Prometheus

[Prime Mover and Shaker]

70% of the film is great or close to it. But then the other 30% is so full of plot holes, logical inconsistencies, really stupid character decisions, lazy writing/editing, and underwritten roles that the film can't help but faceplant into a bed of nails.

Yes - my thoughts exactly. SOOOO good in parts, but so frustratingly stupid in others that the net effect is poor.

[Ozymandias]

Yes - my thoughts exactly. SOOOO good in parts, but so frustratingly stupid in others that the net effect is poor.

You guys need to stop calling deliberate ambiguity plot holes, etc. If deliberate ambiguity qualifies as a plot hole, then the epic masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey would be the worst piece of shit film of all time. If anyone tells you that they got this film completely figured out or that its full of plot holes and lazy writing because they feel obligated to know everything, then they're full of shit. Questions about Prometheus range from its deeper philosphical implications about religion, science, humanity's origins and their final destiny in the universe(This movie actually has quite a few nods to 2001 btw if anyones noticed) to the film's more enigmatic scenes such as the sacrifice in the beginning(was this earth being used as a giant petri-dish? if so, did this lead to life on earth? was humanity an experiment or an accident by the Engineers?), the Black goo(is this the most basic form of the Xenomorph?, or is it something much more powerful that the Engineers can "Engineer" depending on what they want it to do?), to the Engineer's(who/what they are exactly) motive for killing everyone and taking off to destroy earth, or the final fates of Shaw and David(If we don't get the sequel, PARADISE). Actually, now that I think about it, the initial polarizing split on this movie is exactly what happened to 2001. Don't believe me, look it up.And I don't understand your whole underwritten character complaint. The movie was about Shaw and David, nobody else. Their motivations are what drives the plot of this film. The 4 mid-level characters(Janek, Vickers, Holloway, and Weyland), are there for structural purposes, and the rest are fillers(Weylend's secret lackys, Scientists, Geologists, ship operaters etc) that are there to die in the same way that 10 people we hardly knew died in 2 minutes in Aliens. Edited July 2, 2012 by Shpongle

[Deep Wang]

Sorry you didn't get a stupid slasher monster movie without any depth.

How many times have you mentioned this?When will you get the fact that we didn't like it, not for this reason, but for the fact that it is a terrible movie. If it included xenomorphs, it still would have been terrible!

[Ozymandias]

How many times have you mentioned this?When will you get the fact that we didn't like it, not for this reason, but for the fact that it is a terrible movie. If it included xenomorphs, it still would have been terrible!

Nice on the 2 week old quote. :mellow:If you just didn't like the movie, then thats fine, I've never tried to change your mind. However, when you constantly present your subjective opinion as a statement of fact, then we have problems. Also, pretty much all of your very specific criticisms on the film has just been factually incorrect and I've been more than happy to correct you on them. I don't know if its because you weren't paying attention or whatever, but some of them have been pretty amusing. For an example, I don't know how you thought Vickers didn't know Weylend was on the ship. Did you go take a piss or something during the the confrontation between her and David? That scene also explained David's whole purpose for being on the ship and his motivations for experimenting with everything which was another thing you seemed to have trouble with. Go watch the movie again now that you've been educated a bit, you might like it. If not, then cool.And yes, I do think some people were pumped and REALLY expecting an Alien rip-off and are trying to take out their disappointments and frustrations on anything they can, especially the ambiguous aspects of the film. The movie isn't even a prequel to Alien in anyway unless directly connected by PARADISE(which I highly doubt will happen). The only thing the 2 share in common is that they take place in the same universe. Edited July 4, 2012 by Shpongle

[Moviedweeb]

Prometheus is an incredible film.

[Deep Wang]

Nice on the 2 week old quote.

I'm so sorry if I have had other things on my mind besides this shitty movie.

If you just didn't like the movie, then thats fine, I've never tried to change your mind. However, when you constantly present your subjective opinion as a statement of fact, then we have problems. Also, pretty much all of your very specific criticisms on the film has just been factually incorrect and I've been more than happy to correct you on them. I don't know if its because you weren't paying attention or whatever, but some of them have been pretty amusing. For an example, I don't know how you thought Vickers didn't know Weylend was on the ship. Did you go take a piss or something during the the confrontation between her and David? That scene also explained David's whole purpose for being on the ship and his motivations for experimenting with everything which was another thing you seemed to have trouble with. Go watch the movie again now that you've been educated a bit, you might like it. If not, then cool.

I never said that I didn't know how Vickers didn't know he was on the ship. I said it was a stupid, pointless device of having him secretly aboard the ship. It makes ZERO sense and every excuse you came up with was a contradiction. Also, all of my specific criticisms have not been factually incorrect. While a few have been cleared up, that still leaves a lot to be desired. Especially from a movie many are claiming to be "brilliant."Great movies do not leave gaping holes in their plots and let you make shit up. They provide everything you need to know and let you decide what happened. There is a huge difference between the two.

The movie isn't even a prequel to Alien in anyway unless directly connected by PARADISE(which I highly doubt will happen). The only thing the 2 share in common is that they take place in the same universe.

You cannot say this isn't a prequel because it is. It might not lead directly into Aliens, but this movie is distinctly tied to that series. You can deny it all you want, but it is the absolute truth.Lets count the things they have in common, shall we?-Weyland Corporation: Building Better Worlds-An andriod that has suspicious intentions. He is also clearly built the exact same way even though he looks different. He also has his head removed which fits with Ash getting his head knocked off and Bishop getting torn in half.-The ship is the EXACT same model used in Alien/Aliens. Not the same exact ship, but it is clearly a duplicate that is meant to make one think of the derelict. -Space Jockey and the cockpit area, again is almost identical to the one seen in Alien. When he suits up, guess what? He looks exactly like the fossilized jockey at the beginning of Alien. -Proto-facehugger-Proto-xenomorph I mean come on, the last shot of the movie was just to give the Alien fans some kind of boner. It clearly is a very early version of the xeno we all know and love.You can't look at all these things and more(the design, mood, and atmosphere are all drawing on what we remember from Alien) and tell me this isn't a prequel.It is.

[vc2002]

This thread has more pages than TA thread. Prometheus surely has generated a lot of debate on the internet. It might be somehow helpful to the sequel because many would want to find the answers to many left questions in this film.

[Gopher]

Bottom line is that if the rest of Prometheus was compelling enough then I would forgive the plot holes and flaws. But it wasn't. It's a movie that's impossible to resonate with, IMO.

[baumer]

I've forgotten about this now. I saw it twice, gave it every chance to be better the second time, but it just wasn't.

[Hatebox]

I enjoyed the film as I was watching it and also like that its story has probably inspired the most debate on a blockbuster since Inception. But I wouldn't call it a great film, and I'm getting tired of suspecting that a Director's Cut would make it much better with Scott's films.

[Gopher]

It hasn't inspired much discussion besides its flaws, honestly. Those debates about the questions Prometheus raised have more or less ceased (Inception's go on to this day). What does this movie actually say about the origins of mankind beyond ''I want answers!'' ''You can't have answers!''? I don't think I've ever seen a movie before Prometheus that seemed to be made primarily to start a franchise. I don't know whether to blame Fox's decisions or if they just gave Ridley too much freedom, but they seem to forget that the reason people see sequels is because the first movie rocked as its own individual story. It's like when that Disney executive said that stories don't matter, and then nobody liked Tron (another movie made with the sequel in mind). At least it's pretty and has some nice performances.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Gopher

[Ozymandias]

I never said that I didn't know how Vickers didn't know he was on the ship. I said it was a stupid, pointless device of having him secretly aboard the ship. It makes ZERO sense and every excuse you came up with was a contradiction.

I'll concede that the reason Weylend was secretly on the ship was left up for speculation to a *certain* extent, however, on the Bluray theres gonna be a full director's commentary version of the film and theres apparently a deleted scene called "Weylend's secret diaries" I also saw it as a tip of the hat to the mischevious nature of Weylend Yutani in the Alien films.

Great movies do not leave gaping holes in their plots and let you make shit up. They provide everything you need to know and let you decide what happened. There is a huge difference between the two.

This is just flat out false, I'm sorry. I can see why deliberate ambiguity is not for everyone, but the golden rule you just came up with there on the spot is hysterical bullshit.

You cannot say this isn't a prequel because it is. It might not lead directly into Aliens, but this movie is distinctly tied to that series. You can deny it all you want, but it is the absolute truth.Lets count the things they have in common, shall we?-Weyland Corporation: Building Better Worlds-An andriod that has suspicious intentions. He is also clearly built the exact same way even though he looks different. He also has his head removed which fits with Ash getting his head knocked off and Bishop getting torn in half.-The ship is the EXACT same model used in Alien/Aliens. Not the same exact ship, but it is clearly a duplicate that is meant to make one think of the derelict. -Space Jockey and the cockpit area, again is almost identical to the one seen in Alien. When he suits up, guess what? He looks exactly like the fossilized jockey at the beginning of Alien. -Proto-facehugger-Proto-xenomorph I mean come on, the last shot of the movie was just to give the Alien fans some kind of boner. It clearly is a very early version of the xeno we all know and love.You can't look at all these things and more(the design, mood, and atmosphere are all drawing on what we remember from Alien) and tell me this isn't a prequel.It is.

I don't know how any of this says this is anything more than just taking place in the same universe. But if you insist this is a direct prequel, then I guess Ridley Scott himself is full of shit when he said it wasn't a prequel. Edited July 5, 2012 by Shpongle

[Ozymandias]

It hasn't inspired much discussion besides its flaws, honestly. Those debates about the questions Prometheus raised have more or less ceased (Inception's go on to this day). What does this movie actually say about the origins of mankind beyond ''I want answers!'' ''You can't have answers!''?

Its funny how people keep saying this, but that was the POINT of the film. The name Prometheus directly speaks to that. They didn't just call the ship and the film Prometheus because it sounds cool. A film that benfits a shitload when you know what its own title means, imagine that(no pun intended). And honestly, this is the only place I've seen where the majority seem to not like it. Not entirely surprised, its fanboyish and haterish in nature.

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Prometheus

"Prometheus is a Titan, culture hero, trickster figure, who in Greek mythology credited with the creation of man through clay and the theft of fire for human use, an act that led to progress and civilization. He is known for his intelligence, and as a champion of mankind. In the Western classical tradition, Prometheus became a figure who represented human striving, particularly the quest for scientific knowledge, and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences. In particular, he was regarded as embodying the lone genius whose efforts to improve human existence could also result in tragedy."

The movie isn't flawed at all, its a take on Prometheus. Shaw is a strong believer in Christianity and it is implied that Religion is dying out/disappearing on earth(Weylend wanted a true believer on board incase they didn't find the Engineers he believed might be able to save him), and she feels increasingly isolated so she sets out to get her answers when her faith is put in question when her and her boyfriend(who also even thinks religion is a crock of shit, even teases her about it a little later in the film), find the mysterious cave carving/painting that couldn't have possibly been put there by man(which is explained a little later in the film). The mission was a quest for knowledge on the biggest questions known to man, they overreached and faced unintended consequences that resulted in tragedy. In the end, Shaw is left with nothing left to live for(her lover is dead) and left with even more unaswered questions than she started with, so she decides not to go back to earth, takes David(who is also now free of Weylend so she forgives him), and continues on her quest for the answers and goes looking for the Engineers.

I don't think I've ever seen a movie before Prometheus that seemed to be made primarily to start a franchise. I don't know whether to blame Fox's decisions or if they just gave Ridley too much freedom, but they seem to forget that the reason people see sequels is because the first movie rocked as its own individual story. It's like when that Disney executive said that stories don't matter, and then nobody liked Tron (another movie made with the sequel in mind).

Theres no question its the start of something big, but thats not what it was primarily for, for reasons I've explained above. And the comparison to Tron is just laughable honestly.

it's pretty and has some nice performances.

We definitely agree there.

Prometheus is just pure art, and I think its pretty evident that the people that mostly hated this movie either completely missed the point and didn't understand it(sooperheero crowd), or were hardcore Alien fans expecting an Alien or Aliens clone. Its masterpiece and an instant classic.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Shpongle

[Gopher]

That's a fine analogy there and one that I've considered before. But it's executed so, so poorly that I can't appreciate it. I admire your enthusiasm for the movie (makes me remember when this was one of my most anticipated movies of the year), but I can't excuse a film with a vast number of character contrivances, contradictions, non-compelling ambiguities and wayward plots. It doesn't work as a cerebral hard-core sci-fi movie, it doesn't work as an Alien prequel, and it sure as hell doesn't work as an awkward mish-mash of the two. It was an unsatisfactory viewing experience for me.

[Ozymandias]

That's a fine analogy there and one that I've considered before. But it's executed so, so poorly that I can't appreciate it. I admire your enthusiasm for the movie (makes me remember when this was one of my most anticipated movies of the year), but I can't excuse a film with a vast number of character contrivances, contradictions, non-compelling ambiguities and wayward plots. It doesn't work as a cerebral hard-core sci-fi movie, it doesn't work as an Alien prequel, and it sure as hell doesn't work as an awkward mish-mash of the two. It was an unsatisfactory viewing experience for me.

I respect that opinion, I honestly do.Prometheus was a very bold film and may be redeemed for the simplistic types with a sequel, but I suspect that a divisive R-rated big budget science fiction movie, aiming high(unlike The Avengers, whichs gets on base by aiming low), will only be moderately successful(exactly like what happened to Bladerunner in its day), and so not enough of a studio priority for a franchise, a new trilogy, unless Ridley Scott approaches the studio with something along the lines of "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe!" as Roy so famously says at the end of Scott's best film, Bladerunner.http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1687203/prometheus-sequel.jhtml Edited July 6, 2012 by Shpongle

[RichWS]

Holy God, what a storytelling wreck. Any points I give it for the immaculate production values, or the few individual scenes that do work, are mightily outweighed by the awfulness of the script. During the last 40 minutes, I could barely keep up with the increasing plot holes and ridiculous character choices. So so frustrating.

[John Marston]

I thought it was terrific. I can't wait for sequel and the Blu ray release

[Moviedweeb]

You guys need to stop calling deliberate ambiguity plot holes, etc. If deliberate ambiguity qualifies as a plot hole, then the epic masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey would be the worst piece of shit film of all time. If anyone tells you that they got this film completely figured out or that its full of plot holes and lazy writing because they feel obligated to know everything, then they're full of shit. Questions about Prometheus range from its deeper philosphical implications about religion, science, humanity's origins and their final destiny in the universe(This movie actually has quite a few nods to 2001 btw if anyones noticed).

Exactly!!

[vc2002]

LOL

[CDK]

Good film that could have been great.I had very high hopes for this one, I didn't expect ALIEN(1979) class, but I did expect an excellent film and this one didn't do it, it missed the mark.Maybe it was the editing, maybe it was just plain bad story telling, but this one had some serious cracks in it, if I am to believe that this group has some of the top people on earth, smart, honest, the cream of the crop so-to-speak, then how the hell does a man who is scared to death suddenly see an alien creature, walk over to it, find it to be acting aggressive, and then reach out to pet it? Idiot! How does a woman running from a giant falling ship continue to run in a straight line instead of turning left or right? Moron! Another get's infected yet says nothing, on and on, I can go with a lot of stuff but those 3 were just too much.On the plus side, I like some of the ideas in this film, I like the different Xeno's, Fassbender was perfect as David, and the SFX were top notch, I didn't mind some of the open questions left for another film, but when u make a teaser trailer that is an exact knock-off of the classic ALIEN film (the trailers were great for this), you better make a great film, good won't cut it, maybe the extended Blu-ray cut will be.7/10