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[DECK'ARD]

Lindelof also gets a lot of shit, but Spaihts wrote the script as well. And everything was approved and guided by Scott, he's not the type to not be involved in the process and give them the main plot points to hit.

I think everyone involved is to blame, and no one comes out well apart from those in the cast who did well with what rubbish they were given, and everyone involved in the aesthetic and look of the world that was created.

Prometheus is an ill-conceived vanity project shoehorned into the Alien universe, that neither stands on its own merits nor adds anything to the film it is trying to complement.

 

[Karma Kramer]

Weyland: "I'm going to fund a trillion dollar space expedition to an uncharted world in search of our maker, so make sure the world's best and brightest scientists................. don't apply".

He didn't need anyone other than David to do his dealings. In fact it was probably better no one caught onto what he was doing.

David is the world's best and brightest for the humans.

 

[The Elite]

Weyland: "I'm going to fund a trillion dollar space expedition to an uncharted world in search of our maker, so make sure the world's best and brightest scientists................. don't apply".

Well, he didn't necessarily want the best and brightest, he wanted the people who wouldn't ask too many questions about the mission. People who were willing to go on a mission they knew little about. I'd say he was successful. I dare say he saw the rest of the crew, other than David and maybe Vickers, as expendable.

 

[daviyoung]

Whats not believable about humans finding evidence of a constellation in ancient civilizations. Discovering an ancient alien structure on a planet in that constellation. Discovering it was being used for biochemical dna research / weaponry (something humans take part in). And that our creators show just as much love and care towards us as we do with a robot/AI? The only parts thats less believable is the poor decisions by the crew, but this is true in pretty much any horror/science fiction. Also the notion that humans wouldn't do anything to appease their curiosity or to gain new knowledge/recognition is untrue.

This is what bothers me. I hate that they're right and know exactly, from the start, what their discovery is. The human power trip displayed in Prometheus by its bumbling human characters would be darkly comic and provocative if their plans and theories were completely wrong, but apparently they're not. They're right on the money with everything they say. There should have been more surprise Weyland-beatdowns and less exposition from reliable narrators who shouldn't be reliable at all.

 

[Karma Kramer]

This is what bothers me. I hate that they're right and know exactly, from the start, what their discovery is. The human power trip displayed in Prometheus by its bumbling human characters would be darkly comic and provocative if their plans and theories were completely wrong, but apparently they're not. They're right on the money with everything they say. Eugh.

What other possible explanation could be established for the set up of the film other than the "invitation." It would be a lot less believable if Weyland had just sent a bunch of space shuttles out into the universe and one happened to come across the planet/moon we see in the film.

 

[daviyoung]

What other possible explanation could be established for the set up of the film other than the "invitation." It would be a lot less believable if Weyland had just sent a bunch of space shuttles out into the universe and one happened to come across the planet/moon we see in the film.

Why is it an invitation at all? The characters think it is, but of course they would, humans only see the universe in relation to them. I would have preferred it explored what we don't know, and it did to some extent, but it always falls back to everyone being right about everything. Another pat on the back for humans being the kings of the universe, regardless of who made them. These are the themes worth exploring to me, not Space Jesus and The Meaning Of Life.

 

[DECK'ARD]

Whats not believable about humans finding evidence of a constellation in ancient civilizations. Discovering an ancient alien structure on a planet in that constellation. Discovering it was being used for biochemical dna research / weaponry (something humans take part in). And that our creators show just as much love and care towards us as we do with a robot/AI? The only parts thats less believable is the poor decisions by the crew, but this is true in pretty much any horror/science fiction. Also the notion that humans wouldn't do anything to appease their curiosity or to gain new knowledge/recognition is untrue. Which is why I can believe a biologist would do something stupid like that. Just as biologists/scientists swim or tackle giant flesh eating lizards (steve irwin etc).

The original Alien film isn't really any deeper than Prometheus either... and it also includes many things that go un-answered.

A $200 million episode of Ancient Aliens is still an episode of Ancient Aliens.

But even that's not enough for Prometheus! No, it has to further extend that terrible premise into the origin of man, take the theme of a creator vs. its creation at its most literal, throw religion and God into the mix because of that heavy-handed take, plus a side-ordering of Space Jesus for good measure as well as the only justification that fits for basically everything the film is based on.

It's laughable, and stripped of its visuals, confused narrative, and ambiguous characters it would be even more obviously so.

 

[Mondriaan]

Well, he didn't necessarily want the best and brightest, he wanted the people who wouldn't ask too many questions about the mission. People who were willing to go on a mission they knew little about. I'd say he was successful. I dare say he saw the rest of the crew, other than David and maybe Vickers, as expendable.

He didn't think highly enough of Vickers to let her know he was also going, so it's hard to say that she mattered.

What's more surprising is that he bothered to have so many human beings on board rather than going with a staff of robots and maybe one or two organ donors.

 

[Karma Kramer]

Why is it an invitation at all? The characters think it is, but of course they would, humans only see the universe in relation to them. I would have preferred it explored what we don't know, and it did to some extent, but it always falls back to everyone being right about everything. Another pat on the back for humans being the kings of the universe, regardless of who made them.

"We were so wrong"

Shaw says this about the Engineers... so no they weren't right about everything. They thought it was an invitation when it was really never meant to be discovered by humans.

 

[Karma Kramer]

What's more surprising is that he bothered to have so many human beings on board rather than going with a staff of robots and maybe one or two organ donors.

I get what you are saying here, but again this is a film. If there was just a bunch of Davids, the impact of Fassbenders performance in contrast with the humans would have been dull by comparison.

 

[Keylime]

This is what bothers me. I hate that they're right and know exactly, from the start, what their discovery is. The human power trip displayed in Prometheus by its bumbling human characters would be darkly comic and provocative if their plans and theories were completely wrong, but apparently they're not. They're right on the money with everything they say.

Weyland/Shah/Holloway go to this place expecting to find their creators waiting for them peacefully and receiving them with open arms...instead they find out that their creators were on their way to eradicate them from the universe before being killed by their weapon against the humans.

It's like these people thought they were going to meet a happy new testament God and instead got a furious old testament God.

The whole figuring out that it was a weapon-base and all that doesn't bother me. I think David does all the pushing to figure that out, it's not like the humans would have on their own. Without David they don't see any of the saved history projections. They don't get into the Ampule Room. They don't find the galaxy map.

Seems like without David this movie would have just been a story about humans visiting a facility on another planet and just finding one engineer's body with a severed head. No black goo. No finding the creators...nothing!

 

[UnluckyKate]

I just saw this in 4DX in Seoul (amazing use of moving seat during flying scene and wide shots, strobes in the theater kicked in during red laser balls, blue galaxy maps and final strobing scene. Also, pressure jet and water streams blowing in your face made alien exploding out of bodies REALLY gross and embarrassingly realistic.

The movie ? I didn't understand anything. It didn't made any sens to me. Invitation ? yeah, to a planet where an armada of ships, full of sealed bio weapons are stocked ?

Why these engineers would create humans to kill them after that ? Why where they were dying on the sealed gate ? Did they want to get inside and die from the lock down ?

 

[Zoe]

When she got into the medibot for her surgery, wasn't she just in the process of being hunted down by two crew members? Where did they go off to?

She knocked them out. When we see them again, they were assisting Weyland which was arguably more important.

 

[Messypandas]

I like how the Prometheus voyage is a trillion dollar endeavor and the Nostromo and Hadleys Hope terraforming plant were million dollar properties. Dat strengthening economy

 

[Karma Kramer]

A $200 million episode of Ancient Aliens is still an episode of Ancient Aliens.

But even that's not enough for Prometheus! No, it has to further extend that terrible premise into the origin of man, take the theme of a creator vs. its creation at its most literal, throw religion and God into the mix because of that heavy-handed take, plus a side-ordering of Space Jesus for good measure as well as the only justification that fits for basically everything the film is based on.

It's laughable, and stripped of its visuals, confused narrative, and ambiguous characters it would be even more obviously so.

You just keep repeating yourself without responding to anything. Its cool you didnt like the film, but contrasting it with Ancient Aliens is kind of odd. Its like contrasting the Blair Witch Project with Ghost Hunters. One is actually dramatically engaging and visually composed and artistically cool, the other is just some bullshit television crap.

 

[daviyoung]

"We were so wrong"

Shaw says this about the Engineers... so no they weren't right about everything. They thought it was an invitation when it was really never meant to be discovered by humans.

I'm pretty sure she says that straight after the abortion and is talking about the creatures rather than the great plan itself. She still believes, and in the end wants to hunt these dudes to find the answers. Prometheus welcome to die is an invitation, just not the one she wanted. The rest of it (bioweapons, tomb etc) the crew were right on the money apparently. The only part that explored what I'm talking about is the engineer killing Weyland after being rudely awoken, and it seems I'm barking up the wrong tree expecting that to mean anything since David is crucial to that scene.

Them being right or wrong in these scenarios is binary, there seems to be no other possibility other than: the creators love us and the creators hate us.

 

[Karma Kramer]

I'm pretty sure she says that straight after the abortion and is talking about the creatures rather than the great plan itself. She still believes, and in the end wants to hunt these dudes to find the answers. Prometheus welcome to die is an invitation, just not the one she wanted. The rest of it (bioweapons, tomb etc) the crew were right on the money apparently. The only part that explored what I'm talking about is the engineer killing Weyland after being rudely awoken, and it seems I'm barking up the wrong tree expecting that to mean anything since David is crucial to that scene.

Well think about all the lives that have been killed in the name of god. In the belief that they think they have all the answers.

And David was the only one right on the money. Without David they would have found the structure but perhaps very little else.

 

[Mondriaan]

I get what you are saying here, but again this is a film. If there was just a bunch of Davids, the impact of Fassbenders performance in contrast with the humans would have been dull by comparison.

Using that argument, you could similarly argue that if the human beings in the movie hadn't acted like complete buffoons, the impact of Fassbender's performance would have been dulled.

 

[DECK'ARD]

You just keep repeating yourself without responding to anything. Its cool you didnt like the film, but contrasting it with Ancient Aliens is kind of odd. Its like contrasting the Blair Witch Project with Ghost Hunters. One is actually dramatically engaging and visually composed and artistically cool, the other is just some bullshit television crap.

Well if that isn't damning with faint praise I don't know what is.

 

[daviyoung]

Well think about all the lives that have been killed in the name of god. In the belief that they think they have all the answers.

And David was the only one right on the money. Without David they would have found the structure but perhaps very little else.

Yeh, well David is the best part of the movie for me and his character is spot on. His motives could have been explored further in relation to the jockeys, Weyland and Shaw though. He blates has his own agenda and is using Shaw for some unmentioned gain.

There are many Promethei in Prometheus, yet this isn't explored as much as it should be either.

 

[Karma Kramer]

Using that argument, you could similarly argue that if the human beings in the movie hadn't acted like complete buffoons, the impact of Fassbender's performance would have been dulled.

No what I'm saying is that without human emotion to contrast David, David's performance as an AI robot would have been less enthralling. Its a movie, it doesn't have to be grounded in logic completely, thats not even the point of Science Fiction films imo (2001).

 

[Karma Kramer]

Well if that isn't damning with faint praise I don't know what is.

Seriously? I don't watch much crap tv so it was the only analogy that popped in my head at the time. My point stands though. Prometheus is cool not because it talks about Aliens like they do in that Ancient Aliens shit, but it makes you feel like you are on an Alien planet, with the atmosphere and excellent visuals art production. David's performance as an AI is also probably one of the best I have seen. This film isn't a pos objectively... you can continue to say it is, which is cool, but just like with Solo posting that gif over and over, it gets annoying hearing the same vague complaints about it, along with some nonsense about a crap tv show.

 

[Mondriaan]

No what I'm saying is that without human emotion to contrast David, David's performance as an AI robot would have been less enthralling. Its a movie, it doesn't have to be grounded in logic completely, thats not even the point of Science Fiction films imo (2001).

There isn't much difference between a replicant and an "AI robot" aside from the backstory and possibly being able to survive as a disembodied head. The fact that David is specifically a robot is probably more homage to Alien and Aliens (especially the disembodied head parts of the movie) than serving some important plot point.

 

[DECK'ARD]

Seriously? I don't watch much crap tv so it was the only analogy that popped in my head at the time. My point stands though. Prometheus is cool not because it talks about Aliens like they do in that Ancient Aliens shit, but it makes you feel like you are on an Alien planet, with the atmosphere and excellent visuals art production. David's performance as an AI is also probably one of the best I have seen. This film isn't a pos objectively... you can continue to say it is, which is cool, but just like with Solo posting that gif over and over, it gets annoying hearing the same vague complaints about it, along with some nonsense about a crap tv show.

I have no problem with how the film made you feel, it's visually breathtaking at times and by far my favourite looking film in a long time. The first half especially really drew me into that world, but for me when the film started trying to progress the plot and communicate its big ideas it started falling apart. And by the end I honestly didn't care who was killed by a rolling giant spaceship or not, because everything that was happening had just been to rapidly jump us from one plot point to the next, even if it was in a completely illogical way. By the time a dodgy looking xeno stood up at the end I was seriously considering what on Earth I had just watched.

A Director's Cut may make the film a bit more satisfying, flesh out the characters more, give events more time to build and characters more time to react to the fall-out, but it won't address the biggest problem for me.

Which is by stumbling into the original of man, trying to link us to the Engineers in the most heavy-handed way possible, it actually destroyed the best thing about what made Alien work. It removed the mystery and replaced it with the absurd.

The only new questions that are raised are because of all the absurdities.

 

[Karma Kramer]

I have no problem with how the film made you feel, it's visually breathtaking at times and by far my favourite looking film in a long time. The first half especially really drew me into that world, but for me when the film started trying to progress the plot and communicate its big ideas it started falling apart. And by the end I honestly didn't care who was killed by a rolling giant spaceship or not, because everything that was happening had just been to rapidly jump us from one plot point to the next, even if it was in a completely illogical way. By the time a dodgy looking xeno stood up at the end I was seriously considering what on Earth I had just watched.

A Director's Cut may make the film a bit more satisfying, flesh out the characters more, give events more time to build and characters more time to react to the fall-out, but it won't address the biggest problem for me.

Which is by stumbling into the original of man, trying to link us to the Engineers in the most heavy-handed way possible, it actually destroyed the best thing about what made Alien work. It removed the mystery and replaced it with the absurd.

The only new questions that are raised are because of all the absurdities.

I agree with your summation, however I can't be as harsh on it as you were earlier because I think despite its rushed ending, it had too many amazing moments. Also the prospect that a longer cut and the planned sequel could strengthen it more has me excited.

I felt the Engineers were really interesting tbh. Not so into their art/character design but I think the whole aspect of them not caring for their creations to be interesting not absurd.

 

[Jokergrin]

Can someone explain the prologue to me? Was that earth? What was the guy doing to himself? What was that ship

 

[.GqueB.]

This is what bothers me. I hate that they're right and know exactly, from the start, what their discovery is. The human power trip displayed in Prometheus by its bumbling human characters would be darkly comic and provocative if their plans and theories were completely wrong, but apparently they're not. They're right on the money with everything they say. There should have been more surprise Weyland-beatdowns and less exposition from reliable narrators who shouldn't be reliable at all.

This also bothered me. There was one scene where the captain walked into the room and explained what the facility was and he explained it so well. So as a viewer I thought to myself "well maybe he's confused because how would he know that?". But then the movie never told me anything otherwise so then I thought "so... I guess that was it...?"

Part of me still thinks they're wrong but unfortunately the movie never made the very clear. It's just odd that these people suddenly knew everything.

Can someone explain the prologue to me? Was that earth? What was the guy doing to himself? What was that ship

Apparently the planet doesn't matter. It COULD be earth but it doesn't have to be. But I believe they were seeding the planet and this took sacrifice. Notice the ship flying away wasn't the same as the one they found. It had a more peaceful, transport feel. It was even shaped like a seed if I remember correctly (I could be wrong on that one).

 

[DECK'ARD]

I agree with your summation, however I can't be as harsh on it as you were earlier because I think despite its rushed ending, it had too many amazing moments. Also the prospect that a longer cut and the planned sequel could strengthen it more has me excited.

I felt the Engineers were really interesting tbh. Not so into their art/character design but I think the whole aspect of them not caring for their creations to be interesting not absurd.

They did care though, the Engineer even gave his life at the beginning to give birth to us. And they visited us repeatedly to check up on us, and by extension because of the Ancient Aliens angle give us nudges in the right direction.

They only stopped caring roughly 2000 years ago, when we crucified Space Jesus. Which is absurd on many, many levels.

 

[Enots86]

Let me just say I am a huge fan of Alien. It is one of my favorite movies of all time. When I heard Scott was coming back to make a new one I got really excited. I have been able to avoid all of the trailers, previews and reviews for Prometheus, so I really didn't have any crazy expectations for this movie other than the fact Ridley Scott directed it.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but not in the way I expected to enjoy it. It was clear from early on that this was going to be a B-horror movie and that's all I took as pretty from much the beginning of the film. It was a cheese fest, and a decent one at that. I was laughing though out almost the entire picture.

I feel people are looking too deeply into this one instead of just enjoying it for what it is, A b-movie with some really cool special effects that also asked some interesting questions. And the way it was able to tie in the Prometheus mythology into the alien universe was kind of cool imo. This could possibly become a genuine cult classic in the next 20 years.

 

[TRios Zen]

I am a huge fan of both the Alien mythology (particularly as envisioned in Alien and Aliens) and Ridley Scott's work.

But like many others, I am disappointed by a few things in this film:

1) The stupidity of the characters: examples too numerous to list (and largely already pointed out in this thread). If a character in you film does something incredibly stupid (like not running 3 feet to the right to avoid being crushed by a falling spaceship, etc), for no real reason but to advance the plot, that is simply piss-poor writing, period. There is nothing provocative or open-ended about that.

2) The story that IS told is a beautiful mess indeed: stunning visual design, some incredible character performances and some truly memorable scenes, cobbled together with a story that is so lacking in direction or perhaps striving to be so provocative that it totally loses any chance at giving the audience any reason to care about the characters outside of David/Shaw. I mean who really gave a damn that Holloway dies? Who are the cast that Fifield kills? What drove the air crew to their altruistic act? Again, I don't see these as thought-provoking plot devices - these are poorly developed/envisioned characters living in a story that makes little internal sense.

I think I would have enjoyed this movie much more, if it was it own story/mythology - trying to provoke questions around the beginning of humanity, rather than being concerned with somehow tying it in to the Alien story that started on LV-426.

I don't hate this movie on it's own, there is lots to like; I hate this movie, as it currently exist (without a sequel) as canon in the Alien universe.

 

[Karma Kramer]

They did care though, the Engineer even gave his life at the beginning to give birth to us. And they visited us repeatedly to check up on us, and by extension because of the Ancient Aliens angle give us nudges in the right direction.

They only stopped caring roughly 2000 years ago, when we crucified Space Jesus. Which is absurd on many, many levels.

I'm not following this Space Jesus aspect thing. Is that the official explanation for why they changed their minds about humans? I think thats left to the viewer to decide.

 

[Keylime]

What exactly was the Alien mythology that was so deep in Alien and Aliens?

There is literally no explanation for who the Aliens are, how they came to be, why they reproduce the way they do...they are just killing machines for the sake of being scary to drive the protagonist to try and wipe them out (why? because they are trying to hurt me!)

Alien has a Space Jockey with his chest bursted which is the only indication about why these things exist in the first place...but we don't know who he is, why he's there, who laid all those eggs...the movie has no desire at all to answer those questions.

I dislike it when people talk about how Prometheus is messing with the previous Alien and Aliens movies...when there is literally nothing to disrupt. Both of those movies live on unimpeded by pretty much anything this movie and the potential sequels do. Alien and Aliens is just Humans vs. Aliens with no reason or care as to why, just survive. There's nothing at all that is deep or worth discussing in those movies, just appreciating how well crafted and executed they are.

Edit: I'm not saying you need to have your socks knocked off by Prometheus, I'm just saying that prior to this movie, there wasn't any mythology at all that existed to mess up.

 

[base shagohod]

I don't hate this movie on it's own, there is lots to like; I hate this movie, as it currently exist (without a sequel) as canon in the Alien universe.

It's funny because that's the exact reason why they said it wasn't a prequel, to make sure people didn't get upset and make comparisons to Alien. Except they couldn't make up their mind, and basically made a prequel.

Didn't Scott say there wouldn't be Xenomorphs in Prometheus? I guess he meant "Xenomorphs we have seen before".

 

[DECK'ARD]

I'm not following this Space Jesus aspect thing. Is that the official explanation for why they changed their minds about humans? I think thats left to the viewer to decide.

That's the original premise, just made more ambiguous because it was 'too nail on head' according to Ridley.

There's unfortunately still too much of that premise littered throughout the film, from symbolism, to it taking place over Christmas, and lines in the film saying roughly 2000 years ago remove any doubt. Also despite the ambiguity and confused story telling and motives throughout, no other explanations stand-up.

It's not the connections to Alien that kills the film for me, it's the ill-advised decision to stumble into the origin of man made worse by then trying to tie into religion and the Bible as well. The film tries to be deep, but makes a complete mess of everything by trying to take on too much and in a really lazy way.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

True story: I was just out for a run in the park and two cyclists zoomed by. All I caught was "No, the aliens CREATED--" "..but then why--"

Watch out for those plotholes, guys.

 

[Karma Kramer]

What exactly was the Alien mythology that was so deep in Alien and Aliens?

There is literally no explanation for who the Aliens are, how they came to be, why they reproduce the way they do...they are just killing machines for the sake of being scary to drive the protagonist to try and wipe them out (why? because they are trying to hurt me!)

Alien has a Space Jockey with his chest bursted which is the only indication about why these things exist in the first place...but we don't know who he is, why he's there, who laid all those eggs...the movie has no desire at all to answer those questions.

I dislike it when people talk about how Prometheus is messing with the previous Alien and Aliens movies...when there is literally nothing to disrupt. Both of those movies live on unimpeded by pretty much anything this movie and the potential sequels do. Alien and Aliens is just Humans vs. Aliens with no reason or care as to why, just survive. There's nothing at all that is deep or worth discussing in those movies, just appreciating how well crafted and executed they are.

Yeah I don't get this either. People just have nostalgic tinted glasses for when they saw Alien as a kid I think. Cause just like 2001, theres nothing definitive its asking us, its all kind of mysterious... its the whole production, the visuals and music that invoke wonder/fascination. Showing not telling.

 

[Rabbi_Vole]

Saw it on Friday and have allowed myself a few days to chew, swallow and digest. I have a few issues with the movie (in order):

1.The biologist's uncanny stupidity in approaching the snake when scared at the notion of something moving in just the prior scene.

2.The lack of response to the british chick's surgical ordeal by the rest of the crew

3. The akward out of no where Elba revalation regarding the alien ship's purpose. You could see him "getting there" but the way it was handled was jarring.

I would like to see what was left on the cutting room floor. Maybe they show the geo/bio going a little stir crazy... smoking a little "tobacco" from the geo's breather and getting a little stupid. (They did seem a little high). Maybe we see David calling off the security officer on the bittish chick and noting the growth is secured in the surgical chamber. Maybe we see Elba commenting on the stockpile of weapons on the ship and then running down the hall to break the news.

 

[daviyoung]

I would like to see what was left on the cutting room floor. Maybe they show the geo/bio going a little stir crazy... smoking a little "tobacco" from the geo's breather and getting a little stupid. (They did seem a little high).

They show him panicking whilst lost in the cave, then they show him smoking his herb. I'd say it's safe to deduce that he smoked it to relax himself in that situation.

The british chick is swedish btw.

 

[Solo]

What exactly was the Alien mythology that was so deep in Alien and Aliens?

There is literally no explanation for who the Aliens are, how they came to be, why they reproduce the way they do...they are just killing machines for the sake of being scary to drive the protagonist to try and wipe them out (why? because they are trying to hurt me!)

Alien has a Space Jockey with his chest bursted which is the only indication about why these things exist in the first place...but we don't know who he is, why he's there, who laid all those eggs...the movie has no desire at all to answer those questions.

I dislike it when people talk about how Prometheus is messing with the previous Alien and Aliens movies...when there is literally nothing to disrupt.

You've unknowingly answered your own question. Those films work brilliant because you aren't spoonfed the answers. The xenomorphs are simply insatiable killing machine. They are like Michael Myers in Halloween (1978). No backstory needed, they are simply pure, unadulterated rage. Prometheus is akin to pulling the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz. And like Halloween (2007), when you attempt to humanize/explain that which needed no explanation, you've lost it.

 

[TRios Zen]

What exactly was the Alien mythology that was so deep in Alien and Aliens?

There is literally no explanation for who the Aliens are, how they came to be, why they reproduce the way they do...they are just killing machines for the sake of being scary to drive the protagonist to try and wipe them out (why? because they are trying to hurt me!)

Alien has a Space Jockey with his chest bursted which is the only indication about why these things exist in the first place...but we don't know who he is, why he's there, who laid all those eggs...the movie has no desire at all to answer those questions.

I dislike it when people talk about how Prometheus is messing with the previous Alien and Aliens movies...when there is literally nothing to disrupt. Both of those movies live on unimpeded by pretty much anything this movie and the potential sequels do. Alien and Aliens is just Humans vs. Aliens with no reason or care as to why, just survive. There's nothing at all that is deep or worth discussing in those movies, just appreciating how well crafted and executed they are.

Edit: I'm not saying you need to have your socks knocked off by Prometheus, I'm just saying that prior to this movie, there wasn't any mythology at all that existed to mess up.

I do not think either Alien or Aliens were particularly deep movies - but they do have a consistent themes. The ORIGINS of the aliens is not important to either of the first two movies. But if the official canon is changed to muddy the waters for (for now) apparently no real reason, then yeah, I'd prefer if they just didn't.

 

[Karma Kramer]

You've unknowingly answered your own question. Those films work brilliant because you aren't spoonfed the answers. The xenomorphs are simply insatiable killing machine. They are like Michael Myers in Halloween (1978). No backstory needed, they are simply pure, unadulterated rage. Prometheus is akin to pulling the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz. And like Halloween (2007), when you attempt to humanize/explain that which needed no explanation, you've lost it.

Prometheus has some identity problems but its certainly more of a science fiction film while Alien is a horror and Aliens is an action. I wouldnt say their simplicity of a grander science fiction narrative is better, its just different.

 

[Messypandas]

I think thats the difference between the two. Alien was never about the bigger picture, it was about a group of self-interested crew who argued about pay and how shit the food tasted. It never really lingered on the relevance or importance of the space jockey and alien which is why you leave feeling satisfied. Prometheus is about the big picture though; it goes balls deep asking "who invented us... where do we come from... who was the space jockey!" and at the end it teases you with ambiguity and breadcrumb clues because it isn't smart enough to figure its self out. Thats why its a deflating experience.

 

[Karma Kramer]

I think thats the difference between the two. Alien was never about the bigger picture, it was about a group of self-interested crew who argued about pay and how shit the food tasted. It never really lingered on the relevance or importance of the space jockey and alien which is you leave feeling satisfied. Prometheus is about the big picture though; it goes balls deep asking "who invented us... where do we come from... who was the space jockey!" and at the end it teases you with ambiguity and breadcrumb clues because it isn't smart enough to figure its self out. Thats why its a deflating experience.

Except its Part 1 of 2.... and answering all the questions in Part 1 would have been stupid.

 

[andycapps]

I think everyone involved is to blame, and no one comes out well apart from those in the cast who did well with what rubbish they were given, and everyone involved in the aesthetic and look of the world that was created.

Prometheus is an ill-conceived vanity project shoehorned into the Alien universe, that neither stands on its own merits nor adds anything to the film it is trying to complement.

I think people are being overly hard on it. So much was expected of it due to it being Scott's return to the franchise he created, and his return to sci-fi in general. With that said, he had a tall order ahead of him.

But people are acting like it's as offensive as the Star Wars prequels, when it's nowhere near as bad. Nowhere near as bad.. those were offensive and were just a cash in and completely ham fisted.

I have no problem with how the film made you feel, it's visually breathtaking at times and by far my favourite looking film in a long time. The first half especially really drew me into that world, but for me when the film started trying to progress the plot and communicate its big ideas it started falling apart. And by the end I honestly didn't care who was killed by a rolling giant spaceship or not, because everything that was happening had just been to rapidly jump us from one plot point to the next, even if it was in a completely illogical way. By the time a dodgy looking xeno stood up at the end I was seriously considering what on Earth I had just watched.

A Director's Cut may make the film a bit more satisfying, flesh out the characters more, give events more time to build and characters more time to react to the fall-out, but it won't address the biggest problem for me.

Which is by stumbling into the original of man, trying to link us to the Engineers in the most heavy-handed way possible, it actually destroyed the best thing about what made Alien work. It removed the mystery and replaced it with the absurd.

The only new questions that are raised are because of all the absurdities.

A Director's Cut will flesh out quite a bit more of the story and alleviate some of people's gripes with consistency and such. I honestly love what he did with it and enjoy having lots of stuff hinted at but not answered. It fuels discussion. To me, it's like the question of whether Kurt Russell's character in The Thing was actually infected the whole time. We'll never know. Some here would say that that was lazy writing because it didn't answer the question.

I'm not saying this is as good as The Thing. Time will tell. It's important to remember that The Thing was a box office failure partially due to coming out the same day as Blade Runner, and was raked over the coals by critics at the time. The additional time that has passed for people to be able to rewatch it and pick out things in the plot that they missed the first time has made some, including myself, to regard it as a classic.

 

[Messypandas]

Except its Part 1 of 2.... and answering all the questions in Part 1 would have been stupid.

Except i don't don't give a shit because a movie should stand on its own ground

 

[140.85]

I have no problem with how the film made you feel, it's visually breathtaking at times and by far my favourite looking film in a long time. The first half especially really drew me into that world, but for me when the film started trying to progress the plot and communicate its big ideas it started falling apart. And by the end I honestly didn't care who was killed by a rolling giant spaceship or not, because everything that was happening had just been to rapidly jump us from one plot point to the next, even if it was in a completely illogical way. By the time a dodgy looking xeno stood up at the end I was seriously considering what on Earth I had just watched.

A Director's Cut may make the film a bit more satisfying, flesh out the characters more, give events more time to build and characters more time to react to the fall-out, but it won't address the biggest problem for me.

Which is by stumbling into the original of man, trying to link us to the Engineers in the most heavy-handed way possible, it actually destroyed the best thing about what made Alien work. It removed the mystery and replaced it with the absurd.

The only new questions that are raised are because of all the absurdities.

So basically you wanted it to be Alien?

 

[Ether_Snake]

Eh don't know about this. It would be a cool twist but Weyland clearly states in the movie that it was Shaw who convinced him that these people might have had the answers to life and immortality.

What does he say in the viral trailer?

Shaw probably just made the link between the aliens in question, and creation of humanity. That might be something Weyland didn't know of until the cave paintings were found. But you might be right, I just can't imagine that the TED talk wasn't after having established that there are aliens out there, and that Weyland might be able to go wherever they are or get info from them.

Also, I was thinking about something:

Since engineers = fallen angels, and Scott said paradise would be disturbing since fallen angels = doing all the cool, etc., basically paradise would be the opposite of what the engineers are like, it might offer a reason why the engineer rips off David's head: when he touches David, he sees that he has no emotions. The fact that David has no emotions was a strong point before the movie was even out. Well, who else would NOT have emotions? Angels. Angels just follow orders. Maybe the engineer, putting his hand on David, saw David in the same way they saw angels, as enemies, and ripped off his head?

 

[Karma Kramer]

Except i don't don't give a shit because a movie should stand on its own ground

LOTRs?

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

ALIEN also has all sorts of subtext and imagery that contribute to the horror. Rape metaphors, phallic and vaginal symbols all over the place, that nightmare-birth process--it's why ALIEN is especially unsettling rather than just Friday The 13th in space.

PROMETHEUS appropriates these images without really doing anything with them. It doesn't really make the movie feel one way or another. It's not a particularly scary movie. All this stuff is just there for continuity.

 

[DECK'ARD]

So basically you wanted it to be Alien?

I wanted a film that knew what it wanted to be, knew what story it wanted to tell, and had enough confidence in that story to not shroud it in ambiguity because it's patently absurd.

Whether it turned out like Alien or not is incidental, I just wanted a good film.