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[jdl]

Why would they show him drinking something that basically deconstructed his body, and then his dna floating through a stream then? I do agree about a sect of them worshiping the alien though, especially with the wall sculpture that looked like one with it's arms spread.

Good question. My only reasoning here is to make the point that the black material is absolutely destructive to the engineers. It only causes replication (propagation of the giger alien) in other lifeforms. Which is their primary objective. Which drives them to other planets.

 

[Teknoman]

They do this to create life. But then when it is advanced enough they use that life as xenomorph hosts.

The engineers could basically be, like Scott said, gardeners.

Except they are the gardeners of the Xenomorphs.

The message to go to a specific star/planet/moon is so that the creatures they create will automatically end up in contact with the black goo when advanced enough.

I guess that makes sense. Makes it alot more creepier than before...but still makes sense. A crazed scientifically advanced space cult...

 

[Jarmel]

It's quite obvious the head exploded earlier because the two scientists were trying to trick the nervous system into thinking it was still alive via shocking it. The goo breaks people down, yes. It would have broken the head down eventually, but the scientists didn't know about it and tried to shock it. Electricity + goo = explosion. That really isn't that hard to put together, and my friend who has never seen any of the Alien movies and is not into sci-fi at all was easily able to put it together. Makes me wonder how much some people pay attention. There were also corpses found with holes in their head which implies that this was a natural progression for the virus.

As some posters detailed in earlier posts last night/this morning, something obviously happened 2000 years ago to switch the Engineers' minds. What this is? No one knows. That's why Shaw went to find them, because she wants to know. It's not going to be detailed in this movie, simply because they are aiming for a sequel. It's as simple as that. I'm fully aware that this is the general intention however it is still a fault as a stand alone movie as you have the villain switch intentions without any clear explanation. The sequel will probably explain this but giving an exception to a work based on future possibilities doesn't seem right.

There you have it. In case we turned out to be evil or warlike. The engineers did not plan for their own demise, that much is obvious. They were smart and planned for contingencies. If humanity showed up in force and were warlike/whatever, why not bring them to a military/storage planet where they would be met with hundreds of ships filled with weaponry that would theoretically destroy us easily? It was an invitation, but was also a cautionary measure. "Yeah sure, child who I gave birth to and then left behind in their infancy. I know you might be mad at us, or we really don't know how you were raised, so I'm going to keep my weapon within reach, just incase I need to protect myself. Okay?Sending someone to a military installation isn't the best way to introduce yourself. Yes they don't have to send them to a civilian outpost but a military installation in of itself sends a very clear and negative image from the getgo. They also were tracking us all along so they would have fairly good ideas where our society was heading so it implies they didn't trust us for a good long while. The problem with this is why would Jesus's crucifixion in of itself set them on the warpath even though they must have seen the earlier brutality that humans had done to each other? The only way this makes sense is that they birthed us and never trusted us all along and the crucifixion was the final nail in the coffin. This is a bit contradictory to the movie where they seem benevolent up until the crucifixion.

Not sure what the problem is here. Obviously the mural showed what was an option when dealing with things. I'm not sure what the issue is here. It wasn't a problem. I'm trying to discuss all possibilities and possible counterexplanations.

Magical? You clearly see David learning as much as he can about languages on the journey to the planet. Obviously he had no idea what would be useful, but when they were mapping the temple and he found that one plaque/control panel, he figured out which language(s) would be useful and how he could communicate with the Engineers, extrapolating what he saw on the panel as written characters in a language and figuring out how to speak. There is nothing magical about it. Yes however the fact that their language hasn't developed over tens of thousands of years is ridiculous. Not to mention just because he studied the roots of Sankrit doesn't mean he should be able to read a similar language. It takes years if not decades to analyze similar dead languages if you don't have a key or some sort of Rosetta Stone(the Rosetta Stone not the language program).

They signed onto a multiyear voyage without knowing what was going on and Weyland decided to roll the dice with a crew who didn't know what was going on. It's pretty easily imaginable that he was trying to keep everything hush-hush and didn't want it getting out that this planet could possibly have the key to immortality. It is not hard to imagine that he or his representatives went to each member of the crew and gave them just enough information to get them onboard but wanted to keep the meat of the expedition until they were past the point of no return. Nobody, not even the scientists such as Holloway or Shaw, thought of the immortality angle at all. The immortality aspect was a long shot by him and not something a reasonable person would assume. Just because you meet God doesn't mean he will grant you eternal life. In fact a project like that would have attracted the best minds on Earth flat out if they knew what they were going towards. Why wouldn't Weyland want the best on the crew and not some second rate scientists and soldiers?

Some people are simply in movies to die to move the plot. Not everyone has to be characterized and given a half hour of screen time. Sometimes there are throw away characters. It just so happened that most of the crew in this movie were said throw-aways. Would it have hurt the movie to show who they were? I think so, simply because it was painfully obvious early on in the movie that very few, if any, crewmembers would live to the end. It was obvious after the first half hour who would live and die, and it would have been wasting screen time trying to give random people their due and try to show who they are. It would have done nothing for the movie, because every member of the audience consciously or subconsciously knew that everyone was going to die.You don't need to spend significant characterization times on some of the randoms but you could show interactions with them and the important characters which would help to establish both the crew dynamics as a whole as well as the important characters.

Did you miss the part where he did a scanning of the air? I'm 99% certain he said the words "The air is clean" before he took his helmet off. Hell, he even asked David. He's supposed to come off as a Daredevil scientist who really goes with the flow and is a bit adventurous compared to most scientists. He took the initiative. It's easy to think that doing things like that were what was able to get him so far in his career. When most would take the cautious approach, Holloway went headlong and took risks. I had no problem with him taking off his helmet. Not sure how anyone could. As I stated, there could easily be variations in the atmosphere in certain sections of the cave or pathogens further on. Yes it was trying to establish him as a daredevil but just like Liefield, it goes too far. You're on a relatively hostile environment and you know next to nothing about the facilities themselves or what is in it. It would seem that a reasonable person would act on the side of caution.

He had it in his head, from both himself and Shaw, that they were the gods that created humanity. That they were waiting on this planet, eagerly anticipating Humanity's arrival and wanting to show them the stars and the meaning of life. That last part was explicitly said a few minutes earlier in the movie. His "pissy fit" is COMPLETELY understandable. You're told for probably 5-10 years that if you arrive in one area at one time you will have every question of life answered and will basically become a hero to all of humanity everywhere, only to find out that everything went wrong, everyone is dead, and nothing is going to happen but maybe being on TV and being put in a few books as the guy who found a few dead creatures on a faraway planet? Ha. Ha. Ha. Nah, that's okay. I wouldn't expect you to take a drink or two anyway.It's a pissy fit because he pretty much gets drunk and takes it out on David to a certain extent. His reaction is overblown to an extent. Unlike Shaw who seems interested and excited, we see him sulking in a corner and drinking.

I'm really not sure what you're saying here. She was obviously put in the movie to show the more corporate/company side of the agenda going to the planet. She was meant to be there to keep everyone on track. However she wasn't really. The whole bit about not actually contacting the natives pretty much doesn't pop up and her bit about the Engineers not existing was literally proven wrong in 10 minutes. There wasn't any strong corporate vs the people angle. Even Holloway in the scene where she refuses to let him on board, pretty much agreed it was the right call and let himself be burnt to death. There wasn't any sort of decision where she had to sacrifice people for the corporation in general or even trying to get the xenomorphs for biological weapons like the later movies.

There's nothing wrong with this. Elba is a boss. Again, not everything I stated was inherently wrong with the movie. I was discussing all aspects of the movie and how they relate to each other. He was one of the better characters in the movie.

Come on, man. You show up on a planet as a biologist who was raised and trained on Earth, a guy who has gone his whole life knowing that 99% of all lifeforms on Earth(if not more, by the time the movie is set) have been found. You have been taught literally anything and everything related to the field, and there are no surprises anymore. You show up on this planet and find a new lifeform, but it's dead. The planet is dead, and obviously you just saw a recording of them running for their lives. You wouldn't be scared? All this new stuff and the obvious fact that they were more advanced than you and still died horrifically? Tell me you would not be scared. Death scares people more than life. Finding dead bodies in a cave is a whole lot different than finding a little snake. I see nothing wrong with his responses in this movie. Biologists are trained to dissect dead things and I'm sure he was an above average biologist. He should also know the dangers of new lifeforms especially ones you can't interact with. Perhaps he thought his suit could protect him, a very stupid assumption on his part as he has no idea about the basic makeup or body structure of the creature. So either way he was a shitty biologist.

For a geologist who was again, born and raised on earth with nearly everything explored and detailed and was not expecting to learn anything new ever who was on a brand new planet and had absolutely no expectations on what was going to be in the cave. He was scared because for the first time in his life, things were going to be truly new and could possibly harm him. There are tons of geologists who go into unexplored caves every day. Again this is a one in a lifetime opportunity, most people would love to see the basic makeup of rocks from a different planet.

But it's obvious that Weyland told him to do it? There is a scene minutes before where Theron stops him in the hallway and asks what "He"(Weyland) said. Eventually, David tells her, that Weyland told him, to "Try harder." What would be trying harder? Gee, I wonder. How about using some goo you found on a strange planet and putting it in someone's drink. That would be trying harder. That most likely applied to making contact with an Engineer as Vickers is aware of what he was going to do when he was "fixing" the probe.

Why wouldn't he be at peace with potentially dying? And when he wants to be saved, its simply to continue his mission. In his mind, it's either "Okay, I can die here and there is nothing I can do about it. Might as well be content. Oh wait? Shaw, you're still out there? Cool, come pick me up and I might be able to gain new knowledge. 'Sgo!" At this point, he has failed his creator and is broken. His line to Shaw seems slightly desperate in the whole 'you need me' angle. This might have been Fassbender screwing up the portrayal to an extent but there is a small amount of worry in his voice.

She was obviously crying, puking, emotionally distressed and drained by the end of the movie. It's not hard to imagine that she was running on fumes, dehydrated, tired, and in shock towards the end. So many traumatic experiences so close together without time to stop and think about anything would obviously make her seem inhuman, simply because in those situations, in real life, are people rarely truly human. They run on instincts and without thinking. She was completely realistic in the last half of the movie and I expect no other reactions from her. We don't see her react to any event or contemplate it to any extent. The scene after her talk with Weyland and before she went with them to meet the Engineer needed a lengthy scene where she thinks about something rather than just doing.

David said there were many ships(and many temples). If there were hundreds of those temples scattered around the planet, the crew would find one eventually. The moon is very very large. There is a shot with them coming in and they look like dots compared to the moon.

She did not want to offend them. This is not hard to put together. Come on, man(or woman, if you are one. I don't mean to offend.), just think about some things before ranting about it, please?Bullshit, you have no clue what on Earth is in there and there has been no signs of life. Having extra security never hurts in situations like that. Yes she did it not to offend whoever but it's still an extremely stupid scene and reasoning behind her decision.

They were obviously running from something behind them, down the hallway where no one really went. The outbreak presumably started down that-a-way. The only chamber room that we see is the one shown. You could extrapolate and say there were thousands there but no evidence exists for that point of view.

Like I said earlier. He was scared of dead things. He was excited by living things. Simple as that. The dead things looked semi-human and were massive. I would guess that he thought "They're more advanced, bigger, fast, stronger, and in every way better than me, yet they died here. Fuck this." and then, when finding the alien, "Oh, hey, you're small and look somewhat similar to things I have roots and knowledge about back on earth. Come here and I'll study you." I can't believe a biologist would freak out at a dead thing. Especially some brand new intelligent species. However let's assume he's incompetent, he was still scared less than five minutes ago when there was a life form in the ruins. He meets a life form and loses all fear and tries to pet something which inherently looked dangerous from the get-go. As someone else stated, it reared its head back in a similar manner as a viper or any other snake.

Everyone is pre-occupied with Weyland, a genius, playboy, billionaire philanthropist, who was thought to be dead but instead was there with them. Makes senes. No it doesn't. They knew he was on the ship already and even if they did, a squid alien baby takes precedent. I don't care if Jesus himself walked up to me, I would be more worried about some weird alien thing that came out of a women's belly.

I assumed,when watching the movie, that David did not follow Weyland's direct orders and translate as he told him. Instead, I would guess that he attempted to offer something or create a truce/flatter the engineer. Hence the head-pat. He could have potentially tried his power-play, but failed. Meh. And Weyland's inclusion was to move the plot along. To get everyone back to the ship and to wake the Engineer up. That was where I was expecting it was going to go too however there is nothing to indicate he didn't follow Weyland's orders in this. The headpat was almost certainly done for tension purposes, like will he work with them or not, rather than narrative purposes. It's also impossible to know either way but nothing really suggests he tried a powerplay.

My buddy said it best as we were walking out. "I would have rather have gone down with the ship, yeah. I mean, the planet killed literally EVERYONE on the ship except for me and my buddies, I wouldn't want to chance it down on the ground, where I would probably be beaten to death or starved to death, or whatever else. A quick, painless death would be better than that." It makes sense that the two others went with him. The hands-up was to alleviate the pressure/knowledge of coming doom. Might as well go out having a last bit of fun, no? I see nothing wrong with the suicide bit in of itself, however when the characters themselves joke about it, it evaporates the tension. As I stated earlier, why should I take the events seriously if the characters themselves don't?

I hope this was a joke. Do you really have to be told who played the Flute? Come on. Yes that was a joke.

The problem with this movie is you have to make a shitload of assumptions to even begin making sense. I don't mind a couple of open ended mysteries for the sequel but certain things needed to be strongly clarified in the movie proper such as the role of the goo or the xenomorph reproduction cycle and the shallow characterizations really drag this movie down.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

- There's a blip on the scanner for a life form 1 click to the East?!?! FUCK DAT SHIT, we're going West, I ain't fuckin' with NO alien lifeforms...OH! A cute little snake! C'mere snake...OH GOD. Did I mention that earlier, I had NO interest even in the DEAD alien?

If I'm not interested in a decapitated alien body, presumably because it's unsettling and has distressing implications, that doesn't mean that I'm actually uninterested in alien life. Regardless, it was captain rocks who said he wasn't interested, and he was indeed freaked out by the alien snake and it was the other guy who was curious about it and got attacked. This isn't a plot hole.

- Oh, I'm really sick and instead of even REMOTELY attempting to save myself, I volunteer to have Charlize Theron BURN me alive

Not a plot hole, Charlize was threatening to kill or strand everyone outside on the hostile alien planet if he didn't go back inside. He knew that his wife would never go back inside and abandon him, so he needed to let him kill her for the sake of the crew.

- Oh that guy? He just had a GIANT SNAKE in his mouth, but we don't need to mention it again

Nobody saw it go in, and when it came out and attacked them, they were too busy trying to GTFO of the alien base to stop and chat. You can just assume they mentioned it off-screen.

- AWESOME, I cut the alien out, thank goodness NO one chased me even though David was SUPER adamant about me keeping the alien inside me and it's even BETTER that no one ask why the fuck I have 8 staples in my stomach

This is weird, but I assumed she was going to confront them about it but then Weyland showed up. There were some shots of her looking at David with distrust and stuff, so it's not mentioned, but not forgotten either.

- Oh yah, the geologist came back to life as a zombie and murdered 3 of the crew, but we don't need to talk about that either

If there was a scene where the crew sat around and consumed tea and crumpets and talked about the weather, this would be a "problem". But they were all doing stuff in the last act of the movie, and it was extremely hectic. There's no need to waste screen time showing all of the characters getting informed about stuff the audience already knows. Presumably when they alerted the security team and everyone was screaming about how the guy was attacking them, the rest of the crew found out.

- Stringer Bell instantly figured out what the aliens were doing (military base obviously) by just killing the zombie geologist

It was a process of induction, based around the following information he had to go on:

- There are giant chambers full of goop capsules
- Said goop housed deadly snake aliens that killed crew members
- There was a disease somewhere in the ship
- Every alien was killed by the stuff on the ship
- The aliens were all wearing sealed armor suits, even though the atmosphere was breathable
- It's on a completely desolate, uninhabited planet


It's incredibly obvious that this is an isolated storage or perhaps research facility related to bioweapons. It is likely military, since the most obvious form for these bioweapons (the goop) is being kept in giant rooms full of containers of the stuff. Laboritories for the research of disease cures don't keep thousands of barrels full of those diseases in vast underground storage.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

As some posters detailed in earlier posts last night/this morning, something obviously happened 2000 years ago to switch the Engineers' minds. What this is? No one knows.

Heck, you don't even have to say the Engineers changed their minds. The people that wanted to destroy Earth could have been acting on their own, and they all got killed (except the last one who went into stasis) on that planet. The actions of the individuals do not necessarily reflect the intentions of an entire galaxy spanning people.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Forget a directors cut, more footage will only do so much. A couple more Weyland or Shaw scenes aren't going to make the black goo more consistent. They won't fix the terrible banter of Fifield and Milburn, or them going from "OMG IS THE LIFEFORM MOVING?!" to "come here you cute little cobra snake thing ^_^". And they sure as hell won't fix Vickers getting crushed by a giant rolling shoehorn (if they wanted to kill her at that point, they should've had debris fall on her, there was plenty of it to go around).

This needs a sequel sans Lindeldorf and with more Giger. This movie had two gigantic cliffhangers with the xeno and the trip to the engineer homeworld. It was written with a sequel in mind.

I agree a director's cut won't fix what you said. To me, a good sequel would be fine, it's not like the story is ruined, only the way this movie told its story is ruined. But the idea of making a sequel is not a problem to me, if it is written properly.

I do believe that some cut scenes might shed more light on some blurry parts of the movie, such as David's intentions. If Weyland Industries did have more knowledge than we knew about the engineers, then it would pretty much explain all of David's behavior: he knew what he was doing, and he was doing it for Weyland. His "careless" attitude could be explained by him actually knowing precisely the implications and the consequences, rather than being dumb curiosity putting everyone's life in jeopardy. Just showing us that Weyland had more info than we did about what they were going to find on the moon would save David's character IMO.

It won't fix the dumb geologist/biologist thing, the poor dialogue, zombie-geologist coming back at the wrong time, etc. But it would save David as a character, and that's important for a sequel.

I guess that makes sense. Makes it alot more creepier than before...but still makes sense. A crazed scientifically advanced space cult...

I think it would be a nice twist. People see the engineers as gods, as if they are incredible and all, and then we find out the fuckers worship the fucking Xenomorphs!

Heck, you don't even have to say the Engineers changed their minds. The people that wanted to destroy Earth could have been acting on their own, and they all got killed (except the last one who went into stasis) on that planet. The actions of the individuals do not necessarily reflect the intentions of an entire galaxy spanning people.

Again that would go against VERY basic story-writing principles. The movie ends it "They created us, then changed their minds, I want to know why". So that's fact. It can't be "Oh it was just some rebels, not all of us. Welcome to awesome-land."

 

[Jarmel]

It's incredibly obvious that this is an isolated storage or perhaps research facility related to bioweapons. It is likely military, since the most obvious form for these bioweapons (the goop) is being kept in giant rooms full of containers of the stuff. Laboritories for the research of disease cures don't keep thousands of barrels full of those diseases in vast underground storage.

Welllllll... The CDC and most cure oriented research centers usually do have a couple of vials of said disease, such as smallpox, underground and under heavy security. This is done in case there is another outbreak so they can engineer another cure or something.

 

[Ashhong]

Yes.

I assume when they installed it they refused to purchase the female module DLC on principle given price obviously wasn't an issue.

Wow. Nitpicking at it's finest. It's not like the fact that it was programmed for a male hindered her at all. It was just a little addition to the suspense. I don't know how you enjoy movies.

 

[Stinkles]

Remember David is FREE after Weyland dies - and prior to that he's acting on evil orders.

 

[Jarmel]

Remember David is FREE after Weyland dies - and prior to that he's acting on evil orders.

I would actually prefer if he wasn't following orders and did all of this on his own.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Welllllll... The CDC and most cure oriented research centers usually do have a couple of vials of said disease, such as smallpox, underground and under heavy security. This is done in case there is another outbreak so they can engineer another cure or something.

Yeah I know, that's why I'm emphasizing "vast underground storage". The CDC doesn't keep enormous store rooms just packed to the brim full of the stuff in containers set to release their contents when the moisture level in the room changes.

 

[FaidSint]

Ridley Scott got the inspiration for the Engineers from Spongebob?

 

[ncsuDuncan]

You know who would have been great as Weyland? Ian Holm.

Less hair, some minimal makeup to make him look even older...

(Yes, I know Ash was Hyperdyne and not W/Y. I don't care, that would have been way better than Guy Pearce in a rubber mask.)

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Ridley Scott got the inspiration for the Engineers from Spongebob?

The engineers are just albino humans that like to hit the gym.

 

[Jarmel]

Yeah I know, that's why I'm emphasizing "vast underground storage". The CDC doesn't keep enormous store rooms just packed to the brim full of the stuff in containers set to release their contents when the moisture level in the room changes.

Fair enough.

You know who would have been great as Weyland? Ian Holm.

Less hair, some minimal makeup to make him look even older...

(Yes, I know Ash was Hyperdyne and not W/Y. I don't care, that would have been way better than Guy Pearce in a rubber mask.)

Supposedly there are deleted scenes where Weyland is younger, they just got cut.

 

[FaidSint]

You know who would have been great as Weyland? Ian Holm.

Less hair, some minimal makeup to make him look even older...

Would've been confusing as hell since he played Ash. Or is that the point. Hmm.... Now I have to think.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Welllllll... The CDC and most cure oriented research centers usually do have a couple of vials of said disease, such as smallpox, underground and under heavy security. This is done in case there is another outbreak so they can engineer another cure or something.

But it's a bit weird that this military installation has a temple with a tomb in it with murals and all no? You wouldn't expect that, unless the guys are religious fanatics, in which case, who is their god, if not the Xenomorphs?

Also, the cargo hold has vials, stacked like scrolls. But the tomb has them set up vertically, as if placed for a purpose, not stored.

The cargo hold is in the ship, the tomb is in the temple. Is the black stuff created in the tomb, collected by vials, then packed on the ships?

 

[GhaleonEB]

Not a plot hole, Charlize was threatening to kill or strand everyone outside on the hostile alien planet if he didn't go back inside. He knew that his wife would never go back inside and abandon him, so he needed to let him kill her for the sake of the crew.

Plus, at that point I think he knew he wasn't simply sick, but infected in a way that was mutating him. What was happening was physical at that point. He knew he couldn't be saved, so there was no point risking anyone's life in the interest of his own.

 

[vas_a_morir]

The engineers are just albino humans that like to hit the gym.

Nick Bruiser died so that you might live. Remember that.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Yea, after realizing that David's intention was to create life of his own, to be a father, all the shit where he didn't remark on Shaw surviving made sense. It was all his idea, really. Weyland just wanted to meet the creators. David wanted to BE a creator, regardless of the costs.

 

[beelzebozo]

i straight up loved this movie. it was far from perfect, as i think a lot of people here have covered ad nauseum, but my jaw was on the floor several times, my hands flew up to my face in shock more than once, and i walked out wearing a huge grin.

"oh, oh, okay, it's getting tighter. cut it off. cut it off. CUT IT OFF."

 

[Horse Detective]

Words can not express how happy I am that at least some people loved this film. I had such a great time viewing this. I want to go see it again

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

i straight up loved this movie. it was far from perfect, as i think a lot of people here have covered ad nauseum, but my jaw was on the floor several times, my hands flew up to my face in shock more than once, and i walked out wearing a huge grin.

"oh, oh, okay, it's getting tighter. cut it off. cut it off. CUT IT OFF."

Man, that quote just gets it. People want backstories, but really, I feel for characters when I feel the situation they're in regardless of the history prior to. And this movie was loaded with moments where I felt exactly as the characters did.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

"oh, oh, okay, it's getting tighter. cut it off. cut it off. CUT IT OFF."

You didn't have to cut me off

Now you're just a body that I use to grow

 

[Ponn]

I'd say the one or multiple things that got on my nerves about this movie was just how utterly reckless, incompetent and unprofessional each and every character in this movie was especially David.

It was like one facepalm moment after another, I guess its sort of comforting even in the future humans are as stupid as we are.

1) Hey we are in an alien cave on an alien planet and have only been in here for maybe an hour or so tops, lets take our helmets off that would protect us from things we don't know about!

2) David: Oh slime on wall, let me touch it!

3) David: Oh buttons on wall, let me touch them!

4) Alien holograms running towards something, lets run headlong too!

5) Alien head, lets bring it back with us!

6) David: oh alien black goo,let me touch it!

7) Alien snake thing, I obviously wouldn't squat in front of a cobra on my own planet but i'm sure this alien cobra thing will be absolutely harmless, especially given those piles of dead aliens we found in the previous room.

8) David: Oh alien black goo on my finger tip, let me put it in this bottle for a guy to drink! Better we test in on this enclosed ship on an alien planet than quarantined at home!

9) Man, this guy looks fucked up beyond belief, lets get him on our ship!

10) David: Oh alien console with buttons and a chair, better not touch anything. NAH! JK! *push push push*

11) hey, wasn't that guy dead in the caves, why does he looked all fucked up outside of our ship, for that matter how did he get there? Lets open the doors!

12) woman scientist: Wow, this has been some fucked up shit happening with people dying left and right and this fucked up thing was ripped out of me, and my boyfriend died. Time to suit up and go back into the cave of death!

13) Hey, do you think someone should check on that fucked up alien thingy that was pulled out of my stomach?

14) Does anyone at all care that a fucked up alien thing got pulled out of me? No? Where just going to ignore all that? Ok.

15) David: More buttons to push! *push push push*

 

[BorkBork]

As one of the few people here who has very little knowledge of the Alien franchise, I was highly disappointed with the film. Most of the characters were either flat, infuriating to watch or downright idiotic, motivations were bizarre, plot made little sense. I expected a self-contained, competently executed science-fiction film, and I didn't get it.

The scenery shots were absolutely incredible though.

 

[Zebra]

I just saw it.

I have one comment: I wish Peter O'Toole played Weyland.

Can anyone explain the girl playing the violin?

 

[remz]

David knew more then he was letting on. he could read and operate the alien consoles so his actions are less stupid then you think they are, especially when you consider he was programmed to follow company orders by the old man.

His button pushing was hardly random and it's pretty clear he's doing his own thing whilst the crew is floundering around elsewhere.

6) David: oh alien black goo,let me touch it!

He's a robot. It's only going to do to him what it'll do to a rock.

The claims of incompetance for the other crew members are pretty spot on.... especially that cobra guy.

But you can explain it like the dumb shit from alien- human curiosity

I just saw it.

I have one comment: I wish Peter O'Toole played Weyland.

Can anyone explain the girl playing the violin?

Broadcasting a cultural message with music and language to see if anyone would pick it up.

But it's a bit weird that this military installation has a temple with a tomb in it with murals and all no? You wouldn't expect that, unless the guys are religious fanatics, in which case, who is their god, if not the Xenomorphs?

I was thinking about this and I don't think the tomb line is literal, I think he meant "this is just a tomb" as in, "there is no alien dudes left alive here, they are all dead" in like a metaphorical sense or whatever

 

[beelzebozo]

the biggest plothole was patrick wilson's forty-five second role. everybody knows that he should be the lead.

 

[Dead]

Patrick Wilson was in this movie?

I just saw it.

I have one comment: I wish Peter O'Toole played Weyland.

Can anyone explain the girl playing the violin?

IIRC its a video that they are broadcasting to the Engineers?

 

[Horse Detective]

What was up with the Face hugger ancestor towards the end of the film? I do not understand why they made that thing so huge.

Out of curiosity, are there any theories on how the more leathery eggs came into existence? Does Ridley plan on making another one?

 

[TrumanBurbank]

The word of mouth on this doesn't seem good enough to warrant a sequel.

 

[Horse Detective]

The word of mouth on this doesn't seem good enough to warrant a sequel.

Thats what I was fearing. I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

Meanwhile, a Step up sequel poster stands outside of the theater door.

 

[Zebra]

IIRC its a video that they are broadcasting to the Engineers?

Broadcasting a cultural message with music and language to see if anyone would pick it up.

Thanks, I must have missed picking up on that.

 

[Chatin]

the biggest plothole was patrick wilson's forty-five second role. everybody knows that he should be the lead.

Yeah, watching the trailer again on Youtube, and seeing in the description where Patrick Wilson is advertised as starring in the film... Not quite..but glad to see him.

 

[DrForester]

I was let down, but I do hope for a sequel to maybe fix things.

 

[ncsuDuncan]

Supposedly there are deleted scenes where Weyland is younger, they just got cut.

Did they really cast a younger actor to play Weyland because of scene that wasn't important enough to keep in the movie?

The TED talk was cool "viral" marketing, but wasn't cool enough to justify the unconvincing geezer we see in the film.

 

[Pinzer]

First thought: omg Charlie is so hot...

 

[Ether_Snake]

I'd say the one or multiple things that got on my nerves about this movie was just how utterly reckless, incompetent and unprofessional each and every character in this movie was especially David.

I think ALL of this could be fine and explainable if we knew that Weyland/David knew far more about what they were going to find than we were told, which might very much be a fact. The TED talk almost hints at this, as if Weyland (or his company), when he was younger, got into contact with aliens or with alien-information. There is definitly more to Weyland than was told, and I wouldn't be surprised that fore-knowledge of what was on the moon or what they were looking for is something that was cut out but that would have totally explained David's actions. It would replace curiosity with a clear plan that David was following.

 

[neojubei]

So disappointed in this movie. It feels like the writers had a pile of notecards with unconnected sci-fi ideas written on them that they assembled into a script.

- GIANT HEAD STATUE in a creepy room with MYSTERIOUS PODS and a GREEN CRYSTAL. Don't forget the ANIMATED MURALS OF DOOM.
- IMPOSSIBLE PREGNANCY leads to an ALIEN SQUID BABY that turns into a GIANT SQUID MONSTER that saves the day.
- REPLICANT that is secretly serving THE OLD MAN FROM SCENE 24, helping him answer THE ULTIMATE QUESTION by asking a GIANT ENGINEER GOD that is conveniently taking a CRYO NAP nearby.
- BLACK GOO that turns people into GARY BUSEY.

They really should have picked just a few ideas and fully explored them instead of trying to cram five different alien monster designs in while leaving out any explanation.

I'm okay with a movie having unanswered questions. "Why did they do that?" "What does it mean?" "What happens next?"

This movie, though, had too many questions about basic events. "What the fuck did I just watch?"

I have to agree with this.

 

[Chatin]

I was let down, but I do hope for a sequel to maybe fix things.

Worked so well for the franchise, before...

 

[KingKong]

man that movie was so dumb. its the small things, really, like the cave paintings or the weirdo video playback the space jockeys left and David could play somehow (uhhh why exactly)

 

[Dead]

I was let down, but I do hope for a sequel to maybe fix things.

Just get rid of Lindelof.

His writing on this movie actually have me reconsidering the slack I gave LOST, as it seems the problems with that show are just endemic to Lindelof's writing no matter what.

 

[DeadFalling]

What is so frustrating is that the movie had the roadmap to be an absolute classic. Great cast, ideas, visual design but the script just pulled the rug from under its feet. It's annoying how needlessly bad it was when all it needed was a more competent writer

This x100. It just infuriates me that Lindelof dropped the fucking ball so goddamn badly. I'm not even that big a fan of the Alien franchise, (I've only seen the first two), but this movie could have been so, so much more.

 

[shintoki]

Heh rewatching Aliens. I wonder how many androids it took before they started placing the behavioral inhibitor in them. Tho David turning into fucking Ultron by the end of the movie was ridiculous, him and Ash set it up so that the one in Aliens wasn't a total nutcase? Do they touch on that in the comics/side material any? I guess after Ash went haywire, they started taking precautions.


Also, I'm guessing Vickors hitting the pushups was more of a reference to Vasquez doing pullups right after Hyper Sleep. Kinda nice.

Another part ruined by Cameron. I like my androids psychotic. None of this bullshit about them just malfunctioning.

You know, a single 2 to 3 minutes of a confrontation between the Crew would have solved so many problems. Instead of Naomi stumbling in to Weyland getting his feet washed. Could of had her go to Elba, right after he got back from killing Super Zombie. Both of them decided to leave, while Vickers telling them its not up to any of us. And then re-introducing Weyland. Still be stupid as fuck... but it would be actual consequences and talk! 2 minutes to do it also.

The final scene is a nightmare too. When David told her he was coming, I was expecting a similar ending to Alien. Naomi hiding from it while it searches for her, maybe her attempting hit it with the axe, etc. Eventual Jettison into that creature, absolutely. Just not within 10 seconds of it appearing.

 

[commedieu]

What was up with the Face hugger ancestor towards the end of the film? I do not understand why they made that thing so huge.

Out of curiosity, are there any theories on how the more leathery eggs came into existence? Does Ridley plan on making another one?

Read the thread from the OP, sadly, this thread is better than the movie will ever be. And its written better!

But lots of great theories and explanations.. It actually took the sting away from the film being so horrible. Lots of fun to think about, but really wish people didn't have to speculate and pull things out of thin air. Alien Aliens etc aren't exactly thought provoking deep films. If Scott really did try this with the film, then great. But I've never seen an entire audience look so god damned dazed, confused, and saddened after a showing. MAYBE the Fountain, did the same thing.

I was in a media blackout this entire time sadly, but the movie was beyond predicable. The trailer gave it all away, which blew. As it would have been nice to have 1 surprise.

Every single conflict in the movie was instantaneously solved within the same scene it was introduced.

No one in the story even cared about the story. As everyone mentioned the holes, they are gigantic, sure, if intended. GREAT. I just didn't feel that I needed my David Lynch helmet on, while watching an alien movie.

This x100. It just infuriates me that Lindelof dropped the fucking ball so goddamn badly. I'm not even that big a fan of the Alien franchise, (I've only seen the first two), but this movie could have been so, so much more.

Yep. We just assumed it was going to be good, because there is no way in hell it could have possibly gone this bad unless done on purpose. It was shocking how bad the movie was, all of that considered.

hell, Noomi was even laughing at the entire audience at the end of the movie ;-) I mean, it was bad, and then it got laughably bad when you kill a character off because they cant move to the side (Noomi rolled away from the ship.. with ease) ugh. I was hoping that I could simply enjoy another Alien lore franchise after Alien and Aliens.

I had my fill of black ooze creating aliens in X-Files. :\

 

[remz]

One person's world building is another person's " DUMB PLOT HOLES " I suppose.

I didn't mind all the stuff that was left unexplained because I eprsonally thought it added to the mystique of the whole thing.... seems other people are more eager to just have the movie beat them over the head with everything in it. It wouldn't make sense for the characters to understand all the shit they find so why should the audience know as well?

Bet if there was an active internet forum when Alien was released the posts online would look the same as these.

Alien Aliens etc aren't exactly thought provoking deep films. If Scott really did try this with the film, then great. But I've never seen an entire audience look so god damned dazed, confused, and saddened after a showing. MAYBE the Fountain, did the same thing.

Maybe but those films (particuarly the first) don't explain shit either. Alien tells you nothing about the xenomorph, the spaceship they find it on, the eggs in the basement, the engineer dude sitting in the chair, the company, the computers, or anything else for that matter. You don't even really know what the thing killing them looks like until the end, let alone how it grows so quickly or what it's doing with anyone it takes.

 

[Shogmaster]

Ridley Scott got the inspiration for the Engineers from Spongebob?

I would say more like Burne Hogarth

 

[KingKong]

The problem is that while Alien has a clear explanation for the creature (the evolution makes sense from what we know about life), Prometheus doesnt make any sense and you just have to reply on muddled explanations.

The fact that the Space Jockey are given motivations also complicates things, because its very difficult to understand it (so they created life, then they had a testbed that somehow got out of control but not before making a mural of the xeno(really, you have hyper advanced tech and the best you can do is a cave painting?), and then they wanted to go back to Earth for some reason?)

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

The word of mouth on this doesn't seem good enough to warrant a sequel.

Money talks and last I heard it was doing preyed well for being r rated.