Ridley Scott's "Prometheus"

[Ichinisan]

Spoiler

I still don't get why they showed Prometheus crashing into the alien ship, and dropping it back to the ground in the trailer.

That kind of gives a little too much away in the trailer.

Yeah. No kidding. The trailer is epic.

Spoiler

I wish there was only a glimpse of the ship we see in Alien

, but they really did show way too much in the trailer. I think the biggest "OMG" moments in the movie are already wasted for us.

 

[qliveur]

I totally understand that feeling. However, I don't think this can possibly be a complete screw-up like the Star Wars prequels. Ridley Scott has continued to produce excellent movies long after Alien and he has always been enthusiastic about science fiction; a genre which he has helped to define in cinema with Alien and Blade Runner. He's a talented, proven, accomplished director. George Lucas' early success was some kind of fluke.

Either that or he forgot how to direct.

 

[HAL9000]

Seen it.

Spoiler

3/5 Disappointed some of it was perfect, some of it was Kingdom of the Crystal Skull terrible.

Night all.

 

[airdata]

Seen it.

Spoiler

3/5 Disappointed some of it was perfect, some of it was Kingdom of the Crystal Skull terrible.

Night all.

Early screener?

I'm thinking of going thursday for the midnight showing.

 

[Ichinisan]

Early screener?

I'm thinking of going thursday for the midnight showing.

Released 6/1 in Europe, but HAL9K works at a theater and got to see it a day earlier.

 

[Pia]

Some of the time it was good, but some of the time the plot or something else was so shit I was actually laughing aloud in the cinema (which was different kind of entertaining). Some of those moments, a lot of them actually, were gory ones that I suppose were intended to be scary and/or exciting. Hell, "Aliens" was scarier while also being a good action movie. Prometheus is just gory.

Spoiler

The DIY octopus abortion is definitely in the running for worst/funniest bit. To give this some perspective, it only drew a chuckle from me when the giant space squid ate the giant space nazi. The squid-nazi face-off also felt relatively sane compared to the random last-second conclusion of the whole movie.

 

[HAL9000]

Some of the time it was good, but some of the time the plot or something else was so shit I was actually laughing aloud in the cinema (which was different kind of entertaining). Some of those moments, a lot of them actually, were gory ones that I suppose were intended to be scary and/or exciting. Hell, "Aliens" was scarier while also being a good action movie. Prometheus is just gory.

Spoiler

The DIY octopus abortion is definitely in the running for worst/funniest bit. To give this some perspective, it only drew a chuckle from me when the giant space squid ate the giant space nazi. The squid-nazi face-off also felt relatively sane compared to the random last-second conclusion of the whole movie.

Spoiler

I thought the abortion scene was actually one of the best scenes in the film, so tense. I hated the humanoid aliens, the opening scene is an unnecessary waste, the script was poor. Michael Fassbender was incredible.

 

[HAL9000]

Released 6/1 in Europe, but HAL9K works at a theater and got to see it a day earlier.

Yeah I did!

 

[FoBoT]

i didn't realize noomi was in it,now i want to see it in theatre

 

[Printer Bandit]

this movie is like watching ancient aliens....couldn't ridley scott come up with any original ideas?

 

[Printer Bandit]

spoiler

Spoiler

what a let down.

 

[Ichinisan]

Roger Ebert gave it his highest rating (4 stars). I'm staying optimistic.

In 2.5 hours, I'll be watching it in IMAX 3D.

 

[Ichinisan]

In my seat. :awe:

 

[GTaudiophile]

So which is the official discussion thread?

I saw it last night.

Spoiler

It was not as epic as Alien or Aliens but it was entertaining. Fassbender carried the movie. As did Theron's body suit. All in all, a 3.5/5.0 for me.

So, where do I begin?

Lots of spoilers/questions below...

Spoiler

Is the planet in Prometheus the same as LV-426?
I think so because "Shawn" leaves the warning at the end of the movie...
BUT the warning is in English? And the mission was sponsored by the Wayland Corporation...so why does the Nostromo's computers have such a hard time decoding the warning in Alien? It too is a Wayland ship.

Big Continuity Error?
In Alien, the crew of the Nostromo find the "Space Jockey" or Engineer "frozen" to his seat, yet in the end of "Prometheus" he gets killed chasing after Shawn in the escape boat. They therefore cannot be one in the same.

Thoughts on race of Engineers
Let me get this straight. The Engineer mission is as follows?
Step 1: Find planet able to sustain life but as yet devoid of intelligent life.
Step 2: Send an Engineer to said planet, where he is left alone to sacrifice himself (dies to save the sins?) by drinking a magical elixir that causes the body to dissolve and yet at the same time forms the building blocks of new, intelligent life.
Step 3: Wait a few billion years for intelligent life to evolve, come back to visit every millennia or two, and leave traces of where you're from (hieroglyphics).
Step 4: When a certain point of evolution has been reached, quit visiting.
Step 5: Wait for said intelligent species to evolve to the point that it decides to come visit you on your "military proving grounds" planet.
Step 6: Either you've brought them there to be killed or you take it as a sign to return to Earth and go kill off the entire species you created.

Thoughts on Aliens
-The bottles of ooze do not contain Aliens, correct?
-Or do they contain some sort of liquid bio-chemical weapon that transforms/kills/infects those that consume it? (This is how Charlie is killed, right?)
-When the crew of Prometheus enters the "head chamber" and the bottles are not even yet open, we see a tiny worm in the soil. Is this Alien?
-After the crew of Prometheus enters the "head chamber" the sudden change in environment causes the bottles to decompose, spilling the bio-chem weapon into the chamber. Are we then to assume that the tiny worm becomes affected by this liquid? They grow larger, an early type of "facehugger" with concentrated acid for blood, and later kill the two stranded crew members?
-Similarly, the bio-chem weapon can also immediately mix itself with a hosts's reproductive organs, thus permitting it to reproduce through human intercourse.
-So it has two methods of reproducing itself. But each time it does, say in the case of a human, it grows larger? Are we to assume it starts as a tiny worm and then becomes the massive, multi-mouthed creature at the end of the movie?
-In the process of reproduction it also assumes traits of the host? Hence, why after impregnating the Engineer, the first Alien-like, bipedal creature, is born?
-Finally, there is a HUGE disconnect between the Nostromo finding eggs in its cargo hold versus thousands of bottles of ooze. Are we to assume that some sort of alien evolution takes place between the end of Prometheus and the beginning of Alien?

 

[Ichinisan]

Spoiler

[stuff]

It's not supposed to be LV-426.

Spoiler

However, it's in the same planetary system. It's something like "LV-223." Personally, I still think it's a flaw to have this planet in the same system. Why would W-Y Corporation bother to terraform LV-426 if this nearby planet had a relatively-stable carbon dioxide atmosphere? There was also an oxygen-producing alien terraforming mechanism already in-place. They should have investigated this planet first and they probably would have discovered their lost Prometheus debris and the space jockey structures.

Regarding the xenomorphs, they came from a bio-weapon that allows it to rapidly adapt for practically any species.

 

[Ichinisan]

Saw in IMAX 3D. Definitely worth watching, but the story needed a lot more work. I'll agree that I felt a bit of a let-down due to the weak story. Someone asked if I thought it was worth seeing in IMAX 3D over RealD. I believe it was definitely worth it. It's the first 3D IMAX movie I've watched, and it looked much better than any other 3D movie I've seen.

Something else confuses me: I know that director Ridley Scott was simultaneously-developing both a PG-13 cut and an R-rated cut until the studio approved releasing the R-rated cut. However, they clearly censored an F-bomb by interrupting it with static noise. Also, two guys were clearly supposed to be flipping each other the bird, but they were doing a backward peace sign instead. What the f[kssh]?!

 

[Aikouka]

Also, two guys were clearly supposed to be flipping each other the bird, but they were doing a backward peace sign instead. What the f[kssh]?!

Were they British? The "two finger salute" (middle + index) is pretty much the same thing as the "one finger salute" (middle) for British. If I remember correctly, it came from the French trying to subdue the British by cutting off their archer's fingers. The archers would show their draw fingers (middle + index) off to the French as an affront.

 

[HAL9000]

Were they British? The "two finger salute" (middle + index) is pretty much the same thing as the "one finger salute" (middle) for British. If I remember correctly, it came from the French trying to subdue the British by cutting off their archer's fingers. The archers would show their draw fingers (middle + index) off to the French as an affront.

That's actually a common myth. (I found out on QI)

 

[Aikouka]

That's actually a common myth. (I found out on QI)

Bollocks!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Watched it last night. If anyone knows anything about Ridley Scott's movies, what we got was 2/3 of the final product, the rest left on the cutting room floor trying to get the movie into the 2 hour mark. Both Blade Runner and Kingdom of Heaven were totally different (and far superior) movies once the deleted content was patched back in.

Spoiler

The movie starts off well and the build-up seems well paced, but once they reach the planet continuity takes a hike and concepts come and go FAST without any time to really soak them in. Almost no time was spent on Dr Holloway or the resurrected biologist, they happen then they're forgotten about. Dr Shaw has an alien baby abortion after almost being turned into an incubator by David, but then there's no hard feelings when everyone goes to meet the space jockey/engineer. Nevermind there is a not so dead alien baby in the med bay but lol we can get to that later you know, no need to tell anyone about it.

Alien was so successful as a horror movie because it was focused, tight, suspenseful and claustrophobic. Prometheus is none of those things.

 

[kreactor]

saw it in real3d at an amc lowes...not sure how much 3d added to the immersion...
(they could've made theron's suit more 3d)

anyway prometheus's earlier edition of android in david seems more "evil" than the successors when he quip sic 'everyone wants their parents dead' and seems to act independently, even (defiantly) from the old guy's agenda of life preservation...

 

[BudAshes]

I forgot about kingdom of heaven, that movie suuuuucked.

 

[dbk]

I forgot about kingdom of heaven, that movie suuuuucked.

The director's cut is infinitely better than the theatrical release, i.e. makes sense

 

[BudAshes]

The director's cut is infinitely better than the theatrical release, i.e. makes sense

I remember not liking much of anything about it, but maybe I will try and go back and watch the directors cut. It's always worth giving a good director a chance.

 

[SP33Demon]

I enjoyed this film and give it 4/5, mainly because it makes you think about... everything. My burning question:

Spoiler

What did android David say to the Engineer? This changes everything, because if David said something hostile, then the Engineer acted accordingly. We don't know that David actually says something friendly, especially since he clearly wants to take over his human masters. In the end, I think he's just manipulating Dr. Shaw so she'll do his bidding (and since he obviously was incapacitated and couldn't move himself). It also sets up a sequel in which star Fassbender can be in the main role and possibly overthrow humans and/or Engineers.