DistantStorm posted:

Took my dad to see it tonight; we both dug it. I'll probably see it again w/ some friends over the weekend, in IMAX 3D, if possible. This is the rare movie that would greatly benefit from an expanded scope and depth.

It definitely retains quite a bit of the thought provoking elements of Scott's other sci fi offerings; I was particularly struck by the parallels w/ Blade Runner's search for the Answer, and acknowledging the possibility of there not being one.

I do wish there had been a bit more of that, and less mind numbing utter stupidity on the parts of many of the explorers:

SPOILERS:
What kind of piss poor "scientists", upon entering an ancient temple on an ALIEN PLANET, that hasn't been inhabited in THOUSANDS of years, decide to whip off their protective helmets, just because the sensor scans read the atmosphere as safe? How could sensors designed on earth possibly be calibrated for every possible galactic contaminant? Also, how does the guy w/ the flying mapping probes get lost on his way out of the structure?

And WHY THE FUCK would ANYONE think it's a good idea to go sticking your hand in the "face" of an alien creature that's basically an albino space cobra? The fucking thing is HISSING at you! Why the fuck are you getting CLOSER to it?! You're an idiot and you deserve the painful death you received.
/SPOILERS

Those were a few of my main points of contention with some laziness in the script. All in all it's an extremely impressive movie, and visually, quite a darkly beautiful one; nice to see such prominent featuring of Giger designs on such a large scale. It'll be interesting to see where they might go w/ it in the presumed sequel.

posted:

According to a few online sources, the planet is LV-223 is a moon to a giant gas ring world called Calpamos. Calpamos has three moons, one is 223 (the planet in Prometheus), the second is Acheron, or 'LV-426' (the planet from Alien) and a third one, unnamed to my knowledge. Calpamos, the saturn-like planet, is a part of a bigger system called Zeta Reticuli, which all orbit a star called Gliese 86. Much like our solar system, and our sun.

Obviously they're nearby each other but for those who don't know, these planets are all pretty near each other in the cosmic perspective of the Alien/Prometheus Universe.

First topic: in a forum, another person posted this, "Since the original ALIEN was directed by Ridley Scott, why wouldn't he have that film be the main connection to PROMETHEUS, after all the original was his baby."

In response to that, I wrote this.

Ridley Scott explained in a youtube interview I watched about how he'd need several movies to connect Prometheus to the first Alien. This isn't to say that the Alien born at the end of Prometheus does NOT connect the first Alien movie; actually quite contrary - it DOES connect them, but in such a vast perspective. You can't just have the first Xeno that was ever born form the story of the first Alien film - if you remember, there are thousands of Xeno eggs in Alien and there are many many years holding between the events of Prometheus and the events of Nostradamus and LV-426.

Let me interrupt myself by saying also, that I absolutely HATE how much negative criticism and reception Prometheus is getting for this topic alone. I just explained in a paragraph what whole entire threads and/or forums are (still) arguing about, when clearly they don't even like the Alien franchise enough to really justify any sort of positive outlook on why and how Prometheus and the events contained therein are, in fact, relevant and do, in fact, have serious significance in the perspective of both storylines. Not only that, but who gives a flying f___... Both films, completely separate from each other, are outstanding and absolute science-fiction masterpieces in their own respects. I've honestly offered for anyone to validly argue against me in this, and so far, I have no takers. If I did, however, be prepared.

Back to the math.

Second, everyone speculates things about the android David 8 and Peter Weyland. Weyland is not stupid, he's colonized how many planets and he has how much money. I am almost positive he knew about the planet before they reached it. Just as he lied about being alive during the film, well why would he tell anyone any of his REAL true agendas. Entitled with that is David 8 himself. What does David 8 say to the Engineer when he is awoken? Who knows. Maybe David knew already about things. He seems to know a lot more than the audience is led to believe though, considering his actions with the dark matter, the placement of it to Holloway, and his complete understanding of the Engineers' piloting system... it's not hard to believe those things are true.

Now, If that is the case, then I'd say it's reasonable to assume that somebody, somewhere, high up, wearing a suit, in a nice white office, knew about the crew and events would happen on LV-426 (Alien) even though it was completely uncharted and unknown. That's a pretty far-cry and bold thing to assume, but even if it isn't true, it really doesn't matter. Those events already happened, it's done with. The 'company' is always the speculation and the means of mystery and unanswered question.

Which leads me to say, all that is really quite unimportant to the real true question: the one that EVERYONE, and I really mean everyone, has been asking about with Prometheus, which I am going to blow your minds' with if you're really interested.

Want to know what it is? Well, the same guy from that other forum answered it in his own ramblings. He said this:

"- All hell broke lose, all test subjects where destroyed besides Shaw, but with having Weyland put to death by his own impatience and greediness, the mission had failed."

Voila! That's the answer.

Believe it or not, I really think from everything I've seen (and because of how obsessed and in love with this film that I am) that Prometheus really has nothing to do with being a prequel to Alien. It's more of the question of 'what next?' and 'what if?'.

In an interview, Ridley Scott words it perfectly: when asked this question, "What would a prequel to Alien be, and why is this not it?" Ridley answers:

"It started off as a, unanswered question. The very first Alien I did, knowing I watched with a kind of bemusement that, no one picked up as a whole plotline, that the unanswered question was, "whose the big guy in the seat for god's sake", and no one answered it...."

He later is asked what he'd want audiences to know about Prometheus. His answer is "Nothing and everything". This is perfect. Let me explain.

He goes on to tell how Prometheus is a challenging idea, there are different levels of information, and has a strong narrative. I personally don't think the problem critics and people have with the film is that everyone wants an answer. But Ridley wants to leave the audience with the feeling of wanting to see a sequel. And really, that's what it's all about.

So, again...

What next?

What if?

Going back, and to finalize, that guy comments how 'all hell breaks loose and everything falls apart'. To answer, the mission is failed, the creatures are open and loose and nothing has gone right. THIS is the beauty of Prometheus.Why does nobody see that? The beauty and sheer magnificence of this storyline, is that everything IS/WAS a mistake! The Engineers didn't mean for a Xenomorph to be born! The Engineers didn't mean for the human race to be born! This is why the whole entire opening scene is so dramatic. We don't have the answers of why the Engineer at the start is there or what he did to receive punishment. But who cares! This storyline is about the events following that. And there is more beauty within the mystery, too. I think it's awesome to speculate where the Engineers came from and why they do and are what they do, what they are. What were they running from in the hologram? Why would they build SO MUCH of the dark matter weapon when clearly only a small amount of it could have wiped out Earth as planned? Maybe they had a second reason for all that weaponry of mass destruction? These are questions that I absolutely love to think about.

The problem with movie critics is that they hear these questions and say, 'well, this is a stupid movie if there is nothing to answer the where and the how and the why'. I find it hilarious how angry many, many thousands of people are from Prometheus, because they don't have an answer. And what's more funny, is the most asked plot-line questions are actually the ones that can be answered, but they don't care or enjoy the Alien series really enough to go through it and find the answers as I have done.

In another argument in the same (Prometheus-Film) forum, a topic is brought up to argue that 'supplemental material for a movie should not be absolutely necessary in order to piece together a plot for a movie'. To this argument, I agree 50% and disagree 50%. You can't say that every movie you see that contains supplemental material (i.e., the internet, games, interviews, etc.) is worth finding the answers for. I have seen a couple films where I didn't care enough to find the supplemental material, and therefore didn't like the movie as much because of that. However, I don't complain about the movie, either. It's also not fair to say that a movie that doesn't contain supplemental material never should. In fact, I think it's much more intriguing and interesting to be able to go through and find 'more'. To argue against me, they stated that even though it may be more interesting and fun, it's not what everyone wants to do, and also Ridley Scott and others shouldn't be making movies with that purpose.

My answer is this: Ridley and other directors/producers aren't ever making movies to be a 'fun treasure hunt'. That's just ridiculous. They're making a good film to make a good film. Just because it may have extra material on their official-movie website that helps progress and understand the plot line better, doesn't mean it was ever necessary to make the movie interesting or good. But that stuff is neither here nor there, Prometheus was well done in leaving some mystery and suspense but also connecting a couple (not all, most importantly) of the dots. Which is very well done, in its own respect.

In any case, the chaos and 'falling apart' feeling that Prometheus has is truly the beginning of an awesome and terrible universe with Xenomorphs, humans, space travel, war, and disarray. This theme (which by the way, IS SUPPOSED TO BE a dark and foreboding theme, and is done absolutely perfectly and beautifully) is finally being commenced with Prometheus. David 8 states the theme in one sentence, one that has such magnitude for anyone who knows and loves these movies as much as I do.

He says "Big things have small beginnings."





What now?