The entire film I felt like I was watching the first Alien with a different plot, i.e. it follows the same structures of the original film and characters are very similar. The story is rather bad (Assassins Creed 2 does it better) and is set up for a sequel with the "why" question unanswered which just makes the whole thing feel unfinished. If I hadn't have seen Alien I would have probably enjoyed the film a lot more, but I had and don't think I want to watch a sequel.
[Edit] As the above sounds overly harsh I think I should just mention that its still a good enjoyable film, my friends thought it was boring though (I didn't), personally I think its a victim of its own over ambition and trying to fit in too many concepts into a movie format which doesn't really combine well enough to impress in the time limits, even though the concepts themselves are very basic presentations of the expanded philosophies they are trying to represent. Michael Fassbender is very good and if he wasn't in the film I think it would have been very very average.
Too bad! My husband really wants to see this, so I've promised to take him. I hope he's not too disappointed by it.
My hubby and I are seeing it tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. He's been chomping at the bit to go see it.
Problem is, when a movie has too much hype, then it is hard for it to live up to it.
I went into "The Matrix" having only seen a poster and the catch phrase "What is the Matrix", I had no expectations, came out very pleasantly surprised.
Really looking forward to see Prometheus
Another problem is, to get plenty of people to watch a movie, they create a lot of hype, and getting everyone's expectations through the roof. Becomes sort of self-defeating though...
Kind of like a prep school, they rarely live up to their own hype. ::)
Quote from: Stevil on June 08, 2012, 09:04:35 PM
Problem is, when a movie has too much hype, then it is hard for it to live up to it.
I went into "The Matrix" having only seen a poster and the catch phrase "What is the Matrix", I had no expectations, came out very pleasantly surprised.
Really looking forward to see Prometheus
There certainly is that aspect to it, but the film is just a mess really. Hope you enjoy it though.
I watched this a couple days ago, and was pleased with it, on the whole. I would agree that it's a little messy, structurally. There are logic concerns, such as the character who endures a dramatic experience and hardly spends any time recovering from it before lining up for the endgame. The other element that emerged from that character's ordeal is forgotten or ignored until it reappears as a handy solution to a later problem; a few extra minutes could easily been added to confirm the acknowledgement of that element's presence on the part of other characters who were dangerously interested in it only a few moments before. Also, the process of exploration went on pretty quickly; I could see some people having issue with it being an expedition that operates with undue, vulgar haste. I liked the pacing of it, personally.
One thing that really appealed was having gone in, primed by a re-watching of Blade Runner. Prometheus felt like a companion piece to Blade Runner as much as to Alien. I'm delighted by what Roy Batty does to his god, and was happy with the parallel seen in this Prometheus.
Quote from: Tristan Jay on June 11, 2012, 08:29:21 PM
One thing that really appealed was having gone in, primed by a re-watching of Blade Runner. Prometheus felt like a companion piece to Blade Runner as much as to Alien.
This is what I thought was the strongest part of the film, I personally think they should have left the xenomorphs out of it all together and just dealt with the engineers, human, android relationship. Still keeping the Aliens in the background though as a plot device. Or just focused on the evolution from the little bacteria to the xenomorph and just do a damn good horror film.
I have such mixed feelings, because i loved the first Alien movie.
i guess i'll give it a shot though.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on June 12, 2012, 12:26:45 AM
I have such mixed feelings, because i loved the first Alien movie.
i guess i'll give it a shot though.
Even though I am slagging it off don't let it deter you. After all it is just my opinion.
Quote from: Crow on June 07, 2012, 03:41:59 PM
The story is rather bad (Assassins Creed 2 does it better) and is set up for a sequel with the "why" question unanswered which just makes the whole thing feel unfinished. If I hadn't have seen Alien I would have probably enjoyed the film a lot more, but I had and don't think I want to watch a sequel.
Maddox already made me not want to see it and the unfinished story is the main reason why. I gave up on the Pirates of the Caribbean series after the second one... I think, it may have been the third and the made a fourth. Jack Sparrow was missing at the end of the last one I saw and was missing again at the end of the next. It felt like absolutely nothing happened.
For the record, I would just like to mention how much I hate Hollywood again.
For anyone who is interested:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=prometheus_nutshell
Quote from: ThinkAnarchy on June 14, 2012, 04:41:58 AM
For anyone who is interested:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=prometheus_nutshell
This sums up the movie entirely.
Quote"There's no evidence, no reason, no causation, nothing. Just a one-stentence blurb that changes the entire movie."
But its two sentences, "its an invitation" and "the aliens are a biological weapon to kill humans", that's about as much explanation the plot has.
My biggest problem I have with the film is that the writing for the lead characters are just a mess. The whole religion/faith thing of the main female lead is just nonsensical, it doesn't even make sense in terms of Christianity (even though it never says what religion she is, it just has David removing her cross) never mind logic. If she was a "true believer" of the ancient astronauts it would make some sort of sense but she isn't, and the scene when she is a kid in India and asks her dad why she isn't helping those people and he replies "because they are not the same religion as me" or something thereabout, what kind of scene is that when its suppose to represent the beginning of her belief.
The film reminds me of an episode of Lost, it shows some interesting things and at the core you potentially have some good characters, but before it gets past the introduction of the interesting things and creating a motivation for a character its off onto the next thing and never revisits them. and why a squid alien it makes no sense.
Quote from: ThinkAnarchy on June 14, 2012, 04:41:58 AM
Quote from: Crow on June 07, 2012, 03:41:59 PM
The story is rather bad (Assassins Creed 2 does it better) and is set up for a sequel with the "why" question unanswered which just makes the whole thing feel unfinished. If I hadn't have seen Alien I would have probably enjoyed the film a lot more, but I had and don't think I want to watch a sequel.
For anyone who is interested:
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=prometheus_nutshell
Good summary!
Can someone further elaborate on this?!
Quote
Scientists suddenly become brave: Then there's the scene where the geologist and biologist are lost, scared and bumbling through the cave when they come across a penis-monster. Suddenly, instead of being scared and cowardly, they have a bout of braveness and curiosity, and start performing involuntary fellatio on cave slugs. This sudden change of character isn't explained. Of course, these are the same guys who minutes earlier were notified of life being detected to the West of their location, and they suddenly get their bearings and know to head East even though they got so disoriented that they got lost and missed the entrance to begin with. Weak.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on June 15, 2012, 04:59:09 AM
Can someone further elaborate on this?!
Quote
Scientists suddenly become brave: Then there's the scene where the geologist and biologist are lost, scared and bumbling through the cave when they come across a penis-monster. Suddenly, instead of being scared and cowardly, they have a bout of braveness and curiosity, and start performing involuntary fellatio on cave slugs. This sudden change of character isn't explained. Of course, these are the same guys who minutes earlier were notified of life being detected to the West of their location, and they suddenly get their bearings and know to head East even though they got so disoriented that they got lost and missed the entrance to begin with. Weak.
So as this is going to contain a spoiler if you don't want to know don't continue reading. Anyway. When they go into the "nest" the character david (android) activates a switch that causes a hologram to play, this hologram shows the "engineers" running from something, one falls over and gets its head chopped off by a door. This is how they find the first engineer and two scientists freak out and basically run off back to the ship because one makes a big point about loving rocks not aliens, but they don't get back to the ship they end up getting lost. Later on in the film Stringer Bell is chilling and notices a life signal, he some how manages to get in contact with the scientists even though the storm is still ranging and lost contact with them in the first place, they freak out again and head away from the life source only to bump into the snake like alien from the trailer, and for some reason even though they shat it at a dead alien and a when they told life was present they decide they want to play with it. It then takes them down rather gruesome manner.
I went to see this yesterday and for me it can be summed up in one word 'Adequate'
I just watched this one. Thought the part when Dr Shaw answer's "It's what I want to believe in" to the biologist when he asks her if she's just going to disconsider 200 years of darwinism for her panspermia idea. WTF moment.
Okay...so...meh.
It was a bit confusing and the plot was poorly done with a lot of loose ends. And there might be a sequel it seems, or at least the ending was set up to look like there will be. My bet is that whatever answer she's going from the "engineers" who created them and then wanted to destroy them will be something cliché and biblical. Noah's Flood kind of thing. ::)
The story is about terraforming. The engineers used biology to terraform earth. Unfortunately one result was us. When the engineers come back to colonise their new world they find us, and we have to be eradicated.
Quote from: Crow on June 15, 2012, 09:50:48 AM
Quote from: Sweetdeath on June 15, 2012, 04:59:09 AM
Can someone further elaborate on this?!
Quote
Scientists suddenly become brave: Then there's the scene where the geologist and biologist are lost, scared and bumbling through the cave when they come across a penis-monster. Suddenly, instead of being scared and cowardly, they have a bout of braveness and curiosity, and start performing involuntary fellatio on cave slugs. This sudden change of character isn't explained. Of course, these are the same guys who minutes earlier were notified of life being detected to the West of their location, and they suddenly get their bearings and know to head East even though they got so disoriented that they got lost and missed the entrance to begin with. Weak.
So as this is going to contain a spoiler if you don't want to know don't continue reading. Anyway. When they go into the "nest" the character david (android) activates a switch that causes a hologram to play, this hologram shows the "engineers" running from something, one falls over and gets its head chopped off by a door. This is how they find the first engineer and two scientists freak out and basically run off back to the ship because one makes a big point about loving rocks not aliens, but they don't get back to the ship they end up getting lost. Later on in the film Stringer Bell is chilling and notices a life signal, he some how manages to get in contact with the scientists even though the storm is still ranging and lost contact with them in the first place, they freak out again and head away from the life source only to bump into the snake like alien from the trailer, and for some reason even though they shat it at a dead alien and a when they told life was present they decide they want to play with it. It then takes them down rather gruesome manner.
This movie sounds incredibly bad...
Religious b.s thinly veiled aside.
We finally saw this yesterday. I had heard some of the mixed reviews and tried to go in with a clear mind and no expectations, which was tough since I loved the first two Alien movies. But yeah, disappointed. It started off with a great premise and I was into it for the first hour, but Crow's comparison of it to "Lost" is very accurate: this tries to be something deeper by throwing up a bunch of really interesting ideas, but lets a lot of them fall to the ground without explaining them. Not to mention some of the more gratuitous stuff seemed to be there just for shock value and didn't add anything to the story. For example...
****SPOILER ALERT****
What was the point of Dr. Shaw's boyfriend getting infected by Dave, or Dr. Shaw getting impregnated and cutting out the alien from her abdomen? Would anything have been missed story-wise had that whole sequence been cut out, besides an obvious reference to Alien and showing off a bunch of cool special effects? Afterward she stumbles into a room with a bunch of characters and no one seems to notice that she's in her underwear covered in blood. Huh???
The other thing that bothered me was the Captain coming in the room and announcing he had figured out that it was a military installation for the Engineers. How? It seemed like a rushed device to advance the plot. He wasn't even exploring the caves at all the whole movie!
My wife was complaining about how every blockbuster these days (with the exception of The Dark Knight) sacrifices story for showing off a bunch of cool gratuitous special effects/violence, and how it infected this movie too. Couldn't agree more.
You really freaked me out at 3 am man :P I was like, "Why the hell does this guy have a thread about me?"
I want to see this movie tho.
****SPOILER - ALERT****Quote from: Firebird on June 24, 2012, 07:23:19 PM
What was the point of Dr. Shaw's boyfriend getting infected by Dave, or Dr. Shaw getting impregnated and cutting out the alien from her abdomen? Would anything have been missed story-wise had that whole sequence been cut out, besides an obvious reference to Alien and showing off a bunch of cool special effects?
Wasn't that thing that she cut out of her the same monster that infected the big pro-to human that was trying to kill her in the end? And then the proto-human was infected and "hatched" the humanoid alien?
Quote from: Ali on July 02, 2012, 10:55:02 PM
****SPOILER - ALERT****
Quote from: Firebird on June 24, 2012, 07:23:19 PM
What was the point of Dr. Shaw's boyfriend getting infected by Dave, or Dr. Shaw getting impregnated and cutting out the alien from her abdomen? Would anything have been missed story-wise had that whole sequence been cut out, besides an obvious reference to Alien and showing off a bunch of cool special effects?
Wasn't that thing that she cut out of her the same monster that infected the big pro-to human that was trying to kill her in the end? And then the proto-human was infected and "hatched" the humanoid alien?
No, that monster is what laid the egg in the protohuman, it was like the queen bee of the alien movie I think. ??? (The one which laid all those eggs)
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on July 03, 2012, 04:19:52 AM
Quote from: Ali on July 02, 2012, 10:55:02 PM
****SPOILER - ALERT****
Quote from: Firebird on June 24, 2012, 07:23:19 PM
What was the point of Dr. Shaw's boyfriend getting infected by Dave, or Dr. Shaw getting impregnated and cutting out the alien from her abdomen? Would anything have been missed story-wise had that whole sequence been cut out, besides an obvious reference to Alien and showing off a bunch of cool special effects?
Wasn't that thing that she cut out of her the same monster that infected the big pro-to human that was trying to kill her in the end? And then the proto-human was infected and "hatched" the humanoid alien?
No, that monster is what laid the egg in the protohuman, it was like the queen bee of the alien movie I think. ??? (The one which laid all those eggs)
Remember, when she cut it out of her, it got locked in that room with the surgical pod, which was in the "life boat" thingy in the captain's quarters. When they decided to crash Prometheus into the protohuman's ship, they ejected the captain's quarters so she (the captain) could live there and wait for help if she wanted. That's where Dr. Shaw ran to when she ran out of air, to the captain's life boat. That alien was already in the surgical room, because that's where she left it when she cut it out. It grew really fast, but we learned that they grow really fast when she was pregnant with it for like 12 hours and it came out the size of a newborn.
Quote from: Ali on July 03, 2012, 02:14:21 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on July 03, 2012, 04:19:52 AM
Quote from: Ali on July 02, 2012, 10:55:02 PM
****SPOILER - ALERT****
Quote from: Firebird on June 24, 2012, 07:23:19 PM
What was the point of Dr. Shaw's boyfriend getting infected by Dave, or Dr. Shaw getting impregnated and cutting out the alien from her abdomen? Would anything have been missed story-wise had that whole sequence been cut out, besides an obvious reference to Alien and showing off a bunch of cool special effects?
Wasn't that thing that she cut out of her the same monster that infected the big pro-to human that was trying to kill her in the end? And then the proto-human was infected and "hatched" the humanoid alien?
No, that monster is what laid the egg in the protohuman, it was like the queen bee of the alien movie I think. ??? (The one which laid all those eggs)
Remember, when she cut it out of her, it got locked in that room with the surgical pod, which was in the "life boat" thingy in the captain's quarters. When they decided to crash Prometheus into the protohuman's ship, they ejected the captain's quarters so she (the captain) could live there and wait for help if she wanted. That's where Dr. Shaw ran to when she ran out of air, to the captain's life boat. That alien was already in the surgical room, because that's where she left it when she cut it out. It grew really fast, but we learned that they grow really fast when she was pregnant with it for like 12 hours and it came out the size of a newborn.
Ok, that's true. The rest of my complaint stands :)