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Watched in 3D. Prequel or not, a decent Alien movie. Impressive visuals without getting too aggressive with CGI. I'd give it 10/10 for visual enjoyment if it weren't for one character's terrible mask (isn't it easier to get an old actor instead of masking a 45-yr old into a 90-yr old). Storyline isn't waterproof but it's interesting enough and will have you trying to figure out details and plot holes after the movie. Where this movie fails is characters. None of them are believable, charismatic or even nice enough to care for them. They are scientists or other highly skilled professionals but they act like a cast of a reality show - stupidity, unnecessary drama, occasional aggression. A pack of 2012 high-school dropouts would make a better scientific expedition than 2093 Doctors of Science. 4/5
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Jun 8, 2012 17:00
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Solid movie. I feel this stands well with Alien and Aliens. I agree with criticisms towards the lack of memorable characters. A great film to put the awful AVP movies behind us and get back to quality story telling 4/5
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Jun 8, 2012 17:20
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Too many unnecessary plot points and several gaping holes that were never explained. The characters motivations were silly at best. Visually stunning though and some knockout performances all around. A few really tense moments and great breakdown scenes but overall a disappointment depending on your expectations (mine were ridiculously high, it seems). 3/5
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Jun 8, 2012 17:48
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The plot is basically a rehash of Alien with a bit of 2001: A Space Odyssey mixed in. The characters are poorly written. Aside from being underdeveloped, they sometimes make baffling decisions. David the android is perhaps the most interesting character, musing philosophically about his own synthetic nature as his human creators now seek to meet their own creators. But everyone else merely exists to gawk and HR Giger's latest set pieces before getting horribly killed by them. Those set pieces, by the way, are very nice. It's the most visually interesting film in the entire Alien series, and this should be your main reason for seeing the movie. Otherwise, you'll leave the theater disappointed. 3/5 Baron Bifford fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Jun 8, 2012 |
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Jun 8, 2012 19:15
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I really enjoy the Alien movies, the first one especially, and, while not as good as the first one, I really did enjoy Prometheus. It was visually stunning. The music was very good, although a bit too much for me. I would've preferred they took the Alien route and kept the movie more silent or had background noise instead of orchestration, but it was still very nice. Fassbender was great as David. Theron felt very underutilized and was a throw-away character for me. So much could've happened with her character, but she never got the chance to. Other than Sean Harris, who was great as Fifield, the scientist characters didn't make much of an impression on me. Elizabeth and Charlie weren't bad characters, but did leave me wanting more from them. The plot felt like the weakest part of the movie, with too many side-stories that lacked resolution. I would've been interested in seeing where the plot-points were going, but this would've taken up a lot of the running time. The plot was also predictable at points. Overall, the weakness of the plot doesn't bother me so much, as I'm more interested in seeing where Ridley Scott and the writers can take me in this universe. I would definitely recommend this movie if you're a fan of the first Alien movie. Even if you aren't, it's a beautiful film that kept me interested. 4/5
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Jun 9, 2012 01:30
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Despite having the plot ruined through the trailer and accidentally hovering over the spoilers in the main thread I enjoyed it. The effects were fantastic and even knowing what was coming I still felt a palpable sense of tension. The lack of character development didn't bother me so much since the film-at least attempts to-broach a lot of really deep questions so there just isn't room for everyone except for Shaw to be an ancillary character and as for Shaw, Noomi Rapace was great and I'm really glad the role went to her as opposed to someone more well-known in the states. The only character that really bothered me was Logan Marshall Green's portrayal of what I can surmise is Dan Cortese if he were a late 21st century archaeologist. Also I never got why he was such a dick to David but getting infected with an alien parasite seems excessive for revenge Sometimes seems a bit too cramped and when they try give characters a little backstory Idris Elba being an accordion fanatic, Benedict Wong and Emun Elliot being best bros forever though I guess it was cool that Elba was the one who figured out the engineers and purpose of the black liquid seemed unnecessary so it's not perfect but still very worthy of the hype. 4.25/5.0 The SituAsian fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Jun 9, 2012 |
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Jun 9, 2012 05:16
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Looks fantastic, has some really legitimately good/scary bits, but then proceeds to poo poo all over them with about fifteen more characters than it has room for and some terrible script writing. David's musing about his own creation was great, I just wish we'd gotten more of that and less "Let's bring up this random plot point now, just in time for it to get used and then abandoned." 2/5
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Jun 9, 2012 05:58
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The plot holes in this movie are so numerous and staggering in their size that any positive parts of the movie are completely overshadowed. I can't say much without spoilers, but essentially nothing in the film makes sense. It has the look of a movie that was severely butchered in editing (characters randomly have knowledge that would be impossible for them to know without an intervening scene), huge sections of the film are left completely unexplained, and multiple characters make decisions that are either completely out of character or nonsensical. Charlize Theron's character is completely superfluous; every scene with her could be cut from the movie and it would not change anything. Basically, to anyone who would give this movie a good review: I dare you to explain the plot so that it sounds coherent. I think too many people are giving this movie a pass because it's Ridley Scott  and are going to furiously attempt to polish this turd. The film has fantastic visuals, but Michael Fassbender's performance is just about the only noteworthy one in the entire film.1.5/5 Karl Rove fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Jun 9, 2012 |
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Jun 9, 2012 06:44
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I got back from seeing it, and I enjoyed it tremendously. To those who say I'm drinking the kool-aid, what can I say? This kool-aid is delicious! What I liked the most about it besides specific performances was the integration of discovery and horror. This is what makes it different from a rehash of Alien, even if it has a lot of the same plot points. The starship Prometheus is venturing into the unknown, which in old maps had warnings like "here be dragons." And while the characters (Shaw in particular, since she's the sole survivor besides David, who doesn't give a gently caress by design) were scared shitless by what they encountered, in the end Shaw wants to press on in her journey. Everyone has been heaping praise on Michael Fassbender's performance, but David is more than just a well-acted character. He's the key element that let me get immersed into the movie and not be bothered by all the plot hole people bring up. I'll explain why. There's a little bit early on where we see David watching Lawrence of Arabia, and he indicates that he really likes that movie. It's also obvious that David looks a hell of a lot like T. Elliot Lawrence did in the movie. This is no accident or a throw-away detail: David is Lawrence. Well metaphhorically, at least. He's a stranger in a strange land, doing his best to blend into a group who's manners and ways of thinking are wildly different from his. But unlike Lawrence of Arabia where Lawrence is the character that the Now why is this important? We don't understand how David thinks, but David doesn't understand how humans think. And the best answer the crew can give David is "well, you're a robot." And to make sure no one misses the point, David points out that the Engineers might be operating on totally different thinking process as well. Create intelligent life, then decide to kill it, but rather than do it right away we'll sleep on it until they come to wake us up? Hey, that's just how we roll fuckers! Now this doesn't excuse every plot hole, and I gotta admit this kool-aid is quite tasty. But that's how I was able to justify when poo poo didn't make sense. TL;DR: Drink Kool-aid and watch Lawrence of Arabia (seriously, it's an awesome movie.) Also, 4.5/5
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Jun 10, 2012 07:19
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Watched this last night in 3D, Personally I loved it. Whilst I agree there are holes in the story, primarly for me this started with the discovery of the final glyph in Scotland. Later when theres the scene on the ship, and they are explaining the glyph, they bring up many more copies of the glyph... so for me why was it that they were obviously looking for the glyph, that only then when they find that one that was much older than the rest that, this specific one was the one that convinced Wayland to spend the money and fly to this constellation. By their own wording, they had already found, some from Egypt, Mayan, Sumerian, and other ancient civilisations. So this planet, which from memory was named LV_225 (i think from memory the planet in the Aliens movies was LV_426) was nothing more than a weapons science facility, where I believe these architects were designing a perfect lifeform, one that was brutal.. at the end you see this in what looked to be a xenomorph. A friend of mine said that it wasn't an alien from the original franchise, because it looked different. To which I pointed out that the idea of the xenomorph was that it took on characteristics from the host, that an Alien from a human would result in the Aliens we are used, too. As well as an Alien from a Predator, would be different. This was also different, but similar, in that it felt it was an earlier form. If this was a weapons research facility like they made us believe, then perhaps it isn't the only planet these Architects are making these xenomorphs on. and one of the other teams have taken a different route. Remembering that the planet's are different between the original movies and Prometheus, we are to assume that the ship in Alien(s) that crashlanded on the planet in Alien, was from one of these planets where weaoons were being created One of the story holes that people have brought up here, is the idea "why build intelligent life, only to want to kill it" ... Simple answer... we were bred as nothing more than cattle, test subjects for the xenomorphs... so that the architects could populate a planet with an intelligent species, then drop off these containers or whatever, and watch the results, and then improve on the design. So why leave the glyphs? I think these are more of a failsafe... just incase human civilisation becomes smart enough to understand them, and then travel to this planet LV_225, that the architects would be waiting ready.... only problem was that something went wrong for them, and the research facilities were interrupted, and they went into hypersleep. I completely agree with SirPhoebos's analysis of David, and what I want to say was David was one of the very few characters who had clear reasons for wanting to go to this planet. Sure the male and female archeologists, wanted to understand new things, and meet their "makers", Wayland wanted eternal life, Waylands daughter wanted her damned father to die so she could take over the company, and for her fathers respect and admiration... The geologist just wanted money, the Pilot crew just were doing a job.. and the rest was just white noise. It was David that had the most interesting reasons for going... David wanted to meet his makers maker... to understand human culture to blend in, perhaps this is what he wanted, like Pinocchio, David wanted the architects to transform him into a real human somehow. All in all a fantastic film... A perfect blend of two of my favourite Ridley Films ... Alien and Bladerunner .. Alien because it is that universe, the xenomorphs, and the corporations loving over people... and Bladerunner with the themes of meeting your maker, wanting to live longer, the need for the created being to get answers on life and creation. 4.5/5
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Jun 10, 2012 13:25
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Watched this last night in 3D, and I regret the decision. 1. I really hate how archaeology is portrayed in movies. Let's wander into caves and mysteriously the cave paintings mean stuff! 2. The plot was really, really stupid. There are many moments that make zero logical sense and aren't explained, and just seem to be present because they're disgusting. Stuff like the impromptu abortion (why wasn't anybody helping the scientist), the alien Trojan horse scene, the scene where they attempt to reanimate the first specimen of a series they've never seen before made no loving sense and were insulting stupid. 3. Holy poo poo was this one of the most disgusting movies I've seen in my life. Obviously you can sort of predict that aliens are going to be erupting from body cavities if you even have a passing familiarity with the director, but my god the 3d makes parts of the movie almost not tolerable. 1.5/5. I will say it's a very good looking movie, but the combination of the plot and effects made it painful for me to watch.
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Jun 11, 2012 23:43
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I'm still undecided on the movie as a whole. I thought the first half was absolutely great and I appreciated it was done in a very similar style to the original Alien and had the occasional nod to the franchise (I particularly liked how the title faded in bars like the original movie). However, anybody who has seen the movie knows that it falls apart huge in the second half. That said, after initially hating the second half, I read a few theories and reviews about the movie after the fact and I'm able to forgive a few shortcomings for what the movie was trying to do but ultimately it still falls a bit short. So my final review would be: First Half: 4/5 - really engrossing, well done sci fi despite the loving rubik's cube Second Half: 2/5 - some good elements but not enough to save the massive inconsistencies Overall: 3/5 - which I think is a solid and fair score for the movie. It had enough good to make it watchable and add a nice element to the Alien universe but it also didn't quite gel cohesively in the right areas to make it something special. Matteo44 fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 05:13
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This is Ridley Scotts Star Wars the Phantom Menace. Way to many plot holes, and questions to cover here, the entire movie is filled with them from the moment it starts, to the moment it ends. Questions are a good thing, but not these kind of questions. Things like why two characters got lost on an alien ship that a few hours before had been mapped out completely using pretty advance technology, not to mention still having radio communication with the Prometheus. Or one of the characters thinking it was a good idea to pet an alien looking snake. Everyone is stupid, and their motivations are never clear. From the engineers, to David, to the scientists, and some other characters that I won't spoil here. This space ship, and planet, is filled with stupid. It barrows very heavily from Alien, in the worst possible way. Taking already well established scenes, and imagery from such an iconic film, and shoe-horning it into Prometheus was incredibly lazy. Amazing special effects, but that is about all this film has going for it. Even that gets ruined at times. There is a surgery sequence that is so bad that I laughed pretty hard during it; the whole thing just looked completely absurd because it was obvious the actor had no references to work with, she had to imagine everything on the spot. This was the case with most of the action sequences I think, and this is why to much CGI does more harm than good. 1/5 I said come in! fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 23:49
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Saw this in 3D on a digital projector and it looked amazed, and had the best implementation of 3D I've seen in a film. Problem is, it came along with a clunky script which was only partly rescued by a fantastic performance by Michael Fassbender who appeared to have walked in from a film with much better writing. 2.5/5
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Jun 13, 2012 16:14
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loving terrible. It suffers from every sci-fi flaw in the book. How Ridley Scott managed to make this mess while also directing two of the greatest science fiction films of all time (Blade Runner, Alien), is beyond me. As someone else mentioned, it may have been butchered in edit -- that just doesn't seem like a decent excuse these days as "post" is 60% of the filmmaking process. Given how simple the editing process has become, and given how involved the director must be in the post-production process, I'm putting this one on Scott. Half of the characters are completely superfluous. They were there to die -- which is fine. What sucks is they also stole screen time from the important characters, filling it up instead with terrible banter that mirrored the worst moments of Alien 2. Charlize Theron is there not for any reasons that make sense within the film, but to misdirect the audience. Noomi Rapace's character picks up speed once she sheds some, uh, unnecessary baggage. I thought she did a great job and I'd love to see her in a better version of this movie. Michael Fassbender was also great, and his character was the only one that wasn't terrible. And, finally, he butchers the space jockey. It's like, worse the midochlorians. This movie sucked. It looked pretty though, and it was certainly better than 90% of the poo poo getting turned out these days, so I give it a 2/4.
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Jun 14, 2012 06:35
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Very few big budget movies seem to live up to their own hype these days. With a project as involved as Ridley Scott's Prometheus, it's probably impossible to live up to the bubble of expectation placed around it. Fans of the Alien series have seen up to 6 versions of the story, and there's hardly a gory moment or sci-fi concept that hasn't been played out before. So, that's probably why this movie attempts to make an intellectual interpretation of a completely different time and place. It gives a huge boost to the inherent possibilities of where the story can go, and allows the film to be free of the burden of having to live up to itself. The problem is, while there is a huge amount of effort and thought put into the movie - there is not enough focus paid to allowing the story to explain itself. It's almost as if they gave up on developing interconnected layers of interest, and assumed that by mashing a bunch of heady stuff together, that we'd all be very impressed. Ok, so the movie has flaws. It's probably not so much Ridley Scott's fault as it is the screenwriter's overly zealous approach. It is very hard to juggle all the tangential elements placed into this script. I suppose the final product does a good job at trying to balance all the elements, but it does so at the expense of rational continuity, which is what a sci-fi audience is sort of expecting. There are a couple of moments where I think the plot unnecessarily skips over a scene or two, in the interest of squeezing the whole story together. There's also the problem of characters seeming expendable. A good script would not make it so obvious that a character was purely alien bait or placed in for "shock value". I'm hoping that perhaps, there will be a director's cut with extra scenes in it that helps tie one or two things together. The more I think about it, this movie takes on too many elements in an attempt to force "complexity". The problem with this approach is that very few things are able to be concisely developed, whether that is a character's involvement or something more esoteric, such as insight into the alien species. There's a lot of mystery, and while I understand the approach, I think I would have liked to see less plot twists and more deepness. Imagine biting into a cheeseburger with the works (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, and mustard.) Now imagine the same cheeseburger with the addition of bacon, mayo, barbecue sauce, bleu cheese, and chipotle sauce. Now it's got so much complexity you can't really taste the ingredients anymore. My taste buds got confused as to what exactly it was I bit into. I also believe this movie is somewhat based in the realm of fantasy instead of science fiction, because science fiction tends to be more linear and focused, so that complexity has time to "blossom". There was a lot of body, but unfortunately, there was a lack of a satisfying aftertaste. While the story flounders a bit, the production and directing are top-notch. There isn't a single scene in the movie that isn't executed tastefully, even when it doesn't seem to be supported well by the acting or dialogue. In that alone, the pure ambition of this film is almost unmatched. There are countless layers of production detail in the film, and I will probably watch it again to absorb all the things that are easy to miss. It's hard to create a convincing sense of a new world, and I think this film does that effectively. So, on that account, this film is a success. There is an attempt at a delicate balance of spirituality, existentialism, cognitive dissonance, and pseudo-science going on here. It's so delicate, in fact, that it's easily fractured when you poke at it. I think that is a common problem that exists with recent movies in the sci-fi genre. If you are going to make people connect the dots themselves, you need to leave a lot less on the table than this movie does. To be smart, you need to provide some concepts that are truly insightful. Left so heavily to our own devices, the audience ends up re-imagining the potential, instead of discussing the implied meaning. Prometheus could have been an incredible movie. Perhaps it still can be in our own imaginations. 3.5/5
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Jun 14, 2012 16:15
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Felt like a rush-job, so many plot devices were suddenly put to haste at the middle of the movie. Visually stunning, musically... not so much, I liked all the Alien nods but the film's central theme felt pretty out of place most of the time. Speaking of out of place, does it make sense to have some deranged nigh-psychopathic scientist on board a freaking interstellar expedition? what was the purpose of Vickers' personal quarters? was it really necessary to poke that poor alien guy's head with electricity? If Weyland and David knew about the creature/weapons, was it really necessary to bring 17 crew just to have them all killed off for nothing? Seems pretty cost-ineffective. Plenty of plot-holes. Plenty of wasted potential. Some cool deaths. A lot of suspense and an ending so shamefully poor I felt like asking for a refund. 3/5.
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Jun 15, 2012 05:32
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This movie is bad. Not EP1 bad, but the kind of bad that sticks in the back of your throat and you keep trying to hock it out but it sticks in there, itching and burning. I loved Alien. I loved the mystery, the surrealist soul that was the space jockey, the sexual overtones, the tension, the relatable characters that had personality and made you actually want them to survive their ordeal. I think if Alien hadn't had been so good, I'd be more charitable to Prometheus. The problem is that it was that good. Prometheus has none of this. It bashes us in the head with bad ideas over and over again, it features characters that make you want to yell at the screen from their stupidity (which leads to their demise, of course), no character development, some of the worst pacing and unintentionally hilarious moments. Oh hey, you just did a forced cesarean, bashed up two crew members and left the little squiddy thing in the operating table? Here's a bathrobe and let's go walk and meet Sleeping Beauty. Oh, and by the way, let's go on a throwaway scene about her father. All science is promptly thrown out the window in this movie, so if you have any sort of biology knowledge (like you did ok in high school biology), you'll probably groan at more than a few scenes. Especially when Noomi is walking around after cutting up her entire abdomen. Forgive the comparison, but I'd honestly say even Avatar's writing, despite a complete and total terrible retread of so many other movies, was better written. 1 star out of 5. Octopus Magic fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Jun 15, 2012 |
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Jun 15, 2012 13:39
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Okay first off, this is not a prequel to Alien and trying to frame it in that sense I think sets it up for failure since there was almost no way that Scott could match his prior work. It is another story which is clearly in the same universe and certainly it makes some connections to the future stories, but the story itself is not an Alien story and I think this film should be considered a bit more as a standalone tale that just happens to be connected to those other stories. The visuals are outstanding and the production values are spectacular. There is not a scene in this film that won't make you want to stare at the screen, everything that happens is just a treat to look at and watch unfold. I think the plot was a lot thinner than a lot of people here seem to think it was to being with and I felt it met most of my criteria for having taken me on a fun journey. There are a number of sequences which seem real confusing/odd given how you'd expect people to react to some of the things they are seeing, but I also think if you consider the larger setting of; we are on an alien world, encountering alien things, and frankly that's more exciting than actually doing our due diligence, then they weren't so out there as to ruin the film for me. They are just caught up in the whirlwind of what's going on. Long story short the plot isn't as deep as they try to make it out to be and if you don't get bogged down in a lot of the open ended questions that get raised, I liked the core story. There are some really good performances, namely from the two characters that get the most screen time, but there are definitely some completely superfluous characters that could be excised from the film and it wouldn't actually do much. I liked what I got, but the film has flaws in how it utilizes the characters it does have. The more I think about the film the more I find things that ought to have annoyed me but didn't while I was watching it. I found the film to be a quality addition to the universe it's set in, significantly better than what Alien 3 or Resurrection did so if you must compare it to it's related franchise siblings it isn't the best one but it sure as hell isn't close to the worst. 3.5/5 is what i'd say, quality, but not excellent overall. It's allusions are fun, the visuals are on point, and most of the idiotic plot movement I just left alone due to the gravity of the rest of the situation. This is far from an awful film.
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Jun 15, 2012 19:29
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This movie did not make me sigh and groan the entire way through so kudos! I have next to no reason to care for any of these characters and the direction/dialogue is loving all over the place. The ending does something, not a particularly interesting something, but something at least. 2/5
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Jun 16, 2012 19:26
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Pick a bad movie - say, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Why was it bad? Well, the story made no sense, the acting was wooden, the photography adequate at best, and the continuity with its predecessors mostly ignored. With a few exceptions, the film was bad in most of the ways a film can be bad. Pick a good movie - say, The Godfather. The film is good in most of the ways a film can be good. Most films work this way. They're good, bad, or mediocre mostly uniformly. Prometheus is a frustrating film because it is simply so inconsistent in its quality. The art direction is breathtaking. The plot details border on incoherent. Characters range from deep and brilliantly acted to one-dimensional Scary Movie cutouts. The score, the story, the effects, the philosophical musings - all of them are just wildly, frustratingly inconsistent. One minute you're slack-jawed with astonishment, the next you're shaking your head at something incredibly stupid. If the movie had been merely bad, oh well, there's no shortage of bad movies. But the movie isn't bad. Parts are sublime. The wild lurches in quality are just weird, like a kazoo solo in the 5th Symphony. In the discussion thread it has been seriously proposed that this is deliberate, and it's some kind of dadaist performance art being perpetrated on the Alien fanbase. This seems to violate Occam's Razor. More likely it was simply a case where the reach of the filmmakers exceeded their grasp. It happens, though not usually in such a scatter-shot way. Is it worth seeing? If you're a fan of the Alien series, sure. It's more interesting than most films. I spent most of the next day thinking about it, and that's not something I can say for most bad movies, or even good ones. 4/5 (Not that the Something Awful crowd worries too much about content, but it's pretty violent and sensitive souls may wish to be cautious. The obligatory chestburster scene is particularly intense, and involves a graphic surgery with abortion overtones on a conscious victim.)
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Jun 18, 2012 02:31
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I'm tired, and half of this probably sounds stupid. Which is probably what Ridley Scott said as he was writing Prometheus. The list of nonsensical plot points and dead ends my wife and I came up with as were driving home from watching this film kept us talking the entire way. And yet I can't say I didn't enjoy it. That being said, I need to vent. 1: Edit: This one made sense to me in the morning. In the opening scene, the Engineer is seeding Earth with life by ingesting some of the good. At least, that seems to make the most sense. So, no real complaint here. 2: I think someone, somewhere else on SA already said this, but what was the big drat deal about finding the cave painting in the opening when only a few minutes later into the film they reveal that there are many of these? Apparently these archaeologists are thinking to themselves "Well, seven depictions of this same event could be coincidence... but eight? Great Scott! Related, why are multiple early civilizations on Earth being given road maps to a weapons development planet in the first place? The notion that it's so the Engineers can infect us is nonsense: they already know where we are and don't need for us to come find them. This is the equivalent of a pedophile giving a kid with mild brain damage, and a tricycle with two wheels, a map to where he works; that kid ain't gonna figure out how to pedal 2/3s of a trike any time soon and by the time he does, you've probably forgotten that you even knew him and he's not even a kid any more anyway. So he shows up at your office and you get so pissed you tear the head off of his Elmo doll and give him a loving concussion with it. And then you decide you're going to gently caress up his house. What the hell is wrong with you, you monster? 3: In the orientation briefing it's revealed that Peter Waylend is dead. Of course, we eventually learn he isn't. The deception is pointless since Peter is looking to A: Maybe not die of old age and B: Meet his makers. Neither of which are sinister motivations worthy of the subterfuge. What would've been wrong with saying "Oh, I'd also like to go." 4: David infects Charlie for no apparent reason. David is only there to do what Peter wants, which does not involve murdering members of the crew Peter specifically picked out. There's no motivation for it and no reason David should suspect that infecting a crew member furthers any purpose of his. 5: Scottish mohawk guy becomes a zombie. Biologist nerd gets his arm broken and gets mouth-raped by one of the penis-cobras. Which either impregnates him or just hollows him out. We're never clear on this. And furthermore, shouldn't he know better than to go loving around with something that's pretty clearly showing off some kind of threat response? Yeah, you could argue that he didn't know, but what did you think the hissing dick was trying to tell him? Elizabeth gets pregnant with an alien. Charlie well, I guess that's hard to say since his infection was brought to a sudden end. What exactly does the magic goop do? It reminds me of the T-virus in Resident Evil, which also just did whatever the hell it did without any explanation. In RE that makes some sense: it's a video game (well, and a rapidly-declining movies series) and you weren't playing it for the techno babble. Prometheus's intent seems greater than just showing characters blowing things heads off though. I've seen it suggested that the lack of any explainable qualities or understandable use for the stuff was intentional. I don't see that. It just feels like nobody bothered. Knowing less about the Engineers is fine, and you could argue that without knowing a set purpose for their funky toxic slime it further obscure just what they were trying to do, but that's all thrown in the toilet when the captain bluntly states that it's a bioweapon. And yes, he could be wrong. But the line feels like an attempt to explain this to the audience. Or rather if the intent here was to keep the stuff a mystery, having a single line declaring a reason behind it, with no rebuttal, breaks it. 6: It is irrelevant that Elizabeth can't get pregnant. That this bothers her seems like either a miscarried  attempt at characterization or a clumsy way of explaining why she shouldn't have been pregnant. The former goes nowhere and the latter doesn't serve a purpose. It's not like we go into this assuming otherwise, and it's not a stretch of the imagination that the hi-tech gizmos on the ship would have picked something up if she were pregnant to begin with.7: Okay, but Elizabeth is pregnant, or something like it. Apparently nobody can chase down and subdue a woman slowly meandering down the halls of a well-mapped spaceship, or even make an attempt to figure out where she went. And then the alien proto-facehugger thing is removed, everyone is perfectly chill with that and nobody stops to ask, "Gee, Liz. You were recently carrying an alien lifeform in you. We called him Bill. What happened to Bill anyway?" There's also no reason why David, or anyone for that matter, would want to impregnate her with an alien life form. Again, nobody has any motivation to do this. You can argue the greedy corporations want bioweapons angle but you'd have to draw that solely from the Aliens films. There's nothing here to push that agenda. And if that wasn't enough, there's no reason for David to think that she could even get pregnant with an alien to begin with. And yet I 3/5'd this because it utterly nails the sensation that you are a little worthless poo poo dealing with (potentially very dangerous) things you have no way of understanding. It's visually great and you never feel comfortable, even if half of it makes no sense. Quiet Feet fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Jun 18, 2012 |
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Jun 18, 2012 07:22
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Visuals were stunning, and as a visual guy I really appreciate all that. Nothing surprising. Beautiful film. The plot was embarrassingly shaky and the characters behaved in ways that were unacceptable to adult audiences. There were great sci-fi elements trying their best to breath in this film and were suffocating under eye-rolling Hollywood tropes, some of them VERY predictable, and some of them so baffling I was physically throwing my hands up several times during the film as these bizarre details passed over my poor brain. No one behaved like people or professionals, and most characters had implausible motives backed by behavior completely separated from reality. This is the same crap any lovely horror film will try and give you, except Prometheus is wrapped in nostalgia-tweaked Riddly Scott dressing, and his compelling pedigree has everybody fooled right now. It's shocking that this is the man that gave us Blade Runner. More or less everyone I know left the theater trying to shake of the bad characters and attempting to fill in plot holes rather than ponder any of the stronger themes (which were rather weak anyways). For any serious or considerate film-goer I don't see what this film has to offer other than eye-candy. Oh and Fassbender was wonderful, yadda yadda, totally agree. I enjoyed him lots and lots. 2/5
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Jun 18, 2012 10:49
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Quiet Feet posted:Biologist nerd ... And furthermore, shouldn't he know better than to go loving around with something that's pretty clearly showing off some kind of threat response? Yeah, you could argue that he didn't know, but what did you think the hissing dick was trying to tell him? I think he's supposed to be high on pot in this scene -- from his goofy behavior, and the reveal of his suit straw.
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Jun 18, 2012 20:50
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Prometheus is a beautiful movie, which makes it all the more depressing when you realize what a letdown the film is. Half-way through the movie you realize there has been a build-up to something. Glimpses of various motives, intentions, backstabbing, etc. However, in the end nothing really happens. Charlize Therons character is completely and entirely useless after slight teases that she might have something to do. In fact, I can't think of another example of a movie that has such nonexistent character development. Between Dr. Weyland, Vickers, David, the scientists, and the crew, you're expecting a little more intrigue and drama with the characters when there really is none. The biggest failing of this movie is the characters, they don't do anything and the things they actually do are stupid. It's the opposite problem from LOST where the characters were the focus and everything else was just a background for them to interact with. If you're funding a trillion dollar project and sending a dozen people across the galaxy on a mission that may be of utmost importance to humanity, you think you'd vet the crew a little better than bringing along a ragtag group of misfits? Why the hell are they briefing the crew on the mission after they arrive? You think they would have some idea of what they're getting themselves into beforehand? It's almost as if Weyland grabbed a bunch of jackasses off the street. These are scientists, doctors, and professionals? This is such a huge plot hole for me that I almost can't suspend my disbelief. 3/5 and I'm being generous because of the captivating visuals.
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Jun 19, 2012 19:05
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I really enjoyed this movie while watching it. The visuals are pretty spectacular and the plot is interesting enough that I never felt myself wondering how much of the movie was left before I could leave. There's a real sense of discovery and exploration throughout the movie, and even if everything doesn't end up fully explained, perhaps not everything needs to be? The worst part of this movie for me was the characters doing stupid things. It felt like a horror movie in the sense that I kept thinking "what the gently caress are you doing??" at various points throughout the film. I won't give any spoilers here but I can think of at least five stupid things the characters did for little to no reason. This is the biggest thing I didn't like about the movie as I was watching it. Aside from that criticism, I found some of the characters to be flat in general, with fairly pointless plotlines (Theron's character was especially wasted). But overall I thought this was a highly enjoyable summer sci-fi type of movie. It reminds me a little of District 9 in that what appears to be a philosophical sci-fi movie in its first half turns into an action spectacle in its latter half. I liked both movies and would give Prometheus a 3.5/5
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Jun 21, 2012 18:46
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1/5 It seems like there're two types of people reviewing this movie: Those who want plot, and those who want to shut the brain off and see something pretty. I'm of the former. This movie is terrible. Personally, I don't think the crew of the Prometheus could sail a butter tub in a sink full of dish water. No job could be too menial for these complete, and utter numskulls. Even Homer Simpson did a better job; he at least proved some measure of self survival by snacking on zero g potato chips. These guys are so dumb, I think they must have been retarded. I hate this movie, and I get angry thinking about it.
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Jun 23, 2012 03:50
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1/5 Completely stupid movie filled with characters doing completely stupid things. Every now and then the movie teases you with hints that it might be trying to get deep on you - the tiniest inkling that the plot might be trying to address metaphysical questions of faith and creation, for example. Then something utterly inane happens, like a biologist on an incredibly important mission deciding to try and pet a space cobra, or a scene where the crew zaps an alien head with electricity causing it to explode into goo. There are so many WTF moments in this movie that you pretty much need to turn your brain off which is not what I am looking for in this type of sci-fi. A waste of your time and the time of many talented CG artists.
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Jun 24, 2012 05:44
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Part of me feels like Prometheus is the new Avatar. Gorgeous special effects with not much plot-wise to back it up. However, Prometheus is a decent enough film on its own, if not so much for the plot as for the visuals and for some of the incredibly tense standalone moments in the film. It's fine for a single viewing in the theater, but if you're expecting anything more than a big budget B-movie with some "deep" philosophical themes that coincidentally shares a franchise with Alien, you're going to be sorely disappointed. 3/5
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Jun 25, 2012 08:29
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2/5 That is just for the grand visuals. Other than that, the plot holes, incomplete story and ridiculous things the characters do make this movie a dud. You'll enjoy this movie more, if you can skip the stupidity of screenplay, if you've not seen any of the Alien franchise.
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Jul 1, 2012 23:23
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Most of the things I want to say have already been said. Idiotic characters making idiotic decisions drove the plot. A few decent body horror scenes don't do much to counter the weaknesses of the film as a whole, especially considering its loftier pretensions. Idris Elba's accent was so drat unfortunate, I don't understand how the folks making this felt that was a good way to use him. 1.5/5
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Jul 2, 2012 07:03
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The film seemed like it wasn't thought through. The characters were unbelievable and the horror/action got to the point where it was just funny to watch, particularly those more gruesome scenes. I started cackling in the theater when the scientists hosed around with the 'hissing dick' and got killed, also when the chick gave herself the... abortion?. I loved the introduction of David in the beginning and thought it would be really cool, but my hopes were dashed. To spin off of Father Braeburn, this film suffers massively from, "Plot hooooles, humba humba humba humba." Nice ending, though. Totally didn't see how this would end up relating to Alien directly, but the xenomorph did it. P.S. How did the scientist get away from the other two scientists helping her, violently, and then perform the abortion without anyone looking for her? The ship isn't that big. 2/5
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Jul 15, 2012 16:59
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This film had a great premise offset by somewhat clichéd plot contrivances. The atmosphere was amazing. The visuals were stunning. The second half of the movie, however, was a complete waste. None of it made any sense, or even appeared to have any logic behind it. Character motivations broke down pretty quickly, and lots of supposedly intelligent, experienced, educated people made a lot of really stupid decisions. It's worth seeing once, but I don't consider it a good movie. The dumbest things about this movie:
2/5
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Aug 3, 2012 18:50
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The direction and special effects were great, but like other negative reviews have said, the writing is just terrible. I skipped this in the theaters, even though I am a big fan of Alien and Aliens. Watched it last night expecting something that was "ok", but holy poo poo, this movie is just terrible. This should be an example of how not to write a movie. The pacing is messed up, most of the characters act like complete morons, etc. I wanted to like this, but I was basically just saying "what? why are they doing this? what the gently caress is going on?" the entire time. Oh yea, and BIG SPOILER good job, Ridley, claiming that you're not making an alien prequel and then it turns out: SURPRISE -- it's a loving alien prequel. Boring, waste of time. I feel bad for the special effects people who had to waste their time on this (although the effects are cool). Watch the trailers, they are FAR more entertaining than the actual film. 2/5.
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Sep 13, 2012 21:30
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Just watched this, I was pretty disappointed but overall I wouldn't say it's a bad movie. It has fantastic special effects, some good scares and grossout scenes, and the set design and atmosphere are just as good if not better than Alien. On the other hand, the plot makes very little sense in a lot of fundamental ways, particularly regarding character motivation. Most of the characters have basically no reason for doing the things they do, especially Theron and Fassbender's characters. They are both very well-acted, but their characters aren't relateable at all. If you haven't seen the movie, I would recommend avoiding spoilers. I didn't expect the connections to Alien, and I enjoyed the surprise. Definitely worth seeing if you're a fan of Ridley Scott, although it definitely isn't on the same level of quality as his best work. 3/5
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Oct 10, 2012 06:54
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This is a great-looking, well-acted movie that has somehow gone over the heads of a lot of people even though it's pretty simple to understand by the end of the movie who is doing what and why. I can't really call it "perfect" because some of the dialogue feels kind of clunky (especially early on) and there is one scene in particular that seems to run on pure mental retardation of some disposable side characters, but as a whole it was a fine follow-up to Alien and Blade Runner (a movie that was also panned for its plot and characters when it came out but was recognized later as a classic.) I wouldn't go that far yet, but it's very good if you go in with an open mind and don't expect a science documentary, or a straight recycling of all the poo poo we've already seen in past Alien franchise movies like it seems like most people wanted. 4/5
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Oct 18, 2012 21:06
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Well, what to say... the movie isn't good, but it certainly isn't bad either. By cramming too much in two hours, it feels shallow and too frenetic. Direction is good, but that's Ridley Scott damnit. Of course it had to be good. A must watch for Alien fans (not because it's good but because... well, you know), a decent movie for sci-fi addicts, and everybody else should stay the hell away from this. 2/5
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Oct 25, 2012 16:47
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Just saw this myself and I have to say it's been a long time since I've come from a movie feeling a bit more satisfied than when I went in. I pretty much quit going to the movies period because of this. I thought they were done with the Alien franchise once and for all. Supposedly this is going to be a trilogy. All the plot contrivances and continuity errors can be forgiven as the story itself seemed to carry more weight than all that stuff put together. One of my major gripes is that there were a lot of deleted scenes that were somewhat central to the story itself but were cut because who knows why-which is just annoying because it creates a lot of unwarranted questions (when the story itself leaves you with enough on its own). 4/5 beze fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Dec 30, 2012 |
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Dec 24, 2012 21:46
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2/5. Looks great, but the characters are so actively stupid that it's hard to watch at times.
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Jun 14, 2013 23:33
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Ridley Scott makes a triumphant return to the series he helped create, bringing it back to its conceptual and spiritual roots. Prometheus comes as a welcome addition to the Alien franchise which, if we’re being honest, had descended into increasingly mediocre action-movies masquerading as sci-fi horror. In Prometheus, Scott eschews the whole “Space Marines battling xenomorphs with machine guns in tight corridors" scenario for a more expansive look into humanity, its origins and its place in the universe. He is not afraid to ask the big questions (where did we come from? are we alone?) and present us with some tantalizing answers - even though, as with all good sci-fi, the answers just lead to more questions. Features an ensemble cast where everyone puts in a serviceable performance, with Michael Fassbender’s vaguely sinister android being the only standout. Good special effects that don’t get in the way, marvellous set-pieces and some truly beautifully shot scenes. Brings wonder, mystery and majesty back to big budget sci-fi. 5/5
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Jul 18, 2013 23:53
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