[ImmimiFruff]

Do you really want to proceed?
I'm not using spoiler shielding...

Hard to believe the original movie was 33 frick'n years ago! Oh well... So what's the nitty gritty consensus? Thumbs up or down? I give it a solid thumbs up. I gave it a 4. Actually maybe a 4.5.




In contrast my wife hated how it seemed to her to be very close the original movie themes, a bad corporation doing things behind the crew's back, screwing them over and that aspect is certainly there. But she also hated Avatar because it was Dancing With Wolves in Space. I disagreed with her there too. If you take all most any movie today it is somewhat difficult to find thoroughly original themes.

Regarding bad corporations, although David actually killed Charlie, I did not get the feeling he was really bad, just a prisoner of his programing, unlike the orignal bad robot (Ash) in Alien who I felt was really bad, although that is just emotions talking. Once his boss was dead, he offered to help Elizabeth escape the planet. And this mission was not about finding weapons, but finding our creators who might help Peter Wayland cheat death, the fool, lol. Actually I'm not sure why David would be trying to kill his crew members?? It was not really explained was it?


I thought the premise was really good, humanoids who placed humans on Earth and then changed their minds. That the alien critters that Weyland Corporation always have been trying to obtain for weapons, in actuality were originally planned as weapons by their creators.

The caesarian scene was tense, but I thought a little unrealistic. Could a woman get up and move around after having her belly and womb (assuming it was in her womb) cut open, even with pain killers?

My major critique of the movie is the blatant disrespect for quarantine procedures by crew members in the field. "Oh look the air is breathable, let's take off our helmets!", although I admit once they contacted the alien critters, it made little difference whether their helmets were on or not. It's just the principle, damn it! I was impressed that Capt Vickers was ready and able to fry an infected crew member begging her to kill him as he walked toward the ship's entry point.

I was pleasantly surprised that Janek was so willing to sacrifice himself, remaining crew members, and the ship to stop the alien humanoids from heading to Earth.

Amazing visuals and atmosphere.

What are the critiques? Don't worry I can take it.



THEY'VE GOT THEIR HELMETS OFF! JUST ANYTHING COULD SLITHER INTO ANY EXPOSE ORIFICES!! Then watch'm wriggle!

[ephennaCypota]

Its hard for me to get excited about an Alien movie anymore. On your recommendation I might check it out.

[ImmimiFruff]

Its hard for me to get excited about an Alien movie anymore. On your recommendation I might check it out.

Nooooo, wait for rental! I don't want this on my conscious.

[ephennaCypota]

OK I'll hold out for Spidey

[Itrtuawh]

Crap. How popular is this movie? I really want to see it but I hate crowded theaters. How long will I have to wait?

[ephennaCypota]

Crap. How popular is this movie? I really want to see it but I hate crowded theaters. How long will I have to wait?

Til the cows come home

[Itrtuawh]

Oh hey! Is this taking away from the Avengers at all? Maybe I can go see that finally if everyone else is seeing Prometheus.

[ephennaCypota]

Go see Avengers, crowd should be way down by now. It's been out over a month.

[AllAdobeOEMSoftDownload]

I just got back from seeing it... it's well worth seeing in the theatres. I'm giving it an 8.5/10. Not nearly as good as Alien or Aliens, but I didn't go into it expecting either one of those movies. I think that's bee most people's problem with it, is that they're expecting another Alien instead of simply looking for a good movie. I haven't see Alien in probably a good 10 years now (so I'm actually about to rewatch it), so I couldn't remember all of the plot clearly, so that probably helped me out a lot. Plus, while Prometheus can be considered part of the Alien canon, it's more of a sister franchise of its own; at least that's how Scott has explained it. I thought David was an incredibly compelling character, almost more so than anyone else... though Vickers and Janek were very intriguing in their own respects. At the same time, I wish there was a little more character development, but I suppose there's only so much that you can do in a sci-fi/horror movie when you're trying to advance the plot and make everything tense at the same time.

My issue with the c-section scene wasn't necessarily that she was up and running around afterwards, but more that the "sac" exploded and it got back inside the wound and there wasn't any decontamination of her afterwards. Though I suppose one of the shots she gave herself could have been a broad spectrum antibiotic of something. Her being up and mobile afterwards can be explained not only with the pain killers, but the pure adrenaline that was certainly coursing through her system in the aftermath of that trauma. Plus, she was obviously still dealing with the pain once her endorphin level started to taper off and the adrenaline wasn't a factor any longer.

The biggest problem that I really had with it was Shaw not wearing gloves, and then wearing gloves, and then not wearing gloves again... seemingly at random, towards the end of the movie. Aside from that, I hated how it basically ended as, "hey guess what, we're not answering anything... you're gonna have to wait for the presumptive sequel". I was also about to complain about the tentacled thing and just WTF it was... and then the last scene happened and that was made very clear.

The cinematography and atmosphere were both top notch, but I'd expect nothing less from Scott by now... the effects were also very well done. I saw it in 3D, mostly because I have some free movie passes, and 3D showings are usually empty in comparison to standard ones. But the 3D was very well done... I read some comments that the 3D was kinda pointless because there weren't any really great 3D shots; but I honestly prefer it that way. While giant purposeful 3D shots can be cool (in moderation), I just like the added depth that 3D gives you in comparison to standard film (well digital film now), and I felt like that was very well done.

Oh, and MA... I'll disagree with your wife about something. Avatar wasn't Dancing with Wolves in space, it was Pocahontas in space.

[ephennaCypota]

Oh, and MA... I'll disagree with your wife about something. Avatar wasn't Dancing with Wolves in space, it was Pocahontas in space.

I've never seen it in it's entirety, just a couple minutes worth...but now I have no plans to watch it.

[ImmimiFruff]

I just got back from seeing it... it's well worth seeing in the theatres. I'm giving it an 8.5/10. Not nearly as good as Alien or Aliens, but I didn't go into it expecting either one of those movies. I think that's bee most people's problem with it, is that they're expecting another Alien instead of simply looking for a good movie. I haven't see Alien in probably a good 10 years now (so I'm actually about to rewatch it), so I couldn't remember all of the plot clearly, so that probably helped me out a lot. Plus, while Prometheus can be considered part of the Alien canon, it's more of a sister franchise of its own; at least that's how Scott has explained it. I thought David was an incredibly compelling character, almost more so than anyone else... though Vickers and Janek were very intriguing in their own respects. At the same time, I wish there was a little more character development, but I suppose there's only so much that you can do in a sci-fi/horror movie when you're trying to advance the plot and make everything tense at the same time.

My issue with the c-section scene wasn't necessarily that she was up and running around afterwards, but more that the "sac" exploded and it got back inside the wound and there wasn't any decontamination of her afterwards. Though I suppose one of the shots she gave herself could have been a broad spectrum antibiotic of something. Her being up and mobile afterwards can be explained not only with the pain killers, but the pure adrenaline that was certainly coursing through her system in the aftermath of that trauma. Plus, she was obviously still dealing with the pain once her endorphin level started to taper off and the adrenaline wasn't a factor any longer.

The biggest problem that I really had with it was Shaw not wearing gloves, and then wearing gloves, and then not wearing gloves again... seemingly at random, towards the end of the movie. Aside from that, I hated how it basically ended as, "hey guess what, we're not answering anything... you're gonna have to wait for the presumptive sequel". I was also about to complain about the tentacled thing and just WTF it was... and then the last scene happened and that was made very clear.

The cinematography and atmosphere were both top notch, but I'd expect nothing less from Scott by now... the effects were also very well done. I saw it in 3D, mostly because I have some free movie passes, and 3D showings are usually empty in comparison to standard ones. But the 3D was very well done... I read some comments that the 3D was kinda pointless because there weren't any really great 3D shots; but I honestly prefer it that way. While giant purposeful 3D shots can be cool (in moderation), I just like the added depth that 3D gives you in comparison to standard film (well digital film now), and I felt like that was very well done.

Oh, and MA... I'll disagree with your wife about something. Avatar wasn't Dancing with Wolves in space, it was Pocahontas in space.

Exactly! You shouldn't go into a new "Aliens" movie expecting a repeat performance.

The first was a "house of horrors survival" film, a ship sent to a planet to stumble across aliens by a nasty corporation who felt the crew was expendable if necessary. The primary focus was the struggle to survive. The entire story had a lot of classic horror mistakes, ie, crew members wandering off solo or groups of two, instead of seeking strength in numbers. When Dallas went into the ducts solo, I remember saying OMG. You can argue that the breech in quarantine was because Ash let them back into the ship with an infected Kane.

Aliens was Marines coming in to kick alien butt after the lost contact with the colony on LV-426, then getting in over their heads. "Hey, maybe you haven't been keeping up with current events, but we just got our asses kicked pal!" Fairly straight forward story with lots of great James Cameron scripted action. The slimy bastard Burke, along with the little touches like the Hudson, Bishop knife game gave this movie it's flavor along with kick ass combat. Check out this:

.

[Itrtuawh]

Haha, that video is awesome, MA.

[ImmimiFruff]

I've never seen it in it's entirety, just a couple minutes worth...but now I have no plans to watch it.

Avatar or Prometheus?

[ephennaCypota]

Avatar. Never took the time to watch it.

[ImmimiFruff]

Avatar. Never took the time to watch it.

The plot is good, although not completely original if you think of indigenous civilizations being taken advantage by more advanced groups and stories like Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas. This has been told before, but not in this setting, not with this end result. The single most compelling feature of this movie is a photo realistic world created from scratch. Never been done before.

[ImmimiFruff]

It wasn't really worth it for the plot but it was definitely worth it for the visuals. It's the only movie I've seen that was worth the extra $ for 3D. I only wish I could have seen in IMAX 3D but the one chance I had it was sold out.

The last animated movie (prior to Avatar) that I thought was fantastic was Final Fantasy, the Spirits Within. Avatar makes that movie look utterly primitive. It crosses a realism threshold no movie of it's kind has reached before.

[Itrtuawh]

The plot is good, although not completely original if you think of indigenous civilizations being taken advantage by more advanced groups and stories like Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas. This has been told before, but not in this setting, not with this end result. The single most compelling feature of this movie is a photo realistic world created from scratch. Never been done before.

It wasn't really worth it for the plot but it was definitely worth it for the visuals. It's the only movie I've seen that was worth the extra $ for 3D. I only wish I could have seen in IMAX 3D but the one chance I had it was sold out.

[ImmimiFruff]

Spoiler links you could find interesting especially the first one:


Prometheus Unbound: What The Movie Was Actually About.

Prometheus Plot Synopsis.

More food for thought:

From the first link:
So how did our (in the context of the film) terrible murderous act of crucifixion end up wiping out all but one of the Engineers back on LV-223? Presumably through the black slime, which evidently models its behaviour on the user's mental state. Create unselfishly, accepting self-destruction as the cost, and the black stuff engenders fertile life. But expose the potent black slimy stuff to the thoughts and emotions of flawed humanity, and 'the sleep of reason produces monsters'. We never see the threat that the Engineers were fleeing from, we never see them killed other than accidentally (decapitation by door), and we see no remaining trace of whatever killed them. Either it left a long time ago, or it reverted to inert black slime, waiting for a human mind to reactivate it.

The black slime reacts to the nature and intent of the being that wields it, and the humans in the film didn't even know that they WERE wielding it. That's why it remained completely inert in David's presence, and why he needed a human proxy in order to use the stuff to create anything. The black goo could read no emotion or intent from him, because he was an android.

Shaw's comment when the urn chamber is entered - 'we've changed the atmosphere in the room' - is deceptively informative. The psychic atmosphere has changed, because humans - tainted, Space Jesus-killing humans - are present. The slime begins to engender new life, drawing not from a self-sacrificing Engineer but from human hunger for knowledge, for more life, for more everything. Little wonder, then, that it takes serpent-like form. The symbolism of a corrupting serpent, turning men into beasts, is pretty unmistakeable. I don't believe Ridley Scott was thinking about Prometheus in 1978 when Alien came out, so there is some artistic license involved and speculation required to imagine how the alien queen came into being. I'd have to surmise that the Engineer's experiments with black goo went wrong in different locations and they became victims of their own bio-warfare experiments. Apparently DNA mutation is involved, this is why we see different types of creatures, including the one that popped out of the dead Engineer at the end of Prometheus.

I don't buy into the concept that black goo causes different mutations based on the psyche of the creature that is near by. In retrospect, when you see the black goo flowing in the storage chamber room, there are little worms flip floping around in it. I believe these mutate into the eel like creature that attack the crew member. So what, they were bad bugs before the mutation? The other crew member becomes mutated into the thing that attacks back at the ship.

The other issue is that the canisters seemed to be rigged as bombs with triggers. All the black goo activity only started when the crew walked in. This screams weapon to me. It's easiest to go with the theory that these creatures were simply bio-weapons. The original aliens, with acid for blood seem perfectly suited to this explanation.

Then there is this from AvP Wiki:
Little is known of this race. The principal theory of their connection to the xenomorphs, which was mentioned briefly by Ridley Scott in his director's commentary for the first Alien DVD, is that the Jockey's ship was a "bomber" and that they used them as biogenic weapons to fight an ancient war. There is some evidence to support this, such as the Xenomorph's biomechanical nature. Alien eggs were believed to be used as "bombs" on an enemy planet and then the Xenomorphs would proceed to kill the entire population as they spawned. I've been thinking about the alien that Elizabeth Shaw became impregnated with. It seems like this creature was the equivalent of the face hugger, but instead of developing in an egg, it was developing in her belly. This is why it still performed the face hugging maneuver on the Engineer.