Prometheus - reviews, discussion and BD/DVD release **WARNING - SPOILER-HEAVY**

[hammerfan]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

If you have a query, doubt or an unsolved riddle regarding the film, post it here. If you haven't guessed it already, Prometheus exists in the Alien universe but it isn't directly related to 1979's Alien - you can say it is a spinoff based on the same.

Wait, I'm confused. You say it's a spinoff? I thought it was more like a prequel.

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by fortunato

I guess I'll post my review since no one else has:

I'll keep it short, given the many solid reviews up already. I tend more toward Ferret's review of the film. Beyond the visuals, which were absolutely brilliant and endlessly breathtaking, I was left feeling mostly underwhelmed. I thought the script was pretty weak. For a film dealing with the eternal vastness of space and the origins of humanity, it didn't feel very epic to me at all. The motivations behind the humans' mission and those of the space jockey and the arsenal of black goo all felt flat and thrown together.
That being said, between the visuals and effects and sets and acting, there was certainly enough to keep me engrossed for 2 hours. And I'll definitely go see the next one.

I'm going to be honest, I really agree with you and Ferret, though I would say that the issues I had with the movie unfortunately outweighed the pros for me.

Note: I had to dig up Ferret's well-written review - Here it is in case anyone hasn't read it yet and is interested.

The PROS for me (spoilers included, but thanks to V the warning's in the thread's title):

• Michael Fassbender/"David" - My favorite character, hands down. Absolutely creepy and brilliantly acted. I shuddered every time he was on screen.
• The sets - It's already been said, but the sets and direction were brilliant; definitely built off of the previous movies but didn't out-do them. I thought that the ship itself was fantastic (Ferret's observations are really spot-on).
• The self-abortion scene - Wow. WOW. One of the most disturbing scenes I've seen in horror as of late. Absolutely had me cringing. SO creepy.
• Engineer vs. Squid Baby - The fangirl in me absolutely delighted in this

The CONS/issues that I just couldn't really get my head out of:

• Why is no one absolutely amazed by the fact that they've discovered life AT ALL?! They land on a planet with incredible pyramid structures and it's all very ho-hum (weird reactions include Charlie the scientist being pissed and getting drunk - not really sure why there wasn't anything to celebrate here... Oh, and as noted, the surly geologist who is just "in it for the money" - I guess in the future space travel and discovery is really passe... Then what's the point of making a scifi movie about it?)
• The biologist and the geologist get stuck on an alien planet in a dust storm and NOBODY CARES?! "Oh, well, nothing we can do. Let's have sex..." Which leads me to...
• Idris Elba was incredibly wasted (hur hur literally and figuratively) and I ultimately had no feelings for him and his poorly two-dimensional copilots when they sacrificed themselves and the ship to save humanity.
• Michael Fassbender/"David" - Yep, listed as a con here because I feel as though his greatest moments were also really random... He poisons Charlie (Why? Because every son wants to see his father die and Charlie as a human is a surrogate "father" to androids? So why doesn't David poison or mess with everyone else?) I feel as though we're being lead down the path of the sentient android... Here we're in a world where we're trying to discover our makers and ultimately find out that our makers are out to destroy us (o, nihilism!), so is the point of him to turn the tables and destroy his own maker? I feel as though there was more here to uncover; he was such an interesting character, ultimately diminished to a laughable head in a dufflebag.
• I noted how incredible the self-abortion scene is... But then she's wandering around with her stomach stapled shut and no one bats an eye?? What about the two people she knocked out just to get to the self-surgery pod? Suddenly they're best friends? DOES NO ONE CARE THAT SHE JUST PULLED A SQUID CREATURE OUT OF HER BELLY?! DOES SHE EVEN CARE?! What a brilliant scene followed by incredible ambivalence... Made me wonder - What was the point of the scene at all?
• Weyland on Board - Ugh. So THIS is our payoff in terms of WHY they were flown there? REALLY?! Old rich dude wants to meet his maker? Sigh. Disappointing.
• Payoff #2 - Black Ooze and biochemical warfare - Another big disappointment; seems like we have black ooze on our hands that reconstructs an individual's DNA... If that's the case, then of course I'm wondering where do the xenomorphs come from (see, the black ooze seems to be pretty unpredictable when it comes to creation... yet there's a xenomorph on the wall in the black ooze canister room... And, yes, we get a xenomorph in the last 5 seconds - born of human, engineer, and squid creature... But it just seemed odd and random... OH BUT ISN'T LIFE ODD AND RANDOM?!)
• How heavily can we be hit on the head with the CREATION OF LIFE themes here? David wants to see his maker die... The Engineers want to destroy their progeny... I feel as though this is just Philosophy 101 being served up via University of Phoenix... BIG TOPICS with PRETTY PICTURES but ultimately nonsensical and disappointing when it comes to payoffs. Sure, you can make the argument that we are SUPPOSED to be left wondering - But if we are, why does this movie even exist? This movie is supposed to show us where we came from, right? It's not like Scott is particularly subtle when it comes to that. Also, the whole biochemical warfare coming back to bite you - sigh- been done (yes, common theme in the Alien franchise... but can we grow on this please??)
• Meredith Vickers - Theron did a great job with her, but I really didn't understand the point here - Big Business lady in space, I suppose? She didn't really turn out to be all that villainous (Weyland and David take that I suppose), but yet she deserves a villain's ending?
• SPACE JOCKEYS - I was promised Space Jockeys. I didn't go to see the great questions of Life, The Universe, and Everything be peddled about by pretty little things in spacesuits... WHERE ARE MY SPACE JOCKEYS?!
• Penis aliens - hur hur - Ok. Seriously. I canNOT be the only person who giggled at how incredibly phallic AND vaginal the black goo face huggers were... Though the breaking arm scene was pretty cringe-worthy. Also - WHY WOULD THE BIOLOGIST GET THAT CLOSE TO THEM?!

Argh. I was really disappointed and underwhelmed with this movie. Sure, it was pretty. Sure, more than a few scenes appealed to both my scifi fangirl AND horror fangirl sensibilities, but it seemed all really disjointed, no one seemed to react appropriately to anything at all, which made the best scenes seem like non sequitur. Ultimately, it all seemed very random, as though there were way too many areas of focus but none were fleshed out particularly well. Sure, one might say "Wait for the next movies," but UGH I feel as though I was promised a lot here and didn't get much out of it. Big empty pretty thing. I was actually pretty DISSATISFIED afterwards.

Anyway. That was a lot of rambling. For those of you who feel the same way, you may feel as amused and satisfied as I did when reading this review: http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddis...-epic-failure/

One of my favorite lines:

But, the humans aren’t the only dummies here. The aliens–who all resemble buffed, albino Woody Harrelsons–are just another version of the brutish, humanoid killing machines we see in garbage like this year’s Battleship. You would think that aliens who engineered human beings–and who have some unstated reason for wanting to wipe us out–would be smarter than the Xenomorphs from the Alien series. They aren‘t. Apart from having spaceships–and technology that conveniently shows pixilated holographic recordings of their fate to people who happen to drop in and push the right buttons–there is nothing advanced about them. They weren’t even smart enough to keep their deadly bio-weapons safely locked-up, choosing instead to keep them in jars on the floor. This is the equivalent of keeping buckets of poisonous snakes, viruses, and toxic waste in your family’s minivan. What advanced race would be that careless?

Some may argue that this is the point of the film–the cynical notion that all civilizations, on Earth and elsewhere, ultimately become warlike and self-destruct. Open up a history book and turn on the news, and I can see their point. I would suggest, though, that in the case of Prometheus, what’s responsible for the vacant barbarism of the aliens is merely the limited imaginations of their authors.

[ChronoGrl]

These were big issues for me too...

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Fifield and Millburn getting lost in an area that had mapped and even knew their coordinates when they reported to the ship.

The crews completely nonplussed by Shaw when she shows up half naked, covered in blood with a Cesarean scar.

Why did they hire Guy Pierce only to put him in a Johnny Knoxvill 'old suit'? Strange choice - I know there was the TED talks piece but that couldn't be it. Maybe he was already signed for a prequel.

Somethings I probably didn't get:

The 'altar' room clearly showed a carving of a Xenomorph (that looked liek the queen) - so the xeno that was born from the Spacejockey at the end wasn't the first? Why have what religious carving of the alien in the first place (I think this might get explained later)

DAvid seemed to know the language of the Enginners too well just from studing ancient texts. He could open the sequences on the doors (which I imagine were codes). So not only could he understand the signage but also the sybols to press in the right order. Its like I know how the security door in the bank works but I have no idea what sequence of numbers to press.

I didn't get why the holograms were created - were they like security footage?

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by Ferox13

The black goo seems to have different effects on what it infects and how?

The assumption I made during my 3rd viewing was that the Engineers had devised different types of sticky goo for different purposes. There's no way of proving that the sticky goo taken by the monk Engineer in the opening sequence is the same goo which was given to Holloway.

Of course, like you said, it might have different effects on different hosts. But remember, the 100% DNA match? That means it should have affected Holloway the same way it affected the Engineer, if the basic composition of both bodies is the same.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

The effects it had on Shaw were very different than what it did to Fifield (it turned him into an uber strong, pcp Zombie). It made the indigenous lifeforms (the worms) a 1000 bigger. Assuming it was the same substance at the start, it breaks down the Engineers to their DNA building blocks.

Fifield's helmet started disintegrating when he sliced the Hammerpede (stuck to Millburn) into two and got sprayed by it's blood (assuming it had a substance similar to acid in it's blood). That made him spin out of control right into the thick fluid flowing through that inner chamber of the pyramid.

The qualities of THIS fluid didn't resemble the qualities of the sticky goo inside the container - it was more viscous and free-flowing, unlike the sticky goo. If you remember, right after Fifield fell into the fluid head-first, his helmet (which was already steaming and sizzling from the spray of the Hammerpede's blood) sort of completely melted inwards, sticking into his face. That could have been the result of the Hammerpede's blood mixing with the flowing liquid which caused that sort of reaction. Of course, the liquid did intensify Fifield's mutation and turned him into what he became, later.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

This seems like a more logical explaination than the Engineer was 'Someone who raised their voice on the continuous production of bio-weapons and, as a result, was cast out and punished by making them forcefully feed themselves with the sticky stuff.'. I see zero evidence for this.

If you think back to the opening sequence carefully, you will remember that the monk Engineer (I call him so because he was dressed in robes with a hood) walks slowly to the edge of the waterfall, carrying a small dish-like thing containing the black sticky goo. The spaceship hovers in front of him and he lowers his hood and takes a long, deep look at the spaceship. That look signifies that the monk Engineer wasn't there from his own choice.

Secondly, if he was chosen for this job, the spaceship wouldn't have been hovering over him until he drank the goo. It would have landed him and disappeared, assured that he would do his thing. The spaceship left only after he had drunk the goo - which signifies they watched over him till the last moment ensuring he did the job, and ONLY then did they leave.

Thirdly, if he had been chosen, they could have made him drink the goo inside the spaceship itself, then dumped his disintegrating body directly into the waterfall.

Ergo my theory of him NOT volunteering for this.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

What I am questioning is the 100%. Only creatures of the same race have exactly the same DNA. Clearly Engineers/Space Jockeys are not the same race as humans.

Not necessarily. 100% DNA match happens very rarely (even fathers don't share 100% DNA matching with their children at times) - specially matching the DNA of a rapidly evolving race such as humans with another race is rare. Unless the explanation which I provided earlier - either they are siblings of humans, or they are an advanced, evolved or mutated version of humans. Maybe the Engineers are how humans would develop and evolve into, in the distant future.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Heres some of my nitpicking (not so much plot points but just what I felt unrealistic actions of characters):

Fifield and Millburn getting lost in an area that had mapped and even knew their coordinates when they reported to the ship.

Maybe they got really shaken up and freaked out when they ran into all those Engineers' corpses.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

The crews completely nonplussed by Shaw when she shows up half naked, covered in blood with a Cesarean scar.

Maybe because half the crew was busy fighting off mutant Fifield and the other half was tending to old Weyland. They did rush to her when she stumbled in and covered her with something and made her sit.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Why would they put together an operation of that size and put a crew on it that never met or trained together. It was like they picked up some daylabourers outside Home Depot.

I blame this on either Lindelof or the editing table. Maybe we will see crew interaction in a Director's Cut DVD.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Why did they hire Guy Pierce only to put him in a Johnny Knoxvill 'old suit'? Strange choice - I know there was the TED talks piece but that couldn't be it. Maybe he was already signed for a prequel.

Could be. Or he has a bigger role to play as a younger Weyland in future sequels.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Somethings I probably didn't get:

The 'altar' room clearly showed a carving of a Xenomorph (that looked liek the queen) - so the xeno that was born from the Spacejockey at the end wasn't the first? Why have what religious carving of the alien in the first place (I think this might get explained later)

A-ha! Perfectly spotted.

An indication which shows that the Engineers knew about the Xenomorphs already (either through direct contact or had developed them in their bio-weapons lab). The religious intonation might mean the Engineers being in awe of this perfect killing machine - they revere it. Yes a sequel will explain this perfectly.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

I didn't understand the worm that was seen in Charlie's eye. I though the good worked on DNA but that seemed like a parasite. I thought maybe Davids sample was contaminated (by one of the worms) before he got a chance to freeze but I am not sure.

Maybe that was the infectious mutation which grew inside Holloway's blood, when it got tainted by the black goo which David had slipped into his drink. It could explain his extreme discomfort when he was helped to the ship. Maybe something was growing INSIDE him, waiting to tear it's way out? That's why he preferred death?

Originally Posted by Ferox13

How did the Space Jockey make it to the shuttle with not helmet.

Maybe the Engineers had an-inbuilt breathing unit built into their suits, to tackle the non-breathable atmosphere of the planet.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Why were the Engineers wearing helmets in the ship when it was set up with a breathable enviroment.

So that they didn't disturb the air/atmosphere inside the pyramid? Remember the balance of the ante room being shifted when the humans entered it?

Originally Posted by Ferox13

DAvid seemed to know the language of the Enginners too well just from studing ancient texts. He could open the sequences on the doors (which I imagine were codes). So not only could he understand the signage but also the sybols to press in the right order. Its like I know how the security door in the bank works but I have no idea what sequence of numbers to press.

This adds to my theory of Engineers being an example of human evolution in the future. And it could also explain why the Engineers resembled humans so much in outward appearance.

Originally Posted by Ferox13

I didn't get why the holograms were created - were they like security footage?

Plausibly.

Originally Posted by Angra

Maybe David only thought he knew the language when he really didn't.

So when he spoke to the Jockey what he was really saying was, "I had sex with yo momma."

And then all hell broke lose.

Makes sense. Makes alot of sense..

What he said to the Engineer was - (translated) "This man is here because he does not want to die. He believes you can give him more life."

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/566...eer-prometheus

Originally Posted by hammerfan

Wait, I'm confused. You say it's a spinoff? I thought it was more like a prequel.

For now, yes it's a spinoff based on the Alien universe. IF there are sequel(s) eventually which will connect it to Alien in the end, we can call it a prequel.


I am just trying to provide some answers. None of my explanations should be treated as final answers, as I am trying to theorise about all of it myself and to put things together.

Will tackle Chronogrl's post tomorrow. Power's been going on and off in the past 6 hours (it's raining heavily here), and I had to save Ferox's reply in a Notepad file to reply to all of it whenever power came back.

Meanwhile, check these out :-

http://geektyrant.com/news/2012/6/24...fographic.html

http://whatculture.com/film/promethe...-questions.php

[ChronoGrl]

I have to give J credit for this... I giggled out loud:

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Why is no one absolutely amazed by the fact that they've discovered life AT ALL?! They land on a planet with incredible pyramid structures and it's all very ho-hum (weird reactions include Charlie the scientist being pissed and getting drunk - not really sure why there wasn't anything to celebrate here... Oh, and as noted, the surly geologist who is just "in it for the money" - I guess in the future space travel and discovery is really passe... Then what's the point of making a scifi movie about it?)

There are expressions of wonder on Rapace and Green when they initially come upon the pyramid-like structure. And remember, most of the crew (including the captain) neither believed in Shaw's explanation of the star maps (the whole creator/God angle) nor were they ready to believe when they came upon the pyramid. Their skepticism could be a main factor which kept their enthusiasm dampened.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

The biologist and the geologist get stuck on an alien planet in a dust storm and NOBODY CARES?! "Oh, well, nothing we can do. Let's have sex..."

Till then they hadn't had their encounters, so they didn't know that there were unknown, lurking dangers inside the pyramid. Their probes had also pretty much scanned through the whole structure and didn't report back with any "living being" beeps - one more reason for them to think it was a lifeless pyramid.

Not to mention that the storm was a really bad one and hampered all sorts of visibility. There wasn't anything to be done but wait till it passed.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Idris Elba was incredibly wasted (hur hur literally and figuratively) and I ultimately had no feelings for him and his poorly two-dimensional copilots when they sacrificed themselves and the ship to save humanity.

I blame this on bad script writing, again. His was one excellent character and could have been given different shades/angles and if developed properly, could have been one of the major pluses of the film. As it is, Elba did a superb job with the limitations he was fed.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Michael Fassbender/"David" - Yep, listed as a con here because I feel as though his greatest moments were also really random... He poisons Charlie (Why? Because every son wants to see his father die and Charlie as a human is a surrogate "father" to androids? So why doesn't David poison or mess with everyone else?) I feel as though we're being lead down the path of the sentient android... Here we're in a world where we're trying to discover our makers and ultimately find out that our makers are out to destroy us (o, nihilism!), so is the point of him to turn the tables and destroy his own maker? I feel as though there was more here to uncover; he was such an interesting character, ultimately diminished to a laughable head in a dufflebag.

There are complexities to David which can be similar to Ash in Alien. As we find out that Weyland himself was on the ship and David was reporting back to him regularly, it is safe to assume he was working under direct instructions. The discovery of the goo was reported to Weyland and he was instructed to try it on one of the team members first to see what reactions, or lack of, it caused, before they tried it on Weyland himself.

And it's easily presumed that since the events of this film happened much before Alien, David is an older model than Ash. Like Bishop explains in Aliens, the Ash android itself had faults ("twitchy" in his words), so what's to tell that David's programming wasn't faulty as well? The filmmakers didn't want to go down the repetitive path of an android/robot/computer going suicidal (HAL 9000, the Red Queen, etc.) so they kept David as an android with shades of grey, most presumably because of following direct orders from Weyland himself.

And let's admit it, we did see Weyland didn't care much for the crew or their fates. He was a selfish bastard who was only interested in prolonging his own life, and because there was a chance that Shaw's prediction of Gods/makers could come out true, he tagged along in secret for the ride, in hopes of coming across a Fountain of Youth. (which David actually asks the Engineer on Weyland's behalf) If his intentions had been noble/true, he wouldn't have been in hiding inside the ship.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

I noted how incredible the self-abortion scene is... But then she's wandering around with her stomach stapled shut and no one bats an eye?? What about the two people she knocked out just to get to the self-surgery pod? Suddenly they're best friends? DOES NO ONE CARE THAT SHE JUST PULLED A SQUID CREATURE OUT OF HER BELLY?! DOES SHE EVEN CARE?! What a brilliant scene followed by incredible ambivalence... Made me wonder - What was the point of the scene at all?

Most of the crew were in the docking bay fighting the mutant, remember? Those who were left were also headed that way after the alert which went off throughout the ship. Maybe they didn't notice her "stapled" condition, and assumed by seeing her blood that she was involved in the fight with the mutant. Nobody else knew she was pregnant except David, did they?

And when she stumbled into Weyland's room, the initial reaction was one of surprise by the crew attending to Weyland, including David, who didn't expect to find her there. And yes, they noticed her blood and her staples, and immediately helped her down and draped a blanket around her.

And Shaw herself didn't tell anybody what happened to her inside the pod, either. Until she got to Weyland's chamber, that is. As for the staples and her roaming around after that, she DID inject herself with plenty of painkillers(?) before and during the surgery, remember? It does take awhile for the kicked-in stuff from injections to lose their influence.

The flaw I see in that entire sequence is that the surgery pod's computer didn't announce the newly birth as a possible contamination and didn't quarantine it somewhere. Really glaring flaw this.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Weyland on Board - Ugh. So THIS is our payoff in terms of WHY they were flown there? REALLY?! Old rich dude wants to meet his maker? Sigh. Disappointing.

Weyland has absolutely 0% interest in meeting his maker. Unlike Shaw, Weyland had only selfish interests in this mission. Presumably, all his efforts to prolong his life had backfired so he was in this for the chance - what if Shaw's predictions came true? He could really meet the Gods and get something on the lines of the Fountain of Youth from them.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Payoff #2 - Black Ooze and biochemical warfare - Another big disappointment; seems like we have black ooze on our hands that reconstructs an individual's DNA... If that's the case, then of course I'm wondering where do the xenomorphs come from (see, the black ooze seems to be pretty unpredictable when it comes to creation... yet there's a xenomorph on the wall in the black ooze canister room... And, yes, we get a xenomorph in the last 5 seconds - born of human, engineer, and squid creature... But it just seemed odd and random... OH BUT ISN'T LIFE ODD AND RANDOM?!)

It's debatable - either the Engineers who roamed worlds creating life, created the Xenomorphs as well, or they were an indigenous species which the Engineers came across during their flights through the universe. There is a third angle, the whole bio-weapons development, but that gets affected when we see the "chapel"-like sequence. Clearly the Engineers revere the Xenomorphs, which made me tilt towards the indigenous species origin.

But then we see what happens when "infected" Charlie impregnates Shaw - that brings out another explanation for the Xenomorphs. Created as bio-weapons by the Engineers (possibly out of some planet's indigenous species's DNA or from scratch), they turned out to become pure and perfect killing machines, which is why they were revered by the Engineers.

And remember, not all black goo works as the same. The cylinders looked identical, but maybe they had secret markings on them to distinguish them from each other. Something which David couldn't see.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

How heavily can we be hit on the head with the CREATION OF LIFE themes here? David wants to see his maker die... The Engineers want to destroy their progeny... I feel as though this is just Philosophy 101 being served up via University of Phoenix... BIG TOPICS with PRETTY PICTURES but ultimately nonsensical and disappointing when it comes to payoffs. Sure, you can make the argument that we are SUPPOSED to be left wondering - But if we are, why does this movie even exist? This movie is supposed to show us where we came from, right? It's not like Scott is particularly subtle when it comes to that. Also, the whole biochemical warfare coming back to bite you - sigh- been done (yes, common theme in the Alien franchise... but can we grow on this please??)

Ultimately, what ever is created, has been destroyed. Humanity's history is dotted with such examples. The filmmakers only expounded on this. Even our race isn't eternal - someday, like the dinosaurs before us, we will be replaced as well. Maybe we have sped up the process by tainting our environments and atmosphere, and have gone past a "point of turning back".
(Remember The Abyss's climax?)
That could be why the Engineers want to destroy their creation - us - because we didn't turn out to be what they hoped we would evolve into. Specially when there are more perfect species (such as Xenomorphs) out there.

(Contd.)

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Meredith Vickers - Theron did a great job with her, but I really didn't understand the point here - Big Business lady in space, I suppose? She didn't really turn out to be all that villainous (Weyland and David take that I suppose), but yet she deserves a villain's ending?

She and her father weren't on the same page. She was in this just like Carter Burke in Aliens, to safeguard the investment of the project. Clearly her intentions were business and profit, and she behaved like a very one-dimensional character, like her Daddy. Yes, she didn't deserve that ending but then she couldn't have been left alive in the end, could she? Since she didn't die inside the ship or the pyramid...

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

SPACE JOCKEYS - I was promised Space Jockeys. I didn't go to see the great questions of Life, The Universe, and Everything be peddled about by pretty little things in spacesuits... WHERE ARE MY SPACE JOCKEYS?!

You saw a whole bunch of them running through when David activated the hologram, remember? And you saw a full-fledged SJ in the Engineer who was awakened from his cryo-sleep. Explanations about their running/flight from the deck should be provided in the sequel (or prequel?).

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Penis aliens - hur hur - Ok. Seriously. I canNOT be the only person who giggled at how incredibly phallic AND vaginal the black goo face huggers were... Though the breaking arm scene was pretty cringe-worthy. Also - WHY WOULD THE BIOLOGIST GET THAT CLOSE TO THEM?!

Ah, the hammerpedes. One of the many bioweapons inside the pyramid (shame that we didn't get to see more of those bioweapons, which were cut out by Lindelof from Spaihts' treatment because the script was getting unnecessarily long) which looked innocent but turned out extremely deadly. Again, the biologist had no idea what he was dealing with. Of course, he should have been a bit fearful and apprehensive when dealing with such a creature, but judging by how incredibly swift the hammerpede was, he was a foregone conclusion the moment it drifted towards them in the goo stream. Even then, the hammerpede didn't cause death - it merely impregnated you with something, like the facehugger. The problem started when they cut it and sprayed themselves with it's acidic blood. Inadvertently dipping the helmet into the flowing goo further enhanced the situation.

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Argh. I was really disappointed and underwhelmed with this movie. Sure, it was pretty. Sure, more than a few scenes appealed to both my scifi fangirl AND horror fangirl sensibilities, but it seemed all really disjointed, no one seemed to react appropriately to anything at all, which made the best scenes seem like non sequitur. Ultimately, it all seemed very random, as though there were way too many areas of focus but none were fleshed out particularly well. Sure, one might say "Wait for the next movies," but UGH I feel as though I was promised a lot here and didn't get much out of it. Big empty pretty thing. I was actually pretty DISSATISFIED afterwards.

I don't blame you.

It may all seem like a confusing, muddled mess to even the best of viewers, specially when there are hurried rewrites of the original script involved. The Spaihts' scriptt was fantastic, but the hurried rewrites by Lindelof messed everything up.

Most portions of Spaihts' work was leaked to the media when shooting was underway (remember my post in the Upcoming Horror section's Prometheus thread about the script getting leaked, and the whole angle of male gay aliens, and a scene of gay aliens actually having sex). Wait, let me find it...

Here's the synopsis of Spaihts' treatment -

Earth. Year 2058.

Archaeological digs in Africa reveal alien artifacts that humans were genetically engineered by an advanced alien race (space jockeys). These “Alien Gods” also terraformed Earth in order to make it habitable for their human creations. Amongst finds are coordinates to the Alien God’s home-world, to Paradise. Months later the Weyland Corp launch the spaceship PROMETHEUS and [its] crew, into deep space to make first contact. Thanks to faster than light travel a few years later the PROMETHEUS enters the Zeta Riticuli star system. Humans are greeted by their makers, then transported further into space to a scary yet fascinating world. The Alien Gods are proud of their “children”, their first creation to reach such levels of intelligence.

As a reward they share bits of their astonishing bio-based technologies with the humans. But for one crew member of the Prometheus it’s not enough. In a treacherous act he steals the “bio-source code” to Terraforming, a technology at the origin of all Gods’ power, that could make humans equal to the gods. The Alien Gods may be scientists but are also ruthless conquerors, destroyers of worlds who will not accept humans as equals. They unleash on the escaping human crew their favorite bio-weapon, a creature used to “clean up” worlds before colonization. But something goes wrong in the process and humans manage to turn the bio-weapon against their makers. Giving birth to a smarter, nastier, bigger breed of gut eating creatures. Creatures that will be the demise of Paradise. What’s left of the Prometheus crew manages to escape the doomed planet.

On their trail a survivor Alien God in very familiar ship with one ultimate mission.

Bring the wrath of the Gods to Earth.

And this is what happened when the first rewrite of Spaihts' treatment by Lindelof was over -

http://www.horror.com/forum/showpost...5&postcount=56

The script (by John Spaihts and recently rewritten by Damon Lindelof) tells of the space jockeys traveling from planet to planet and terraforming them.

The space jockeys are holding captive of two human slave farmers named Fin and Karik and force them (via mind control) to engage in sexual activity. (The twist: they’re both male).

There will be a black Vasquez-esque spaceship crew member named Oliver.

Gemma Arterton was offered to play a female crew member named Truks.

The aliens are used by the space jockeys (known as “Growers” in the script) in their terraforming processes as some sort of biological tools.

The signature alien won’t appear until the latter half of the film when it fully develops into it (this hints that we’ll be seeing different and new forms of aliens).

The editor calls the film a hard science fiction part psychological drama.

Ridley has met with Lance Henriksen to appear in the film.

The idea behind the man-on-man action is apparently that the growers want their human slaves to breed. They’ve no idea about human genders as they are a single sex race and so things get a little… confused, leading to what the original story described as “Brokeback Alien”.

Subsequent rewrites weren't planned, but forced. But that doesn't justify Ridley's satisfaction with the final draft, or the go-ahead after they saw their treatment in the editing room before release. Either way, it's a given that they didn't pursue the originally intended Prometheus story the way they would have liked it to. No wonder Ridley is staying silent on the prospects of a sequel right now, when usually film makers announce sequels almost immediately after a film releases and does well at the BO. This after announcing that there will be at least two prequels, and an explanation of how the SJ fits into the Alien universe.

Prometheus is a thought-provoking film. Ridley tried to leave enough questions in it to keep fans thinking and guessing so that he would have scope to fit in a sequel (or a prequel) or two, but two things went against it - Lindelof's hasty rewrites, and the whole Ridley treatment which makes the film give off a vibe of taking itself way too seriously.

But the biggest merit of the film is that it actually gave us something different, something to think about, something to talk about, like today. When bigger films with bigger budgets warrant a one-watch, some oohs and aahs, and ultimately disappear from sight to make way for the next blockbuster. This is the reason why I appreciate it, despite it's flaws.

[ChronoGrl]

V - Wow. Totally appreciate your long, thoughtful, and detailed response, as always! (wish we were closer so that we could have these discussions in person over coffee or beer)

To be honest, though, I think we need to agree to disagree in terms of the overall merits of the film - I just don't think it was a good movie. Could be that it was the writing/rewrites (those treatments you posted were great, especially the first one)... But it just didn't work for me. With my love of the Alien series I'll probably see the other films, but I was honestly really disappointed and dissatisfied with this.

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

V - Wow. Totally appreciate your long, thoughtful, and detailed response, as always! (wish we were closer so that we could have these discussions in person over coffee or beer)

To be honest, though, I think we need to agree to disagree in terms of the overall merits of the film - I just don't think it was a good movie. Could be that it was the writing/rewrites (those treatments you posted were great, especially the first one)... But it just didn't work for me. With my love of the Alien series I'll probably see the other films, but I was honestly really disappointed and dissatisfied with this.

For the record, I am not defending the film by any means, nor am I showing any fanboy-ism towards it. I am more dissatisfied than disappointed, to some extent.

Such a lovely story, a linear narrative, excellent visuals and background score, and some really neat performances. All marred by a somewhat botched script. Like I said above, how did the end product pass through the production team's screenings, especially Ridley Scott, is beyond me.

Lindelof's clumsiness is so evident. I won't be surprised if he is fired for the sequel/prequel, when/if they make one.

[_____V_____]

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Carto...ded-32172.html