Prometheus previews and spoilers

cucumberstastebetterpickled:

Prometheus is an impressive and ambitious attempt to recreate the world of Alien, but its story fails to live up to its overly ambitious ideas mostly due to a very limited and thin plot by Damon Lindelof.

With Prometheus, I can’t say that it wasn’t entertaining. Ridley Scott brings you into a mysterious realm of suspense and delivers the thrills and horrors that Alien fans have grown accustom to. Visually, this film provides every bit of detail from the classic 1979 installment of Aliens and updates it with today’s best CGI. For me, I found the immense universe of Prometheus to be incredibly captivating. Scott turns it up a notch on the visual scale and surrounds us with very interesting characters and set pieces,

It’s just too bad that Scott had such a pedestrian script to work with.

Pros
- Ridley Scott’s direction and ability to create suspense
- Fassbender and Rapace
- Visuals

Cons
- The script
- Guy Pearce

Final Verdict
- 7/10

‘Prometheus’ Is Worlds Apart From Your Average Summer Blockbuster

PROMETHEUS (PG-13)

By Kai Sacco / June 8, 2012

★★★★ out of ★★★★

Prometheus was a titan whose job was to mold man from clay. In an act of defiance, he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity—a deed which gave his creation immeasurable benefits, for better and for worse. As the story goes, the titan was severely punished for his contravention for years to come. In Ridley Scott’s “Alien” pseudo-prequel named after the aforementioned Greek god, a group of scientists travel across the universe in hopes of finding man’s beginning—which may not be such a good idea. Their insatiable curiosity ultimately leads to what can best be described as a series of unintended consequences in scientific discovery.

The movie opens with a dawn-of-man scene that gives credence to the creationist belief that humans and life in general, were born of a supernatural being. In the scene, a hairless humanoid with a pale complexity drinks a dark, goo-like substance. He begins to decompose almost immediately but not without suffering an excruciating amount of pain. His body then falls into flowing water which as we know, spreads life. Every end is a new beginning.

Flash-forward to 2093 and we find the crew members of the space vessel, Prometheus, en route to a distant moon known as LV-223. Thanks to an ancient star map discovered by archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), the optimistic explorers are able to pin point the location of the celestial body. This is where they believe they will find the answers to humanity.

Leading the expedition is mission director Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron)—a cold, distant woman whom appears to of had a nonexistent childhood. There are times during the movie where her character is an echo of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Especially in one scene that will make fans smile in which Vickers, due to protocol reason, refuses to let aboard a person who has been ‘infected’. One could almost say that Ridley Scott has put two Ripley’s in the movie: Shaw, who is reminiscent of Ripley’s easy going personality and Vickers, being the ‘by-the-handbook’ archetype of the classic heroin.

Aside from the two fantastic female leads, we have a scene stealing Michael Fassbender as an android named David. His inquisitive nature is almost as dangerous as the crew’s quest for answers. The difference being that David is an emotionless robot driven by the pure desire to acquire more knowledge whereas the crew operates on a humanistic level. In one scene Charlie tells David that we [humans] made [androids] because we could. David replies “Can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you to hear the same thing from your creator …”. Fassbender plays the role with such a fastidious sensibility, that as of right now, I’d say he’s one of the top contenders for Best Supporting Actor.

What’s more impressive than the acting is just how gorgeous the film looks. Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski and set decorator Sonja Klaus have given life to Ridley Scott’s vision in an unimaginable way. The real beauty of their work is found inside of a dome-like structure on the moon, where most of the movie takes place. Inside we are treated to haunting corridors and passageways, thousands of stone like cylinders that act as early forms of the eggs found in “Alien”, and a giant monolithic statue head. The scope of the sets are huge and rightly so for a film of this size.

The most fascinating aspect of “Prometheus” however, is how bold and full of ideas it is. This is not an action movie but rather, a thought provoking conversational piece. The questions are there but most of the answers are not. The inconclusiveness of it all will turn off a lot of people, but a more straightforward approach will have caused more disappointment than relief. However it does answer the only question that’s ever mattered: what the hell is that thing the Space Jockey is sitting in?

Although “Alien” is not a required viewing in order to comprehend “Prometheus”, it would be an enormous disservice nonetheless. It’s impossible to fully appreciate this movie without the other—and I’ll gladly take on anyone who disagrees. But that’s just the fanboy in me talking. I really hope “Prometheus” performs well enough so we can get a sequel because God knows (sorry about the pun) that Hollywood is fresh out of original ideas. Regardless or not if the Academy recognizes this movie, it’s still the best of the year thus far.

Cast & Credits

Noomi Rapace - Elizabeth Shaw

Michael Fassbender - David

Charlize Theron - Meredith Vickers

Idris Elba - Janek

Guy Pearce - Peter Weyland

Logan Marshall-Green - Charlie Holloway

Sean Harris - Fifield

Rafe Spall - Millburn

Emun Elliott - Chance

Benedict Wong - Ravel

Katie Dickie - Ford

Patrick Wilson - Shaw’s Father

Lucy Hutchinson - Young Shaw

Directed by Ridley Scott

Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof

Runtime: 124 minutes

Rated R (sci-fi violence including some intense images, and brief language)

lifeisrill:
Finally Saw Prometheus

And like Ridely Scott said its not a PREEQUEL, it is very much a stand alone film in the same universe as Alien. The was no Xanomorph, but instead a plethora of other creatures brought in to keep your attention. Set on a journey to find our engineers (The Space Jockey from Alien) a very interesting concept and by the title you should have known, although in the film its just the name of the ship. Now I don’t know what I was expecting from Prometheus, but I got something totally different then I thought i was gonna get (in a good way). I now have more even more questions then before, questions i thought would be answered in this film. It just show how insignificant the Xanomorph truly is by the end of this film and how much this universe has to offer. I am truly looking forward to a sequel to Prometheus or something else from this world Mr. Scott has created.

Quick note: The acting was great, Noomi Rapace was really intense when it got down to the wire and Michael Fassbender had the android qualities down packed and course I loved Idris Elba and Charlize Theron and her sneaky ways in this film

All in all I was not let down. Props to Ridley Scott

alexthekhangaru:
Prometheus Review -- General consensus, light film analysis.

There are so many different ways I can right a review for this film so I going to incorporate all of them.

General Consensus:

While the movie features incredible visual flair, methodical direction, and beautiful performances, it also features modest characterization and plotting.

I’m awarding the film a sold B+, 78%, three out of four stars.

Plot/Story Telling:

I read early reviews for the film and the first negative review I read was that the film featured an “earthbound narrative”. This basically means the way the movie unraveled was nothing special — and it wasn’t. This doesn’t mean its a bad thing. It just means the films plot was practical. The film exposed little insight for the “Alien” universe.

Most people who saw the film found that there were plot holes which is completely false. All the questions I had in regarding this specific film were answered. People need to realize this film was meant to be independent from the stories of the original Alien films. I cannot stress this enough so I’m going to put emphasis on this next sentence. PROMETHEUS IS A FILM WHERE THE EVENTS THAT TAKE PLACE IN THIS MOVIE ARE JUST EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE WITHIN THE SAME UNIVERSE.

It’s an original story! If you were to go in the theater without previous knowledge of the Alien films, this movies would be amazing.

Performance/Characterization:


The performance put on by all the actors were….I can’t even think of an appropriate word. I would like to take the time to single our Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace as they were hands down the best in the film. Michael Fassbender’s performance incredibly convincing and that’s being modest. He appropriately displayed the type of naive behavior an android would have.

The only thing about the characterization of David I didn’t appreciate was what felt like a sudden shift from feeding curiosity to doing what ever you can for the will of science. Fassbender’s performance actually made me feel something is rare in today’s cinema for me.

Compared to Michael Fassbender’s beautiful performance, Noomi Rapace comes second but is first in her own way. She portrayed her character as a woman who wants to find answers on questions she was looking for. Presumably because of her father and the events that took place in her childhood. Her character was scared as s$#! but not emotionally weak. Which i found refreshing. But just like the character of David, i felt her and all other characters in the film were rushed.

Charlize Theron’s performance was probably the biggest disappointment for me but that doesn’t mean she was bad. She worked with what she was given but didn’t really add much life to her character. Coming to think of it, which is probably the point. Her character was distant which is probably why I lodged on to her more than others. Once the audience found out why, it wasn’t surprising and somewhat a disappointment. BUT I still enjoyed it greatly.

Visuals, Art Direction, Set Design, Cinematography, & Sound Editing/Design

………..I can’t — I just can’t. The visual effects and cinematography gave me an orgasm that I believe sex can’t give me. The cinematography was focused, appropriately lit, and professionally directed. The visuals were incredibly organized and believable. The sets were designed with Alien in mind with some original flair mixed in. Sound was on point and expertly handled.

Direction:


Ridley Scott directed a movie for the first time in years has actually made me feel something. Atmosphere and tones went blended together which carried the movie along to the point where you won’t think about the plot until the end of the film. Honestly, watching this movies, you can tell that sci-fi really is his niche. He didn’t hold back and when he decided to not compromise the film for a bankable PG-13 rating, he and the CEO of 20th Century Fox gained my utmost artistic respect. Not many studio execs would support a balsy move like that.

msshhhh:
Blitz review: Prometheus

I was braced for the fact this movie was not going to be profoundly moving. Therefore I am suitably impressed.

Favourite things in no particular order:

- David the android / Michael Fassbender

- Vickers the bitch / Charlize Theron

- The visuals

Honestly the best visuals in a long time. Remember when you were a kid watching Lord of the Rings, and you were like holy s$#!!!! the mountains! the waterfalls! well… this is how Prometheus feels. Cinema is pretty much oversaturated with CGI and effects these days that it’s hard to be truly wowed..

IMO Prometheus works because even though each scene is so painstakingly detailed, the images are pared back just a little (metaphorically desaturated by a bit of floating extraterrestrial space mist?), to give the audience a bit of visual breathing space. I dont particularly enjoy a million blinking buttons and blue sparkly aliens and feathered birds and bright green floating islands all thrown constantly at my eyeballs [Avatar et al]. DO YOU? Prometheus lets you see in your own time.

The plotholes and dodgy script don’t bother me particularly (it could be SO much worse). Major gripe comes around halfway through, then it’s like they gave up and just tried to make a really big movie, instead of a really great movie.

Highly rewatchable - recommended.

3.5/5

heyjudesie:
Prometheus thoughts (no spoilers)

I wonder if I would’ve liked Prometheus more if I hadn’t just rewatched all of the Alien movies last week and hadn’t already heard some of the lukewarm whispers about it.

It’s frustrating because there’s potential in Prometheus. Visually it’s stunning, and the first half of the film I was intrigued and engaged…and then it went everywhere and nowhere, like scripts from different versions of the film were torn up in the brainstorming room and stitched back together. Something was missing, something vital, and yet I didn’t dislike the movie, necessarily (though there are certainly parts I have issues with). As a whole, it was just…underwhelming.

On the other hand, amazing acting from Fassy and Noomi. Noomi had some s$#! to deal with in her role, I won’t even get started with the freakfest her character had to face, but the character alone was very compelling and I would watch another film with her in it. I want the prequel science adventures of Elizabeth Shaw.

Fassy was epic. He really did bring something special to the role of David that transcends any of my reservations about Prometheus as a whole. I want to watch it again just to study the minute details of his mannerisms. I’m always interested in artificial life and post/transhuman characters, and I’m kind of bummed that I don’t think Prometheus is going to do incredibly well (we’ll see), because I really think David could be an iconic character otherwise (though reviews singling out Michael’s performance suggest he very well could be). I also understand now - delightedly - why Fassy kept talking about how his physical inspiration for David was the swimmer Greg Louganis - the deliberateness of David’s movements, his posture, his gait…such studied, economical grace.

Idris Elba was also pretty awesome, but that should be a no-brainer, methinks.

Prometheus, why couldn’t you be…more? And yet..I strangely want to watch it again.

the-peoples-poet:
Prometheus!
I got back from the theater a little while ago, where I went to see Prometheus in 3D in IMAX. Without giving away any spoilers, here’s what I think of the film:

It’s awesome! Really great.
It was disturbing in some scenes, so have a tough stomach if you are planning to go.
I suggest seeing it in 3D IMAX. You really get the full experience that way. It’s a beautiful film, and seeing it in 3D allows you to really feel like you’re there.
Michael Fassbender was beautiful. Seeing him in 3D made my little heart swirl with merry butterflies. And beauty aside, he’s a wonderful actor.
It’s a well-crafted film visually. A lot of the film is computerized, but it looks state-of-the-art in technology. It all looks and feels very real, and it’s a beautifully designed film.
It’s entertaining, it’s intense, and if you think you might want to see it, go see it!

So there you go! That’s what I think of Prometheus.

takeafuckingflight:

Prometheus (2012)

If this wasn’t an epic summer blockbuster, than I don’t know what it is. However, unlike every other blockbuster, this movie was beyond incredible. It was just absolutely incredible. It kept me interested the entire time, and did not disappoint me at all. Everything from Ridley Scott’s directing, to every single one of the actors were just so on-point. In my opinion, in fact, Noomi Rapace (who I have the hugest crush on since watching the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo triology), Michael Fassbender, and Charlize Theron deserve some sort of recognition for their roles in this movie. I was just completely in awe of all three of their performances, especially Michael because I don’t think anyone could have played a “robot” as well as he did. Not only were the technical aspects of the film fantastic, but the plot was incredibly interesting. I love the play on the creation of life on Earth, and the references to theology. I actually would love to see this film again (in theaters) in order to analyze it even more. Seriously guys, go watch this movie in the theaters, that’s how it’s meant to be seen.

sheeshapie:

0609 - PROMETHEUS

There seems to be a general consensus of disappointment with this film. It was clear to me, on sight alone, that everyone in my screening today was a fan of the Alien trilogy of films; once the film was over, it was confirmed by all the “it was underwhelming” and “I was expecting more” and “that was kind of a disappointment” I heard on the way out of the theater. As someone who has never seen any of the Alien films, and came into this movie with no expectations, I thought Prometheus was fantastic. (Maybe that was an advantage for me.)

Noomi Rapace (how the hell do you say this woman’s last name?!) was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed her Ripley-esque haircut. Michael Fassbender was perfect, of course, as he always will be in everything he ever does — David was such a fantastically manipulative little creep! He was the best part of the film. I was extremely disappointed to discover that Guy Pearce was a pruny old man, covered in liver spots, with a skirt of white hair around his head. I mean, honestly, it was offensive to have that beautiful face covered up like that. (He was fantastic, anyway; the second his character appeared on screen, with the way he was presented, I immediately knew what his connection was to one of the main characters.) Dolla-Sto Tom Hardy was painful and unnecessary; I didn’t care for anything that he did in his role. He stood out, but certainly not in the way he’d hoped to, I’m sure; he was distracting, and didn’t play well against each of his on-screen counterparts. Charlize Theron was the queen of ice queens, although that schtick is getting old — time to ugly it up for another Oscar, Charlize! There wasn’t nearly enough Idris Elba in this film, which was a shame. I wish they’d used his character more because he was certainly one of the more entertaining aspects of the film (especially in the scene involving himself, Theron’s character, and a squeezebox that belonged to Steven Stills lol). If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with!

8/10. As I said, I’ve never seen any of the Alien films, but it didn’t matter — I was still able to follow the story quite easily, and enjoy it very much. As it stands on its own, I thought it was an awesome movie. The last three minutes had everyone in my theater freaking out lol.

sayorishii:
PROMETHEUS

SPOILERS AHEAD.

My over-all reaction:

And now—my pretended articulate response:

It was gorgeous. The visuals—fantastical. And the special effects—holy s$#!. Also it was f#%@#&! terrifying at parts and disgusting, but in a good way for sick puppies like me. Nothing makes me want to puke more than tentacles going in mouths and abdominal surgery/alien abortion scenes. I enjoyed all the characters, even the slightly idiotic ones—ie the geologist who was trying to baby talk the alien snake thing. Dude, you see a snake pop out of sludge—get away from it. Fact. Michael Fassbender was basically playing Peter O’toole’s T.E. Lawrence, which made me have a huge fangasm within the first 10 minutes of the movie—embarrassing. Noomi Rapace did a great job—I loved her character. And my girl Charlize—brilliant, cruel, cold, calculating and a wonderful bitch as always. Hats off, my dear. I loved you.

All in all, I would give it a 4/5. It had a very interesting message that focused around the search for those who made us. It asked—is there a god? Did something else engineer us? For what? Did something else want to destroy us after they created us? Is there an answer to mortality? It really gets at those fundemental questions and then scolds us with violent death for even trying to seek the answers. Those are things that we should not know—are not meant to know. That was what I really liked about it.

charliesfilms:

Prometheus 9/10

As with Arthur rated below, weighing Prometheus on its own merits is essential, although there are also a number of clear and well thought out tie-ins to the rest of the Alien universe. The expectations of such a prolific franchise definitely work against Prometheus, but in my opinion, Prometheus is a solid film, and one which works equally well as an introduction into this universe. This film is an all-round excellent film, providing stunning special effects and impressive CGI, a well-developed female lead (leaping through the bechdel test) and some beautiful acting, particularly from Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron. This film is very satisfying to watch, with very few flaws.

thattallguyoverthere:
'Prometheus' - First Impressions

It was Michael’s birthday, so we hit the cinema with his film of choice - Prometheus, by Ridley Scott. Now, with the exception of Star Wars, I’ve never been that much into sci-fi, and it’s been years since I’ve seen Alien, so I went into this film without much expectation.

And y’know what? I really, really enjoyed it.

It’s one of those films that I don’t think I’ll be re-watching for a very long time, but hell was it good! I have several points to bring up, but I’ll start with the one at the forefront of my mind:

This is the first film ever where I have actually enjoyed the 3D. Usually, I HATE 3D with a burning passion, and actively avoid it. However, this time… it worked. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but I felt completely at ease with the 3D in this film, and sometimes… sometimes I felt like I was truly in the scene. The best example was at the beginning when the lady was chipping away at some rocks… man, that was some good 3D!

“That was some good 3D” - take note, folks, this is the first time (and maybe the last!) that I’ve said that sentence.

Righty ho, onto the next bit. It’s a prequel. BUT IS IT?! Well, the answer is yes, but to be honest, I didn’t view it as a prequel. It didn’t have as much connection to Alien as I thought it was going to, and thus, from the offset, I treated Prometheus as a stand-alone story, and thus enjoyed it a lot better. Even without the blatant sequel set-up at the end, and the stinger with the Alien, I still think this movie could be treated as its own story, without having to refer back to past films. Hint = this is the sign of a good film. You can’t really compare the two. As James put it: “Alien was a monster movie. This was an adventure movie.”

A few other things. First off, the best character in this film for me is by far the captain, played by Idris Elba. He had all the best lines in the film, including getting laid effortlessly (“Are you a robot?” “My room, 10 minutes.”). Also, I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed by Michael Fassbender. Not that it was poor acting, I just think he’s done far better performances, and in this film he seemed to get outshone by the others. Maybe it was just because he was a robot. Also, I found his character’s motivations a little unclear sometimes. But I think I’ll save that for another time.

Oh, and the scariest scene by far (SPOILER ALERT!) was the abortion. Holy f***!

In conclusion, a good, solid film, with a decent narrative that raised interesting questions about the origin of man (obviously this is fiction, but the themes can be applied to real life too).

6/10

homeiswheremycatsare:
So Prometheus was pretty great.

Visually, it was mind-blowing. Intensely horrific in a good way, and the kind of blood and gore that I like, the “holy s$#! I can’t believe they’re actually pulling this off and it looks amazing” kind of gore. The story was pretty good, and I like how I still wasn’t sure how it was connected to the Alien series until the very last scene of the movie.

I wish Guy Pearce hadn’t played the old dude. It was painfully obvious that it was a young actor; they should have just gotten a really old dude to play a really old dude….
And Noomi Rapace is a great actress, but her accent needed attention. They should have just kept her as Swedish, but those things aren’t really important I guess.
Charlize Theron was delightfully creepy, as she was in Snow White and the Huntsman, and she perfectly fell into the role of resident bitch.
Michael Fassbender was a perfect robot, I guess. It didn’t seem too hard.

So there’s a short little review. Basically it was amazing and my eyes want more!

superhero-complex:
Prometheus Review


Synopsis:

Ridley Scott, director of Alien and Blade Runner, returns to the genre he helped define. With Prometheus, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race

What I Liked:

The first thing that I want to say is that this movie is absolutely gorgeous. Choosing to shoot mostly in the desert really was an inspired choice because it really gave the planet the right amount of “alien” quality without it being blatantly alien, if that makes sense. There really wasn’t a whole lot of CGI used in this movie to give it a more organic look, but when it was used it was really impressive and only added to the space odyssey feel of the movie.

Scott did a great job of establishing a truly haunting and claustrophobic atmosphere throughout the movie. Just like the Aliens movies that came before it, you really did begin to start feeling the paranoia that the characters were developing as the move progressed. It’s actually the first movie in a long time to actually get me to jump because it was that good at reeling you in with the mood.

Speaking of Aliens there were a lot of throwbacks to the saga that fans of the movies will be delighted to pick up on. There’s a stinger at the very end of the movie that is particularly juicy and had everyone in the theater reacting in a truly entertaining and hilarious fashion.

Acting-wise, everybody in the movie did a good job fleshing out their characters but it was Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender who were the true standouts. Rapace displayed the perfect balance of child-like curiosity, unwavering belief and fiery determination in her character (Elizabeth Shaw). While she’s no Ripley, Rapace’s Shaw was a scrapper and really showed that she’d do whatever it took to get the answers to the questions that she’d be asking for so long. Michael Fassbender on the other hand was absolutely brilliant as the equally curious but morally ambiguous andriod, David. Fassbender puts on a method acting tour de force in this as I actually found myself believing that he was actually an android for a second. He was so delightfully cold and vacant in everything that he did but there are moments where you’ll see a slight glint in his eye or a pause in his movements that lets you know that there’s more to him than he let’s on. You can literally see the gears turning in his head at certain moments throughout the film and you just know that doesn’t mean good things for the crew.

I think the writers (Jon Spaihts & Damon Lindelof) did a wonderful job of giving us a group of characters that really represent different viewpoints. Shaw being the believer, Holloway (Logan Marshall Green) being the skeptic, Janek (Idris Elba) essentially representing the audience as he’s the one asking “Why are we even doing this?”, Vickers (Charlize Theron) being the pragmatic realist and most interestingly David who is a robot caught in a war between aliens and humans which I find to be a fascinating variable.

What I Didn’t Like:

The first half of the movie is so strong and steeped in mystery that once we get our answers and everything goes to hell it’s almost a bit disappointing. The movie kind of devolves into a horror film in the final act and, while I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I was still more interested in the search for answers.

Speaking of searching for answers, the movie left me with more questions than anything. There was so much that was left up in the air that there almost needs to be a sequel just for my own peace of mind.

Overall:

Prometheus serves as Ridley Scott’s triumphant return to the genre that he revolutionized 30 years ago and it feels damn good to say that it was worth the wait. Being the spiritual successor to the Alien saga, this movie had a lot riding on it and it delivered on nearly ever front. Boasting a great cast of characters, very strong performances, gorgeous visuals, haunting atmosphere and a truly interesting story, Prometheus is one of the best sci-fi movies to come out in the last decade. Prometheus is a movie that’s not afraid to ask questions that many of us have asked at one point in our lives and, while we may not have gotten all the answers, we got closer to finding them out. It may not be a perfect movie but it’s pretty damn close in my book and I can only hope that we get a sequel somewhere down the line because I desperately want to see this world expanded so that, like Elizabeth Shaw, we can finally get the answers to our questions.

Rating: A-

presdaddy:
Prometheus

In what has already become of the most divisive films of the summer, the highly anticipated film Prometheus takes us to the year of 2093; long before the events of where the classic Alien franchise begins. For director Ridley Scott’s long-awaited return to the science fiction medium, he has assembled a top tier ensemble to portray the crew of the titular spaceship on their doomed quest to investigate the origins of mankind. Eventually, the mission leads to these new characters encountering a threat that could endanger the human race…

…and this all makes for a good movie. A really good movie.

Contrary to the trailers’ content and much of what the filmmakers have told the fanbase, this is far from being a simple summer spectacle. In fact, Prometheus happens to be a highly entertaining coalescence of idea-driven, speculative science fiction with very visually arresting, Kubrickesque art direction. While incredible action set pieces and masterful suspense is present, Ridley Scott’s main concern is with laying out a thought-provoking work that deals with humanity and mortality among other ideas; themes that are risky and peculiar to insert within any mainstream genre film. The end result is an inventive entry into the Alien franchise, and for many, will signal the return of an intelligent Ridley Scott unseen since the days of Blade Runner.

In addition to the mysteries created by this prequel’s events, Scott’s awesome cast is what really drives the narrative. Noomi Rapace, best known for her roles in the second Sherlock Holmes and the Swedish Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, does a fine job of crafting her own proactive female protagonist while never cribbing from Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley. The other actors are great as well, especially with Idris Elba and Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron making the most out of one-note characters. However, the big standout here is Michael Fassbender, whose role as the android David makes for one of the most fascinating sci-fi characters in years. Thanks to his portrayal as a fastidious character with motives that are never clear, Fassbender has solidified his status as one of the finest character actors of his kind.

Nearly everything about Prometheus works. As a matter of fact, the one aspect that keeps me from fully adoring this film is its lack of emotional resonance. Most of the characters that are introduced here would be cardboard cutouts were it not for the inspired performances that Scott is able to achieve in his direction. Even so, many of the death scenes, while effective, never carry much emotional weight since many scenes take short times to rush important character moments, rather than letting them evolve naturally throughout the story.

That said, Prometheus is a very solid film that is more evocative of 50’s-60’s science fiction than it is of its Alien predecessors. More importantly, it represents Ridley Scott being more poetic than he’s been in his other recent works, which matters much more to this film’s core than the intriguing questions that it raises. For people not knowing what to expect, this is a gamble that will come up short for them. For myself, I ate up every delicious bite of this movie. I may not be enamored with it, but I did enjoy it enough to recommend it.

Summer’s here and this is the first smart film of it. Make sure to see this movie at a theater near you.

derek237:
Prometheus deserves Oscar nominations

Best Picture
Best Director- Ridley Scott
Best Supporting Actor- Michael Fassbender
Best Cinematography- Dariusz Wolski
Best Film Editing- Pietro Scalia
Best Music, Original Score- Marc Streitenfeld
Best Costume Design- Janty Yates
Best Art/Set Decoration - various
Best Makeup- various
Best Visual Effects- various
Best Sound Mixing- various
Best Sound Editing- various
Best Ass in a Spacesuit- Charlize Theron
Best Accordion Work- Idris Elba
lol sorry Damon Lindelof no writing nom 4 u

http://belindabird.tumblr.com/post/24814514478/some-thoughts-on-prometheus

Sunday, June 10, 2012
Some Thoughts on Prometheus

I don’t normally do film reviews, but I found myself compelled to write about this film primarily due to the mixed reviews it’s been getting and the fact that certain elements of it really hit home for me. While I wouldn’t say that I spoil the more major events of the film here, I do explain one particular scene in extensive detail to make a point, so refrain from clicking the cut if you prefer to go in completely blind. The tl;dr version is that I enjoyed the film and it manages to express one particular feminist issue quite well at one point to boot.

I’m not normally a huge fan of horror films. It’s not that they repulse me on principle (though I am mentally wired not to enjoy gore-porn “horror” like the “Saw” films), it’s more that I don’t really find myself emotionally affected by the elements that are meant to be suspenseful or frightening. In my mind I have too much of an emotional disconnect from what the characters are experiencing to feel properly unsettled (despite having an ability to become emotionally-invested about all sorts of other character experiences in films of other genres), and so I don’t normally seek out these kind of films. What made Prometheus an entirely different animal for me was one scene in particular that hit so closely to a very personal, very deep-set fear of mine that I found myself wholly shaken by the experience.

Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, one of the main characters of the film, finds herself pregnant despite believing herself to be unable to carry children. Of course, this film being related to the Alien franchise, this is no natural human pregnancy, a fact that she soon realizes for herself. When David, the character who examined her, won’t allow her to see an image of the fetus and informs her that, judging by its growth, it’s already three months along (an impossibility due to other plot-related factors), she immediately asks that it be surgically removed. David’s reply is that the ship doesn’t have the personnel available to perform such a procedure.

Left with no other options, Dr. Shaw rushes to a medical pod owned by Meredith Vickers, the wealthy company representative who’s funding their exploratory mission. When she attempts to set up the machine to perform a “cesarean” procedure, the computer informs her that the pod does not have that procedure available as it has only been calibrated for male patients. She then proceeds to manually enter the instructions for the surgery (parasite-removal, lower-abdominal region), pump herself full of painkillers, and watch as a horrific alien being is cut and removed from her womb.

Though I cannot speak for all childfree women, as a childfree woman myself, one of the most horrifying experiences that I can think of (and I’m not speaking hyperbolically about this, it would in all seriousness be a horrific experience for me) would be to find myself pregnant with little-to-no recourse. Though the actors in this scene do not specifically use the word “abortion” (one of the few criticisms I have, though I do understand that it may have made the scene and resultant message feel too heavy-handed), the symbolic relationship between this scene and the current state of choice for women in the United States spoke to me loud-and-clear.

I was struck by the line (paraphrased since I don’t have a memory for direct quotes) “we don’t have the personnel available to perform the procedure.” Fewer and fewer doctors are willing to perform abortions, and the clinics that are willing to work around increasingly-anti-choice state laws are dwindling rapidly. Many women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy literally have zero viable options available to them when factoring in the distance to their nearest clinic, the time away from work required to dance around “72-hour waiting period” laws, and the cost of the procedure. There are additional implications, considering what David has been up to “behind the scenes” so-to-speak; many of his actions are manipulative and he exhibits a strong sense of ignorance regarding the personal agency of his fellow crew members (a result of the fact that he is, literally, an emotionless android). The crew members are, in some sense, experimental subjects for him, rather than living, breathing people with wants and desires. The way in which this situation relates to reality is enough to make me shudder.

The fact that the surgical pod is only calibrated for male patients is partly-related to another element of the plot that is revealed later on, but it still stands out to me as a thinly-veiled condemnation of a legal and health system that seems more concerned with men’s health/medical desires than it is with women’s reproductive health and bodily autonomy (just ask how easy it was for my husband to go through the process of undergoing medical sterilization, and see how simple it is for men everywhere to receive prescriptions for erectile dysfunction while there are situations in which women cannot even receive BASIC prescriptions for hormonal birth control without there being a s$#!-storm and women’s clinics are being attacked by domestic terrorists).

In the end, Shaw is literally made to perform an ad-hoc abortion procedure ON HERSELF while under essentially no anesthesia (she has painkillers but nothing that would really qualify as local anesthesia). She may as well be pulling the resultant parasite out in a back alley with a coat hanger.

What sealed the deal for me was the fact that Shaw is depicted a few scenes earlier as upset about her inability to bear children. One thing that seems largely ignored by the anti-choice crowd is the fact that abortions are often requested by women who already have children, by women who want children at some point but for various personal reasons do not want them/cannot care for them at that time, or who are victims of rape who don’t want to be forced to relive the trauma of their victimization. What I liked is that Shaw is shown to possibly want children, but does not suddenly become a “no don’t hurt my alien baby I will care for it despite all logic to the contrary” character in the face of an unexpected pregnancy. It’s demonstrative of the real-life complicating factors that affect a woman’s choice, albeit with a dramatic, horrific sci-fi twist.

This bit in itself is but a small part of the film, which deals more with ideas about human origins and the nature of belief (a plot point which wasn’t exactly resolved to my satisfaction). I get the impression that whether or not one buys into this film’s musings about god and religion may be a large deciding factor in whether they take away anything from it, but I do like the fact that the line that gets repeated several times throughout the movie is “this is what I choose to believe,” which to me emphasizes that there are not all-encompassing correct answers. Again, there’s an emphasis on the fact that not every choice is correct for every individual person, and I really appreciate that.

Among other things, the film also passes the Bechdel test which, while not an indicator of overall quality, makes me happy. And Dr. Shaw gets several kick-ass moments in the second half of the film. I have to also give a shout-out to Charlize Theron, who I’ve liked in both the films I’ve seen her in recently (the other being Snow White and the Huntsman, which had a whole slew of problems… but that’s another post entirely).

All said, I really enjoyed the film. It captured the look of “1980’s sci-fi grit” very well, eschewing a lot of the shiny, over-processed visual effects that define too many modern science-fiction films. I like that there were various roles for women and that the main character underwent trials that proved not only her own mettle, but also outlined a very large issue facing women currently. Recommended.
Posted at 9:54 AM

http://celluloidsheep.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/prometheus/

“How far would you go to get your answers?”
Prometheus (2012)

4 1/2 Xenomorph Eggs (out of 5)

There has been much speculation since Prometheus was announced regarding what exactly it would be, and how (if at all) it would connect to the Alien franchise. Make no mistake: this IS a prequel, and it answers some of the questions left blissfully unanswered by the original Alien film. Ultimately, this is both the film’s blessing and its curse. That said, it is a solid, well-made science fiction film that blends contemporary effects with a more old-fashioned, deliberate pace and tone. In addition, the 3D is worth the money, serving typically to add depth to shots – and most importantly it is NOT a post-conversion.

Ridley Scott and his collaborators were deliberately coy in the marketing for , and more often than not they avoided making any direct connections between it and Alien. At one point Scott was quoted as saying the film carried “strands of Alien‘s DNA, so to speak” (a comment which becomes much more interesting once the new film has been viewed). Just a few minutes in, however, it becomes clear that this was all misdirection. In terms of narrative, the film actually follows fairly similar beats as Scott’s original film. However, I think with Prometheus Scott has much different intentions, and it all has to do with characters and themes.

Alien was not a film about exploration. Its themes are rooted in distrust of corporate authority and that space brings death and uncertainty rather than any sort of answers. The characters, as well as the audience, learn virtually nothing about the planet or creatures that are encountered. It is an exercise in claustrophobia, suspense, and the terror of an inhuman, highly sexualized unknown. All of this is summed up in that film’s tagline – “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Prometheus retains the mysterious setting of that film (I don’t think that’s a spoiler at this point, since it’s clear from the trailer that both it and Alien are set on the same planet), but rather than a set of blue collar space truckers the crew is a mixture of regular crew and scientists. These explorers, like the director of the film, are focused on the existential question of mankind’s origin, the transitory nature of life, and a desire to investigate life on other planets. In this respect it is thematically closer to 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact than Alien, although Prometheus never forgets its horror roots. It is a movie about belief – faith, even – and the danger of seeking proof. Thus, while the crew in Alien are reactive, avoiding the unknown unless absolutely necessary, the crew in Prometheus pokes the hornets’ nest and tries to illuminate the darkness.

With this in mind, it stands to reason that for better or worse several of the unanswered mysteries of Alien are given explanations. I am definitely of two minds about this; I have always loved those mysteries, especially the throwaway appearance of the “Space Jockey,” and was fairly confident that no subsequent film would do justice to the speculations I had come up with over the years. Yet the film does not fail in this regard. I think I will still do my best to pretend that I have not seen Prometheus when watching Alien, but for the purposes of this new film, those explanations are serviceable. It also helps that the film is not content merely to provide answers. Rather, Scott and his collaborators use the bait of these revelations to draw the audience to a new line of questions which, by the end of the film, provide a new direction for the franchise which could remain within the same continuity while potentially departing radically in theme and narrative. I would complain only about the final scene of the film – it looks good, but I could have lived without it as it felt an awful lot like tacked-on fanservice.

The cast for the most part manages to avoid being overshadowed by the effects and of effectively making the roles their own rather than simply doing variations on Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, et al. Some of the supporting characters don’t feel as fully developed as those of the original film, but they all get a chance to show at least a little of their personalities. Noomi Rapace is probably most like the Ellen Ripley character of the other films, but she brings a level of vulnerability and intimacy to the role that is distinct from Weaver’s performance – I wouldn’t go so far as to call one better than the other, but both are appropriate to their respective films. Charlize Theron delivers an appropriately cold performance as the corporate representative on the expedition. Yet I hoped for a little more development from her character; the moment that I think was supposed to reveal her motivations was not surprising or meaningful enough to be satisfying. The real standouts of the movie, however, are Idris Elba and Michael Fassbender. Elba, as the captain of the ship, is the closest link to the blue collar characters of Alien, and his pragmatism easily makes him one of the most relatable characters in the film. Fassbender plays the android David as a kind of combination of David Bowie and Peter O’Toole (i.e. The Man Who Fell To Earth meets Lawrence of Arabia). Without going into plot details, I’ll say it’s a pleasure to watch him in action, and his performance raises, for me at least, some interesting questions about the androids in the Alien franchise.

Visually, the film is impressive. The design of the ship, spacesuits, and other technology deliberately evoke the styles and lines of Alien without being bound to the 1970s limitations which informed those designs. Some may complain that this gives the humans of this chronologically earlier film more advanced technology than those of the “later” one. For me it’s all a matter of suspension of disbelief, and I never had trouble buying it. Besides, a trillion-dollar corporate expedition probably WOULD have much better technology than a rickety space truck. For the alien structures and creatures Scott was able to bring in H. R. Giger, designer of the sets and creatures from Alien to expand on those designs and further emphasize continuity with Alien. The film uses a mixture of practical and CGI effects, both of which look as good as I would expect from Weta, and the 3D definitely compliments the sets and effects nicely. There were only a few moments where the CGI crossed the uncanny valley and looked computer generated.

I’ve spent most of this review talking about Prometheus in comparison to Alien. From the interviews I have seen, this is not what the writers and director want me to do. However, the film in structure and content demand it. This is not a bad thing – the film does mostly stand on its own – but be aware that this is a franchise film with some direct connections to the rest of the series. “Prequel” seems to have become something of a dirty word over the years. Yet Prometheus rises above the average prequel by avoiding a simply rehashing the existing material. Certainly the formula is still present, yet Scott uses it as a frame to springboard the franchise he helped build into a new, bigger direction. Also, while the film does reveal backstory and offer explanations for events in the original film, it is not content to leave it at that.

As it stands, Prometheus is not as groundbreaking or original as the marketing had led me to believe (but then, what movie is?). Even the thematic elements which separate it from Alien have been tackled in other sci-fi films. 2001, Star Trek (the tv series, at least), Mission to Mars, and even the works of H.P. Lovecraft ask similar questions and in some cases offer similar answers. Despite this, the film succeeds both on the level of being suspenseful and engaging the audience with its existential questions. In recent years science fiction has become more about action-adventure and space opera. This is not a bad thing (see my glowing review of John Carter), but it is nice to see a film that remembers that science fiction’s great potential is not only to show us the stars, but also to reveal something about ourselves. With all the special effects, spaceships, and scares, this is a film that tries to tackle the question of what makes us human. Does it succeed in answering those questions? Not entirely. But even in making that effort I think Prometheus is a film worth watching, and in leaving some of its questions unanswered there is the potential for a sequel which could totally break from the Alien formula. Should that sequel come to be, I will welcome it. Until then, I think I am content to revel in the unanswered mysteries of Prometheus, just as I did for years with its predecessor.

© Ralph Lawson III, 2012, All Rights Reserved

shadesofunicorn:
Prometheus Review

Everything was going smoothly, even beautifully at times… until Elizabeth Shaw stumbles onto that old guy. GODDAMNIT.

As a huge fan of the Alien series (Ressurection did not happen) I have been looking forward to this movie for a while now.

The beginning —- huge, gorgeous sweeping shots of the planet’s scenery (to be pedantic, I would have slowed these down, and taken my time with each shot. I felt the cuts were too quick. Letting the audience sink into the atmosphere is important). I think more effort could have been put in to clarify the ship’s mission and intent, but I let that pass by. By the time Prometheus had landed and was exploring, I was thoroughly enjoying this film. The homages to Alien and Blade Runner were many but well appreciated (the hyper-sleep pods, the mucus David discovers on the hieroglyphics etc). H R Giger clearly had gone all out because the designs were magnificent, dark and haunting. The collective state of emotions was flowing well, the actors were enjoying their characters (particularly Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender) and the questions the movie posed were genuinely intriguing. Not to mention the consistently stunning cinematography, heightened considerably in 3D.

Why did David infect the Doctor? What are the hostile alien species doing on the planet? These are the questions I thought would be clearly answered in the latter part of the film. That’s how they were set up, anyway. The caesarian scene was absolutely blood-curling. As a woman it made me feel even more nauseous. 100% terrifying. From just this scene the film established, in my eyes, that it was now descending into horror—which, imo was the most appropriate route.

But… but…. it did not go that way. The film did something stupid. The last arc was full of gaping holes and seemed to distract from the questions, overall theme and emotional journey of the characters. It overloaded. Instead of delving into the terror the passengers of the ship would experience, it just kept adding: the old guy in charge is revealed to be on the ship the entire time, weird relationship moments between a goblin-esque Guy Pearce and his blondebots, a live alien in a pod that turns out to be evil, alien vs alien showdown… No no no no. The emotional reaction was forgotten save for Elizabeth and it was just a complete mess.

In my opinion, a movie should not NEED a sequel. Movies that are magic in my eyes are ones that tie all their own knots and are satisfying as an isolated piece. You did not need to see Aliens to enjoy Alien. It is a finished package.

What Should Have Happened According To Nina:

Scotts’ strong lead heroine is clearly running into the same evil Ripley does. What seemed to be coming together in the film was the creation of the Alien. With Holloway’s infection and the spawn inside Elizabeth and the white worms that killed the geologist and his skeptic pal, there are clearly enough ingredients here. What would have made sense is Elizabeth, like Ripley, against the Alien. In fact ending on a chestburster scene after the “this is the last survivor” line would have been appropriate. Good films know how to be vague—and I think the decision to make the albino alien men evil was silly—-keep it a mystery. The Nostromo receives a distress signal, which well could have been Elizabeth using the alien technology to reach out with the help of David. I think once the film turned dark, it should have kept getting darker and more suspenseful instead of laying on the CGI, until the bitter end. I think Prometheus crashing into the alien ship was premature and didn’t quite make sense—-it could have happened closer to the end, or not at all. In fact another idea would have had everyone dying on Prometheus, with David and Elizabeth escaping to the alien ship and crashing due to the chestbursters, instead of a ship crashing into another ship. The ‘hopeful’ ending, in my opinion, ruined it. At first I thought it was cool, but on deeper inspection its as if the character is literally flying away from the actual plot.

So yeah. Amazing amazing amazing and then wtf.

strawberrypanda:
So I saw Prometheus last night...

Let me preface this by saying I have NEVER watched any of the Alien movies (which Prometheus is a prelude to) so I had no clue what was going to happen and saw it because that’s what my family wanted to see.

So, my main problem was that I just didn’t like any of the characters. I didn’t even feel bad for the leading lady when she was (SPOILER) getting cut open and having an alien fetus removed from her. Honestly every single character was just a piece of meat. The “human” (SPOILER) robot that f&%$#& s$#! up didn’t even have a reason to. And they kept saying he doesn’t have emotions but he did things and said things that included emotion and it’s just like STICK TO ONE f#%@#&! STORY LINE.

Basically it was another excuse to aliens attempt to destroy earth, except this one was before the aliens got to earth.

frenky-cro:
Prometheus

Warning: RANT! SPOILERS!

So, I went to see the new Ridley Scott film Prometheus. I have to confess that my expectations where a bit high - since I am a big fan of the original Alien movie.

Before I start bitching about this movie there are some good things which have to be said about it. The idea of Alien prequel is GREAT, a lot of stuff in original Alien movie was shown but never explored in detail. The chair people race, origins of xenomorphs, origins of Wayland corporation. All those things have been done in Prometheus, some better and in more details, others still remain unknown.

Actors where also good and decent, I can’t say much against them. For that I would have to watch this movie a couple more times. Special effects are great, a lot of CGI, but it is a high quality CGI and it had been used correctly. There is just enough special effects to make this movie visually appealing, but not so much to make it look like a demo for a CGI company / product. Again, better verdict can only be given after watching it a couple more times in HD.

The story starts out great. There is a lot of heavy thoughts about android David, how he explores humans, etc. By the time movie progresses story evolves. Old dying Wayland being on the ship, his daughter wanting him dead - all expected but well made .

Now we get to the bad parts of the movie, and the rant starts.

To start with, there are too many alien references, and too many different variations of the alien lifeform. We see the chair people, which have DNA identical to human (fine, this explains the start of the movie) and it is expected to see them in more detail, because this movie should have explored and closed some aspects of the original Alien movie. But then the problems start: we have the snake like creatures in alien craft, which act and look like some earlier version of facehugger creatures. After that we have some alien “virus” which David android releases into one of the scientists, and then Elizabeth Shaw gets pregnant with another alien lifefrom by having sex with said scientist (WTF moment). That same creature gets extracted from her, and makes a “big” finale in the movie as a GIANT facehugger (WTF again). And we see some kind of alien creature bursting out from one of chair people at the end of the movie - it doesn’t look anything like the original alien creature - it is blue, much more streamlined in shape, and where to hell is the great original second jaw?

Furthermore, there is a lot of useless subplots in the story. Why did we had to see those two scientists get lost in the alien structure - one of them was the guy who mapped the thing in the first place - he had schematics and sensors - no way he would get lost. Then those same two scientists get attacked in a chamber from which they ran away in the first place. A+ for the snake creatures there, but once they get discovered and “saved” one of them is dead (being attacked by snake creature), and the other one get mutated to a undead, hard to kill, super strength monster (WTF moment) - and it still looks kinda human (WTF). A simple facehugger and a small alien would do the trick - a bit of running in the ship.

We have the father - daughter subplot which spices things up in a good way, but the Wayland subplot where he seeks immortality is stretched. Good thing he dies in that subplot.

Finally we come to the ending of the movie - the WORST part of it! I like the part where Prometheus hits one of chair people ships in order to prevent it form reaching Earth. That is the only good thing I have to say about the ending. Bad things are just bad!

The chair people survivor survives that crash and goes on a killing spree! The massive facehugger at the end itself. Elizabeth Shaw running around like a world class sprinter after having a huge operation, David being able to speak even not having anything but a neck (Ash needs to be rebuild in the original just a bit in order to speak). Sending a “last transmission” - WTF, that had been done, no need to recycle that idea. Chair people ship crashing down on the planet, Elizabeth Shaw leaving in another chair people ship trying to find the home planet of the chair people to ask them “Why would they kill humans after creating them”… I could go on…

If I want to be honest, the best ending would be something like this: One of the facehuggers gets the last survivor of the chair people just after waking up from hibernation, but no one sees that. He kills Wayland for being an idiot who wishes immortality and starts the ship on the course for Earth. Prometheus crew kills them selfs while trying to stop the alien ship, but just as they hit it, alien ship speeds up and leaves the planet - it crash lands on a different planet after a chest buster comes alive and kills it’s pilot. Elizabeth Shaw and Meredith Vickers survive (being left on the planet) with limited supplies in the escape pod (which sends automatic distress signal to the company)…

Of course, one chest buster has to appear in the Prometheus just to keep to the original theme.

Oh… Everyone, please forgive me on this ranting, but ending really got the worst of me.

http://drinkmereadme.tumblr.com/post/24803962203/review-prometheus
Review: Prometheus

So I just got done seeing this movie and my mind is just going a million miles an hour about what I want to say. After hearing some mixed reviews about this movie, I was kind of nervous that it wouldn’t live up to the trailer. Then I saw it, and now my mind is blown.

Not blown in the ‘OMG this is a masterpiece of a cinematic endeavor’ type of way, more like blown in a ‘OMG this movie was way deeper than I expected it to be’ type of way. I can say one thing: This movie surprised me. A lot.

As always, spoilers ahead.

I’m not going to give a whole lot of plot or backstory, because if you’re familiar with the Alien series of movies then you pretty much have a grasp of what is going to happen in Prometheus. A bunch of smart people fly into space because they’re pretty sure that they’ve found the aliens who created us. ‘Us’ as in the human race. The movie gives some science-y type explanation of how they came to this conclusion, but it doesn’t go so deep into the actual science that it goes over the audience’s heads.

So basically these people are here to die. That’s the essential purpose of the majority of the cast. This movie may not be directly related to the Alien movies, but it takes place in the same world so there IS a connection. And what happened in Alien? People bit the dust. Hard. The same applies to this movie. A whole lot of people die. I hate to sound morbid (no I don’t), but it was awesome.

All of this makes sense, because it’s a science fiction horror movie. Ergo, it will have science fiction tropes (Mystical pregnancy, intelligent aliens, androids with feelings) mixed with horror movie tropes (black guy dies, lone female survivor, unsure villain). I think it did a really good job of blending the two genres in such a way that horror movie fans will love it, science fiction fans will love it, and nobody from either genre will be alienated while watching the movie.

For instance, horror movie fans will recognize some of the cliché horror movie characters, but science fiction fans will enjoy the sensibility of the gadgets introduced and of the world-building. Horror movie fans will like the gore, science fiction fans will like the history and the amiguous societal message. It’s a successful crossover and I salute it.

Speaking of the ambiguous societal message, that’s where the depth of this film comes in. The entire premise of the movie hinges on the fact that these people are desperate to meet our so-called creators to ask why they abandonned us. The filmmakers could have left it at that, making it seem like a basic sci-fi premise, but they go even deeper.

On the ship is an android played by Michael Fassbender. Throughout the movie, he’s treated like crap by these humans yet he keeps on doing what they tell him to, because they created him and gave him life. At one point in the movie, the main character’s boyfriend asks her why she still wears a cross since they’ve found their creators. She responds with, “Well, who created them?” This line is simple, yet it really adds to the overall theme of this movie, which is: Humans want to know where we came from. That’s it. It delves into religious imagery and evolution and how these are all just things that human beings choose to believe in because we want to know where we came from. It’s a pathological need.

I could go on about this movie for hours, but I’m going to leave it at that. If you’re looking for a deeper meaning in the movie and moving character motivations, you’ll find it. If you just want a movie with lots of explosions and gory death scenes, you’ll also find that. Basically, anyone will be satisfied by this movie, despite a few minor plot inconsistencies.

So, have you seen Prometheus? If so, what did you think about it? Did I leave anything out? Send me an ask and let me know!
Posted 6 hours ago

http://bruisecruisepopulationyouz.tumblr.com/post/24803338959/a-word-or-two-on-prometheus

Word or Two On Prometheus

Let me preface this by saying that I loved Alien and Aliens. The former is still one of my favorite spooky movies and the latter is still a fantastic action movie that blows AAA titles of this generation out of the water. I’ve played the games, I’ve read the books, and I even have a few Alien comics lying around in my room somewhere. I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that I’m a fan. So naturally when I heard about Prometheus I was ecstatic. Coming back from the film, however, I found myself disappointed in the film.

The film was clearly made with fans in mind. By this I mean that Prometheus leaned on references to the previous movies like crutches. Whether it was David’s head being knocked off and put into a bag (Ala Alien 3), Elizabeth’s final recording (which is a 99.5% carbon copy of Ripley’s, mind you), the direct shout-out to the “Marines, we are LEAVING” line from Aliens, or several other clumsy attempts, Prometheus felt less like a nod to it’s predecessor and more like it’s kid brother making a futile attempt to impersonate it’s older, better sibling. I’d have less of a problem with the nods if they were performed with any semblance of tact, but regrettably the film had a reference shoved into every nook and cranny.

The characters weren’t spared either. I’ll admit that the space truckers in Alien weren’t entirely memorable, but I felt far more sympathy for Dallas and his crew than the Prometheus team. Aside from about four people, the entire cast of Prometheus is completely useless and devoid of character save for two or three aesthetic quirks. EXAMPLES: Black, British, Scottish, Stoner, Religious Nut, Love Interest, Old Guy, Gambling Dude, Gambling Dude, Dickish Robot, Girl With Daddy Issues. Boom, I just described the entire cast of the movie in all of their fleshed-out glory. Firstly, our protagonist, Elizabeth, has a large shadow to fill. Ellen Ripley is a legendary character in film, not just for her badassitude, but her role as The Most Intelligent Person In the Movie. When we see her in Alien, Ripley is shown as a cold ball-buster who regularly rails on her coworkers, challenges authority and almost averts the entire Nostromo disaster by not opening the door for her infected crew member, Kane. Even in the sequel Ripley acts as the voice of reason; she objects to sending a ground team into Hadley’s Hope and constantly urges the Marines to pull out and nuke the site from orbit, costs be damned. She may be impulsive and generally a wet blanket, but upon further analysis, Ripley is intelligent as she is strong. Though she crumbles at certain moments, Ripley’s character balances a reasonable amount of heart with the gung-ho, cold-bitch character. On the other side of the Earth is Elizabeth: a faith-obsessed archaeologist who spearheads the operation to LV-226 in search of the Engineers; fabled beings believed to be the architects of humanity. She has her share of badass moments in the film, but generally speaking Elizabeth is far more passive than her counterpart and, at times, even makes decisions that are incredibly naive. One of these instances is caused by her boytoy, Charlie, when he is infected by the Engineer Bioweapon thanks to David, the resident Synthetic who presents an issue that I’ll come back to later. Charlie and Elizabeth are romantically involved. If you don’t notice this, don’t worry, the film will remind you every eight seconds. I suppose their relationship would seem cute on some other planet (DOHOHO SCI-FI HUMOUR), but to me it felt as warm and fuzzy as The Room. Charlie is the first person to die to the bioweapon and becomes visibly infected minutes into the movie. As everyone brings him back to the ship, the company representative Vickers, who also happens to be Weyland’s daughter in a surprisingly Shyamalanesque twist, bars Charlie from the ship claiming that he will bring infection aboard. Though his face is clearly ABOUT TO EXPLODE, Elizabeth fights back claiming that he can be cured. I can understand that this is possibly due to her connection with Charlie, but this really isn’t a good trait for the protagonist. Even Shaun in Shaun of the Dead accepted that his mother had to be killed. At the end of the movie, Elizabeth tells David that rather than going back to Earth to warn other people about the existence of intelligent, malevolent life with knowledge of humanity, she wants to go to where the Engineers came from. When asked why by David, Elizabeth claims that she wants to know why the Engineers want to kill all humans.

There, I just gave you one line to process the idiocy of that. Let me elaborate: the Engineers, aka the Jockeys from Alien lore, created a bioweapon capable of infecting life and transforming it into hideous abominations. Halfway through the movie it is revealed that the Engineers are not nice. When old man Weyland comes along for the trip (which seems to be somewhat of a trend in these new films, now that I think about it) to ask the Engineers to cure his case of old age, he is immediately bitchslapped in the head with David’s head and left to hemorrhage on the ground while the only surviving Engineer on the ship wrecks the rest of the crew. If that wasn’t enough, David discovers that the Engineers have coordinates for Earth and were en route when some of their bioweapon broke loose in their military base. The Engineers are never portrayed as kind, benevolent, or somewhat merciful. The first action of the last surviving Engineer on LV-226 is to beat the living f&#! out of humans. Elizabeth witnesses this firsthand and, after surviving eight different life and death situations, decides that the best thing to do is to GO TO THEIR HOME PLANET AND ASK WHY THEY DID THAT. Scenario time: if an assassin tries to kill you, you don’t turn around, walk into his lair and ask “Yo, d*** move. What was that for?”.

To avoid giving myself a brain tumor trying to figure out that reasoning, I’ll move on to other problems I had with the movie. Let’s focus on David the Synthetic. Specifically, his actions in the film and why they’re complete bullshit when compared to the rest of the series and it’s established canon. At first David seems like a real stand up guy. He’s kind, witty, helpful, and manages to keep his cool when Charlie treats him like s$#! for no reason. At first I thought that he was a good successor to Bishop, but I was proven wrong soon after. The film makes it clear that Weyland and the entire company has no control over David or his actions. Vickers is shut out of his viewfeed just BECAUSE, and even orders from Weyland appear to be treated with similar disdain which leads me to believe that David really isn’t bound by any sort of creator law whatsoever. Bishop wasn’t allowed to harm anyone or let anyone come to harm due to his programming. Similarly, Ash in the first film went crazy, but he was under the directive of the Weyland-Yutani company and followed their orders. Bishop lampshades this in Aliens by saying that Ash and his counterparts were known to be a bit buggy, but bugs or not it is implied that Synthetics are bound by a strict moral code or chain of command. David, though implied to be assigned to Weyland, acts on his own for most of the film and even endangers (and subsequently kills) Charlie by poisoning him with a bioweapon. I mean David didn’t STAB him, but it was made clear that the contents of the vases weren’t friendly towards humans. Was David ordered to do this, or was he just acting out of curiosity?

Plotholes and conflicting choices aside, Prometheus also suffered from a rather dated script with a bad case of cliche. One of the best parts about Alien and Aliens was that the characters, though far in the future, spoke like normal human beings. The dialogue was smooth and natural and the characters seemed like real people. Prometheus’ dialogue is good at times, but for the most part it feels like someone went outside once, listened to how humans talk, then returned to his writing desk and wrote a script. This coupled with the overarching theme of faith vs. science (even though it’s proven about twelve minutes into the film that human life was created by horrible aliens) just makes Prometheus pretty hard to listen to. Not all of the lines are bad, of course, but all of the good lines are drowned out by sh*#&% writing and things cut and pasted from better movies.

In conclusion, I want to ask the same question Plinkett from RedLetterMedia asked at the end of his review of Star Wars Episode 3: was this really a story that had to be told? Like Darth Vader in Star Wars, the Engineers and the Xenomorphs both benefited from lack of background; the Engineers represented an advanced race that, despite their obvious technological expertise were no match for the sheer brutality of the Xenomorphs. Similarly, Xenomorphs didn’t need an origin story. No one wanted to know where they came from, they just wanted to nuke them off the face of the galaxy. That was fine. People fear the unknown and all horror aficionados will agree that the movie/video/story/comic is ten-times scarier when the viewer doesn’t know anything about the monster.

Prometheus didn’t have to be made. The series ended long ago with Alien: Resurrection and the AvP films didn’t really help much in terms of popularity. I feel like Ridley Scott could have easily made another film and left Alien alone, but the constant references and nods to the other films imply that he made this for the fans. Speaking as a true fan, I don’t think he did a good job. If you want to see another Summer Thriller, then this movie will sate your appetite a little bit. If you’re a fan of Aliens, however, you’d probably be better off staying home.

ois4omar:

Soooo yes I finally saw Prometheus this morning and OMFG!!!!! It was visually stunning, thrilling, beautiful, and f#%@#&! crazy!!!! It had me on the edge of my seat from the start to the finish. I knew Noomi Rapace was a bad-ass from her Girl with the dragon tattoo trilogy but man was she even more of a bad-ass in Prometheus…giving birth to an octopus alien!!! Bella has nothing on Elizabeth Shaw. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in David aka Michael Fassbender’s character. I was going into the theater loving his character right from the bat….I’m a sucker for robots but not this one he was kinda mean I gained a love hate relationship with David but two thumbs up for Fassbender’s acting chops. Now what can I say about Charlize Theron….She’s Charlize Theron!! Gorgeous and great at playing a selfish bitch….wish she would of changed her tune instead of getting squashed tho. If we’re lucky, there’ll be a second part. It does leave you with some nice open questions.

but seriously WATCH PROMETHEUS & make sure to make it IMAX 3D. I don’t usually watch movies in IMAX 3D but this was totally worth it…it’s literally begging to be seen in IMAX 3D you will be amazed!

*****5/5

http://ninjacricket.tumblr.com/post/24801680750/thoughts-on-prometheus

Thoughts on “Prometheus”

just need to get this out of my system

I watched a couple of the trailers and got really excited. I started writing a movie in my head. It was about cultural conflict and exploring the universe, and it was full of transhumanist themes and clever literary allusions and parallels to Lawrence of Arabia.

I read something that referred to Noomi Rapace’s character as the heroine. Okay, I thought. I thought the android was going to be the main character, but maybe they decided to make a human the main protagonist to give the audience a solid point of reference.

Next I read that it had started out as an Alien prequel. (I did my research badly and out of order, okay.) Alright, I thought. It can still be good. Aliens was good, right? Maybe it will be like that, but different?

Short answer: Nope.

I think there was probably a quite good script in there at some point. There were flashes of brilliance; a few moments of beautiful characterization and visceral fear that kept me hoping for more. Visually, the film is beautiful (for the most part) and horrifying (when it means to be). The actors are quite good. But at some point, the story got butchered. Someone needed to read the whole script about 3 times, rewriting it until the beginning and the middle and the end made a whole story that made sense. Apparently, no one did that. What was left was a plot salad; bits of grand-scale science fiction, bits of horror, bits of mundane drama.

Oh well. Maybe I’ll take that story I made up, the story I wish this movie had told, and write it down. :-/