Prometheus - on Blu-Ray and DVD Oct. 9, 2012

[EXO]

Alien resurrection the android was named Annalee call.

Ash

Bishop

Call

David

[chowyunskinny]

What David said to the Engineer:

http://io9.com/5920183/what-exactly-did-david-say-to-%5Bredacted%5D-in-prometheus

[VFTF1]

Hm. That link mainly contains massive amounts of arguments in favor of the theory that Prometheus is actually a Simpsons spin off

I saw it on the internet due to it not getting a release in Poland until late July (all movie releases are being pushed to July because of the Euro 2012 taking up everybody's evenings)... I will see it in the cinema in July - but for now, I must say I'm moderately happy with it.... I kind of missed the aesthetics of the actual Aliens...the new T2-ish aliens are...well...it just looks like something out of the Abyss.... but the story is good - and that's what counts!

This definitelydeserves a sequel :-)

[Noriko Takaya]

It just dawned on me that Elizabeth Shaw is also the name of the third Doctor's companion in Doctor Who. And she is also a doctor. Hmm...

[Einherjar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo0eDetRLV4&feature=plcp

Six seasons and a movie!

[Graham]

Finally have time to watch this at the cinema tomorrow. More than a week later than I planned, but oh well.

Graham

[Oihan]

DarkNemesis25 @Fauxcused

I think the audience(us) as a whole are just so flooded by high quality media that if a big budget movie or a movie from a big franchise dosn't live up to its hype or bypass decades worth of thousands of movies then its complete crap.. It's pretty insane how we expect every new movie to be better than the best and if it isnt its crap..

imagine showing transformers or avatar to someone in the 18th century.. The fact of technological breakthrough or artistic creativity should factored into a movies greatness, not just whether the plot was absolutely perfect.

I'm kind of getting sick of people bashing perfectly respectable movies, Avatar and Watchmen included. Some vary talented people put allot of hard work on those films

I felt this was worth quoting and repeating....

[reddsun1]

I kinda enjoyed Watchmen as well--even if Jeffrey Dean Morgan did mail his performance in... And yes, I too was a little angry with the ending. *Where's the giant octopus, dammit?!?*

But would one argue with an original writer/creater himself? IIRC, Alan Moore was never enthusiastic about the Watchmen film--basically denounced it, refused to see it--or the adaptations of his other works either?

Edited June 22, 2012 by reddsun1

[Keith]

I felt this was worth quoting and repeating....

But Avatar "was" crap.

[danth]

I felt this was worth quoting and repeating....

Looks like that's just an apologist defending bad storytelling.

[Penguin]

First off, "objective opinion" is an oxymoron. To be objective means to present a fact without bias or opinion.

I felt this was worth quoting and repeating....

I think that quote's got some pretty weak reasoning. Any piece of art will be evaluated within the context of the person and the moment at which it's experienced. That quote is basically as silly saying something is "objectively bad"... it's arguing there's some sort of "perfectly respectable" standard for movies that transcends opinion.

I kinda enjoyed Watchmen as well--even if Jeffrey Dean Morgan did mail his performance in... And yes, I too was a little angry with the ending. *Where's the giant octopus, dammit?!?*

But would one argue with an original writer/creater himself? IIRC, Alan Moore was never enthusiastic about the Watchmen film--basically denounced it, refused to see it--or the adaptations of his other works either?

Y'know, I actually preferred the movie ending. I thought the giant cloned mutant psychic octopus a little over the top (is that redundant?), while the idea of faking Manhattan gone mad was much more effective, and carried some interesting symbolism (weapon turning on its owners and all that).

Really, Moore's opinion is meaningless. "The author is dead", and all that. Watch it, decide for yourself, move on.

Looks like that's just an apologist defending bad storytelling.

Actually, it's just as off base as some previous posts I've seen in this thread.

There is no unbiased standard for judging a movie. Even the technical aspects of filmmaking, which are about the only aspects that could come close to being evaluated factually (e.g. the sound mix was so bad I couldn't hear the dialogue), count for damn little in most people's opinion.

I saw Prometheus with someone who was indifferent to Alien and to Ridley Scott, and even to science fiction... someone who pretty much sums up the mythical "reasonable unbiased" person mentioned earlier (mythical, because there is no such thing as an unbiased person). That person enjoyed the film as much I did, and I am a huge fan of Alien and of Scott.

I've read a lot of reviews punishing Prometheus for not being the movie they wanted it to be (in most cases, the perfect Alien prequel). I don't think that's particularly fair, but whatever.

I've also read a lot of reviews that throw the term "plot hole" around as if the author understands the term. A plot hole is a logical inconsistency within the film. I'd argue that what Prometheus has are plot omissions. It simply doesn't tell you a damn thing. A bunch of scientists bungle around a place they don't understand, touching buttons and whatnot, and bad things happen, and no magical narrator comes out to spoon-feed you the meaning of it all. Now, if that isn't a style a person enjoys, then they're going to be disappointed in the film. But unless you're a giant cloned mutant psychic octopus (See what I did there? ... Man, am I clever) who can read Scott and Lindelhoff's minds (before, y'know, killing them all horribly in the psychic backwash caused by your fatal teleportation... but I digress), then saying they forgot to fill in those details, or were being lazy, as opposed to meaning to leave the audience in the dark is groundless supposition. Personally, my friends and I thought it was a kinda refreshing approach. Not that we'd want every film to leave us dangling, but this once it was fun.

Prometheus isn't a "bad" movie. It's a movie you didn't like, and that's fine.

<Edited to move a line that looked like it was directed at Oihan, but wasn't.>

Edited June 23, 2012 by Penguin

[jenius]

An omission that makes your characters look stupid and unbelievable isn't clever writing. Omissions that make it seem like your characters are acting without motivation or provocation isn't clever either. I agree it's not a bad movie but it isnt' particularly well written.

[Omegablue]

Shrugs.

Not emotional at all, I just don't agree with what you've said or your opinion of the movie and it's intent or your opinion of those that didn't have an overwhelmingly positive view of it (Prometheus).

A modern reinvention of Alien? Why? Because some review/reviewers want to invariably draw comparisons because Alien and Prometheus share the same director and similar plot devices (human ship lands on alien world, encounters scary alien, people die). Just think about it why would you want to use those opinions to further your assertion that Prometheus = remake = alternate universe?

BUT if you want to believe that, then knock yourself out, but don't try to pass off your opinions as facts when they don't reconcile with what the director, writers, studio, major news outlets and average fans know and understand. This is a prequel, in that it takes place in-universe with Alien and Aliens before said stories transpire as well as helping to flesh out small parts of what happened/what was shown in Alien.

Hell just say "I wish this was an alternate timeline or reboot" and keep it moving - but don't try to make it so or make others see it that way just because it fits your sensibilities.

And if additional movies are made and if they take the story further away from what transpired in older movies in the series (Alien thru Alien Resurrection) then so be it, but it doesn't make this alternate universe, it just makes them their own stand-alone stories.

And I love how you ignored the person that replied directly to you by saying "who gives a sh!t" to one of your posts but tried to make me the target of your angst.

-b.

So you're saying only your opinion is right. And that's it?

Lindelof even said so that if a sequel to Prometheus happens, it's going to further devaite it from the first Alien film's timeline!

Must it be typed in Spanish or Japanese for you to understand that?

And yes it makes more sense on a business plan, which what this industry is all about, to have it as a alternative Universe or setting it up as a potential remake, cause it means more films, more money. MONEY. This is what it's all about.

And yes, again, the events in Prometheus are too GRAND to never be mentioned in the original Alien films, which clearly means diffirent timeline.

Think about it. In the orginal Alien films it's all about the company finding the Xenomorphs. Great, fantastic. But would it not MAKE more sense to have gone straight to source where Prometheus landed?

By going directly to LV-223, makes more sense than have these secret little missions covertly monitored by a random android on some towing ship? Right? And say it's stand alone stories... then it's really a fanboy watering it down...

And yes, I'm taking this film like a prequel, or better yet, a beginning to the Alien Mythos. Not a direct prequel to the original Alien film, as logically, already from the technology, and the sudden disappearance of the historic events of Prometheus from the supposedly next four films, makes zero sense when all five scripts lined up together.

And yes, should there be a sequel to Prometheus, which Ridley already said will take off right from it's ending, and if it does well from Blurays to collectables, it makes logical and financial sense to ultimately remake Alien to tie it properly, and sell new Bluray box sets. Why? More money.

I understand the loyality the Alien fans have devoted towards this franchise, and it is because of that love, that most of them are struggling to see that Prometheus is a prequel to the Alien mythology, not directly to the original film.

As for the one member that said he doesn't give a sh!t, well as I already said, I treat others how they want to be treated, so I didn't give a sh!t about replying to him.

[Omegablue]

Here's another explaination of Prometheus. Those that know the Sumeriam tales, might appreaciate the film a bit more...

http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7436

[Vile]

Well, I thought it was an okay movie but it didn't push any buttons the way Alien or Aliens did when I first saw them.

An omission that makes your characters look stupid and unbelievable isn't clever writing. Omissions that make it seem like your characters are acting without motivation or provocation isn't clever either. I agree it's not a bad movie but it isnt' particularly well written.

http://hijinksensue.com/2012/06/18/the-fassbender-and-the-furious/

[Kurisama]

http://io9.com/5920723/prometheus-makes-much-more-sense-when-you-watch-a-weyland-science-training-session

[Graham]

Saw the movie yesterday and loved it. Planning to go see it a second time and will definitely buy the DVD when it's out.

Given how adept the Engineers (Space Jockeys) are at genetic/biological engineering, I didn't find anything in Prometheus that obviously contradicted anything in Alien or Aliens.

The way I look at it, they have probably created many different types of biological weapons, which all evolve differently (or not).

Anyway, great movie. Best movie I've seen since Inception. My only complaint, it was too short.

Graham

[Mog]

Think about it. In the orginal Alien films it's all about the company finding the Xenomorphs. Great, fantastic. But would it not MAKE more sense to have gone straight to source where Prometheus landed?

Maybe the Prometheus sequels will cover this or mention this in passing.

By going directly to LV-223, makes more sense than have these secret little missions covertly monitored by a random android on some towing ship? Right? And say it's stand alone stories... then it's really a fanboy watering it down..

Maybe they will go back to LV-223. But considering the results of this first mission and considering the potential of running into the Space Jockeys/Engineers again (who BTW want to destroy our race), there's probably quietier, less costly ways to go about collecting these alien biological weapons.

And yes, I'm taking this film like a prequel, or better yet, a beginning to the Alien Mythos. Not a direct prequel to the original Alien film, as logically, already from the technology, and the sudden disappearance of the historic events of Prometheus from the supposedly next four films, makes zero sense when all five scripts lined up together.

Because clearly, an ultra-super-powerful, mega-corporation that's practically more influential than most nations in-universe wants it to be public knowledge that their iconic founder and leader went on a wild space adventure to try and stay immortal and got killed in the process by an alien race that created life on earth.

And this ultra-powerful corporation wants everyone in the public to know that this trillion-dollar space mission resulted in the destruction of their ultra-advanced spaceship and the loss of everyone on board (except for the severed head of an android and one female scientist).

Oh! And did we mention that both the corporation's founder (Peter Weyland) and his daughter also died on this mission?

And you know what? Let's let our competitors know that we've discovered a biological weapon that could reveal a number of technological and scientific discoveries. Let's share this information with them and allow them to make profits off of something we discovered and paid for in blood and in sacrifices.

I understand the loyality the Alien fans have devoted towards this franchise, and it is because of that love, that most of them are struggling to see that Prometheus is a prequel to the Alien mythology, not directly to the original film.

I have nothing against what you said in bold.

But until the eventual sequels prove otherwise, your theory about about this being an alternate universe is where I think you go off-base.

While I consider the film fairly enjoyable, I still think it's flawed. And it's not because I have some massive devotion to the original Alien films that I consider it flawed. It's because of all the pre-requisites you need to watch to fully appreciate the film and the plot omissions/questions in the film itself.

As a stand-alone film, it fails in that regard. Maybe sequels will answer those questions that Prometheus generated. But until then, Prometheus still gets an "It's okay, but . . . " incomplete grade from me.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Mog

[renegadeleader1]

The fact that this movie lives or dies by its sequel and what it will reveal is telling. If movie number 2 is more of the same with people doing weird things without provocation and more "what the hell is going on?" Moments its not going to go over well.

I agree Prometheus isn't that well written. Take Empire Strikes Back for example. Imagine if the scene were Luke first sees Obi Wan's ghost on Hoth isn't there or the mynock scene doesn't happen. You'll wonder how the hell Luke knows about Dagobah, or why Han pilots the Falcon out of a perfectly safe cave right into the impirial fleet. No Boba Fett? How the hell did the Empire know to get to bespin? This is what's going on with Prometheus right now. Key moments seem to be missing, and people are doing things for no clear sane reason.

Edited June 24, 2012 by renegadeleader1

[Negotiator]

Prometheus = fun ride, looks beautiful, will buy on Blu-Ray. Bad script/editing who knows...it's no EVA.

[Omegablue]

Maybe the Prometheus sequels will cover this or mention this in passing.

Perhaps, but oddly enough will never appear in the original Alien films...

Maybe they will go back to LV-223. But considering the results of this first mission and considering the potential of running into the Space Jockeys/Engineers again (who BTW want to destroy our race), there's probably quietier, less costly ways to go about collecting these alien biological weapons.

But Earth has no idea the Jockeys want to destroy us, unless by assumption of Prometheus failed return, or a detour back from the supposedly sequel?

Otherwise no. It's pointless wasting resources in hunting a specie, when it's origins can be plucked up with a professional team on LV233, and not some more stupid researchers.

The Jockeys really aren't that threatening considering their ships can crash, and the bleed like us.

Because clearly, an ultra-super-powerful, mega-corporation that's practically more influential than most nations in-universe wants it to be public knowledge that their iconic founder and leader went on a wild space adventure to try and stay immortal and got killed in the process by an alien race that created life on earth.

And where does this come from?

Did I say they need to announce it to the world like a reality show?

First world nations these days go to war to feed their profit machine, and 90% of the world buys it cause they're advertised as the good guys. So perhaps the company could take a similar approuch?

And this ultra-powerful corporation wants everyone in the public to know that this trillion-dollar space mission resulted in the destruction of their ultra-advanced spaceship and the loss of everyone on board (except for the severed head of an android and one female scientist).

Well if this is your point, they advertised to the world that they sent a 3 trillion Dollar mission and it hasn't returned. So yes, as mighty as the company might be, the world will want to know what happened? Regardless of the actual facts released, which they won't know as Prometheus never returned. And the usual accident story won't cut it, because a 3 trillion Dollar mission needs answers, and the company will also want to explore what went wrong. And again, what does announcing their plansto the world , have to do with my view? I stated that the events of Prometheus are too grand to never be hinted in the original Alien films, and still makes no sense for those films to directly tie with Prometheus, unless in the sequel LV-223 gets blown up? What then how? Why? It's just going to dig out more holes in the whole saga.

Oh! And did we mention that both the corporation's founder (Peter Weyland) and his daughter also died on this mission?

You really got stuck on this rather point...

And you know what? Let's let our competitors know that we've discovered a biological weapon that could reveal a number of technological and scientific discoveries. Let's share this information with them and allow them to make profits off of something we discovered and paid for in blood and in sacrifices.

Again, read above... You're thinking like an overnight script filler, instead of putting all five films together, and seeing they can't line up nicely...

But until the eventual sequels prove otherwise, your theory about about this being an alternate universe is where I think you go off-base.

Like your theory and opinion that the film connects with the others makes perfect sense, especially contrasting with the business potential and present trend to go with alternative stories?

And again, please read, even Lindelof said that if a sequel to Prometheus happens, it's going to further tangentialize it AWAY from the first Alien Film!

- Lindelof dice incluso de modo que si una secuela de Prometeo, que pasa, que va a más que devaite de línea de tiempo de la primera película de Alien!

- リンデレフは言ってもそうだとすればそれであるプロメテウスの続編、意志より第一外国映画のeタイムラインよりも！

That's coming from the guy that co-wrote the Prometheus script!!!

I'm not inventing a theory. I'm basing a viewpoint directly upon the statement of the film's creators, which explains the missing ties to Alien.

So it's not a theory.

While I consider the film fairly enjoyable, I still think it's flawed. And it's not because I have some massive devotion to the original Alien films that I consider it flawed. It's because of all the pre-requisites you need to watch to fully appreciate the film and the plot omissions/questions in the film itself.

As a stand-alone film, it fails in that regard. Maybe sequels will answer those questions that Prometheus generated. But until then, Prometheus still gets an "It's okay, but . . . " incomplete grade from me.

I fully agree that the script was untidy, Guy Peirce as well looked dreadful. It's will never be an all time favorite of mine, but visually it's worth the Bluray alone. And I did enjoy that it left the auidence to figure out what happened. I enjoy these films more than usual monologue across a script.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Omegablue

[Valkyrie addict]

Saw Prometheus last night.

Great movie, I like it, but I keep feeling "something" was missing, and it was so clear a huge chunk of the movie was cut. I mean, the point where they come back from trying to rescue the lost scientist, the whole movie and characters change is too drastic. Read on IMDB that the DVD/Blue-ray release will ad 20-30minutes of cut footage. I guess this will explain a lot of the so call "plot-holes" people are bashing this movie about.

I like the movie, but the only thing I didn't quite like was that I couldn't tell if it was a horror, suspense or action movie, I would have love it more if the direction was more focused horror/mistery than big action/huge CGI.

And for me, what Riddley Scott is doing with Prometheus and its planned sequel is just telling the story of the "engineers" and humans. As a side note we just get to see how the xenomorphs were created. I guess that's what he means by "is not an alien prequel but it happens on the same universe".

[TehPW]

listening to all the comments (plus all the spoilsers, from here as well as Youtube), i think im gonna spend my funny money on some comic books for the kids and watch this when its on Cable....

[danth]

I agree Prometheus isn't that well written. Take Empire Strikes Back for example. Imagine if the scene were Luke first sees Obi Wan's ghost on Hoth isn't there or the mynock scene doesn't happen. You'll wonder how the hell Luke knows about Dagobah, or why Han pilots the Falcon out of a perfectly safe cave right into the impirial fleet. No Boba Fett? How the hell did the Empire know to get to bespin? This is what's going on with Prometheus right now. Key moments seem to be missing, and people are doing things for no clear sane reason.

Well said!

First off, "objective opinion" is an oxymoron. To be objective means to present a fact without bias or opinion.

5. not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, orprejudice; based on facts; unbiased:

an objective opinion.

Edited June 25, 2012 by danth

[Mog]

And again, what does announcing their plansto the world , have to do with my view? I stated that the events of Prometheus are too grand to never be hinted in the original Alien films, and still makes no sense for those films to directly tie with Prometheus, unless in the sequel LV-223 gets blown up? What then how? Why? It's just going to dig out more holes in the whole saga.

Correct me if I'm wrong but your point is that the original Alien films can't be tied directly to Prometheus because the actions in Prometheus are never mentioned in the other (earlier released) films.

The point I was trying to make (with heavy doses of sarcasm) is that it's just as likely that the events in Prometheus would NOT be mentioned in the Alien films [in universe] because that information would be buried or covered up by the Weyland Corporation.

Considering that most of the Prometheus crew didn't know what their mission was, I doubt Weyland Corp. would disclose to the public exactly what the Prometheus' mission was, if at all.

And in the event that they did mention the Prometheus' launching to the public, I'm sure the corporate types could come up with a bunch of plausible excuses for the lack of contact with the ship or the delay in its return.

Worse comes to worse, they could simply say it was a privately funded mission and any information about Prometheus is deemed private proprietary information.

The people most likely to know what happened on LV-223 are the corporate heads at Weyland Corp. And given all that happened down on LV-223 and assuming they do discover what happened there, I doubt they would ever share all that information to the general public.

Now given this idea (that Weyland Corp. has more motivation to bury the knowledge of Prometheus rather than make all the gory and embarassing details public knowledge), would it make sense for Weyland Corp. to reveal the events of Prometheus to a towing crew or explain all the backstory to an undercover android in Alien?

Assuming he even knew about the events in Prometheus, would it make sense for Paul Reiser's annoying corporate type in Aliens to disclose any information about Prometheus to Ripley? I doubt that bit of information would have helped his cause to get Ripley back on that return mission.

You're arguing that it doesn't make sense that Prometheus is never mentioned again in the future of the Alien universe. But my position is that the lack of mention is very plausible and makes sense, given the embarassing end results (from Weyland Corp's perspective) and the secrecy surrounding Prometheus' actual mission.

Given this background idea, it also makes sense for none of the other Alien movies to make reference to Prometheus, considering the status/standing of the characters in the original Alien movies and their very likely lack of access to that information.

And again, please read, even Lindelof said that if a sequel to Prometheus happens, it's going to further tangentialize it AWAY from the first Alien Film!

- Lindelof dice incluso de modo que si una secuela de Prometeo, que pasa, que va a más que devaite de línea de tiempo de la primera película de Alien!

- リンデレフは言ってもそうだとすればそれであるプロメテウスの続編、意志より第一外国映画のeタイムラインよりも！

That's coming from the guy that co-wrote the Prometheus script!!!

I'm not inventing a theory. I'm basing a viewpoint directly upon the statement of the film's creators, which explains the missing ties to Alien.

I'll admit that I haven't seen the exact quote you referenced just yet. (Google failed me!)

But I see the phase "further tangentialize it away from the first Alien film," and I don't automatically think "alternate universe."

Personally, I think "two different stories set in the same universe." One story (Prometheus) will likely become the story of Elizabeth Shaw and/or David. And the other (the original Alien films) eventually evolves into the story of Ellen Ripley.

Until a future sequel makes it clear one way or another, I don't see why these two stories can't exist in the same universe.

[derex3592]

Saw it over the weeked. Wasn't overly impressed. Visually great. Story wise...mehhh....thought it could have been better. Prob will not buy on Blu-Ray.

[anime52k8]

This is by far the worst thread on this board ever.

[Radd]

This is by far the worst thread on this board ever.

Is that an objective opinion?

I wanted to like the movie, but the storytelling was a mess.

Character motivations were flimsy/unbelievable, plot holes abound, the creature designs were cheesy b-movie material, and the alien goo seems to have no rules, just doing whatever the writer wanted at the moment, which is just abysmally bad writing (the appearance of the xenomorph was just painfully forced). There's some moments of brilliance in there (Fassbender is fantastic as David, and seems to have gotten the most to work with in his role, and other than the fact that every alien creature in the film seems to be more afraid of the dark than the humans the directing is pretty fantastic), which unfortunately make the flaws stand out all the more.

I felt this was worth quoting and repeating....

I find that quote objectionable. I work in the entertainment industry. Something like a film is made up of the efforts of a lot of people, and during production it can be difficult to have a good idea of what the final product will be like. Or even if it's clear that the final product will be terrible, we do our best on our part and hope that what we do is seen as a bright spot in the production.

I'm not going to get offended if I do the effects work on something that has terrible writing and people bash the writing. I might get offended if they bash the writers, because the writers themselves don't always have a very free hand and just try to make the best of what they're given to work with. Editing can also make or break a movie.

Anyways, I'm getting off point, many talented people are involved in the production of crap every day. That's the nature of the business. Personally, I'd rather see crap flop so that more good stuff gets made for those talented people to work on.

[myk]

Is that an objective opinion?

I wanted to like the movie, but the storytelling was a mess.

Character motivations were flimsy/unbelievable, plot holes abound, the creature designs were cheesy b-movie material, and the alien goo seems to have no rules, just doing whatever the writer wanted at the moment, which is just abysmally bad writing (the appearance of the xenomorph was just painfully forced). There's some moments of brilliance in there (Fassbender is fantastic as David, and seems to have gotten the most to work with in his role, and other than the fact that every alien creature in the film seems to be more afraid of the dark than the humans the directing is pretty fantastic), which unfortunately make the flaws stand out all the more.

This probably sums it up best. To my non sci-fi friends I had to try and explain why characters did the thing they did (which is never a good thing). Another example of random creature action that I still can't explain are the white snake-like things that attacked the two scientists and then just disappeared. Finally, I will always think that the 'Xeno appearance at the end was both unnecessary and unfaithful to the "this isn't an Alien prequel" statements that Ridley Scott had said...

[EXO]

It felt more like a sequel to the movie Evolution, where random things just grew at a hyper accelerated rate. Plus the people hoping that the sequel will put it all together by the end never had to sit thru LOST. The ending of Lost made the series worse as a whole. Again... a great movie should be able to stand on it's own even if it's part of a series. Even if it has a ton of viral media to support it. Those things should add to the experience, not take away from it.

[derex3592]

It felt more like a sequel to the movie Evolution, where random things just grew at a hyper accelerated rate. Plus the people hoping that the sequel will put it all together by the end never had to sit thru LOST. The ending of Lost made the series worse as a whole. Again... a great movie should be able to stand on it's own even if it's part of a series.

AMEN to all of that! I did forget to mention that a VERY highpoint of the film IMHO was Fassbender's performance! He is one of my newest favorite actors.

[Keith]

Ok, I've finally gone to see the movie, and I definately liked it. I understand the nitpicking people are taking with the movie, but I think that's all rolled up with the unexplained motivations of "The Engineers," the homocidal one specifically.

-Are they galactic douchebags who wanted to create bio-weapons?

-Are they lonely galactic travelers who wanted to spread life but royally screwed up?

-Did that last "engineer" completely screw over his kind by sabotaging their experiments resulting in their deaths?

-Did the last "engineer" try to save the universe by sabotaging their experiments resulting in their deaths?

-Just WTF was up with the rage against David & co, did he just really hate hairy little hobbit sized people?

-Was that engineer at the beginninf of the film commiting suicide? Being punished? Trying to transcend his existence? Trying to set up a test ground to use bio-weapons on?

-Was the cultural significance of the mural merely genetic memory imparted by that engineer who spread his DNA? Or were there continued visits.

That bit of ambiguity majory changes the tone of what's going on, and I'll agree that it's more of an issue of "I'm not gonna tell you" or "I haven't decided yet" than genuine mystery. But as I said, aside from that issue, I'm pretty happy with the movie. The proto-xenomorph at the end didn't feel tacked on to me, it just says that it was the intended end goal to the "experiments" regardless of the intention that may have been involved in creating it.

And I don't think Vickers was an android.

[jenius]

I totally missed the mural scene. I mean, I was there, and I was watching, but I'll need to watch in in slow-mo on DVD or something because I couldn't really see what was going on.

The engineer in the beginning is totally symbolic. That's like the one instance where I can tell what the writers were trying to do (or, I think so at least). I'm sure if I was reading this instead of watching it as a movie I could figure out the symbolism behind the cross (it seemed to be muddied but I'm guessing it's just "faith" even if that faith is "what I choose to believe" and has nothing to do with Christianity), or the reason why David is so enthralled with Lawrence of Arabia (does anyone know?) or why the captain had a thing for an R&B singer I'm not at all familiar with (and presume not many people would be familiar with in the future but it might just be to set up his little joke about "love the one you're with"). Anyway, the engineer in the beginning is indeed sacrificing himself to create life. It's the circle of life all neatly wrapped into one gesture and you can very easily read into it all sorts of religious subtexts of acts of sacrifice in various religions/myths that either freed, saved, or created life.

I'm still bummed at how the engineers were represented... such a waste.

[Radd]

@Keith

I'm happy you enjoyed the movie, but I wouldn't say everyone's issues with the movie are nitpicking, or even related to the fuzzy motivations of the Engineers. Personally, I would have been disappointed if they had laid out a clear understanding of the Engineers. Mystery is good in a story like this. You don't need to answer all the questions.

My problems were fundamental flaws in the writing. There were some pretty glaring examples of bad writing there.

It was definitely a very pretty movie, and if I'd been able to forgive two or three major flaws I'd have come away feeling the movie was pretty good.

[Keith]

or why the captain had a thing for an R&B singer I'm not at all familiar with (and presume not many people would be familiar with in the future but it might just be to set up his little joke about "love the one you're with").

lol, Stephen Stills is an R&B singer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Stills