Prometheus - Part 7

[Blue Sugar]

I loved that last scene, it really took me by surprise.

Spoiler

I was about to prepare for credits when it suddenly cut to that glorious birth of the proto-Xeno. The last shot had an incredible impact on me, nerdgasm on a high level.

 

[Solidus]

Blue put that in spoiler tags.

 

[Blue Sugar]

Yeah I realized my mistake just a second after posting, sorry if anyone saw that who didn't want to.

 

[molp]

It was a very cool scene to watch but would have worked much better as an after or mid credit scene IMO

 

[Ajendo]

Let me get this straight, the

Spoiler

space jockey(engineer) from Alien is one of the engineers from one of the other ships also on the planet?

 

[Eggyman]

Let me get this straight, the

Spoiler

space jockey(engineer) from Alien is one of the engineers from one of the other ships also on the planet?

Spoiler

That's left to our imagination. Prometheus is an example of how it can happen. That's how I'm taking it.

 

[Eggyman]

My head's a mess after that. Let's start with an easy question: Is it any good? Yes. It's very good. Not perfect, and probably not what people expect, but it does enough and it does it with a bit of style. Second question: Is it a prequel. Yes and no. I can understand now why we were getting so many mixed messages about this film being a prequel to Alien. I see it as more of an origin film. Not an origin for the xenomorph, although in a way it is, but an origin for the universe our beloved franchise takes place in. Prometheus and Alien live on the same street, but when they sit down to dinner one says its prayers and eats lentils while the other has the TV on in the background while it eats rare steak.

The visuals. Let me be honest. I've heard a lot of praise for the visuals in this film. For the most part I agree. I do not, however, think the 3D was very good. It's obviously better than post-converted films, but for me it fell far short of Avatar--and I don't even like that film. It just didn't seem utilised, and I'm not the kind of guy that wants stuff thrown at the camera. But the depth this technology is supposed to add wasn't present for the majority of the film. Most of the background was heavily out of focus, and viewing this on such a big screen I often found myself hunting for the focus of a shot. There were occasional impressive moments where the 3D came to life, like when David is playing with some holograms. Otherwise, the effects were beautiful and halfway through I caught myself thinking about how much more I'm going to enjoy this on Blu-ray.

Am I sounding negative so far? Don't be so worried. Like I said, it's good. The story does what it needs to--it gives an origin to a universe we're already invested in from many years ago. My guess at why a lot of reviews are marking it down on the story: It's so damn obvious and unapologetic about giving us this universe. You know what's coming to a certain extent because we've seen the films set after. Prometheus is a journey from nothing to something that we already know. The Immaculate Conception gives you a baby, just another little sh** machine, but in thirty years that baby might be turning water into wine. Other than maybe ten minutes of flailing at the midpoint, the journey is a straight line. There are questions left open. It doesn't lead us directly into the situation in Alien, but it gives us an example of how the sh** can go down and lead to a similar situation. Don't expect all the answers. Don't expect it to tie in completely. At least, that's how I'm seeing it. If I didn't, then there are things right at the end that don't make sense.

Cast. Fass, great. Repace, great and beautiful. Black guy from The Wire, good. Everyone else, fodder. Hey, an alien's gotta eat, right? O, and Theron. She's pretty and is a good actress in other films.

I'm getting bored now. And if I am, so are you. Funny enough, the pacing of the film is similar to this review. Starts out slow and explanatory, races through the last leg of the journey, and ends abruptly.

8/10

 

[molp]

Let me get this straight, the

Spoiler

space jockey(engineer) from Alien is one of the engineers from one of the other ships also on the planet?

Spoiler

Not quite, Janek sort of explains what happens in Alien without actually spelling it out. In the film he surmises that LV-223 is actually some osrt of military base for the engineers and on the planet the they are creating bi tech weapons of mass distruction. My take is that LV-426 was also a base were the Engineers were creating these bio tech weapons but something went very very wrong, or I sort of have another theory which is of my own and one that could be used to tie things in a nice bow if there is no sequel but of course there is nothing what so every to say my theory is correct

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Spoiler

That's left to our imagination. Prometheus is an example of how it can happen. That's how I'm taking it.

LV-223 is where they are at. Not LV-426.

 

[Eggyman]

LV-223 is where they are at. Not LV-426.

I know. What I'm saying is that it can somehow be a direct cause of what happens later, but I'm choosing to believe that it is another instance of how the chain reaction can start.

 

[TheFuture]

Question for anyone else who has seen it....

Spoiler

I'm taking it that the alien ship we see in Prometheus is not the ship we see in Alien, due to the location of the jockey at the end. Agreed? What we whitnessed in Prometheus is almost an alternate happening of how the sh** can go down. Agreed?

Spoiler

Yeah, which makes the Engineers seem pretty dumb if they fall for the same mistake more than once.

One thing that I found hard to digest is that on the one hand, you have this murial or shrine to the Xenomorph in a room full of different specimens. Isn't it a coincidence that David fell upon the right specimen that would ultimately result in the birth of a Xenomorph?

I don't mean to be negative, as I said before I enjoyed the film. But I noticed a lot of things that are less about ambiguity and more about lazy story telling.

 

[molp]

Spoiler

Yeah, which makes the Engineers seem pretty dumb if they fall for the same mistake more than once.

One thing that I found hard to digest is that on the one hand, you have this murial or shrine to the Xenomorph in a room full of different specimens. Isn't it a coincidence that David fell upon the right specimen that would ultimately result in the birth of a Xenomorph?

I don't mean to be negative, as I said before I enjoyed the film. But I noticed a lot of things that are less about ambiguity and more about lazy story telling.

its that fact that gave birth to my own theory about what happened on LV-426

 

[Eggyman]

Spoiler

Yeah, which makes the Engineers seem pretty dumb if they fall for the same mistake more than once.

One thing that I found hard to digest is that on the one hand, you have this murial or shrine to the Xenomorph in a room full of different specimens. Isn't it a coincidence that David fell upon the right specimen that would ultimately result in the birth of a Xenomorph?

I don't mean to be negative, as I said before I enjoyed the film. But I noticed a lot of things that are less about ambiguity and more about lazy story telling.

Yeah. There's a definate leap in logic at some points.

Spoiler

The murial bothered me. Maybe what we've seen is like the second coming of the xenomorph, and what we see on the wall is similar to what we have in our pyramids that show us what's happened before. I'm still on the fence about how it's all linked and I can't shake the feeling that it would've worked better as either a clear prequel or not a prequel at all. I'm sensing indecision that has left the film in a limbo of sorts. Either be a prequel or don't be. Agreed?

 

[Eggyman]

its that fact that gave birth to my own theory about what happened on LV-426

I heard you mention something about this last night but I was too tired to follow up. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts if you have the time, or even direct me to a post if you've already gone into it--I haven't spotted it.

 

[TheFuture]

Yeah. There's a definate leap in logic at some points.

Spoiler

The murial bothered me. Maybe what we've seen is like the second coming of the xenomorph, and what we see on the wall is similar to what we have in our pyramids that show us what's happened before. I'm still on the fence about how it's all linked and I can't shake the feeling that it would've worked better as either a clear prequel or not a prequel at all. I'm sensing indecision that has left the film in a limbo of sorts. Either be a prequel or don't be. Agreed?

Spoiler

I do think there was a bit of undecisveness in what direction to go in. After showing that murial with the mysterious green stone, I would have preferred if the focus remained on that in regards to the origins of the xenomorph.

Instead, they went the pregnancy route, and while it did produce one of the best moments of the film, thematically it was forgotten about. I think yourself pointed out how no-one asked Shaw what had happened after collapsing in blood and I also found that absolutely maddening. So yeah, while the c-section scene was a highlight, it was very much a set piece and its only contribution to the plot in the end was to give us that tached on ending.

I just remembered another highlight; the moment Shaw got in the engineer's face while Weyland was telling her to shut up. That was great. I really wish they had dedicated more time to that whole moment rather than wait for a sequel that may not happen.

 

[Blue Sugar]

It's easily the third best movie in the Alien-universe. It beats both Alien3 and Resurrection for me and that what exactly what I expected and wanted.

I voted 9 in the poll, but I suck at rating in 1-10 so it's probably more of an 8 I think. In the 1-5 rating I'm more comfortable with, it's a solid 4.

 

[TheFuture]

7/10 for me, which roughly translates into a 3.5/5. As I said before, it's a difficult one, it's definitely more than a 3/5, but not quite a 4/5 personally.

Undoubtedly 3rd best of the franchise anyway, no argument there. I might change my mind upon repeated viewings but I doubt it.

The biggest thing for me was that it wasn't scary at all, that actually shocked me.

 

[Eggyman]

Spoiler

I do think there was a bit of undecisveness in what direction to go in. After showing that murial with the mysterious green stone, I would have preferred if the focus remained on that in regards to the origins of the xenomorph.

Instead, they went the pregnancy route, and while it did produce one of the best moments of the film, thematically it was forgotten about. I think yourself pointed out how no-one asked Shaw what had happened after collapsing in blood and I also found that absolutely maddening. So yeah, while the c-section scene was a highlight, it was very much a set piece and its only contribution to the plot in the end was to give us that tached on ending.

I just remembered another highlight; the moment Shaw got in the engineer's face while Weyland was telling her to shut up. That was great. I really wish they had dedicated more time to that whole moment rather than wait for a sequel that may not happen.

I don't want them to make a sequel. I enjoyed this one, but with the direction they went in, I think further explantion on how Prometheus links directly to the events of Alien would be contrived. In short, they left a lot of questions open, which is fine, but I truly believe that even they don't know the answers. That's how I've come to the opinion that Prometheus is the best we're gonna get. It's good enough. A nice addition. But we don't need another franchise out of this. Another franchise that will fall from grace because people can't leave alone. A franchise where we experience the stretches people go to in answeing questions we quickly learn we'd rather not know. Prometheus didn't do what I've just said, but drawing a map between it and its predecessors will.

 

[spidey-dude]

I loved that last scene, it really took me by surprise.

Spoiler

I was about to prepare for credits when it suddenly cut to that glorious birth of the proto-Xeno. The last shot had an incredible impact on me, nerdgasm on a high level.

really? one of the worst scenes imo - just so so so so unnecessary and cheesy

 

[Blue Sugar]

Well I'm one who doesn't mind some cheese if done right.

 

[Eggyman]

really? one of the worst scenes imo - just so so so so unnecessary and cheesy

I agree, to an extent.

Spoiler

My problem wasn't the scene, but its location. I think it'd be far better suited to a mid- or post-credit scene. I liked the scene. It was a good birth, I think, but outside the narrative of the film. There were bigger things happening than that, but the last character moment seemed so rushed, and her departure so abrupt... I felt myself wanting one last shot of them, her and the head, rather than the mess they left behind. It flailed a bit.

While we're on the subject:

Spoiler

What did people think of the xenomorph? Did you all notice it wasn't biomechanical? Because it had originated purely from organic matter... err, us?

I liked the design. Best one since the original. Was never a fan of Cameron's (the regulars, not the Queen).

 

[gohei_]

Spoiler

To be honest I'm not a fan of the design of the xeno.

I did however thought the tongue/minihead looked cool

 

[Blue Sugar]

I think this movie succeeded with doing what movies like Terminator Salvation and Superman Returns tried but failed to do. Being it's own beast and being a good movie on it's own terms while at the same time honoring and alluding to what has come before.

 

[molp]

I heard you mention something about this last night but I was too tired to follow up. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts if you have the time, or even direct me to a post if you've already gone into it--I haven't spotted it.

Bear in mind this is all pure speculation and no doubt 100 per cent wrong but it is a loop hole that could be used to explain things if there isn't a sequel

Spoiler

As those who have seen the film know Shaw escapes the planet on the engineers space ship, what if that is the ship that crash lands on LV-426. Once Shaw has the c section to remove the proto face hugger she is seen every so often clutching her stomach. Which of course could be due to the fact she is still in pain from the procedure, which is the obvious and no doubt right answer, but what if she didn't remove everything that she was impregnated with?

My theory is that as Shaw and David escape the planet, As David is no place to pilot the ship, what if its that Shaw gets into the chair and into the engineers suit. Them what if, and this is a big if, what ever is still left inside Shaw bursts out killing her and causing the ship to crash land on LV-426 leading to what is found in Alien

Again its all conjecture and speculation and no doubt utterly wrong but I like my theory none the less

 

[Blue Sugar]

Visually, this movie is a 5 for me. Even with the editing problems it has at some parts it's still stays totally gorgeous and immersive.