Prometheus

[junkshop36]

Who directs? I don't think Ridley has ever done a sequel has he?

To a movie he directed, no. However, he did do Hannibal, which was a sequel.

[Adm56]

Second film could be called Prometheuss.

Edited June 11, 2012 by Adm56

[Dementeleus]

Prometheoi?

[mattmav45]

Prometheus felt like a huge fuck you, Avater letter to me.

[Dementeleus]

:lol:Well, Ridley did say that visiting the AVATAR set woke him up to 3D and he basically was all "fuck, I've gotta do this."

[junkshop36]

:lol:Well, Ridley did say that visiting the AVATAR set woke him up to 3D and he basically was all "fuck, I've gotta do this."

Just like how seeing Star Wars made him realize he needed to step his game up as a director.

[Gopher]

Upon first viewing.....a film that needs time to digest. Not one to discard so nonchalantly, it deserves more attention and introspection.

I feel very conflicted about the film. I've puzzled on my feelings towards it all day. I think some of it is indisputably messy (mostly story and character plots), but it's not something I'll be forgetting about for a while.

On one hand, I like the idea that asking questions about our existence is a very human thing, as Noomi explained to Fassbenbot at the end. But I don't think I can excuse that to justify the various goofy decisions this supposedly brilliant team of scientists made throughout the film. And very little of anything relating to Alien worked for me.

I don't even know what I would grade it. Maybe a B for now, which sounds generous, but whatever.

[BiffMan]

Yeah, that's true. But the interesting thing is, he's answered some of those questions (sometimes a bit vaguely), but he's also been deliberately ambiguous with a lot of the new elements he introduces this time around.

Love teasing and being vague in the backstory in a film as long as the story does something, or is at least a hell of a ride as was the case with Alien. It surprised me given how interested I was in learning more backstory that the more they explained, the less interested I became. The scenes I seemed to enjoy most were of the "less is more" variety. Take the first hologram recording scene of the Engineers running and the one getting beheaded and we then catch up and see it in reality. That was cool and a nice tension moment and a good tease of what's going on. Pretty much every other holo recording after that felt like fluff and unnecessary. I would have found the final sequence where the Engineer sits down in the navigation chair and you see the trajectory path to Earth vastly more compelling ("Oh no! Earth!") if we hadn't have spent all that time with David playing around in there and watching the bridge holo recording. That was cool to watch, but it robbed the payoff scene of some of its punch.Please note I'm not at all knocking those who really connected with the movie (it's so cool when that happens in any movie), I enjoyed quite a bit of the show, I just found that I was much more engaged when Scott was teasing us and much less so when he was explaining things to us.The first 20-30 mins had me near slack-jawed in awe at the majesty and hard-sci fi and trying to read between the lines of what was and wasn't being said, that it had me hungry for more of that. Awesome to see that Scott still has that in him, I just wished he'd have been able to carry that through the whole film.

[FTF]

Saw it in 3D IMAX today and I was blown away! I loved it, plain and simple. Yes, the first half is better than the second half (but I still like the second half alot, with the first half being incredible), and yes it does bring up more questions than answers (which I don't mind cause it makes you think and come up with your own theories, etc. ala Inception and Blade Runner, etc.), but I was completely engrossed, immersed and mesmerized the whole time. The visuals were amazing, Rapace and Fassbender were incredible (the scene when Shaw is trying to cut the thing in her stomach out was so freakin intense), I had accepted this wasn't the straight up prequel to Alien like Ridley and the studio told us so I wasn't disappointed by the lack of xenomorphs, etc. and I really liked the search for human origin storyline. Yes we don't get any clear answer but since there is no clear answer in real life it's fitting. But the world and movie Ridley created was just amazing. And in regards to the visuals, Prometheus should now be the front runner for best visual effects. I want to see it again (in 3D IMAX) immediately and pray there is a sequel. It's a 9/10 and A/A- from me and when I like a movie upon first viewing I usually like it even more after seeing it again so I may even it bump that up later.Note: My feelings may be slightly influenced by the fact that the last movie I had seen before this was SWATH a few days prior, and that was one of the worst, most terrible movies I've seen in a long, long time (probably since GL last year). It was so awful that the next movie I saw would benefit no matter what. Plus IMAX just makes any movie better, and great movies that much greater, which was the case here. And not just for the better picture and bigger screen, but the awesome sound too.

Edited June 11, 2012 by FTF

[Dementeleus]

Love teasing and being vague in the backstory in a film as long as the story does something, or is at least a hell of a ride as was the case with Alien. It surprised me given how interested I was in learning more backstory that the more they explained, the less interested I became. The scenes I seemed to enjoy most were of the "less is more" variety.Take the first hologram recording scene of the Engineers running and the one getting beheaded and we then catch up and see it in reality. That was cool and a nice tension moment and a good tease of what's going on. Pretty much every other holo recording after that felt like fluff and unnecessary. I would have found the final sequence where the Engineer sits down in the navigation chair and you see the trajectory path to Earth vastly more compelling ("Oh no! Earth!") if we hadn't have spent all that time with David playing around in there and watching the bridge holo recording. That was cool to watch, but it robbed the payoff scene of some of its punch.Please note I'm not at all knocking those who really connected with the movie (it's so cool when that happens in any movie), I enjoyed quite a bit of the show, I just found that I was much more engaged when Scott was teasing us and much less so when he was explaining things to us.The first 20-30 mins had me near slack-jawed in awe at the majesty and hard-sci fi and trying to read between the lines of what was and wasn't being said, that it had me hungry for more of that. Awesome to see that Scott still has that in him, I just wished he'd have been able to carry that through the whole film.

Even though I liked it more than you, I agree (generally) with much that you say here.

[yads]

SPOILERS BELOW!!!!This reminded me of two other movies.1) The Phantom MenaceWhy?Great, envelope-pushing fx, stunning vistas and scope that suck you into its worldOne dimensional, deeply stupid charactersShots of afore-mentioned great vistas interspersed with banal, useless, expositional dialogue that adds nothing to the scene, but does serve to undermine the sense of wonder2) The RoomWhy?Plots that go nowherePlot holes at every turnLudicrous dialogue setting up themes/ideas that are then never again mentionedThe Vickers/Wayland discussion ending with the laughable "... father" reminded me of Lisa's mum mentioning she had cancer - just a terribly delivered line, for a subplot that is then never revisited, and way on the nose. As if everyone didn't already get the relationship that scene was hinting at.Now I think of it, it also reminds me of the worst Blade Runner Final Cut change. Fucker to father. Horrible, on the nose, condescending to the audience.My guess is that when the DVD/blu-ray comes out and people get to see this on their TV it will be TPM all over again. The glory of the visuals are seducing on a massive screen, but over time the inept script, complete lack of character arcs: no one has an arc in this movie (sorry, taking off a cross then an hour later putting it back on does not constitute an arc), horrible dialogue, bizarre actions of the characters: why did David put the black goo in Holloway's drink? Why did a man terrified of the planet and what he might find there try to pet a scary snake thing?Look, when the fans have to make crap up to explain why the main characters in the movie are doing nonsensical stuff it just becomes "Lost... In Space".Oh, and Ridley if you're reading this, three tips:1) If you're gonna kill three people in a grand, heroic, destroying-the-baddies-ship kinda way, let us at least know who they are! Seriously, there's Idris Elba, but who were the other two? Names, personality traits, anything? How are we supposed to care about the loss of total strangers?2) When a woman has just given herself a c section, covered in her own blood and stomach all messed up... and then staggers into a room with a bunch of people in - maybe the script should include someone asking her "What the hell just happened?" Or "You OK, love?" Something like that.3) Never do a Blade Runner sequel.

[FTF]

^ those are crazy comparisons nads and neither make any sense. Prometheus is not even remotely close to either of those movies and it's obvious you're just trying to make a joke and not being serious at all.

Edited June 11, 2012 by FTF

[yads]

^ those are crazy comparisons nads and neither make any sense. Prometheus is not even remotely close to either of those movies and it's obvious you're just trying to make a joke and not being serious at all.

Not a joke. Given time most people will see this as the beautiful turd it is. Edited June 11, 2012 by yads

[DoctorWho]

What do you think of this?

[yads]

Re: that video.On the upside, I agree with him that a movie sparking so much debate and strong opinion is a GOOD THING. Too many cookie cutter movies these days, and Prometheus is certainly not one of those.On the downside, he says that many things in the movie are "left open to interpretation". I'd phrase it differently: there is a bunch of stuff: character inconsistencies, themes and ideas that are set up then ignored, plot threads that go nowhere - and the only way of making this movie work is by MAKING STUFF UP that isn't in the movie.When the SW prequels came out I was a huge SW apologist, and we would get together, us apologists, and try to explain away all the plot holes and moments where smart characters act like idiots throughout the 3 movies. We'd come up with elaborate reasons to justify what happened on screen, and why, really, it all makes sense. I see Prometheus fans already doing the same thing. I also see most of them in a couple of years giving up on trying to defend the dumb characterisations, lack of logic and plot holes, and just accepting that the script is a piece of shit.

Edited June 11, 2012 by yads

[Noctis]

Comparing Prometheus to Phantom Menace is so beyond absurd and horribly wrong.

[Adm56]

Actually I think it's pretty fair at least from the angle of both were long awaited returns to classic franchises from the director that started it all.

[yads]

TPM and Prometheus both feel like first drafts of scripts filled with half-baked ideas. They both have horrible, expositional, banal dialogue. They both try to cover the cracks of a shitty script with awesome, CGI-filled visuals. They both feature supposedly intelligent characters doing stupid things because the plot demands it.It's a fair comparison.

[FTF]

Not a joke. Given time most people will see this as the beautiful turd it is.

Thinking it's a turd is fine, but your comparisons are a joke and don't make much sense.

[mattmav45]

Those expecting another Alien film were always going to be disappointed with this. But trying to create another masterpiece from a masterpiece was never going to work, so I'm glad Prometheus went into a new and different direction.

Clearly, the film itself looks absolutely incredible. Liked the score, acting was good, and the character actions didn't bother me near as much as some. Funny how some can enjoy the Transformer movies but nitpick every single detail about other films. There must be some kind of inner bias I'm not seeing.

I didn't mind the unanswered questions that much, but I do wish a little more was explained. However, this is set-up perfectly for a sequel, and that sequel could be an incredible film if done right. Ambiguity is not a bad thing, it's interesting to see how a lot of people seem to like their movies spoon-fed to them and everything to pull together and end nicely. Open-ended films lead to discussion and debate, as you see in this thread.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. Sure, there are some flaws. A project this ambitious is bound to have some unless it's a mind-blowing masterpiece, but it's a damn impressive film that has me already looking forward to the sequel.

Best film I've seen so far this year.

B+

Edited June 11, 2012 by mattmav45