Prometheus [Spoilers]

[Joker]

Spoilers ahead.


I enjoyed this movie but not for the reasons I thought I would. I understood, going into it, that it wasn't going to be an 'Alien' movie. It was an adventure dealing with the origin of our species and of the aliens we see in earlier films.
But with all the connections made with other films I couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed at how some things were done.
I tend to ramble so I'll make a list of things I liked and didn't like.

Dislikes

- It's too bright. There aren't any shadows, no places that set the brain on edge. This is probably a holdover from a thinking that this was an Alien movie.

- Too predictable. I usually don't care too much if a movie follows the formula but some things were just too obvious. The reason why this is bad for me is because there's hardly a reaction when the thing happens that you know was gonna happen, even with the musical cue.

- The score had a few good parts but the Star Trekky motif (tell me if I'm using that word wrong) felt completely out of place at any point Leonard Nemoy or Patrick Stewart could have started narrating.

- Didn't like Shaw's boyfriend, Charlie Holloway. Something rubs me the wrong way when he says his lines.

- The Space Jockey is a dick. He is. He's a complete jerk. Here he is, saved from slow death by the visitors. So he smiles and kills everything around him. Of course, these lab rats that call themselves human may not even be a blip on his radar but after having come all this way to find answers I was hoping for a little more closure than an alien rampage.


Likes:

- Performances were outstanding with a special tip of the hat to Noomi Rapace and Micheal Fassbender. Fassy, in particular, was completely awesome. Disturbing and methodical.

- Everything looked really cool. From the Space Jockey's to the ship design and all the other tech like the holograms. It looked cool and seemed functional.

- Beautiful environment.


I really liked how the movie sets up for a sequel. It makes you wonder what these weapons were made for and if we humans were made as weapons or as test subjects. It makes you wonder who their enemy was/is. The predators? Maybe.

This was hands down a better film than Alien 3, 4, and all the Aliens vs. Predator films. But it wasn't better than Alien or Aliens.

A solid eight out of ten.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'm glad that someone has started a spoiler thread, because I'm still weighing up whether i want to see it or not, and as I'm not a fan of horror films it is useful to find out all manner of spoilerific things first.

I've been reading very mixed reviews - some people loved it, some people hated it, some people loved some bits (e.g. cinematography) but hated other bits (allegedly numerous scientists were hit by the stupid stick?)

I'm interested to see other peoples observations in this thread.

Cheers

 

[Morrus]

(Reposted from CM)

So (remember, spoilers) here's what I understand of the plot and my questions:

Film opens with Engineer starting human life on Earth with his own DNA as his mothership flies away. He dies in the process.

Many thousands of years later, two archeologists discover cave paintings* inviting them to a planet. They tell Weyland, who leaps on it as a way to prolong his life by asking help from humanity's creators, and who funds the mission.

They all truck off to the planet and discover an Engineer ship. All the Engineers are dead, killed by Aliens of various kinds, except one.

Robot David comes up with an intricate plot involving stealing a casket from the Engineer ship, retrieving a worm from it, slipping the worm into someone's drink with the hope that they will then have sex with someone before they die thus impregnating that woman with a giant octopus which she'll give birth to, and which will then consequently attack and impregnate an Engineer, resulting finally in an Alien bursting from his chest at the end of the movie.**

Robot David then wakes the Engineer, who kills a bunch of people incuding Weyland. The archeologist runs away.

The captain of Prometheus figures this isn't the Engineer's home world, that the caskets of alien stuff are a weapon, and that the Engineer ship is off to kill humanity. So he crashes Prometheus into it.

Engineer chases archeologist, gets killed and impregnated by the octopus she gave birth to.

The archelogist decides she wants to know why the Engineers created them, invited them, then at some point changed their minds and decided to wipe them out. So she steals another ship, form the planet, of wich there are apparently many, and heads off to the Engineer's home world in order to ask them.

Familiar Alien bursts out of Engineer who was impreganted by Octopus.

Did I get that right?




*Question 1: who painted them? The Engineer who died kickstarting humanity? Humans over the next 35,000 years (and in that case where did they get the info?)

**Question 2: WTH? Who came up with that plan?

 

[Joker]

(Reposted from CM)*Question 1: who painted them? The Engineer who died kickstarting humanity? Humans over the next 35,000 years (and in that case where did they get the info?)

**Question 2: WTH? Who came up with that plan?

1.) It looks like the humans painted them. They seem to be done in the style of the various cultures where they were found.

2.) As I understand it after the first viewing I think the plan was to grant Weyland immortality and for David to find out a way how to make that happen. I does seem like incredible foresight to know that they were gonna have sex and create the early facehugger. I think he was just testing the compound to see what effect it would have.

Speaking of the facehugger. How the hell did it get so big? It went from the size of a newborn to an 8foot 600 pound monster in a day without any organic material to grow upon.

Plane Sailing, it can't really be called a horror film. There are a few scenes that might make you feel uneasy but because everything is so well lit it shouldn't really be an issue.
Basically, there are the standard face-rape scenes you have in all the other Alien movies. These being a bit more phallic than previous versions. There's the Space Jockey going on a brutal and slightly gory rampage and then a few scenes containing sporadic violence.
I would even go so far as to say there is very little suspense in the movie. As a thriller it failed for me. Why I gave it such a high score is because it's fun to ponder the existential questions posed in the movie. And the prospect of a sequel with Fassbender and Rapace seemed the most entertaining part of the flick.

And yes, cryogenic sleep seems to have severely affected some of the scientists. The only two that seem to be smart enough to notice the possible danger and leave the area in time, manage to get lost in a complex which they had just mapped.

Ugh, I gotta stop watching TV and posting at the same time. What a ramblefest.

 

[Joker]

With all the bad things I have to say about the movie, I cannot stress how well done the positives are. From the visuals to the acting, those things alone made it worth it for me.
Pardon the Heath Ledger fanboyness but Fassbender's rendition of an early AI is as powerful as Ledger's rendition of the Joker. Of course, this is assuming you think Ledger's Joker was as good as I think it was.

It's definitely worth watching, if you're capable of ignoring plot holes.

 

[Morrus]

1.) It looks like the humans painted them. They seem to be done in the style of the various cultures where they were found.

So how did the humans know to paint that star formation? That first Engineer seeded human DNA and died in the process; he never interacted with humans. Did the Engineers revisit later and give them the info?

 

[Morrus]

Just to add: it is a good film. Worth seeing. But it's not a classic.

It's better than Alien 3 & 4, not as good as Alien and Aliens. A billion times better than the AvP movies.

 

[Joker]

So how did the humans know to paint that star formation? That first Engineer seeded human DNA and died in the process; he never interacted with humans. Did the Engineers revisit later and give them the info?

Yeah, maybe they visited, maybe the Engineers were artistic or maybe the information was coded into our DNA.

I'm still not entirely sure the Engineer dying in the beginning was volunteering himself. I'm working on a convoluted theory that says he was volunteered. I'll get back to you on that.

As an aside, does anyone remember any of the Predator films featuring Space Jockey souvenirs? I have this strange feeling that they might have but I may just be imagining things in my coffee and overfed fueled state.

 

[Morrus]

As an aside, does anyone remember any of the Predator films featuring Space Jockey souvenirs? I have this strange feeling that they might have but I may just be imagining things in my coffee and overfed fueled state.

You're correct. It's in the ship in #2.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Robot David comes up with an intricate plot involving stealing a casket from the Engineer ship, retrieving a worm from it, slipping the worm into someone's drink with the hope that they will then have sex with someone before they die thus impregnating that woman with a giant octopus which she'll give birth to, and which will then consequently attack and impregnate an Engineer, resulting finally in an Alien bursting from his chest at the end of the movie.**

errrrr, what?