Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

81
congrats to odot & the mrs! hey, remember sleep? it was awesome, wasn't it?
...
So was that lack of existential dread and responsibility!
...
oh, and having personal goals and dreams. that was fun!
Oh, you kidders. :-)
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

83
Alexhead wrote:So I saw this on opening day, anyone else? Of course a little tough to talk about with the uninitiated without diving into spoilers, but I'll try. Broad rating is somewhere around 2 1/2 Xenomorphs out of 4.3, or something. I don't think it's too spoilerish to say we're seeing Ridley and screenwriters trying to execute their own 2001 filtered through the dark prism of the Alien universe. They are trying to take old DNA and launch a fresh series, somewhat problematic considering we know where the timeline ends up more or less but still plenty of depths to be plunged given the direction they end up going. And on paper, the ideas are intriguing. They're not doing another haunted house on a spaceship movie for sure, but they are definitely following a mission in trouble. They are indeed blowing wide open where the Xenomorphs started, and it's pretty big, but they're not completely explaining where they come from or what their purpose is, and in that there are some ripe sci fi ideas and ambiguities. Yet we're certainly familiar with the setup and eventual outcome, and we're comparing it with what we know, and it can't be helped if you're going to revisit a franchise with highs, lows, and ridiculous spinoffs. In other words, there is plenty of history to bring to this exercise, and there are both triumphs and failures. Some great, widespread references to its own sci-fi DNA, before and after the original, to look for throughout. Anyway, I'll leave it for further discussion when a few more of you have seen the source material.
saw this last night and agree with some of this. 2001 filtered through the alien universe = yes, very much. especially the beginning, first 1/3. was loving it. the rest of what you said i agree with but don't see any of it as a negative. as much as the alien franchise has been raped in recent years by some abominable movies, it was a smart move to simply revisit the universe, to show the thought process behind weyland, the temperature at the time things started to go wrong (as far as xenomorphs). to show the questions that lead to the exploration in the first place, the sheer ego that paid for it, and the folly of assuming an invitation. the disturbing fact that questions do have answers...

again, don't want to get too specific with discussion here as i found that not really knowing shit about it helped. i wasn't expecting any kind of alien-fest. it was annoying that the concessions kid said, when he found out we were seeing prometheus, "it's not an alien prequel. i hope you know that." fuck you, kid! you shouldn't be saying shit to me about the movie. but really, after seeing it, i don't agree with that at all. it completely is an alien prequel. for me, it seemed like it was missing about 30-45 minutes. many parts of it felt like they went from point A-->point Z way too fast. that feeling led to leaving the theater with many more unanswered questions than i had when i went it about that universe, about exactly who, what, when, where, why. this is one that i sincerely hope gets a complete "director's cut" and gives us much more material. i understand sacrificing some story exposition for a more brisk film, and still winding up over 2h was a risk. it works as is, but i would have preferred a more complete film in some aspects. the other thing that bugged me was that the music that was in the trailer - that i had never heard before (not like most trailers that recycle cues from other well-known films) - appeared nowhere in the film. what the hell was it? it was so creepy, it was perfect. bummed it wasn't actually part of the film. also bummed that some of the musical work was finished by gregson-williams. much of it was too "light" for the subject matter. lots of the music worked well for it, don't get me wrong, but it felt like two people did it for sure.

at the end of the day, i don't get the hate for this film. i am a die-hard alien fan. i remember being so pissed off after seeing alien 3, i felt betrayed by everything. over the years i've softened on it a bit and see what they were going for, just don't agree that was the way to go. but this one felt exactly right. this was a perfect prequel - going for the angle of setting up the feeling, the thought process behind why we left in the first place, what motivated weyland, the general use of androids, etc. again, except for the gaps in storytelling where it felt like it was cut and/or didn't go far enough into exploring an idea. i love the scene at the beginning, love seeing
how the black ooze works - how the result is completely different based on the host, etc. the engineers were the creators and inadvertently the destroyers (even though that's what they wanted anyway). but why? and again, the android started it all (under direction) - thought that was a nice touch, though not unexpected - it was handled well. not going to get into it, so many questions right now. still digesting.
i really liked this and need to see it several more times.

say what you want about scott, this was the first real science fiction film i've seen in ages. this is not some space fantasy or easy steampunk fantasy, this goes to the origins of true scifi - exploring the whats/whys of creation and existence through the lens of science and technology - in a way i haven't seen in... well, i don't even remember the last real scifi film i've seen. at this point, things like star trek - which i love, btw - are more like action films. "space drama/battle" is its own genre i think. yes there is obvious social commentary in them, but they have gone well beyond the idea of being any kind of scifi.

there were problems/gaps in storytelling here, but for the most part the writing - especially tying everything back to what we know about the alien universe - was spot on with some great ideas. at the core, the ideas have been used before, but not presented in this way or in this context and there were a couple characters that clearly had no intention of being developed beyond serving their purpose in the story/playing a one-dimensional character. i'd rather have that then trying to force a square peg through a round hole, trying to make me care about something that in the end doesn't matter. i guess i'm saying i appreciate the use of the tool here. the casting was great, the acting was great... don't know what else to say. i really liked it. i get the criticism that it was uneven and maybe it didn't deliver on a few things it set up, but again i feel like there was probably a lot more to this film that just had to get cut for theatrical release. i'll hold criticism on those points until i see what's on the home release. the content of this could easily have made two films, but i'm guessing no one was going to commit to that so scott tried to get it done within one. i'm prepared to give him that leeway - just as i was prepared to hate this film.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

84
Pretty much agree with everything you said, TC. My enjoyment of/esteem for the movie has grown after a couple of viewings and some good conversation. I think my main complaint at this point is that it tries to do too much, but I really like the fences they were swinging for. The two scientists in the temple were fucking morons and badly handled, though.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

88
So, this still has a slot at the local 18-screen plex through tomorrow night then moves on to the dollar joint Friday. Hope no Arkies are dumb enough to pay full first-run fare for it before then.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

89
Looks like Fox has greenlight a sequel, Scott and, well, what cast was left at the end back on board, looks like Lindelof will not be writing, possible title is "Paradise."
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

92
Some of the questions were the good kind, like "who made who?" or "what will happen next?" Speculation as to motive or upcoming events is great.

Others were the bad kind of question, caused by general confusion, like "why the hell is he doing/not doing that?" or "what the hell is going on there?"

Hopefully the sequel will answer some of both kinds.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

95
i did love this film and can't wait to see it again. but now i have other reasons for looking forward to the home release. check this out:
BleedingCool wrote:The Deleted Scenes From Prometheus Have Interesting Names

There’s still a hope that some of the deleted scenes from Ridley Scott’s Prometheus will tidy up loose ends and make sense of some thematic, plot and character confusion. Of course, these scenes are not being reinstated into the film, at least not just yet, so it’s probably more or less irrelevant.

Though this hasn’t quelled my curiosity.

Here’s the BBFC’s listing of the deleted scenes included on the upcoming home entertainment release, complete with runtimes.
00:02:31:16 (ARRIVAL OF THE ENGINEERS) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:58:05 (T’IS THE SEASON) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:42:08 (OUR FIRST ALIEN) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:42:14 (SKIN) (DELETED SCENE)
00:01:22:01 (WE’RE NOT ALONE ANYMORE) (DELETED SCENE)
00:02:57:01 (STRANGE BEDFELLOWS) (DELETED SCENE)
00:01:25:04 (HOLLOWAY HUNGOVER) (DELETED SCENE)
00:00:23:12 (DAVID’S OBJECTIVE) (DELETED SCENE)
00:03:27:07 (JANEK FILLS VICKERS IN) (DELETED SCENE)
00:03:40:12 (A KING HAS HIS REIGN) (DELETED SCENE)
00:02:01:24 (FITFIELD ATTACKS) (DELETED SCENE)
00:04:06:06 (THE ENGINEER SPEAKS) (DELETED SCENE)
00:05:30:04 (FINAL BATTLE) (DELETED SCENE)
00:05:05:19 (PARADISE) (DELETED SCENE)
holy shit, look at those run times! oh this is going to be good. just wish they had the option of "integrating" them into the film via multibranching or something...

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

97
Fucking finally I got to see this. Extremely disappointed.

This is just a mess of a film, from start to finish. A lazy, half-assed script that I can't believed Ridley Scott signed off on in the first place. He made all this fuss about wanting to know more about the "space-jockeys" but then goes and makes a film that tells you absolutely nothing of it, other than why the space-jockey was in the film in the first place (and he even manages to screw that up).

Also, there are some horrendous acting all across the board. Our swedish pride, Noomi Rapace, does well enough but some of the supporting cast are just laughably bad, trying to make dry dialogue sound interesting.

The saddest thing about Prometheus is that there is so much potential for it being something bigger, deeper and better than it is. Scott really thinks he has said something about faith, origin and humanity but doesn't realize he barely touches the subject. And when he does, it's usually through some overly explicit script solution that hits you over the head. He should have gone more for the angle of the android setting off our impending doom/the maker being destroyed by what it made. For a while there, it felt like Scott really was going for that angle but then he abandoned that for no apparent reason what so ever.

I will probably like this more, or dislike it slightly less, tomorrow but for now I have to say this is the biggest disappointment for me this year.

Re: Prometheus [Ridley Scott]

100
I think it's messy and certainly doesn't stick all the landings, but I found it entertaining and probably closest to "thought provoking" that Ridley's come in a long time.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."