Prometheus

[Bryancd]

Yeah, I really wanted to do a comment but I forgot. Stupid work and all. Alien 3 has a great character...bald English guy that gets his head eaten by an Alien...he's got about 13 twins!!! :D

:roflmao

We address that frequently.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Saw it in 3-D (not by choice really) and was pretty disappointed in Prometheus. Its not that the movie is poorly made or anything, it just never sucked me into its atmosphere, the story was dull and the characters forgettable. The movie felt like it had something more, but just couldn't get rolling to grab the energy it needed to be an engaging movie. It lacked punch and a feeling of rushed disjointedness which was a bit of an odd feeling to get from the movie. Also, it felt bored of itself, which makes me scratch my head.  Worst of all, it felt really bland.

What I did like:
[spoiler]Android character was the best character of the bunch and had some interesting things going on. But even then, a bit predictable in some cases.
Great CGI, It was very good to look at.
The creepy vibe I got from watching the holograms of the engineers.
The probes were cool and I liked watching the hologram of them scanning that area.
The idea of the movie. [/spoiler]

Nitpick/spoiler corner:
[spoiler]
Dumb secondary characters, someone already talked about it earlier in this thread, but those guys never should have been on this expedition. I'm not even sure why they were in the movie other than to die. And even so, I wish we had a reason to feel sympathetic, but I never felt like we had any reason to be.

The main character did nothing for me. She was confusing and at times felt like a spoiled brat. The guy? His emotional "depression" came out of left field and was hard to believe. [/spoiler]

Overall, it was a great disappointment to me. Especially after hearing you guys talk about it. I can't recommend this movie, I just left the theater with a very meh feeling afterwards.

King

[X]

Saw it in 3-D (not by choice really) and was pretty disappointed in Prometheus. Its not that the movie is poorly made or anything, it just never sucked me into its atmosphere, the story was dull and the characters forgettable. The movie felt like it had something more, but just couldn't get rolling to grab the energy it needed to be an engaging movie. It lacked punch and a feeling of rushed disjointedness which was a bit of an odd feeling to get from the movie. Also, it felt bored of itself, which makes me scratch my head.  Worst of all, it felt really bland.

What I did like:
[spoiler]Android character was the best character of the bunch and had some interesting things going on. But even then, a bit predictable in some cases.
Great CGI, It was very good to look at.
The creepy vibe I got from watching the holograms of the engineers.
The probes were cool and I liked watching the hologram of them scanning that area.
The idea of the movie. [/spoiler]

Nitpick/spoiler corner:
[spoiler]
Dumb secondary characters, someone already talked about it earlier in this thread, but those guys never should have been on this expedition. I'm not even sure why they were in the movie other than to die. And even so, I wish we had a reason to feel sympathetic, but I never felt like we had any reason to be.

The main character did nothing for me. She was confusing and at times felt like a spoiled brat. The guy? His emotional "depression" came out of left field and was hard to believe. [/spoiler]

Overall, it was a great disappointment to me. Especially after hearing you guys talk about it. I can't recommend this movie, I just left the theater with a very meh feeling afterwards.

King

King, just so you know...

[spoiler]The whole problem with depression is that it comes out of left field. It's never a planned event and can really happen at any time. From your description, seems like they nailed the whole depression thing.[/spoiler]

[Bryancd]

Again, very valid and fair criticisms, Tim. God I want to discuss this so badly with you guys!!

[Bromptonboy]

Ok, here is my tongue-in-cheek imagining of some of the crucial meeting minutes to the committee sending out the Prometheus mission:
[spoiler]"We originally thought to send senior level scientists, with extensive training and xenobiology experience on this critical mission to meet our 'Creators' - and possibly find the answers to the meaning of life.....but we have rethought our position.  The current thinking is that we should take a different approach.  We feel that a group of 20-something's with no experience or foundations in scientific methods would work out better to represent humanity meeting our creators.  Better yet, they should exhibit anti-social behavior, be loners, and not be familiar with the mission background, or their fellow team-mates until 20 minutes before they make first contact - when we will explain all by a confusing hologram video by an old guy who explains very little.  Better yet, we will stow him on the ship unbeknownst to all but the androd...oh, and maybe his daughter....who is going along not because of her people skills, but as eye-candy to create further tension.."
[/spoiler]

[Bryancd]

^LOL!! I thought I read something similar the other day on another forum.

[Rico]

You know...

[spoiler]It really didn't bother me much that most of the crew were basically "redshirts" and seemed to have no real function.  I would have liked to know more about them, but the story really just focused on the main scientists and their discovery.

Oh, one little side thing I was maybe going to mention on my mini-review on the last podcast.  Those little cave painting star maps somehow led them to this one star system???  I mean - come on!  It was a cluster of like 5 stars.  Even if you could find the right pattern in the sky (and that I find unlikely knowing something about astronomy), how do you pick just one?  Anyway, just little quibble.[/spoiler]

[Bromptonboy]

You know...

[spoiler]It really didn't bother me much that most of the crew were basically "redshirts" and seemed to have no real function.  I would have liked to know more about them, but the story really just focused on the main scientists and their discovery.

Oh, one little side thing I was maybe going to mention on my mini-review on the last podcast.  Those little cave painting star maps somehow led them to this one star system???  I mean - come on!  It was a cluster of like 5 stars.  Even if you could find the right pattern in the sky (and that I find unlikely knowing something about astronomy), how do you pick just one?  Anyway, just little quibble.[/spoiler]

[spoiler] Yes, I don't mind that they are red-shirts - but at least Trek red-shirts are team players and don't do stupid things (beyond signing up as redshirts..).  They could have had all the blood and gore they like, I just like things to make sense - like a decent crew that actually fits the enormity of the mission they are undertaking.  You are spot on about the star pattern.  Which leads me to another quibble of mine: I would have like to have seen better storytelling about the Engineers monitoring and involvement with our civilization through the ages.  Maybe some of that will be made apparent in an extended edition - or sequel. How did those star patterns appear in cave paintings?  Other than the DNA & Helix going over the waterfall (presumably on Earth) - we see no other interactions.  [/spoiler]

[Bryancd]

You know...

[spoiler]It really didn't bother me much that most of the crew were basically "redshirts" and seemed to have no real function.  I would have liked to know more about them, but the story really just focused on the main scientists and their discovery.

Oh, one little side thing I was maybe going to mention on my mini-review on the last podcast.  Those little cave painting star maps somehow led them to this one star system???  I mean - come on!  It was a cluster of like 5 stars.  Even if you could find the right pattern in the sky (and that I find unlikely knowing something about astronomy), how do you pick just one?  Anyway, just little quibble.[/spoiler]

[spoiler] Yes, I don't mind that they are red-shirts - but at least Trek red-shirts are team players and don't do stupid things (beyond signing up as redshirts..).  They could have had all the blood and gore they like, I just like things to make sense - like a decent crew that actually fits the enormity of the mission they are undertaking.  You are spot on about the star pattern.  Which leads me to another quibble of mine: I would have like to have seen better storytelling about the Engineers monitoring and involvement with our civilization through the ages.  Maybe some of that will be made apparent in an extended edition - or sequel. How did those star patterns appear in cave paintings?  Other than the DNA & Helix going over the waterfall (presumably on Earth) - we see no other interactions.  [/spoiler]

I believe we are to understand..
[spoiler]Thatthe Engineers had been visiting us over the millenium, ending about 2000 years ago when they decided to eradicate us and restart life on Earth.[/spoiler]

[Bromptonboy]

I believe we are to understand..
[spoiler]Thatthe Engineers had been visiting us over the millenium, ending about 2000 years ago when they decided to eradicate us and restart life on Earth.[/spoiler]

Yes but..  :)
[spoiler]I got that, and I got more from the interview you posted in a spoiler link earlier -which I went back and read after seeing the film.  This is such cool kernel of an idea that I find so compelling.  Which magnifies my dissatisfaction with the implementation.  The last time I got my hopes up like this - was with that Ewan Macgregor & Scarlett Johannsen movie 'The Island' - which started out as such a thought-provoking ethic-twisting idea, but degenerated into a overblown chase scene action film for the final part.  Ok, gotta bring myself down and stop my 'nerdy ranting'...   ;) [/spoiler]

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Ok, here is my problem with the guy getting depressed:
[spoiler]We are on the planet for a total of maybe 6 hours and we had only explored one "small" building on what seems to be a giant planet. We can't really claim we've seen everything there is to see and it's quite possible that there are engineers on the other side of the planet. And then he gets all depressed? I mean, it would be like they landed on Earth on one of our islands near the US, it's entirely possible that there are thousands of engineers not 50 miles away from them. Idk, did someone say they scanned the planet and I missed that?

But I'm just saying, he gave out on hope way too quickly for me to buy into it. [/spoiler]

King

[Bromptonboy]

Ok, here is my problem with the guy getting depressed:

King

I agree:
[spoiler]I really don't see any dramatic reason for his depression.  It really ads no tension to the plot.  It seems there were plenty of other ships and domes on the planet, so why hope that there are other things to be learned on one of them?  Not everyone is as uncompromising in their storytelling as Stanley Kubrick...[/spoiler]

[Bryancd]

Ok, here is my problem with the guy getting depressed:

King

I agree:
[spoiler]I really don't see any dramatic reason for his depression.  It really ads no tension to the plot.  It seems there were plenty of other ships and domes on the planet, so why hope that there are other things to be learned on one of them?  Not everyone is as uncompromising in their storytelling as Stanley Kubrick...[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I would say it actually lessens the tension of the entire head autopsy scene. This is an amazing discovery and then the head explodes...and Charlie just sits there drinking and shrugs i off and slinks away.[/spoiler]

[Bryancd]

And not to be too heavy handed but...

[spoiler]Captain putting up a Christmas tree.
Reference to a defining event 2000 years ago
Weyland having his feet washed
multiple references to a crucifix and faith
A barren woman (virgin) giving birth
The crucified xeno alter piece
The goo serpent that came from the pursuit of forbidden knowledge that attacks Millburn
The Engineer that sacrifices himself for man
[spoiler]

[KingIsaacLinksr]

And not to be too heavy handed but...

[spoiler]Captain putting up a Christmas tree.
Reference to a defining event 2000 years ago
Weyland having his feet washed
multiple references to a crucifix and faith
A barren woman (virgin) giving birth
The crucified xeno alter piece
The goo serpent that came from the pursuit of forbidden knowledge that attacks Millburn
The Engineer that sacrifices himself for man
[spoiler]

[spoiler]Hmm....I didn't catch that but your right, that does seem to be the general theme of this movie...ergh....not sure what I should think about it. [/spoiler]

King