I dunno, that would have been interesting, too, but it wouldn't have been as uniquely bizarre as what Prometheus ended up being. It is a slasher movie, except the murderous monster is not a xenomorph, but instead HUMAN HUBRIS.
I dunno, that would have been interesting, too, but it wouldn't have been as uniquely bizarre as what Prometheus ended up being. It is a slasher movie, except the murderous monster is not a xenomorph, but instead HUMAN HUBRIS.
Very well stated. I too rewatched the movie this past weekend hoping that I missed something ( a many somethings) the 1st time around. & No, I got it the 1st time around. Loved Alien, & Aliens but, once again a Director/producer going back to their Hit movie & trying to make "SMART". In the end the only thing that they do is Ruin the franchise with lastes piece of crap. See: Star Wars 3 - the last, Matrix 2 & 3, The God Father III, etc....
Wicked, Trixie, False. Yes, Precious, False
I loved this. It was wonderfully thoughtful, suspenseful, and emotional. I was so engaged in the whole thing all the way through that the several stupid aspects didn't really bother me.
The sequence of Elizabeth Shaw finding out she is pregnant and soon thereafter needing to remove the "baby" herself is one of the most brilliant ever. Consider how she is both unable to become pregnant and then is miraculously impregnated by the man she loves, who just died hours beforehand. Followed by learning that she is not actually pregnant but instead "infected" by something of the same sort that killed her lover. All of this tied together with her religious beliefs and her own life being threatened by a vicious newborn alien just pulled out of her own womb. This sequence simultaneously hits upon so many of the worst possible fears a woman must have and it struck me hard; the entirety of it is a brilliant concept for conveying so much at once and the execution of it was masterful, creating a palpable and visceral terror which not only engages us into the film itself but also further personifies a sheer horror that we would not otherwise be capable of fully understanding.
To me, that is filmmaking at its most successful - conveying a concept to the viewer in a way that provokes a strong physical response, emotional response, and intellectual response all at the same time. If we as human beings feel immense pain/hurt/sadness and we simply try to tell someone else how we feel, simply stating it is never nearly enough to make another feel exactly as we are feeling. We require a greater means of communication, which is often "art", to be able to truly make ourselves understood. Such a means of communication inherently implies embellishment much of the time too. If someone else has never experienced what we have experienced, then we need to heighten our description of said experiences to bring them to a level where their own mind/emotions are able to begin creating the same things we felt. Even if someone else has experienced the same things as us, that doesn't mean their emotions are still in the same place at that given point in time or that they personally reacted the same way to begin with. Film is such a wonderful method of transferring both overarching concepts/emotions and in-the-moment emotions.
Anyway, Prometheus is far more than just that one tremendous sequence. There's a great deal to involve yourself in here and I think all of the superficial missteps in the film have distracted some people from letting themselves be engaged by the whole. Simply not wanting to engage in the concepts presented here could be another issue, though, as is genre bias probably. One thing I find strange, though, is how people are criticizing the death scene of the Charlize Theron character (saying she should have rolled over, etc)? I found her performance in the film to be pretty lame, but the way she died invoked a real sense of sympathy in me. Doing everything you can to prepare yourself for the worst and create safety around you, only to be literally crushed by inescapable doom, is really sad. The execution of the moment is of course what made it work, Charlize's controlled-yet-wimpering "no, no, no, no, no" heard over the course of two shots, first a close-up side shot of the ship looming down upon her, and then a cut to a wide shot as it rolls past...all the while her arms up in the air as if she can command the situation, as she always has been able to in life. Quite tragic, really.
I don't know if this posted here or not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts
Ancient Astronauts theory is basis of this film and Riddley Scott was influenced by Erich von Daniken. If you have a little info about this you willn't be dissapointed.
Spielberg vs. the Industry. Who Will Win In The End?
Spielberg lost.
I know I'm late to the party but only watched this today. And it really was a big disappointment? It was just so silly beyond belief. And the worst part is that it took itself way too seriously.
I don't get the love for Rapace's performance. She was just so bland for me. Theron was just there and her dying scene was ridiculous. There were way too many subplots and the lack of character development bothered the hell outta me. The characters were there To pretty much just move the plot forward, with no personal drive or believable motives.
Well, it was entertaining, I guess. And the surgery scene was really well-done. But that's pretty much it. It's Scott behind it and I really was expecting much more. Oh well.
I so agree with this.Originally Posted by Zuranthium
I LOVED the movie. I have already seen it 3 times over the past 5 days. I can't help it.
I got the Blu-ray the other day for super cheap at Blockbuster, as I'm curious about the deleted scenes and something called "The Peter Weyland FIles". I had issues that many others did, namely the idiocy of some of the supporting characters, but there was a lot to like in the film. Visually it's a knockout so I'm certainly not apprehensive about watching it again.
Too bad Scott didn't just release another longer cut, but perhaps that's coming down the road.
T E A M R I V E T T E
This, but even more importantly: why was Benjamin Button in this movie????
LOL I liked this a lot, despite the undoubtedly hokey aspects.
I don’t think it abandons its questions in the second half? In fact I think it never stops complicating them. It’s in the second half we discover the aliens are created by reproduction/mixture and mutation with the engineers, with the suggestion that, since we too share DNA with the engineers, we were created the same way as aliens were, it’s in the second half we discover the engineers are against us, so the question of “Why” we were created gets way more complicated. In the first half it’s like “whoa, we share DNA with them, we come from them!”, and it’s in the second half where we discover the ugly how and discover that the “why” may be terrifying and certainly not what we wanted to hear.
In that sense, I don’t think the final scene is totally useless. A bit obvious in its connection to Alien maybe, but I think a less obvious connection (and I see some people missed that connection, judging by some posts) is with the first scene in this film. Up to that point, we had only seen the alien mutating when it reproduces itself with humans. It infects a human and comes out of him mutated into a bigger and more terrible specimen. But in the last scene we see it infects the engineers too, and uses them too as a host to mutate and grow. So, with that, the first scene is clarified: it wasn’t an engineer committing suicide on Earth and his DNA falling on water and then he creates us: it’s the engineer, in the same planet the main action happens, deliberately introducing the alien (in its most primitive form, a dark gel with some life of its own, as it moves before the engineer drinks it) in his body so that it mutates and starts growing. Granted, one could make the supposition without the last scene, but it’s obvious it would have been much more difficult to get (some haven’t even gotten it despite the last scene) and there wouldn’t be confirmation for it in any moment, it would be just a guess.
Of course this doesn’t justify all the hokey writing and the plot holes (why aren’t the aliens already huge monstrous creatures when the humans arrive to that planet, if there was already a colony of engineers the aliens could have mutated with time and time again, but instead were apparently killed by the aliens without being used to mutate?), but I wouldn’t say the second half just abandons the questions in the least. The horror of the situation makes us see the answers to our questions may be the horror too.
I would have wished these questions were in a more serious-minded sci-fi/horror film instead of in a cheesy B-movie (despite the huge budget, the hokey elements are very B-movie), meaning that it didn’t have those wholes and stupid character development/actions, and mostly I would have wished the horror was as intense as in Alien (this is thrilling in parts but never incredibly so, never edge-of-seat, and never genuinely frightening like the first Alien is), but I still think it was incredibly entertaining, hugely atmospheric, and constantly engrossing in the twists that complicate the questions it raises.
Of course I’ve written this blindly after a first view and long time after everyone’s made a zillion theories and perhaps even the film’s creators have expressly said things that render my take wrong, but that’s what I took from the film. I'll read those interpretations now.
And yeah it’s surely a handsome-looking film! Calling it “OMG the best-looking film I’ve seen” is crazy hyperbolic, but it does look great. Those Patinir-blue skies made me drool. I wonder if it was a deliberate influence, and what would it mean, if anything?
Last edited by McTeague; 02-22-2013 at 07:52 AM.
Did you see this in cinema?
I saw it in a great screen and it can easily be my favorite cinematography of the year.
Fílmicas.com
Film blogging en español
No, DVD, sadly.
Yay:
http://collider.com/noomi-rapace-prometheus-2-sequel/Rapace gave a brief update on the status of the Prometheus sequel, saying:
“They’re working on the script. I met Ridley in London a couple of weeks ago. I would love to work with him again and I know that he would like to do another one. It’s just like we need to find the right story. I hope we will.”
Here's the awards stuff I would nominate this very underrated film for:
Director
Actress
Film Editing
Art Direction
Sound Editing - WIN
Visual Effects
I really thought that this was a great movie. Not really a big fan of Ridley Scott and with the mixed reviews I expected nothing. Oh boy, was I wrong. OK, this movie is far from perfect and Guy Pearce was unnecessary like a third egg, but overall the movies is still touched with greatness.
ARE YOU READY, JESSICA?
No cinematography?
It's good, not outstanding. A little heavy on that green filter at times and I didn't see enough truly inspired lighting.
Yeah, I think the production design is so great it makes one think the photography looks better than it probably is.
T E A M R I V E T T E
The only really disappointing aspect of Prometheus is the score, I think. Well, that, and I wish there had been more Guy Pearce, every film can use more Guy Pearce. Michael Fassbender should have the Oscar Christoph Waltz won; that he wasn't even nominated is VERY STRONG PROOF WE ARE NOT LIVING IN THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS.
Yeah Fassbender's performance was great. It's a Lead role, though, and just barely misses a nom for me.
You think so? I know it begins with him, but I thought Rapace was the one and only lead in the film.
I do think Fassbender is great, though, He easily gets a nomination in supporting actor from me.
Recently watched films:
Series 7: The Contenders - **
The Island President - ****
The Friends of Eddie Coyle - ****
The Proposition - ****1/2
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - ****1/2
He's in the film from beginning to end, there are quite a few scenes that focus on just him, and thematically his character is a very important. It's a huge part and definitely Lead to me. The trend of a role being thought of as "supporting" just because it's not THE biggest Lead role in the film really annoys me.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
