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So, now I’m 48 hours removed from watching Prometheus, and it has infected my brain. I have had very little time since seeing it that I haven’t thought about it. I will write about it here without spoilers.
First, it’s absolutely beautiful. 10 minutes into the movie, I knew that if the screen went black and Ridley Scott stepped in front of me, bent over, and farted in my face for the remaining running time, I would have still enjoyed the hell out of it. It’s a comfortable feeling knowing that without a doubt, minutes into a movie, that I will be buying it on Blu-Ray. Almost every frame in the movie is worthy of framing and hanging on the wall.
The acting is superb all around. There’s not very much characterization with the secondary characters, but that’s okay, really.
The story is fantastic. I’ve really loved picking it apart, and seeing all of the different theories online on what we’d seen and what it all meant.
I have to tell you — during the movie there is a very disturbing and very intense and frantic scene that left me breathless in its absolute violence. Shortly after, I felt someone kick my chair — the person directly behind me had a fucking seizure. Not kidding. When your movie gives people seizures, you gotta be doing something right. Bryan said that when Derryk saw it with his friends, two of them had to leave the theater because they were getting sick. That’s awesome!
I remember when Contact came out and people who didn’t like it were complaining about the fact that at the end (spoiler alert!) the alien took the form of her father, so they didn’t get to see an alien. Yeah, you’re just too dumb to get it. And unfortunately, the same thing is happening with a lot of people with Prometheus. They’re saying things like, “Of course, since Damon Lindelof wrote the screenplay, there’s a lot of unanswered questions”. I can understand if you didn’t like the ending of Lost, but as I explained on my mini-show, getting there is just as important. I like the fact that I can’t explain everything I saw, and that I need to see it again to really get it. It’s better than “I want to see Hulk smash shit again!”
Now, I’m not saying The Avengers was bad — on the contrary, I loved it. But it’s a different love. Avengers is entertaining, Prometheus is thought-provoking. Avengers is popcorn fun, Prometheus is intelligent sci-fi.
I don’t really know what else to say about it without discussing plot points, so I won’t. I will most likely discuss it on my mini-show. This is a four-star movie, without a doubt.
I saw Prometheus on Saturday with some friends and after it I was convinced I had to actually watch the rest of the Alien series so I ended up doing a marathon of Alien 1-4 on Sunday.
I agree with everything you touched on Rob, from visuals to acting to story telling it was all there.
I can bet I know which scene caused the seizure in the person behind you. I had my own episode but said fuck you body and powered through.
There were only a few questions really answered and even more were opened up.I had to wait until today to see it because I wanted to wait to see it with one of my brothers. I thought it was a B-movie kind of fun – in that old fashioned “Don’t go down to the basement alone you idiot” horror style. The majority of characters were morons that way, behaving in ludicrous ways which put them in danger which was unneccessary to them as human beings (and “scientists”) but necessary to the horror beats of the plot.
Hot damn it looks great though and the sound design is masterful.
- Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.
@rob 49333 wrote:
I remember when Contact came out and people who didn’t like it were complaining about the fact that at the end (spoiler alert!) the alien took the form of her father, so they didn’t get to see an alien. Yeah, you’re just too dumb to get it. And unfortunately, the same thing is happening with a lot of people with Prometheus. They’re saying things like, “Of course, since Damon Lindelof wrote the screenplay, there’s a lot of unanswered questions”. I can understand if you didn’t like the ending of Lost, but as I explained on my mini-show, getting there is just as important. I like the fact that I can’t explain everything I saw, and that I need to see it again to really get it.
Reading around the net a bit since I saw it I see what you meant. Even the positive reviews seemed bummed out by the writing.
I think it comes down to what terms you take the movie on. It doesn’t work for me as serious Big Ideas sci-fi because the characters act like they’re in a splatter film. The scientists don’t behave like scientists, the security crew don’t behave like a security crew and the captain doesn’t behave like a captain. The complete lack of caution in the face of significant peril shown by pretty much every character means I can’t take it as seriously as the likes of Solaris, Children of Men, Inception etc.
But because they set up right from the very early scenes that these characters are traditional horror movie fodder I went with it as a B-movie and let their idiotic decisions be part of the fun and so I enjoyed it quite a bit. I obviously took the film quite differently to you guys (apart from the fact it’s awesome to look at and listen to) because I didn’t find it thought-provoking in the slightest. Maybe it’s because even though Alien is one of my Top Ten I’ve never cared about the mythology behind it and so I don’t wonder about the mysteries and ambiguities Prometheus is dealing in. I don’t care where the Engineers come from. I never cared where the xenomorphs came from either. It never mattered because to me Alien and Aliens were never about the alien or aliens.
Or maybe I don’t wonder about whatever Big Ideas Prometheus is dealing in because it didn’t have any big ideas that I haven’t come across before. Humans were seeded on Earth by aliens? The aliens themselves may have been created by God? Charlize Theron looks tremendus in form-fitting outfits? What’s new amongst any of this that I’m missing?
(I also realise “taking it as a B-movie” is pretty much my excuse for enjoying the first Transformers movie and that won’t make you love me any more Robby (and comparing Transformers to Prometheus in even this superficial way might end our mutual admiration society forever) but I couldn’t help it. I have to take movies on what I feel are their own terms and if that sounds like I’m making excuses for a film’s shortcomings then damn me to hell, I have a faulty critical brain and I’m guilty as charged.)
- Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.
I have already planned my mini show for this week. It will be about Prometheus and the recent movies I’ve watched. I will respond to your post in full, believe you me.
Fuck yeah Mini Show Ahoy!!!
Reading more stuff it seems like everyone who didn’t like it wants to stick the boot into Lindelof and gove Ridley the pass, which seems like bullshit to me. The director is the boss, right? So even if you’re a Ridley fanboy it doesn’t wash to lay all the blame at the feet of the writer.
I also see a lot of people confused by things which seemed fairly obvious to me. “Why did the Engineer attack David and Weyland and co?” How about the fact that the potentially dangerous science experiment which had been safely technologically pre-medieval and planet-bound when he laid down for a nap (on his way to wipe out said potentially dangerous science experiment no less) had found its way into his bedroom. Maybe he went apeshit because after sleeping for 2000 years he was being subjected to A FUCKING HOME INVASION!
Or people asking why Charlize and Noomi ran along the path of the crashed ship’s roll. As if in the pure terror of that moment, even if they did look behind them to see what the ship was doing, they’d be thinking straight (pun intended) anyway.
There are plenty of character motivation things which only make sense in a silly B-movie way, but people are going overboard and picking apart even things which, to me at least, make pretty obvious sense.
- Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.
For when I want to look back on this movie in 5 years and see how I responded to it in 2012 I have to keep the conversation in this thread even though you graced us with the solo show, so for also future reference here’s the link to the solo episode thread – http://www.theswitchedonshow.com/community/showthread.php?4807-Rob-s-Mini-Show-20120618&p=49353#post49353
Your point about people being capable of anything, and therefore of your being unable to see their actions as unbelievable, isn’t lost on me. People do crazy shit all the time right here on Earth, so why not under the stress of space travel and alien encounters? But when you’re writing any kind of story about people to a large extent the behaviour of your characters determines the tone of the story. Not only that but if you allow your character to behave in ways which contradict previous behaviour or information you’ve given your audience you risk fucking their suspesion of disbelief and pulling your audience out of the story. You know this stuff of course, I’m just saying it as the basis for an explanation as to why I came to regard the film as a sexy looking monster movie rather than as serious sci-fi.
The explanation goes henceforth and forthwith and forsooth and please don’t hate me Robby.
An expedition arrives at an unexplored planet. We learn that they hope/expect to find not just life but sentient life there. Rather than drop into orbit and send probes to the surface they descend to land immediately. Doesn’t seem a smart way to proceed to me but I’m still with it at this very early point mostly because my jaw is on the floor at how gorgeous it all is.
They land near some alien structure they want to explore and then rather than send out probes or robots they decide to head out in their space suits within moments of landing. This goes against the very fundamentals of survival instinct and everything we know about space travel. Not only that but it contradicts what the film has told us about the commercial side of the story. This is a multi-kazillion dollar mission. When multi-kazillions are invested a certain amount of risk management is expected. Disembarking from a spaceship very soon after landing when you know practically nothing about the environment (weather, wildlife, geological stability etc) into which you are about to stumble is retarded. It’s something morons would do. At this point I’m wondering if the movie trying to tell me these people are imbeciles or is it trying to tell me this isn’t a film in to take too seriously. So I think back to Alien. Did the truckers act like truckers? Yes. Then I think on to Aliens. Did the space marines act like space marines? Yes. So why isn’t this science team acting like scientists, let alone human beings?
“Hey, I know we’re about to head into an unexplored alien structure but let’s just be nice guys and not take any weapons ok?” Even if I do buy Shaw as a hopelessly naive idealist (and I mean hopelessly hopelessly) the commercial side of the venture stops me believing that Vickers would let the team enter the structure without their security team and the fact they’re human beings stops me believing that the rest of the team would be happy about her call.
Now, interestingly, a good part of your response to my take on the film was to address Fifield’s behaviour. Funnily enough I was completely fine with that character. He and Millburn being creeped out after holographic space ghosts ran through their expedition and they found an alien corpse made sense. Millburn going from creeped out to panicky and lost in caves to “Oh I was freaked out by that inanimate alien back there but hello strange creature that’s not only moving, it’s acting like a fucking cobra, why don’t I try to pet you?” was flat out retarded. “People act weird sometimes” only goes so far when it comes to characters flipping their behaviour and motivations 180 degrees like that. That’s just lazy writing in the service of forced peril in a splatter movie. I don’t remember anything in Alien or Aliens which felt anywhere near as sloppy as that.
That makes it sound like I hated that part of the film. But I didn’t. I enjoyed it because the opening scenes had already prepared me for characters to act like that. Holloway goes from understandably giddy with excitement to sulky babypout for no good reason at all? So what, we get to see him with a tinysnake in his eyeball. And when he, again against all understanding of human survival instinct, decides to keep tiny eyeball snake secret from everybody? It doesn’t bug me because I know the longer he’s infected by it the more fun he’s going to be later. Edris Alba’s great as the captain apart from that one moment he notices that his dead crewmate’s helmet has just appeared outside the airlock and decides incautiously to open it. This is after another of the team had been crispified by Charlize in her form-fitting outfit to stop him from bringing contaminant on board. And I thought Captain Janek had been very clear about not letting any contaminants on board his ship. So why this sudden change? It doesn’t matter, I just know I’m about to see shit hit the fan again and it’s going to be a whole lot of fun. Later Noomi becomes a star athlete moments after having her lower abdominal muscles separated from her mid abdominals. Is this believable? Not for a millisecond. Do I give a crap? No, because to me the film isn’t about believability, it’s about awesome set pieces like the robot vs space squid caesarian and two ladies running away from a 20 trillion ton steel donut and Michael Fassbender being awesome and Guy Pearce looking like Old Biff from Back To The Future 2.
Wait …
Did you say you don’t like Matchstick Men Robby? What the fuck is wrong with you? That movie is nothing short of superb. I mean, admittedly I’m biased toward both con movies and Sam Rockwell, but I think it’s comfortably in the Top Five of Ridley movies and I might even be right about this one.
- Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.
You know, all of those actions do seem suspect, but I can tell you wholeheartedly that I did not think about most of them until now. I guess I was just so enamored with the ideas being presented that the fact that scientists don’t act like scientists and Falafel and Mulberry act like idiots and Holloway not telling anyone and Captain Black Man didn’t act all Captainy (although I was distracted during this point by a seizure) and Shaw able to run flat-out after her abs have been sliced open never occurred to me. Interesting how the magic of the movie could make me see past all of this silliness. I will agree that it does seem lazy given all of the amazing amount of thought given to the rest of the story. It will be interesting to see if the director’s cut (or extended cut) touches on any of these areas. Did you see that news, by the way? That Ridley left like 30 minutes out and it will be on the Blu-Ray/DVD?
That is so strange that those things that would normally piss me off about a movie didn’t occur to me at all. Ridley must have done a good spell on me.
Now, when it comes to Matchstick Men – when I read what you had posted, I thought for a minute about why I didn’t like it. This is really strange, but actually thinking about why made me realize that I’d almost put a little flag in my head that said “No, sir, I don’t like it”, only because I wasn’t crazy about the ending (I felt like I had been conned and manipulated when it comes out that she’s not his daughter). I had a different opinion on movies back then, and the best way to describe it is the piece of poo in a tall refreshing glass of lemonade vs. my vacation road trip. If I had seen the movie today, I don’t think I would have been as harsh on it.
So thank you, Bucho, for pointing out for all to see that I’m a moron. I’m glad that there’s somebody in the world that can call me on my bullshit.
Well, at least you know the people who call you on your bullshit love you (ie your wife and me). And to be fair it’s a few years since I saw Matchstick Men myself and like I said, there were a couple of reasons for me to be biased toward it.
This has been a strange discussion though. We took the film in quite different ways but we both enjoyed it. Normally an argument about a pop culture is one person liking the thing and the other disliking it. I’m very curious about how much the extra 30 minutes might resolve some of those character issues but to be honest I’d be happy if it’s just half an hour of Fassbender being David.
- Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.
‘Tis true. And I was just kidding about the rest of that stuff!
I’m actually going to see it again tomorrow, so it’ll be interesting to see it with a new perspective now that I’ve got the story pretty much nailed down and I can enjoy the visuals (i.e., Charlize Theron).
BIG JOBBIESI watched it again. Yes, I loved it all over again. I want to watch it again. I agree about a lot of the problems that Señor Bootch brought up, but I still don’t care. I love it love it love it. Only problem is that nobody had a seizure.
This is a really damn long but really nicely done “defence” of Prometheus I thought might be right up your alley Robby.
http://www.chud.com/100388/stealing-fire-in-praise-of-prometheus/
- Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.
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