone ship can be seen traveling in space with the intention of going back to Earth to bring the wrath of the Gods.

If the story had gone as originally specified, it'd be have been a one-movie deal. An open and shut case where the intentions of the God and the point in which this film intersect with Alien is very clear. So if this is true, then I think the attempt to sequelize it is what makes the film feels plodding and lacks direction.
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God, that sounds so much better.
 
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