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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / Entertainment => Topic started by: runequester on October 17, 2012, 09:10:49 PM

Title: Prometheus
Post by: runequester on October 17, 2012, 09:10:49 PM
So I finally watched this, and I guess most of the rage has died down. So...what was people's thoughts?

I fundamentally liked it. I guess I can see why people were disappointed...dialogue was weak, the script sort of didn't make a ton of sense and some things were obvious fan service / made up on the spot.

It was entertaining though, it was gorgeously shot and the "alien infection extraction" scene was one of the few times a movie has actually made me feel queasy.

What was people's thoughts?
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on October 17, 2012, 10:02:42 PM
I loved it. I would put it down as one of my fav movies of all time.

As far as being a sequel/prequel goes it is far superior to the other ones that were made. All they acomplished was to cheapen the franchise. Aliens was pure genius in my opinion but the ones that came after were toilet paper.

I like the idea of having a spirit quest in that they were searching for the meaning of humanity. I thought it was creative and it complemented the overall story of the first 2 movies.

The end sequence with the birth of the first alien queen was the best representation of the alien yet seen (apart from the cafeteria scene in spaceballs).
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: runequester on October 17, 2012, 10:18:07 PM
Im one of like 3 people who actually liked Alien 3 and Resurrection though I won't dispute they were not as amazing as the first two.

Prometheus reminded me a lot of reading old scifi where it's not really about the characters, as much as it's about what the writer wanted to show us. The characters are there as a vehicle to make that happen. And people aren't very used to that, I think.


There were a lot of weird little "this doesn't make sense if you think about it", but you know..you just gotta live with that :)


edit:
A few things that stood out to me as "strange questions":

There's murals of the xenomorphs but they haven't been created yet. The movie later seems to follow that the goo creatures evolve towards that form, but were they intended to do so all along?

The android finds green goo while exploring. It's probably just a fan service moment to remind us of Aliens, but assuming there was indeed a xenomorph outbreak (or some other mutant critters)...it'd have happened 2000 years ago. Doubt it'll stay moist when they show up to explore.

A lot of bad horror movie character decisions of course (getting lost in a cave, while in radio contact with the guys that have a 3D map, petting alien snake beasts etc)

Why did one engineer stay behind in cryo freeze and how did he survive whatever killed the rest?

Sure, it's science-magic, but how did the alien squid grow to monster size, without anything around to eat and gain mass?


Probably thousands more :)
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: pyrre on October 18, 2012, 04:22:21 PM
I had to watch prometheus a couple of times before i could decide whether i liked it or not. But i have come to the conclusion that i actually liked it.
But it raiser more questions about the alien saga than it answered.
I understand why it evolved beyond "just" a prequel to the alien series...
Hopefully Mr Scott makes sequels to it....(!) It starts to look interesting...:D
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: trekiej on October 18, 2012, 05:47:24 PM
I liked it. I would like to re-watch it on Blu-ray to see if it that is better. I thought it was a good prequel.
1. What happened to the man who DNA recombined in the water?
2. It seems to destroy the rumor that the Predators engineered the Aliens.
3. I am currios to see what happened to the woman who went to the Engineers home.
edit:
I like Aliens 1,2 and Resurection the best. 3 was good but being in a penitentiary was not the alien world I liked in the first two.
In Resurection I did not like the ending too much with the hybrid.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on October 19, 2012, 05:33:44 AM
Quote from: runequester;711816
Im one of like 3 people who actually liked Alien 3 and Resurrection though I won't dispute they were not as amazing as the first two.

Prometheus reminded me a lot of reading old scifi where it's not really about the characters, as much as it's about what the writer wanted to show us. The characters are there as a vehicle to make that happen. And people aren't very used to that, I think.


There were a lot of weird little "this doesn't make sense if you think about it", but you know..you just gotta live with that :)


edit:
A few things that stood out to me as "strange questions":

There's murals of the xenomorphs but they haven't been created yet. The movie later seems to follow that the goo creatures evolve towards that form, but were they intended to do so all along?

The android finds green goo while exploring. It's probably just a fan service moment to remind us of Aliens, but assuming there was indeed a xenomorph outbreak (or some other mutant critters)...it'd have happened 2000 years ago. Doubt it'll stay moist when they show up to explore.

A lot of bad horror movie character decisions of course (getting lost in a cave, while in radio contact with the guys that have a 3D map, petting alien snake beasts etc)

Why did one engineer stay behind in cryo freeze and how did he survive whatever killed the rest?

Sure, it's science-magic, but how did the alien squid grow to monster size, without anything around to eat and gain mass?


Probably thousands more :)


I also like Alien 3 sure it was not like the second where there was lot of action :) But it was cool in a different way.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: CritAnime on October 19, 2012, 02:15:05 PM
I enjoyed the directors cut of Alien 3. Really solid story. I can't wait to get a copy of prometheus though. I enjoyed it at the cinema.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: TheBilgeRat on October 19, 2012, 03:40:48 PM
[youtube]RBaKqOMGPWc[/youtube]
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on October 22, 2012, 11:28:49 PM
I didn't end up watching this at the cinema but picked it up the other day. Anyway, having watched it, I have to say, I was not impressed.

We start off with a scene of a planet upon which one of the "engineers" appears to commit some form of sacrificial rite that involves the ingestion of some black goo (more later) that causes him to rapidly break down and imbue the water with his own genetic material. We see subsequent scenes of cellular division giving the impression that he's seeded this unknown planet with his DNA in what is later alluded to as the process by which humans were "engineered" by his race.

I say unknown planet, because it's seemingly not Earth. If it is, then he's seeding it at a point geologically close to the present and the terrestrial life with which we share the bulk of our genetic makeup is already abundant, regardless of how barren the waterfall area appears. I say this as he's surrounded by geologically old terrain and able to breathe quite freely (mosses and lichens are visible in the opening scene too). And as we discover later, he's genetically identical to modern humans, so a terrestrial atmosphere is definitely impled. Note he's supposedly genetically identical, despite the fact he clearly has various known genetically-regulated differences, such as an apparent lack of melanin, superior height, physique and strength (and ability to tolerate higher carbon dioxide levels) than your average modern human. The real issue of course, being the strangely coincident baseline genetic compatibility with existing life on the planet. Perhaps his race was also present billions of years before and seeded the initial life too, in which case, his actions might be a sort of genetic update for the existing biota.

Anyway, my real beef is with the rest of the plot. Two "scientists" (we aren't told their field, their specialisations appear to vary through the movie from archeologist/anthropologist to geneticist) conjecture that the similarity of a set of ancient depictions of giants pointing at what they assume is a constellation indicates the existence of an alien race that "engineered" mankind and moreover an invitation to come and visit one day.

On this unsound premise, big-question-pondering, one-foot-in-the-grave industrialist owner/foumder of Weyland corp is persuaded to fund a multi-trillion credit venture to an "extremely distant" star system (3.2x10^14 km according to the info in shot - which is actually only ~34.6 light years) that matches the configuration of the stars depicted in said ancient renderings. Constellations that over the ~30,000 year period from the oldest cave painting to the most recent example could have changed, but we'll let them off for not realising that.

Their ship arrives after 2 and a bit years of travel (which, assuming a local timeframe reference requires they have travelled some ~16x lightspeed to do so) and the crew are woken from suspended animation. It turns out that they are joined by some additional mission specialist "scientists" in other disciplines to help them analyse whatever they find, an android, company rep and some security guys. I say "scientists" because not one of the useless buggers behaves scientifically at any point.

They watch brief recorded intro by the self-declared "long dead by now" Weyland, in which he introduces the reason for their mission to a crew that by and large seemed unaware. Long dead? I guess it's possible but as they travelled 36 light years in just over 2 years, all that time-dilation centuries passing on Earth while they are gone went out the window. Also, you'd not send out a scientific expedition on a journey that would take many centuries to return, we just can't plan that long term, bless us. As to why most of the crew had no idea what they were signing up to, I can only assume extremely large wads of cash were used as incentives.

Dr's Shaw and Holloway present their theory to a sceptical crew. Rightfully, Dr Shaw is challenged if she has any evidence to back up her theory, where she replies with "I don't, but it's what I choose to believe.". As any good scientist surely would...

Upon arrival at this strange new world, no time is spent surveying and mapping the globe to look for any signs of present or previous habitation, resources or even a safe landing area. Instead, they plunge headforth into the earth-like but with toxic levels of CO2 atmosphere, through storms and over vast mountains and look around for a landing site. And as if by magic, they chance find a valley with a series of pyramids, encircled by walls that protect them from the (as we soon discover, quite ferocious) elements.

Despite there only being 6 hours of daylight left, instead of doing whatever mundane "hey, we just touched down on another planet" checklist, securing their landing site and getting a decent night's kip before a hard day of Science! on the morrow, our erstwhile Dr's insist in rushing headlong to the nearest structure and venture inside, cuz it's like, you know Christmas and all that. Also, I imagine that in 2093, the idea of sending a suitably sterilized, unmanned probe into an unknown, potentially hazardous alient environment to do a man's job is just fronwed upon.

Once inside, the "geologist" sends a couple of drone devices around that map the structure in high resolution 3D so that, you know, they won't get lost or anything.

Further inside, Dr Holloway discovers the atmosphere relative to outside is depleted in CO2 and thus, obviously, entirely safe to breathe. So, he does what any good scientist would do and removes his helmet. Never mind that the reading could be wrong, or not include information on unknown chemical or biological agents that might be present, or heaven forfend that he might contaminate the site with his own crap. And after a couple of seconds, his colleagues all follow his lead.

Not long after, they discover a supposedly ~2000 year old decapitated corpse of one of the (humanoid) aliens. At which point, the geologist bloke, gets the willies and decides to head home to the ship, unnacustom as he is to long dead things, such as fossils, for example. The biologist, goes with him as you would expect. After all, it's not as if encountering the remains of a humanoid alien would be the sort of thing to get his scientific curiosity piqued. The two leave together, and despite the fact it was the geologist that released the mapping drones, proceed to get completely lost within the structure.

The remaining group enter a room by way of door that decapitated said alien and find his head. The room has a large humanoid head sculpture and various vase like objects. While appreciating the room and it's art, Dr Shaw notices that the renderings start to change as a likely consequence of altering the atmosphere. No sh*t sherlock? Perhaps you should have kept your helmets on instead of breathing all over everything.

There's way more to post, but I'll continue my diatribe later...
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Templario on October 28, 2012, 08:33:02 PM
The best movie with Alien is Alien 3 Resurrection and Alien vs Predators 1 because the other, well a few is good the first movie.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: CritAnime on October 28, 2012, 10:50:04 PM
Resurrection is 4. Alien 3 is just Alien 3 ;)

The best out of the bunch was Aliens. Loved that film. Plenty of action and plenty of story.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Iggy on October 28, 2012, 11:37:53 PM
Well Prometheus looks great, but why do we always have to see the just got out of herbernatation meal sequence in all these movies?
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: djos on October 29, 2012, 12:26:28 AM
Quote from: trekiej;711891
I liked it. I would like to re-watch it on Blu-ray to see if it that is better. I thought it was a good prequel.
1. What happened to the man who DNA recombined in the water?
2. It seems to destroy the rumor that the Predators engineered the Aliens.
3. I am currios to see what happened to the woman who went to the Engineers home.


I completely agree, im going to buy the BluRay version as apparently it has an alternate beginning that might explain #1 more.

PS I liked it but felt some things weren't explained very well (like #1).
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Templario on October 29, 2012, 11:20:27 PM
@CritAnime
Yes, I confused them, is because they are many sequels and prequels the endemic bad from Hollywood's movies today.
We will wait the new Conan the Barbarian with Arnold.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on November 28, 2012, 12:54:47 AM
Quote from: runequester;711811
So I finally watched this, and I guess most of the rage has died down. So...what was people's thoughts?

I fundamentally liked it. I guess I can see why people were disappointed...dialogue was weak, the script sort of didn't make a ton of sense and some things were obvious fan service / made up on the spot.

It was entertaining though, it was gorgeously shot and the "alien infection extraction" scene was one of the few times a movie has actually made me feel queasy.

What was people's thoughts?


I just got this on Blu Ray today, i guess it is time to see it :)
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on November 28, 2012, 03:36:26 AM
Quote from: lassie;716669
I just got this on Blu Ray today, i guess it is time to see it :)

You won't regret it. I loved it. Can't wait for the next one.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on November 28, 2012, 04:09:03 AM
Quote from: Kesa;716690
You won't regret it. I loved it. Can't wait for the next one.


Yes it was very good :) I have read so many bad reviews on IMDB, so i was afraid it was going to be bad, but they were wrong, cool movie.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on November 28, 2012, 04:17:15 AM
Quote from: Kesa;711814
I loved it. I would put it down as one of my fav movies of all time.

As far as being a sequel/prequel goes it is far superior to the other ones that were made. All they acomplished was to cheapen the franchise. Aliens was pure genius in my opinion but the ones that came after were toilet paper.

I like the idea of having a spirit quest in that they were searching for the meaning of humanity. I thought it was creative and it complemented the overall story of the first 2 movies.

The end sequence with the birth of the first alien queen was the best representation of the alien yet seen (apart from the cafeteria scene in spaceballs).


Do you mean that movie with John Candy?? with the cafeteria scene.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on November 28, 2012, 05:12:33 AM
I think so.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: gertsy on November 28, 2012, 10:32:35 AM
@Karlos.
It's a movie!  Over analysis ?
Room for a minor expectation adjustment?

Haven't seen it yet.  An am hoping I still want to...!!!
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: CritAnime on December 02, 2012, 03:55:48 AM
Certainly enjoyed this more at home than I did at the cinema. They seemed cut some bits out that would have made more sense. However I wasn't dissapointed with the film.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: SysAdmin on December 03, 2012, 03:02:59 AM
Here's a great place to buy Prometheus. It's a great movie to own on Bluray.

http://www.amazon.com/Prometheus-Blu-ray-DVD-Digital-Copy/dp/B0085Z8F4A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354503747&sr=8-2&keywords=bluray+prometheus
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Bamiga2002 on December 03, 2012, 10:35:35 AM
Quote from: SysAdmin;717259
Here's a great place to buy Prometheus. It's a great movie to own on Bluray.
Even though a visually great movie, it's just overrated. For a movie it's not that good IMO. Alien 1 beats it.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on December 03, 2012, 11:20:07 PM
Quote from: gertsy;716710
@Karlos.
It's a movie!  Over analysis ?
Room for a minor expectation adjustment?


Not even. It gets worse. I just couldn't be bothered to complete. However, in a nutshell:

Captain warns the team that a vicious storm is coming in, so the "scientists" take head back to the ship. Meanwhile, David (the droid) decides to take one of the urn like cylinders, unbeknown to his colleagues.

Meanwhile, lost dip**** geologist and biologist are trapped in the structure for the night and inevitably wind up back at the room with the urns / head and discover they are all oozing a black goo. One very reminiscent of the x-files. Then they find they aren't alone.

Biologist dude who was previously scared off by a dead body, is confronted by a metre long nasty alien worm thing that rears out of the black goo. Only now, rather than being freaked, he's all full of worm love. Approaching it with no sense of caution, it wraps around his arm and breaks it. An attempt to cut it off by the geologist fails and it grows a new head. The spray from cutting it turns out to be all alienesque melt-all acid and sprays over the geologist's helmet and it melts onto his face. He then falls face first into the goo.

There's one scene back aboard the ship that's interesting in which it is revealed that David is acting on someone's (revealed later) instructions and the possibility that the Weyland representitive supposedly in charge (played by Charlize Theron) may be an android because she is able to pin David to the wall and demand to know what "he" said, the response being to "try harder".

Later we see David disassembling the urn thing and isolating a drop of the black goo. He finds Dr Holloway, who despite making one of the greatest discoveries, if not the greatest discovery of all time and that his enormously far-fetched interpretation of the ancient depictions might be true, is having a sad and has proceeded to drink himself into a stupor. Simply, it seems, because they didn't find a live engineer to talk to. After just 6 hours of non-exploration....

David, one of the only characters with any depth, instantly recognises this brand of irreversible fail and decides the only sensible thing to do is spike his next drink with the black goo, because anybody that stupid deserves it. Probably. There's a brief exchange in which Dr Holloway tells David that humans made him because they could and David presumably finds that as disappointing as Dr Holloway travelling 36 light years to not speak to his maker. Or whatever, he deliberately exposes him to the black goo is the point.

Later, the other scientists have prepared the head for examination. Instead of some non-invasive cat scan or x-ray type work, they opt for the only thing to do when confronted with a priceless historical artefact that might be unique. They get David to break it open. Inside, is a remarkably well preserved humanoid head. Dead for 2000 years, but apparently still showing some signs of cellular activity.

In an amazing leap of intuition, Dr Shaw believes she can "trick it into thinking it's still alive" by pumping part of it's brain (that it might not anatomically even have, and they sure didn't perform any realistic scans on it to be sure) full of juice. By which I mean some 50 amps. Stand back, they are going to Science!

Anyway, it twitches a bit and subsequently explodes. Only after which do they take a sample for gene analysis. It turns out that they are genetically identical to humans! I mean despite being hulking albino, 9 foot tall and all-over bald.

Later, Dr Shaw is logging her results, pondering as to what caused the head to explode. I mean, it's not as if the gases released by electrolysis of all those fluids when you pump 50 amps through it might have caused it? A drunken Dr Shaw wanders in and she tells him the news that the engineers are basically human. He reacts by saying humans aren't special and anybody can create life. This triggers a cringingly delivered response that Dr Shaw is basically infertile and can't. As if to prove she just isn't trying hard enough, Dr Holloway proceeds to give her a good tumble. Can't make babies? Need moar sex!

Later he wakes up and notices something wrong with his eye when he looks in the mirror. In super close up, we recognise it as some sort of parasitic worm thing swimming around in his cornea, but he doesn't see it.

The next day, they go back to the structure to look for their colleagues, who for whatever reason, they aren't able to tell are dead already because their suits obviously don't have any physiological telemetry. That's just too silly.

Eventually they do find them. Once again, David wanders off mission and explores some other part of the ship and ultimately discovers some control room that resembles the one from the original alien move. He's able to activate more of the holographic recordings and witness some recoring of the crew preparing the ship for launch.

Dr Holloway becomes unwell and they make a return. By the time they get back, he's visibly looking quite ill and the boss won't let him back on board. Now, bearing in mind they had security guys with many quick and efficient weapons, they just torch him with a flamethrower. Obviously, it's not just David who thought he was a complete douchebag.

I don't recall at which point it happened now, but the geologist dude turns up again, all mutated and full of aggression and takes out a few crew, so that was a good call offing the guy, cuz that goo makes you go nasty.

Later, back on board the ship, the bereft Dr Shaw finds out she's pregnant. At which point we learn there's no medical crew on board (LOL, bit of an oversight!), so she's going to go into hypersleep. Right up until David tells her it's not a normal foetus and is already looking quite developed. She's now determined it has to go.

It turns out (luckily, was revealed earlier), that the boss woman had a "one of only a dozen made" medical pod that can perform all sorts of automated procedures. She gets there, only to discover it's only calibrated for male patients. So, she hastily programs it to perform an emergency C section on her.

If it doesn't sound ridiculous enough already, this machine cuts her open and takes out her womb sac. Which, even before she gets stapled up again, ruptures and reveals some horrible squid thing that had been growing in her. Now, if one drop of black goop in Holloway's drink was enough to turn his sperm into some sort of alien precursor, you might think that all that alienised amniotic fluid spilling into your wide open abdomen could be an issue, but apparently, it's a miraclue cure, for reason's we see later.

She escapes the pod, barely held together with stiches and struggles painfully through some presumably off-limits part of the ship and blunders into a room where Peter Weyland is being readied for his trip to the site. The same guy that was supposedly long dead on Earth! Yay, now we know who David was taking instructions from and why the medical pod might be calibrated for male patients. Nevertheless, there's no real reason it was all secret.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on December 03, 2012, 11:22:19 PM
At some point, we see the boss woman confront Peter Weyland when it's revealed she's his daughter. In a moment that felt like a comedy nod to Star Wars. The really stupid thing is that she apparently came to make sure he didn't succeed in meeting them because she wanted to take control of the company and his bid in coming was to get the engineers to give him more life. She should have just stayed on Earth, where she would have had 4 years at least to get through whatever corporate/political manouvers would be necessary in his absence on some foolhardy expedition into the far unknown. Though, as we discover later, she's not the brightest button in the tin.

Around this time, the ship's captain deduces that this entire planet wasn't where the engineers came from, it was some sort of weapons facility they built and the black goop was a bioweapon. Well, it certainly seems more likely than it being the cradle of humanity. He reveals this to Dr Shaw, who agrees and is worried about what will happen if it is brought back.

Now Weyland, David and some support guys make their way to the site to meet an Engineer that David found still having a hyper nap in the control room. Dr Shaw goes with them. The same Dr Shaw who only a few scenes earlier had massive invasive surgery and could barely stand. That alienised amniotic fluid she got rinsed out with is starting to make her all better again, because before long, she's not only walking ok, but running, jumping and rapelling around like she never went under the knife at all.

So, we get to the scene where they are all standing in the room. David explains that he was able to ascertian they were headed for Earth before something went wrong. He then activates the pod with what is apparently the last remaining engineer so they can have a chat. The engineer dude gets up, understandably a bit groggy after 2000 odd years asleep. It seems he got out of bed on the wrong side. Weyland urges David to tell the engineer why they came. Meanwhile, Dr Shaw is making a scene, demanding they ask what is in the ships cargo and why it was meant "for us".

All through the voyage, David was assimilating human languages and tracing their common ancestry. In a language not unlike proto indoeuropean, he tells the engineer they came just as they they were invited to and that Weyland wants to live longer. At least that's the gist of what he was supposed to say. Unfortunately, they were wrong in assuming they understood the Engineer's language because what it obviously came out as "Hey you monstrous grey freak, ever heard of sunshine? Tanning mean anything to you? Also, didn't you know steroid abuse shrivels your acorns? Look it up."

Naturally, this angers the engineer who demonstrates his physical prowess by decapitating David with his bare hands and using his dismembered head to spark out poor old Weyland. Dr Shaw flees, unhindered by her recent surgery (no doubt thanks to alienambiofluid, the future's first choice in stimpak technology!). The engineer, totally riled with the slight against his appearence starts reading the ship for launch, activating the iconic chair from the space jockey scene in Alien as the strange exoskeletal suit closes around him.

She contacts the ship and makes a desperate plea not to allow it to leave. While running over the alien terrain and leaping across gaps opening up in the ground where the launch portal for the alien bomber is irising open. I mean let's be totally honest here. They'd completely forgotten about her surgery at this point. Nobody did a continuity check at all, did they?

Totally persuaded, the captain launches the Prometheus at the slowly ascending alien vessel, knowing it means certain death. And with it, no fear of having to appear in the sequel. The boss woman, of course, doesn't want to die and ejects her entire habitat pod, which crashes awkwardly.

Her and Dr Shaw watch the two ships collide and we get to one of the most comical scenes in the movie. The large, bracelet shaped alien vessel basically falls from the sky and hits the ground rolling. Obviously very sturdy. It rolls towards the two surviving women who proceed to do the only common sense thing and run in the same straight line the immense bulk is now rolling along. Eventually, Dr Shaw's doubtless years of scientific trianing kick in and she realises that by simply changing her vector sideways a bit, she'll no longer be in the path of impending doom. The boss woman, however, as hinted earlier, is just far too stupid to realise this and is subsequently owned by the immense mass. Then, with oh so predictable finality, the rolling stops and it keels over sideways, almost but not quite squishing Dr Shaw with it.

She, now low on oxygen, escapes to the jettisoned habitat pod. Inside, she finds the medical bay has been taken over by her unwanted squid baby and that it's seemingly found a way to ignore basic physics and grow to an immense size depsite having no obvious nutrition. Then, she's contatced by David, who being an android was not killed by having his head ripped off. Oddly enough, considering the crash, tumble and everything else, his head and body appear to have remained exactly where they were. He warns Dr Shaw that the Engineer is irked and is coming to get her for ruining his first day awake after 2000 years.

He turns up, having walked the entire distance without any breathing apparatus in an atmosphere hostile to humans. But that's OK, because he's an alien, right? I mean one that's also genetically identical to human. No wait, what now? Anyway, the big grey isn't affected by levels of CO2 that are harmful to humans, even though inside the ship they were scrubbing it to make the air breathable. Well, it's one of the movies lesser mysteries anyway.

To escape, Dr Shaw releases her angry squid baby which turns out to be some giant octopus sized precursor to the face hugger. It instantly grips the engineer and does the dirty after subduing him. She returns to the crashed ship after David tells her he can fly them and there are many others. So, with more climbing and other stuff you'd totally not do hours after surgery, she recovers his remains and they find another ship to take off in. And, instead of heading home, they go off looking for a sequel.

And that's it. No explanation as to the big carved head, why the engineers seemingly used the black goo to kickstart humankind and also wanted to annihilate it (though it could be competing factions of engineer). No point or purpose to Weyland's reason for being hidden on board and generally more continuity errors and plot holes than you can shake a remote control at.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: djos on December 04, 2012, 01:06:11 AM
Lol, nice deconstruction karlos! :D

Ps, I still enjoyed the movie despite noticing most of what you mentioned. :p
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on December 04, 2012, 02:52:15 AM
Karlos - why do you bother watching movies at all? I bet you could apply that amount of reconstruction to any movie ever made   :razz:

But i don't care as i really liked it  :)
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on December 04, 2012, 03:20:20 AM
Quote from: Kesa;717400
Karlos - why do you bother watching movies at all? I bet you could apply that amount of reconstruction to any movie ever made   :razz:


Really, that's less than half of the things that were glaringly and immediately wrong with it. No effort was required at all to spot any of them.

I watched it because I actually thought it might be good. I had no issues at all with it not being anything to do with Alien per se, and that it would explore the mysteries of the "space jockey" civilization instead.

The cinematography was fine, but the plot was just brain-crushingly weak. I'm truly surprised at how bad it was, I honestly expected better from Ridley Scott.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on December 04, 2012, 03:27:06 AM
Quote from: Karlos;717407
I honestly expected better from Ridley Scott.

You mean like Robin Hood? That movie was so boring i couldn't even watch the final 1/3 of it. Same with Gladiator.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Bamiga2002 on December 04, 2012, 12:33:37 PM
Gladiator rocked!
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on December 04, 2012, 03:57:58 PM
Quote from: Bamiga2002;717438
Gladiator rocked!


Yep. Though most of RS's films since then seem to have gone a bit downhill. I had high hopes for Prometheus that it was an opportunity for a bit of intelligent Sci Fi (and I realise that compared to literature of the same genra, films are generally on a much lower plane). Instead, I watched this totally different movie that everybody else seemed to be raging on about.

I actually watched it twice, because after the first run, I was utterly convinced I'd missed something vital to the plot that made this incoherent string of events make any kind of sense. So I watched it again, more closely. And it turned out , I hadn't.

The basic idea behind the plot, go off in search of answers to our existence seemed reasonable enough, but it was executed so badly. It was as if the storyboarding was given to a group of five year olds armed with crayons and script writing given to the tea lady. There were so many inconsistencies in the behaviour of the characters. The only one with any depth was David. The lack of common sense among a crew supposedly formed of experts in their respective fields just grated from scene to scene, where invariably the did something epically stupid every single time.

I can't help thinking that at the end of the initial cut, they must have realised what a complete shambles it was and decided to quickly add the genesis of the first xenomoprh just to try and end on a note that is less full of suck. Depsite the fact it had already been depicted in the murals within the chamber where the big head and urns of black goop were.

I can actually picture Ridley wearing a trollface mask, demanding "U MAD BRO?" of anybody that watched it with one braincell awake and paying attention.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: djos on December 04, 2012, 09:28:40 PM
@Karlos, I totally agree with you, the plot/story was terrible and I noticed most of the same things you did - as a popcorn flic it's ok but yeah after all the hype i was hoping for more.

That said, somehow I still enjoyed it - apparently a family member is getting it for me on BluRay for xmas and im interested to see the extended version and alternate beginning to see if that improves things.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Coolhand on December 05, 2012, 12:05:00 AM
Awful movie, not simply that it didn't live up to hype, but it was terrible. Rubbish plot, unbelievable characters doing unbelievably stupid things, and completely gash creature design.

In at least 2 fits of insanity I wrote a couple of articles explaining exactly why its terrible, which I feel probably had a lot to do with Damon (Lost) Lindelof's script re-write at the studios behest, and Sir Ridley for letting them get away with it.... Read if you dare! http://coolhandgraphics.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/prometheus-33-final-insult.html

also includes links to some interviews with some of the villains of the piece - full of excuses as to why its so bad.

Of course, if you did like the movie overall, fair enough.:)
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on December 05, 2012, 12:26:41 AM
Quote from: Coolhand;717525
Awful movie, not simply that it didn't live up to hype, but it was terrible. Rubbish plot, unbelievable characters doing unbelievably stupid things, and completely gash creature design.

In at least 2 fits of insanity I wrote a couple of articles explaining exactly why its terrible, which I feel probably had a lot to do with Damon (Lost) Lindelof's script re-write at the studios behest, and Sir Ridley for letting them get away with it.... Read if you dare! http://coolhandgraphics.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/prometheus-33-final-insult.html

also includes links to some interviews with some of the villains of the piece - full of excuses as to why its so bad.

Of course, if you did like the movie overall, fair enough.:)


If a movie is hyped up to be the best film ever, it rarely is. But if you see a movie that you only heard bad things about, suddenly it can be a good movie,  hype can be a bad thing sometimes.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on December 05, 2012, 12:59:55 AM
@Lassie. That is what i thought about Avatar. I never even bothered watching the end. I mean, you take out the 3D and the CGI and what is left over? Absolutely nothing. This is a shame as James Cameron is my favoutite director   :(

@Karlos. Maybe you could provide an example of a sci-fi you approve of? I'm curious to know. Please don't say doctor who.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on December 05, 2012, 01:18:08 AM
Quote from: Kesa;717533
@Lassie. That is what i thought about Avatar. I never even bothered watching the end. I mean, you take out the 3D and the CGI and what is left over? Absolutely nothing. This is a shame as James Cameron is my favoutite director   :(

@Karlos. Maybe you could provide an example of a sci-fi you approve of? I'm curious to know. Please don't say doctor who.

I have Avatar on bluray but only seen 30 min of it, not my thing i must admit.
There are a movie called Pandorum that is quite cool :)
and an old b movie set in space, called Dark side of the moon, that is quite cool too.
And the Abyss also a Cameron movie is good :)
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on December 05, 2012, 01:29:42 AM
Quote from: lassie;717534
I have Avatar on bluray but only seen 30 min of it, not my thing i must admit.
There are a movie called Pandorum that is quite cool :)
and an old b movie set in space, called Dark side of the moon, that is quite cool too.
And the Abyss also a Cameron movie is good :)

I love Abyss!

Both Pandorum and Dark side of the moon sound good to me. Will watch soon. Pandorum sounds similar to Event Horizon which can only be a good thing :)
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on December 05, 2012, 01:40:01 AM
Quote from: Kesa;717535
I love Abyss!

Both Pandorum and Dark side of the moon sound good to me. Will watch soon. Pandorum sounds similar to Event Horizon which can only be a good thing :)


Yes it is similar to Event Horizon, they are cool both movies :)
Bear in mind that Dark side of the moon is a low budget movie. Do you like those low budget movies?

There is also a movie similar to the Abyss, it is called Deep star six, cool movie too.
And an old horror movie called Death ship, i find quite unique you should see, if you are in too horror, it is similar to Ghost Ship.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on December 05, 2012, 07:47:35 AM
Quote from: lassie;717536
Yes it is similar to Event Horizon, they are cool both movies :)
Bear in mind that Dark side of the moon is a low budget movie. Do you like those low budget movies?

There is also a movie similar to the Abyss, it is called Deep star six, cool movie too.
And an old horror movie called Death ship, i find quite unique you should see, if you are in too horror, it is similar to Ghost Ship.

Only if they are good. I find low budget tends to be more risky and bold which is what art is supposed to be. Big budget scifi is safe and boring. I lost interest in big budget scifi after watching movies like 2012, ID4 and Star Wars ep1.

On the otherhand irobot is one of my favourite movies of all time. It's a nod to old school scifi which is about science which is better than todays "scifi" epics like Men in Black and Star Wars ep1-6 which is just big dumb fun.

Have you seen Chronicle? It's a lost footage movie which i thought was interesting. Also Apollo 18 was good.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on December 05, 2012, 09:48:04 AM
Quote from: Kesa;717567
Only if they are good. I find low budget tends to be more risky and bold which is what art is supposed to be. Big budget scifi is safe and boring. I lost interest in big budget scifi after watching movies like 2012, ID4 and Star Wars ep1.

On the otherhand irobot is one of my favourite movies of all time. It's a nod to old school scifi which is about science which is better than todays "scifi" epics like Men in Black and Star Wars ep1-6 which is just big dumb fun.

Have you seen Chronicle? It's a lost footage movie which i thought was interesting. Also Apollo 18 was good.

Hi i will have to agree with you, they have to be good those low budget, and some are. I have seen low budget movies far better than any big studie could make, and what they do not have in CGI and actors, they make up for in story :)
I have not seen Chronicle, i will have to check it out.
I have Apollo 18, and it is a good movie. And i just love the old star wars movies.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on December 05, 2012, 11:36:16 PM
Quote from: Kesa;717533
@Karlos. Maybe you could provide an example of a sci-fi you approve of? I'm curious to know. Please don't say doctor who.


Nope, Dr. Who is not my thing.

As I said, I rather prefer written Sci Fi over film, but there are plenty of acceptable examples, including Abyss. I also rather like the Sci Fi / horror crossover, so again Event Horizon, Alien. Even Aliens was OK, on the understanding it's fundamentally an action, rather than horror Sci Fi movie.

Although it had many differences from the book, Dune wasn't bad.

Then there's the whole brain-in-a-jar concept which has been around a lot. The original Matrix was pretty good (but got worse quickly with the second and third parts). Exploring similar ideas of simulated reality (albeit with a very different plot), the Abre los ojos (Open your eyes, the original Vanilla Sky before Cruise and chums butchered it), the 13th floor and Dark City are all interesting films. Even inception was pretty good, though it's not exactly science fiction, though it explores the same quintessential idea of questioning the nature of reality.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on December 05, 2012, 11:42:05 PM
Quote from: Karlos;717690
Nope, Dr. Who is not my thing.

As I said, I rather prefer written Sci Fi over film, but there are plenty of acceptable examples, including Abyss. I also rather like the Sci Fi / horror crossover, so again Event Horizon, Alien. Even Aliens was OK, on the understanding it's fundamentally an action, rather than horror Sci Fi movie.

Although it had many differences from the book, Dune wasn't bad.

Then there's the whole brain-in-a-jar concept which has been around a lot. The original Matrix was pretty good (but got worse quickly with the second and third parts). Exploring similar ideas of simulated reality (albeit with a very different plot), the Abre los ojos (Open your eyes, the original Vanilla Sky before Cruise and chums butchered it), the 13th floor and Dark City are all interesting films. Even inception was pretty good, though it's not exactly science fiction, though it explores the same quintessential idea of questioning the nature of reality.


What about Predator and Terminator do you like them? I think they are very good, the first one are the best in both films, but both sequels are quite good too i think.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: djos on December 05, 2012, 11:54:38 PM
I loved dark city and Inception! I think I've bought them on at least 2 different formats each! :D

here's my personal Sci-Fi movie collection (not to everyone's tastes im sure :D ):

http://connect.collectorz.com/users/djos/movies/view?filterLetter=&filterGenre=23
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: CritAnime on December 05, 2012, 11:55:16 PM
Predators was an awesome film. Mindless and really intune with the original. The last terminator film was pretty entertaining but i didn't like 3.
 
Quote from: djos;717699
I loved dark city and Inception! I think I've bought them on at least 2 different formats each! :D

Dark City was good but never watch Inception.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on December 05, 2012, 11:59:18 PM
Quote from: CritAnime;717701
Predators was an awesome film. Mindless and really intune with the original. The last terminator film was pretty entertaining but i didn't like 3.
 

 
Dark City was good but never watch Inception.


Yes the 3 Terminator movie was not the best.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: CritAnime on December 06, 2012, 12:06:26 AM
I am pretty tollerant towards bad films, hell I watch the horror channel, but Terminator 3 sucked.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on December 06, 2012, 12:30:33 AM
For me, Predator was straight action. That the predator was some alien hunter was the only science fiction element it had. I enjoyed the movie for what it was though, a typical of-the-era action move. And besides, who can forget the classic lines "GET TO THE CHOPPER!" and "If it bleeds... we can kill it." :lol:

Terminator was pretty good too. Remember it was a low budget movie but time travel is always an interesting idea to explore, particularly the idea of a conflict waged between two different timelines. After all, the instant time travel is invented, you basically fork reality and the timeline in which the terminator / protectors appear in 1984 become dissociated from the timeline in which they were sent.

Terminator 2 was again rather more straight action, but was, let's face it, awesome. Terminator 3 was weak and salvation wasn't much better.

The Sarah Connor chronicles, on the other hand, showed a lot of promise. It was a shame Fox, in their infinitesimal wisdom canned it like they do so many shows just as they are getting good.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on December 06, 2012, 12:48:15 AM
Quote from: Kesa;717533
@Lassie. That is what i thought about Avatar. I never even bothered watching the end. I mean, you take out the 3D and the CGI and what is left over?


Pochahontas in space?

One of the things I found interesting in the move was Pandora itself. Aside from the loony floating mountains and what not, the whole thing seemed to be a big nod to "The Jesus Incident", a Sci Fi novel written by Frank Herbert (Dune) and Bill Ransom. It's a very unusual story that has nothing in common with the movie as far as the plot goes (AI, god complexes, psychology, time travel and other themes are the main areas it examines), but does involve humans attempting to colonise a planet called Pandora, which is choc full of deadly life forms but in which there is a collective of different species sharing a single sentient conciousness. Including a massive amount of plantlife, some of which (electrokelp) they keep trying to kill off, not realising they are basically p*ssing off the biosphere's conciousness. Oh, and did I mention that this gaia-esque entity was called "Avata" ?

I strongly doubt it's any coincidence :)
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: CritAnime on December 06, 2012, 12:57:08 AM
Your just a hard man to please mr Karlos :roflmao:
 
Predator was a classic and it was, as you say, just straight up action with a bit of a sci-fi twist. Predator 2 (and the two guys from Aliens) was probably trying a little too much. I enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as the original I think due to story they were trying to inject into it. Predators, for me, seemed to go back to that balls to the wall action that made the first one so darn good.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on December 06, 2012, 02:26:27 AM
Quote from: Karlos;717712
For me, Predator was straight action. That the predator was some alien hunter was the only science fiction element it had. I enjoyed the movie for what it was though, a typical of-the-era action move. And besides, who can forget the classic lines "GET TO THE CHOPPER!" and "If it bleeds... we can kill it." :lol:

Terminator was pretty good too. Remember it was a low budget movie but time travel is always an interesting idea to explore, particularly the idea of a conflict waged between two different timelines. After all, the instant time travel is invented, you basically fork reality and the timeline in which the terminator / protectors appear in 1984 become dissociated from the timeline in which they were sent.

Terminator 2 was again rather more straight action, but was, let's face it, awesome. Terminator 3 was weak and salvation wasn't much better.

The Sarah Connor chronicles, on the other hand, showed a lot of promise. It was a shame Fox, in their infinitesimal wisdom canned it like they do so many shows just as they are getting good.

I disagree about the Sarah conner chronicles. The problem with terminator was that everytime a machine came back in time it cheapened the story. The original was the best and the second was awesome as you say because they introduced something new in the x1000 but with so many terminators it just got silly.

The original terminator was the best but when it turned into a franchise they changed the rules. At the end of T2 they supposedly stopped skynet being invented which was logical and made sense but they broke the rules and now there is no reason 1000000 terminators can't travel back until they succeed. Really dumb story telling.

I'm not a fan of time travel stories in general as there isn't a  standard set of rules of how time travel works so the stories never seem  convincing somehow.

Also i agree that avatar had an interest sub story with Pandora itself being alive and interconnected. The idea of plants being intelligent is really cool. It's a shame about the movie though.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Bamiga2002 on December 06, 2012, 05:15:16 PM
Offtopic: why are there ebay links appearing inside posts very often?

EDIT: like that! I didn't put that link there *******it! :angry:
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on December 06, 2012, 09:32:49 PM
Quote from: Bamiga2002;717802
Offtopic: why are there ebay links appearing inside posts very often?

EDIT: like that! I didn't put that link there *******it! :angry:

Where? Might be your browser. Advertising add on maybe?
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Karlos on December 06, 2012, 11:44:47 PM
Quote from: Kesa;717732
I disagree about the Sarah conner chronicles. The problem with terminator was that everytime a machine came back in time it cheapened the story. The original was the best and the second was awesome as you say because they introduced something new in the x1000 but with so many terminators it just got silly.

The original terminator was the best but when it turned into a franchise they changed the rules. At the end of T2 they supposedly stopped skynet being invented which was logical and made sense


Did it? It only stopped one possible outcome. What TSCC explored is the idea that the future is constantly changing as a consequence of what is going on in the present, of which there are many competing things. More specifically that the present is filled with people and machines from multiple concurrent futures*

Quote
but they broke the rules and now there is no reason 1000000 terminators can't travel back until they succeed. Really dumb story telling.


Actually, no. There are large numbers of them, but most are on other missions, not all of which (and by inference only a minority of which) are necessarily about killing key humans. These other missions range from acquiring resources needed to produce the various alloys the machines need in the future to sabotaging infrastructure the resistance will need and so on.

Terminating John Connor, while a key central theme, is no more pivotal to Skynet's future success than destroying Cyberdyne was pivotal to the resistance. It's one battle in an ongoing war.

*For example, in one episode in season 2, one of the resistance fighters (Jessie) sent back in time recognises and captures a collaborator that appears to have also come back from the future. It turns out that he was in solitary confinement in prison on a life sentence when judgement day kicked off and was subsequently captured by the machines who used him to teach them how people "tick", how to extract information effectively and how to break them. In the future flashback, it's revealed that he tortured one of the central characters in the story (Derek Reese, elder brother of Kyle). However, Derek simply isn't able to recognise the man Jessie has captured. Jessie is eventually able to prove that the man she captures is the collaborator, by locating his younger self. However, Derek has no memory of his weeks of torture at his hands. Jessie is perplexed at how he can't recall it, despite their talking about it at great length in their shared future together. Ultimately, they kill the collaborator and let the younger present-day version of him go.

Jessie believes is memory block it to be trauma-induced. However, Derek recognises that in capturing the younger guy in the present (along with various other actions he has done to try and alter the future), that perhaps he comes from a future in which he wasn't tortured whereas Jessie comes from an alternate future in which he was. They both came back separately on different missions and so each may represent alternate futures.

A twist in the plot of this episode is that the present-day young version of the guy is later arrested under Homeland Security rules for a serious crime (hacking and installation of some unremovable code in sensitive defence networks) and is ultimately thrown in jail, despite having no recollection of committing it. However, the evidence is totally stacked against him, including biometric access, retinal scans and so on. Naturally, it turns out that it was his older self from the future's mission to do this hack on behalf of Skynet. Thus he seems locked into a circular fate wherein he survives judgement day and have his entire story arc play out again, thus covering another paradox case in time travel.

Quote
Also i agree that avatar had an interest sub story with Pandora itself being alive and interconnected. The idea of plants being intelligent is really cool. It's a shame about the movie though.


Yeah, it wasn't great plot but it pushed a few technical envelopes in it's production that I appreciated.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on December 07, 2012, 12:32:16 AM
Quote from: Karlos;717712
For me, Predator was straight action. That the predator was some alien hunter was the only science fiction element it had. I enjoyed the movie for what it was though, a typical of-the-era action move. And besides, who can forget the classic lines "GET TO THE CHOPPER!" and "If it bleeds... we can kill it." :lol:

Terminator was pretty good too. Remember it was a low budget movie but time travel is always an interesting idea to explore, particularly the idea of a conflict waged between two different timelines. After all, the instant time travel is invented, you basically fork reality and the timeline in which the terminator / protectors appear in 1984 become dissociated from the timeline in which they were sent.

Terminator 2 was again rather more straight action, but was, let's face it, awesome. Terminator 3 was weak and salvation wasn't much better.

The Sarah Connor chronicles, on the other hand, showed a lot of promise. It was a shame Fox, in their infinitesimal wisdom canned it like they do so many shows just as they are getting good.


There are some others cool time travel movies like

Timecop
The Butterfly Effect
The Time Machine
Deja Vu
Frequency ( I think it is a cool movie )
Army of Darkness ( funny horror movie )
Back To The Future Trilogy
The Philadelphia Experiment ( Should be a true story )
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: CritAnime on December 07, 2012, 12:33:13 AM
Quote from: Bamiga2002;717802
Offtopic: why are there ebay links appearing inside posts very often?
 
EDIT: like that! I didn't put that link there *******it! :angry:

They are vglinks. I mentioned it a while back and never really got a response from any of the admins. basically it looks like some kind of paid refferal system. A lot of boards have similar things. It looks for key words then links them.
 
I never got into the TSCC series. I have never been a fan of tv series adaptions of movies. For example Robocop.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on December 07, 2012, 01:21:38 AM
Yes vglinks. If it's the one i'm thinking of they add an extension by force onto your browser. Mine wasn't limited to Amiga.org though, it also appeared using google searches.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Bamiga2002 on December 07, 2012, 05:31:17 AM
Adblock plus removed these links :). And now back on topic ;) ...
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: CritAnime on December 07, 2012, 08:36:14 AM
I like the extras that came with the prometheus bluray.  The Wayland TED thing helped to define the character.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Kesa on January 04, 2013, 07:57:11 AM
Thanks for putting me onto Pandorum. Awesome movie and one of my favs for 2012. Also i recommend Looper. Very very good.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: lassie on January 05, 2013, 04:48:03 AM
Quote from: Kesa;721195
Thanks for putting me onto Pandorum. Awesome movie and one of my favs for 2012. Also i recommend Looper. Very very good.


Yes it is a cool movie Pandorum :)
I will check out Looper.
Title: Re: Prometheus
Post by: Iggy on January 25, 2013, 01:56:08 AM
Quote from: lassie;717881
There are some others cool time travel movies like

Timecop
The Butterfly Effect
The Time Machine
Deja Vu
Frequency ( I think it is a cool movie )
Army of Darkness ( funny horror movie )
Back To The Future Trilogy
The Philadelphia Experiment ( Should be a true story )

OK, I can dig the Sam Raimi flick, but those others...:razz: