Prometheus

saw it last night. with all the alien penis and vaginas and male rape I can see why half the audience were sqerming

8 pages and not one mention of the massive amounts of xtian symbols in the film.

great observation skills guys.

/\ that review makes good reading, although i’m not sure which ‘torn abdomen’ symbol he is referring to on the ceiling, the image doesn’t look to have anything coming from its abdomen to me.

The Prometheus/fire/immaculate conception/christian symbology does now stand out. And a a result, the film becomes a smidge more interesting.

LULZ

slimjim78 – Member
/\ that review makes good reading, although i’m not sure which ‘torn abdomen’ symbol he is referring to on the ceiling, the image doesn’t look to have anything coming from its abdomen to me.

Under the right armpit, he’s looking at it.

A very funny review of Prometheus:

Prometheus – A Review

http://moviewaffle.com

Every prequel is a badly told joke; the kind where the comedian shoehorns-in extra details, adding “oh yeah, and the penguin was Jewish” after the punch-line. Prequels are even worse than a bad joke, in fact, because what they add is always unnecessary. They’re the story before the story, based on a false premise: that the audience cares what happened before. This is the worst kind of craven, Hollywood-thinking. In effect, a prequel says: we’re so out of ideas, so lacking in integrity, we’re not even satisfied with copying good ideas (in sequels) any more. We need a new way to defame the original, so we’ve come up with this: the prequel, wholly useless and asked-for by no-one. I give you: Prometheus.

On an unnamed planet, an unnamed alien swallows some black goop and disintegrates. (Is his suicide a criticism of Ridley Scott’s film?) What follows is a movie which “shares some DNA” with the Alien series, the same way a Big Mac “shares some DNA” with fillet mignon. A group of scientists touchdown on an alien world (one strangely familiar to the audience). They are searching for evidence that God was an astronaut. Among them are the all the usual suspects in an Alien film: a sneaky cyborg, a spunky heroine, and a corporate slime-ball. Sure enough, something nasty is impregnated in someone’s womb. Fluids spurt. Sexual neurosis explodes. And the best advice – to nuke the site from orbit – gets ignored.

I think it was a mistake to hire Lost-scribe Damon Lindelof to doctor this script. Lindelof has only got one set of ideas and his cack-handed attempt to re-cycle them is patently obvious in Prometheus. The mysterious island from Lost is now a forbidden planet. The passengers of the downed aircraft (in Lost) are much like the spaceship’s crew. Prometheus has all the pseudo-“spiritual” baloney that crippled Lost in its final seasons, plus all the plot holes and “that’ll do” approach that led to the worst final episode of a TV series you could think of. Even the misguided folk who want answers from the Alien series are going to be bitterly disappointed with what they get. There’s no substitute for H.R. Giger’s opium-dream, man-size penis-monster in Prometheus. The bad guy aliens are big bald white men… with great abs. They’re more like a sauna gone wrong than something that scuttled darkly out of our collective unconscious.

Ridley Scott is getting old, and like all old directors (Clint Eastwood, Clint Eastwood) he’s let his standards slip. The seasoned professional is still in him, and Prometheus is the work of a skilled craftsman. It moves along at a brisk pace and the jumpy bits make you jump. It’s just that… there’s nothing he (and sure as hell not Damon Lindelof) can do to improve on Alien. We’re already seen the best version of this idea. Prometheus was misconceived from the get-go with its gormless Erich von Daniken plot and its shameless lack of conviction. Neither Scott nor Lindelof has a clue why anything happened in the original movie, they just know Twentieth Century Fox has a lucrative opening in its summer release schedule.

The only good idea in this film is to cast Michael Fassbender as a cyborg. Better still, a cyborg who worships Lawrence of Arabia (as played, inimitably, by Peter O’Toole). There’s no-one who can match Fassbender when he displays supercilious contempt for lesser beings. His chin is as unyielding as the future. He’s merciless, a supermodel… he looks like that, and he’s Irish, too. Even though he gets brutally decapitated in this movie, he still gets the girl. The grateful look he gives Noomi Rapace, as she pops his severed head in a holdall, is the one moment of sweetness Fassbender’s character allows himself. Otherwise, he looks at people like he’s into something kinky. What Schwarzenegger was to guns; Fassbender is to sex.

David Fincher described making Alien 3 as a “baptism of fire”. “I’d always had this naive idea that everybody wants to make movies as good as they can be, which is stupid,” he once said. “[The producers] would say, ‘Look, you could have somebody piss against the wall for two hours and call it Alien 3 and it would still do 30 million dollars’ worth of business.” Not much has changed in twenty years, except now it’s the director, Ridley Scott, who doesn’t give a shit. Prometheus has a brilliant marketing campaign, but it’s a major disappointment when you see the film. This Alien has no guts, no brains, no balls. It’s a prequel. Not even an afterthought. To paraphrase Ellen Ripley: “Get away from the original, you bitch!”

Sorry if this has already been covered, but why does David infect Holloway?

Just got back from seeing it, and I was wondering that myself. Here’s my take.

I went with Alien/s knowledge. Weyland Yutani = evil, hidden agendas etc. So watched thinking, David’s programmed to Bring Back, a la Burke. But no, Peter Weyland knows none of that. His hidden agenda is more life / immortality.

David’s behaviour all the way through is detached curiosity. Watching films, reading dreams. He opens doors, smuggles flasks, not because he’s evil / under orders, but because he can and wants to see what it’ll do.

That’s why he infected Holloway I reckon; just to see what would happen. He asked him first, “what would you do?” – “everything!” – “here you go then, bottoms up.”

Going back a bit, sorry, I’ve just caught up. A few replies.

Too many characters who do nothing. Lots of characters who just appear and die without anybody caring (like in the cargo hold). Just have one minor-major character die and it’s a lot more compelling. And on the bridge at the end – you can’t have two very minor characters just appearing and then turning into big heroes. It doesn’t work.

Yeah, agreed. Those two were utterly superfluous.

the SJ’s are running around their own site with big helmets on (they found one with it on at the start of the movie) and yet when woken up from his sleep, he didnt have one, ah yes you say, because he’s in a chamber that has air and doesnt need it right….but he then leaves that with no helmet walks across the planet with no breathable air to the escape pod to try and kill the last remaining survivor (why he does that i dont know) with NO HELMET ON…. hmmmm (and then get alien’d)

You’re assuming they breathe the same ‘air’ we do.

Does anybody else think Charlize Theron was really a robot

I wondered this, but rejected it as she’s too advanced. Makes sense as Weyland’s “daughter” but doesn’t really fit with the story for me.

I assumed, as happened in the film, that something (worms) mixed with the goo and it wasn’t supposed to. My thinking is

Goo + humans = the plan

Goo + contaminated with something else = unplanned accident

Bingo. I was being dense obviously, but I totally didn’t make that connection.

why did the space jockey want to kill the humans as soon as he woke up then?

I’m still not sure about this. Theories along the lines of “we’re just chimps” doesn’t wash; he actively pursued Shaw to try and kill her at the end.

One possibility is that they were using us as an experiment for bio weapons, although that doesn’t make complete sense either, given the distance they ould have to travel to find the results.

Dunno about you, but if I was building a bio-weapon, I wouldn’t put it in my back yard.

You’re right, though. Why leave clues behind as to where they are?

Weyland being there made no sense really and added nothing to the story.

I don’t agree; it was the whole point of the expedition. Without Mike from Neighbours, they’d no reason / means to be there in the first place.

The cave paintings were a warning not an invitation

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a line of dialogue from the trailer which wasn’t in the film. Again though, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. “See this place here, unfeasible miles away from you? Don’t go here.” We’d never have found it but for the clues they’d left.

And if it wasn’t their home but somewhere else, why send us there of all places?

Oh yeah, one other thing.

The alien birth at the end? That was (the first?) Alien queen. I’m amazed no-one’s mentioned that here yet.

“Does anybody else think Charlize Theron was really a robot”
I wondered this, but rejected it as she’s too advanced. Makes sense as Weyland’s “daughter” but doesn’t really fit with the story for me.

Plus I reckon a robot would have been clever enough to run sideways at the end.

Cougar – Member
Oh yeah, one other thing.

The alien birth at the end? That was (the first?) Alien queen. I’m amazed no-one’s mentioned that here yet.

I don’t think so, there was this on the wall in the goo chamber:

Ok, not the first then. But that’s certainly what it was.

for those with questions – read this – http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html

… as posted here, yesterday. By you.

You’re assuming they breathe the same ‘air’ we do.

Do they not have a DNA match with humans though?

Cougar – Member

Ok, not the first then. But that’s certainly what it was.

Yes possibly but presumably an earlier iteration of the creature? It’s gestation was different, and didn’t it come from the tentacle thingy?

… as posted here, yesterday. By you.

yes – be people are still asking the same questions. 😀

Do they not have a DNA match with humans though?

You do understand how evolution works don’t you?

Lifer – Member
Plus I reckon a robot would have been clever enough to run sideways at the end.

LOL…that was the 237th eye-roll during the film…

She was blonde, so what did you expect

went on saturday night for the whole 3D IMAX experience and was quite impressed overall, picture and sound was brill – 7.5/10 for the movie

understood the opening scenes i.e. the engineers planting new DNA life on earth, and suggest that they came back at some point to wipe out the dinosaurs and start mammals off instead? but why chill out with humans 35,000 years ago and tell them where they came from / or stay away from?

then they plan to return to wipe out humans at the time jesus has setting in motion a new start 2,000 years ago?

why instantly kill the humans who wake you up, and pursue Shaw in the life boat? okay, he was a bit grumpy about being woken up, but that was not very nice 🙂

would suggest that after the final scenes (the alien popping out of the engineer) this was a female alien, it survives on LV 233 to find another engineer ship, lays eggs, another engineer then gets infected, flies off, dies (via major heartburn) and crashes on LV 426 – hence the start of ‘Alien’ – as John Hurt and co discover the dead engineer

and as the Prometheus mission was a weyland enterprise, only the weyland corporation could send help to LV 233 – which they didn’t do – maybe under Weylands instructions? but it is the Weyland corporation that direct the Nostromo towards an emergency signal/warning signal of the derelict alien spacecraft in ‘Alien’.

and why didn’t Vickers turn left to avoid the crashing engineer ship – i almost shouted it out in the bloody cinema – ‘RUN LEFT YOU STUPID WOMAN!!!!’….

Wouldn’t even have had to run sideways – Dr Shaw managed to avoid crushy death by simply rolling sideways a couple of times after falling over. 😉

Pete vs life being in there bugged me right from the get go. Good film mind.

Yes possibly but presumably an earlier iteration of the creature? It’s gestation was different, and didn’t it come from the tentacle thingy?

Different from what? It was an alien queen, far as I remember we’ve never seen where they come from (other than artificially in Alien Resurrection).

richc – Member

You do understand how evolution works don’t you?

I don’t follow.

Why would the Engineers alter the atmosphere inside the temple if they were able to breathe the air on LV-223?

Cougar – Member

Yes possibly but presumably an earlier iteration of the creature? It’s gestation was different, and didn’t it come from the tentacle thingy?

Different from what? It was an alien queen, far as I remember we’ve never seen where they come from (other than artificially in Alien Resurrection).

In Alien3 a stowaway egg/facehugger impregnates Ripley with the queen, no?

Hmm well that was a disappointment, as a typical mindless summer blockbuster sci-fi film I guess it deserves a 7/10 but as something by Ridley Scott vaguely related to Alien it’s more like a 2/10. I usually jump an embarrassing amount in horror/scary films, even when the music makes things predictable – I didn’t jump once or was in the least bit scared in the entire movie. Even worse I don’t think I was supposed to be (although in cast interviews they’d mentioned it was a scary film). What’s the point in relating it even close to the Alien universe if it’s not going to be scary 🙁

In Alien3 a stowaway egg/facehugger impregnates Ripley with the queen, no?

Ah, good point; I’d mostly eradicated Alien Cubed from my memory.

I saw this yesterday and think it’s a film of two halves that falls apart in the second. I love the first 2 films and even think alien 3 is ok but this had me in stitches.

I mainly lost it when the captain stops and explains the entire plot and reason for the engineers being on the moon in 30 seconds which is impressive as he spent most of the time on the deck looking at nice 3d maps.

The other issues included no one mentioning, talking about or even alluding to having two crew die on the planet, the dr having to be flamed in front of everyone, mutant man coming back and refusing to die with super human powers not to mention Shaw assaulting two crew then running off and no one at all chasing her or trying to find her, then when she finds David and Weyland having a chat they are simply like “hey, well here we all are!” It’s like no one at all in the film seemed to notice anything at all that was going on.

And the 3x endings……..

My GF’s verdict:

‘It was alright but it’s no Chronicles of Riddick’

🙂

From cinema blend.com:

In a way, Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof weren’t lying when they told members of the press that Prometheus isn’t a prequel to Alien. The two movies actually have very little to do with each other, as there are no recurring characters, ships or even really aliens. As a result, it’s hard to identify the film as a traditional prequel, as there are no huge, moments where you realize that the stories are crossing over. But while Prometheus’s connections to Alien are slim, they do have one very important element that links them together, and that element is evolution.

When we first see what we know now as xenomorphs in Prometheus, they can’t be recognized as such: all they are is black goo stuck in a bunch of vases. But this is simply because they are at their very earliest stages of evolution, as they begin life as single-celled organisms and slowly begin to grow. When Elizabeth Shaw and the crew of Prometheus land on LV-223 they inadvertently begin a chain reaction that leads to the earliest stages of the facehugger (first seen while Millburn and Fifield are stuck on the planet during the storm) and xenomorph.

The major chain of evolution, of course, involves Shaw and her pregnancy. It begins when David poisons Charlie with some of the aforementioned goo. Following that, Charlie sleeps with Shaw and impregnates her with an early-stage facehugger. Later in the film that same facehugger – which grows much bigger while off-screen – “mates” with an Engineer (who has the same DNA as humanity), who then gives birth to an early-stage xenomorph. These creatures, of course, would evolve further and become the highly-evolved monsters seen Alien.

The reason that this is unexpected is because everyone believed that the space jockey seat first seen in Alien was the same one featured in Prometheus. The truth is that LV-223 is not the same heavenly body from Scott’s earlier film, so not only do the stories of Elizabeth Shaw and Ripley fail to overlap, they were never even in the same place at different times.

In January 2011, when it was first announced that the project would be titled Prometheus and that Noomi Rapace would star, Scott was quoted as saying, “The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative.” Who knew that he was being so literal?

seems Ridley has changed his mind (or the studio changed it for him) regarding DVD/BLU release :
extended cut
Perhaps the backlash of the film has prompted him to try and explain at the bottom of the film about the pressures of Studio wanting cash, and him wanting ‘Art’ – anyhows, i would hope the re-cut would be in the latter half of the film that was more disjointed and nonsense.

I really get the feeling that Ridley either got pressured or got the idea to make a sequel while filming the movie, and so the 2nd half and ending got quite compromised….

just to prove i’m not the only one who struggled to follow what was going on with the xenomorphs, here’s a helpful graphic i found on the (66 page!) PH thread

Just out of interest. How many people contributing to this thread:

a) still live with their mum?
b) who still buys their clothes?
c) have ever had a girlfriend?
d) have ever…. you know….. done it?

Ah now it all makes sense 😐

d) have ever…. you know….. done it?

Shouldn’t you add, with another human being

Why do you ask, Binners, do you want to know what it’s like?

and Hora doesn’t count.

Saw it last night, enjoyed it in a banal action movie got nothing better to do while staying in Glasgow for the night so might as well watch a movie.

However, it wasn’t really good enough to warrant any detailed analysis of any of the symbolism used or of the plot details imo, I disagree with the review above about prequels being uneccessary, you could say that about anything, but it did need to make me care about where Alien came from, and it just didn’t manage to do this.

I won’t bother with the sequel.

I really enjoyed it and only over analysed it after reading this thread. If you view it in genetic terms characters representing selfish genes and characters representing evolutionary advantages, cooperation self sacrifice for the good of the gene pool, etc then all of the characters play an important function in telling the story which is that of human evolution and survival.

On the other hand i can see no genetic advantage in running in a straight line in front of a large falling object rather than running sideways out of it’s path or standing perfectly still exactly where an open door or window will come down. It is a classic movie scene though.

well, that was crap.

perhaps i’m being harsh, i’ll try again.

it’s the 3rd best ‘Alien’ film, but there’s quite a gap between 3 and 2.

I finally saw it last night, and really enjoyed it, but I don’t go with the intent on sitting there analysing every last detail looking for plot holes. Life’s too short, frankly, but it appears some here enjoy that more than just watching a film for entertainment.
What I do know, however, is that there is a God, and Charlize Theron is made in Her image…
The rear view in the skin-suit… 😯

I thought it was excellent, very thought provoking. I wanted to watch it in 2D but was only showing in 3D and I’m glad that was the case as the 3D visual effects were spectacular IMO.