Escape to the Movies: Prometheus

[Tenzen]

I try to enjoy a movie in 2 ways: while I am watching it, and later when I get to think back on what I saw.

A good movie will have those tie-ins that you only realize later when you think more about it, and which is made cooler for it as a result. A bad movie relies too much on the tie-ins or meta information about the movie and doesn't explain enough at the time to the audience.

Sure if you take the time to think about it, maybe there was a reason the geologist and biologist got lost, wandered around and were no longer panicked, went back to the same room that scared them in the first place and started interacting with strange alien worms. But it takes a lot to justify that reaction and none of the reasons I have heard were actually revealed on-screen. I think the fact that so many people thought it was completely out-of-character and totally dumb proves this point.

Similarly, when the crew finds out Shaw is pregnant with an Alien lifeform their reaction is decidedly less severe than when Charlie was just "sick". Rather than toss her off the ship they decide to put her in cryo and ship her back to Earth. Okay, maybe I can see that. If she is already on the ship then just contain her. However she resists, beats the crap out of 2 doctors, runs to the auto-doc, and then has herself operated on to pull out the alien baby.

But the ridiculous thing to me is that no one bothers to find her after she ran away from the doctors putting her in cryo.. After she got the alien creature extracted, no one bothered to isolate the alien and deal with it. They never ever touched upon this on-screen again. It was like the crew conveniently forgot about this, so that the alien creature could attack the Engineer later at the end of the movie. What?!

Additionally, after having the equivalent of a C-section she is able to walk around like it was nothing, and in fact she gets better by the end of the film to the point where she is able to jump and run and roll without a problem. Okay, I can sorta buy that maybe because it is the future and medical science is advanced.

I can accept any one of the number of flaws in the movie (and those were only a few), but put together the film loses me. While watching it I was mildly entertained (I did think the auto-doc scene was kinda cool and a nice twist from the normal chest buster ending we expected). But as I think back after the fact the movie had far too many convenient holes that make it seem more like a cheap horror movie where the characters have to make stupid decisions to make sure bad stuff happens to them.

 

[winter2]

Being a huge fan of the original Alien and I have to confess a severe fondness for Aliens as well I looked forward to this movie with glee. (I rewatched both with MiLady before watching Prometheus)

I watched Prometheus more in the mindset of it being it's own movie rather than specifically an Alien franchise movie and I really liked it.

Were there things in there that made me go "well, that doesn't really make sense", absolutely! But I was glad to just wave that off just to be able to enjoy the movie as is.

I for one am hoping for a DVD/HD directors cut and I will be certain to check that out.

 

[Metalrocks]

I for one am hoping for a DVD/HD directors cut and I will be certain to check that out.

lets hope it doesnt take 20 years to get a directors cut. as he did with alien or blade runner. but im sure looking forward to it to have it on dvd and watch it again.
it is a movie you have to think about and watch it few more times to understand everything. pretty much the same as with the matrix or ghost in the shell.

 

[Soopy]

I for one am hoping for a DVD/HD directors cut and I will be certain to check that out.

lets hope it doesnt take 20 years to get a directors cut. as he did with alien or blade runner. but im sure looking forward to it to have it on dvd and watch it again.
it is a movie you have to think about and watch it few more times to understand everything. pretty much the same as with the matrix or ghost in the shell.

If he takes 20yrs, I doubt we'll get a directors cut. Isn't he like 70yrs old?

 

[reciprocal]

-snip-

You are my hero, man. Exactly what I wanted to point out except I'd probably add the remarkable stupidity of getting crushed under the rolling ship. To quote Cave Johnson: "You're supposed to be scientists. Use some common sense".

I could probably tolerate it if they actually spent some time exploring the relationship with Christianity. Yes, it's a little bit out there but at least ONE of the plot lines would have made some sense. At the moment it's like a philosophist shouting a couple of "big questions" and then sitting down arms folded thinking 'How smart am I?' and ignoring any pleas for his own thoughts.

Well, one good thing I will say about the movie: it wasn't boring. I wish I was a little more mentally prepared for "Three Stooges in Space".

 

[Metalrocks]

I for one am hoping for a DVD/HD directors cut and I will be certain to check that out.

lets hope it doesnt take 20 years to get a directors cut. as he did with alien or blade runner. but im sure looking forward to it to have it on dvd and watch it again.
it is a movie you have to think about and watch it few more times to understand everything. pretty much the same as with the matrix or ghost in the shell.

If he takes 20yrs, I doubt we'll get a directors cut. Isn't he like 70yrs old?

lol. im aware of his age. was a bit sarcastic there.
just wanted to point out that directors cut versions, always takes that long for him.
blade runner is the best example. more then 20 years past and suddenly in 2007, we get a collectors edition with 5 version of the movie including the directors cut, saying that after so long, he thought it would be ok to add more scenes in to the movie.
the same with alien, the 2003 version. adding more scenes you never saw before.

 

[Soopy]

I for one am hoping for a DVD/HD directors cut and I will be certain to check that out.

lets hope it doesnt take 20 years to get a directors cut. as he did with alien or blade runner. but im sure looking forward to it to have it on dvd and watch it again.
it is a movie you have to think about and watch it few more times to understand everything. pretty much the same as with the matrix or ghost in the shell.

If he takes 20yrs, I doubt we'll get a directors cut. Isn't he like 70yrs old?

lol. im aware of his age. was a bit sarcastic there.
just wanted to point out that directors cut versions, always takes that long for him.
blade runner is the best example. more then 20 years past and suddenly in 2007, we get a collectors edition with 5 version of the movie including the directors cut, saying that after so long, he thought it would be ok to add more scenes in to the movie.
the same with alien, the 2003 version. adding more scenes you never saw before.

I was also being sarcastic

 

[Metalrocks]

lol. now its clear we both should have used "" to make it clear we are kidding.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I can accept any one of the number of flaws in the movie (and those were only a few), but put together the film loses me.

And in the end all of those unexplained transitions and plot holes make the film pretty forgettable. I enjoyed it, but it had no impact and I don't have any real interest in watching it again.

 

[whiffleball]

I'm just trying to wrap my head around all the people on this thread saying to ignore the plot holes and stupid character reactions, and "just enjoy the movie". If you ignore plot and characters, what is left? Pretty pictures? Are we as an audience to just take the mindset of toddlers watching dancing lights?

 

[adamtm]

I'm just trying to wrap my head around all the people on this thread saying to ignore the plot holes and stupid character reactions, and "just enjoy the movie". If you ignore plot and characters, what is left? Pretty pictures? Are we as an audience to just take the mindset of toddlers watching dancing lights?

[link]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoffsLaw[/link]

 

[Scooter65]

I can come up with some criticism for this movie, but I think your atheistic bias turned you a bit in the wrong direction here. At the very least, this movie carries with it a message of religious ambiguity, and the strengthening of belief as a result- there are no answers at the conclusion, and while "God" is not given as the final correct answer to being, it is certainly given as one possible alternative. In my mind this is part of the brilliance of the film's theme. Searching for answers in spite of overwhelming failure and uncertainty is the driving force behind both science and religion. Ridley Scott was NOT trying to say that "God is an alien" or "God is a bastard", he was saying that frankly, we can't know, but "god" help us if we ever stop searching.

 

[Tormuse]

What's with all the spoilers in this video? :| Not only talking about a reveal from the end of the movie, but saying who the villain is and who the android is, etc... Normally, if Bob is posting a video that includes spoilers, he throws up a big spoiler warning at the beginning so that people who prefer to avoid spoilers (like me) can turn the video off. I mean I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't know how much this will affect my enjoyment of it, but if we aren't supposed to find out that it's a prequel until the end of the movie, then Bob shouldn't mention it in the review and certainly shouldn't put it in the blurb underneath the video!

I've been avoiding spoilers up until this point and didn't realize that the movie is a prequel. (I was under the impression it was an Alien reboot) So, that reveal could have been a crowning moment of awesome for me, but now... I'm just feeling peeved because it's been spoiled. Bob, if you're reading this, could you please, in future, put spoiler warnings ahead of spoilers? You've done it in the past and I was counting on you to do it this time too, and I feel like you've let me down.

 

[whiffleball]

I'm just trying to wrap my head around all the people on this thread saying to ignore the plot holes and stupid character reactions, and "just enjoy the movie". If you ignore plot and characters, what is left? Pretty pictures? Are we as an audience to just take the mindset of toddlers watching dancing lights?

[link]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoffsLaw[/link]

I understand that some art can be enjoyed without deep analysis or much thought, but there is a point in "storytelling" art where this cannot apply. If you introduce characters and then have them perform actions completely contrary to the background that you provided with no explanation, it can derail the participation of the observer. As an observer, in one way or another, I am meant to become engrossed in the story.

An example I can give that I've heard others use before is "Michael Bay" movies. These movies are usually described as mindless action fests with under-developed or poor characters. You can view these "mindlessly" and still experience some visceral enjoyment.

But, if, in Transformers, Optimus Prime suddenly started killing humans with no explanation given, the audience is presented with actions that they would not be able to gloss over, at least in my opinion. This would be a thought provoking scene, and that thought would be "What the f*ck?!" I believe actions like this make for bad storytelling and derail any chance I can have at enjoying a movie.

 

[Soopy]

I'm just trying to wrap my head around all the people on this thread saying to ignore the plot holes and stupid character reactions, and "just enjoy the movie". If you ignore plot and characters, what is left? Pretty pictures? Are we as an audience to just take the mindset of toddlers watching dancing lights?

[link]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoffsLaw[/link]

I understand that some art can be enjoyed without deep analysis or much thought, but there is a point in "storytelling" art where this cannot apply. If you introduce characters and then have them perform actions completely contrary to the background that you provided with no explanation, it can derail the participation of the observer. As an observer, in one way or another, I am meant to become engrossed in the story.

An example I can give that I've heard others use before is "Michael Bay" movies. These movies are usually described as mindless action fests with under-developed or poor characters. You can view these "mindlessly" and still experience some visceral enjoyment.

But, if, in Transformers, Optimus Prime suddenly started killing humans with no explanation given, the audience is presented with actions that they would not be able to gloss over, at least in my opinion. This would be a thought provoking scene, and that thought would be "What the f*ck?!" I believe actions like this make for bad storytelling and derail any chance I can have at enjoying a movie.

Absolutely agreed.
That is pretty much the mindset I was in with every major turning point in Prometheus.

 

[shadowstriker86]

what was the deal with the pauses in the audio of your review?

 

[McMullen]

The thing that I found most odd:

Spoiler

So, Halloway is purposely infected by David, and David makes no effort to hide this to Shaw after his death. Shaw says nothing to him about it. Then David finds the gestating alien growing inside Shaw and instead of giving her treatment, sedates her. Then those two other doctors don't help her either, and Shaw has to attack them to get to the autodoc pod. No one chases her, even though she's on a tiny ship, could be found easily, is in crippling pain, and is a biohazard that could potentially lead to the death of the entire crew if she isn't quarantined. After she manages to save her own life, there isn't even so much as a "What the hell, David?!" from Shaw or a "What the hell, Shaw?!" from the doctors she attacked.

Shaw then joins a small group of people, half of whom she knows had a part in nearly killing her and successfully killing Halloway, and goes back into the ruins with them. Seriously, they already nearly killed her once, they're known to be ruthless in the pursuit of their goals, are not bothered at all by casualties, probably consider her an inconvenience or a liability, and can order the other members of the group to off her as well. And she goes with them into this place where it's very easy to die even when you can trust the people you're with.

We have people doing things to each other that in any other movie would make them mortal enemies, and afterwards everybody acts all ok with it. It makes no goddamn sense!

 

[Luca72]

snip

I'll admit the DNA stuff is something I only thought of when I saw your post. I'm really just saying that I can get the concept to SORT OF make sense in my head, although it takes some mental maneuvering. I'm also aware that this is a lot more effort than I generally spend to get myself to like a movie. I don't think it's a bad movie at all, but it's definitely a disappointing one, and it really shouldn't have been.

As for the Christianity stuff, I noticed the cross, the "virgin birth", etc. but at the time I thought it was just using Christian imagery as a placeholder for religion in general. I thought it was a broader "belief" vs. "fact" statement, but in hindsight I see I was wrong. There's another interview with Scott where he admits that at at least one point during production the Jockeys were definitely returning to earth because we'd killed Jesus, one of their own. Don't know if this is still the running theme or not. The Christianity theme felt pretty out of place in the movie, and I'm not sure why they were so intent on shoehorning it in.


It seems pretty clear that Ridley Scott started to make an Alien prequel, then decided to branch out with a "Blade Runner-ish" exploration on what it is that makes us human, and didn't really flesh the idea out in time to make a complete movie about it. I thought the conversations and even motivations of David were very poignant, and was surprised at how strong the android theme was in the movie, while the actual extra terrestrial stuff felt totally rushed.

If anyone's still interested in exploring the themes of the movie, I think this guy ( http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html ) has some pretty good ideas. In particular, that you can divide the important characters by those willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of others (Prometheus myth, Janek, Holloway, the engineers, etc.) and those willing to sacrifice others for themselves (Weyland, David, the xenomorph), and there's a pretty consistent thread that ties that theme together

 

[BrionJames]

I enjoyed the movie. Once I had time to digest it after leaving the theater, there were some bad uses of character as a plot device. The two guys down in the ship when they're hanging out in the giant head room. What the hell was that? Some of the writing for Theron's part was kind of shitty and was poorly delivered in some places. Indeed Fassbender was great as the android who kind of hates humans. I did kind of wish for a little bit more of an explanation as to why David did what he did during the movie, but didn't follow through. All in all, I'd give it a 3.5 out 5 mostly because I miss having good Science Fiction at the theater.