Ridley Scott to direct prequel to Alien!!!!!!....

[third_strike]

Got my IMAX 3D tickets reserved today (opening midnight show). I usually have the opposite opinion of critics, so Prometheus must be totally awesome

No!
The film is being high rated by critics.
Since that TED talk video I know which this film has nothing to do with Alien. And I was OK about this. Then I will watch the film with opened mind because I am not an Alien fanboy.

[brentsg]

Amazon has a deal for any Blu-ray enthusiasts in the USA. Preorder now and be one of the first 5000 preorders.. get $10 off your movie ticket.

[JBC]

Got my IMAX 3D tickets reserved today (opening midnight show). I usually have the opposite opinion of critics, so Prometheus must be totally awesome

No!
The film is being high rated by critics.

Oh, I was just judging from the few comments I skimmed over. I figured it must be getting panned because there was so much excitement around it. Well then that's good! I'm not expecting it to be Alien, just sort of related. Who really wants a rehash of an already perfect movie anyway?

EDIT - It's Metacritic is at 63 so far, so that's not so great, but it's only based on 5 reviews.

[third_strike]

I am based in rottentomatoes, imbd and http://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.ph ... =43724.480

[replayme]

It doesn't really flow, and at times you feel as if the film has come off an assembly line.

Er... it has.

I'm surprised folks aren't more acutely aware that every single blockbuster release these days tends to be a product of the studio/producer system, not the director. The days of genuine directorial ingenuity in Hollywood is dead as a doornail, hence you have disappointments coming from even the most reliable sources: Cameron, Spielberg, and now Scott.

So this prequel can't match the overall pacing set by the first Alien flick?

Surely no-one sincerely believed, after what's happened to Die Hard, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Predator and the Alien franchises, that you were going to get a film to match the quality of Alien? In 2012?! You must be mad!

This isn't a project where it could be argued that studio interference ruined the quality of a film - like what happened with D Fincher and Alien 3... People like R Scott aren't glorified extras (or in game industry speak: QA Testers). They're essentially the Kojimas, Miyamotos, and Iuchis of Hollywood, in that they ARE the studio.

R Scott was the producer and director on the project. To all intents and purposes, Prometheus was his baby, and he had final say over how and what was implemented.

When you have that much sway in a system, anything which you take a keen interest in becomes your pet project, and for R Scott, Prometheus must have been the equivalent of an indie flick which he lovingly crafted. And don't forget: regardless of how much money gets poured into Star Wars, it's still Lucas's baby, and it's still an "indie flick" which the guy bankrolls.

The fact that the film feels like it has come off an assembly line shows how little care and passion the project received from R Scott, and how lazy he was, despite him having a say in every aspect of the film.

Sometimes, a capable director and editor can save a weak script. The fact that Prometheus's script was ultimately ok'd by R Scott, goes to show that the script writers weren't nessecarily the ones to blame. Robin Hood allegedly had a really good script, which was historically accurate, and which R Scott won the rights to film after there was an insane bidding war from all the major studios. But that still didn't prevent R Scott and his ego from butchering it, and translating to screen what ultimately had very little semblance to what was originally proposed on paper.

Although by no means a bad film, the fact that Prometheus is a film that has been in the planning stages since early 2000s is a damning indication of how much of a squandered opportunity Prometheus represents. The film is definitely a case of style over substance, and a painful portrayal of how much a piece of work can succumb to someone's rampant ego.

EDIT: typing from my mobile phone sucks...

[Skykid]

EDIT - It's Metacritic is at 63 so far, so that's not so great, but it's only based on 5 reviews.

I am based in rottentomatoes, imbd and http://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.ph ... =43724.480

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but initial day one meta scores are always the peak because they're premium publications (those guys who are normally paid off to hype things, as with games) and they generally fall thereafter when more realistic critics cast votes.

That makes both Metacritic and RT very low starting points for this one.

[JBC]

Yeah but like I said before, I never trust critics. I can't begin to list off all the great stuff I've discovered that got railed in the press (be it games, movies, books, whatever). It's to the point that when I see something get a 6-7 I stand up and take notice, but 9's and 10's make me wary. One of the the more recent examples for me is Time Crisis: Razing Storm for PS3, which has like a 4 or something on Metacritic and got lambasted all around. But man... Razing Storm is a badass game that I can't stop playing. And then there are some movies that get rave reviews everywhere but I'll watch them and think they are total crap (Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream, etc). It's all a matter of taste and perspective, but I guess we'll see how I feel after I watch the movie. I still think it'll be great.

[PROMETHEUS]

Ever since critics rated Avatar high, I have completely stopped giving the slightest care about them. They are definitely paid off.
Some independent critics are surely good though, I just don't know about them.

Also I'm not sure that Riddley Scott was just "lazy" and that's why Prometheus is underwhelming. The way the movie unfolds smells of MONEY. If he really was in charge for making this movie, then he chose to try and make more money instead of making a great film, which by now we know both pretty much never come together.

[RGC]

If he really was in charge for making this movie, then he chose to try and make more money instead of making a great film

So that explains why Prometheus has the same rating as Event Horizon, not Avatar.

[NTSC-J]

As for Dark Horse: I think that at some point they were BY FAR the best western company for comics, as they produced everything under the sun, at decent prices, and for top-notch quality. I adored the way they reprinted another favourite comic of mine, Grendel.

Now, they still do good stuff, but I guess that Julian/NTSC-J has a clearer idea of their output. He should buy some of their products, if memory serves well.

I actually haven't purchased a Dark Horse comic in years (or any American comic to be honest...although I'd like to find a cheap The Complete Far Side), so I have no idea how their output compares to the earlier days, but I agree with you all the way that at one time they were printing the most interesting stuff. Like everything in the world of Nerd, I imagine their books now aren't quite as compelling, or at least lack the punch that those early AvP and Predator comics had.

(Perhaps this is a minor point, but I loved the paper stock DH used in the early days; it was kind of thick and smooth, but it wasn't glossy. I hate how American comics, despite having a reader base that has greasier mits than most, prints their drivel on glossy, often black, paper. A nice, readable paper stock goes a long way).

[JBC]

I like the old fashioned newsprint type we used up until the mid 90's myself, and real coloring. The glossy paper and computer coloring started when Image took off in the mid 90's and basically ruined the experience of reading in part. I've seen a shoddy color job totally destroy art that would otherwise look magnificent. Compare Ron Lim or John Romita Jr's 80's stuff to now and you'll see what I mean.

[CMoon]

I'm not going to jump to conclusions because I haven't seen the movie, but one thing I feel people are forgetting here is that Scott is a very inconsistent director. It is very easy to get hyped that this is by the director that did Alien and Bladerunner until you recall that he's done a dozen films since then that are mostly less than memorable (at least for me.) I would actually be rather surprised if Prometheus IS a great film; it seems to have so much working against it.

[Skykid]

Yeah but like I said before, I never trust critics.

Admittedly, I'm the same, however there are variations to the rule. When a movie is given 5 stars all round and I could smell the shit from the teaser trailer, I'm happy to walk away.

It's when the hyped product gets knifed by the large publications that I sit up and notice.

Here's the logic:

FFXII hyped through the roof, but its Edge who deliver the coup de grace. With a score of 5, they have my full attention. I want to hear what they have to say.

Prometheus follows the same logic. Empire hyped it so much, the review spawned an 18 page forum thread the minute it went live with people asking 'why hype it so much if it's not that good?'. It tells me that Empire will not put their reputation on the line on this one, and generally speaking that's a good indication of how good the film isn't.

Besides, anyone with their eyes open can see a myriad of weaknesses in the Prometheus trailers: trite dialogue, papery characters being most significant. Ridley Scott is in the chair, but the producers are putting the project through the same old 'how-to-make-money-out-of-dumb-punters' template.

Then again, if you think Fight Club and Requiem for a Dream are garbage, all this debate is probably worthless.

[sven666]

i just saw it today and can i just say for the record, i was right.

ok so it doesnt outright michael-bay-suck but its definetly straight hollywood produce, very dissapointing
ed; since this was endorsed by NASA as a publicity stunt i would love to see them pick people for the MARS mission..

"uuuh ok this is the single most important expedition in mankind, lets see that we got all our bases covered personell wise"
one moody punkrocker from london - check
one icecold beautiful bitch that has no purpouse to the expedition - check
a cool archeologist straight out of a college movie, might aswell have been driving his mustang to lv426 - check
token black guy - check
token asian guy - check (and am i crazy but was the 3rd crewman of persian origin?)

"oh wait, if everything goes horribly wrong, will they lay down their lives for the good of humanity?" -oh hell yes, in fact they'll even needlessly throw themself on bullets if the opportunity presents itself!

[Skykid]

i just saw it today and can i just say for the record, i was right.

ok so it doesnt outright michael-bay-suck but its definetly straight hollywood produce, very dissapointing
ed; since this was endorsed by NASA as a publicity stunt i would love to see them pick people for the MARS mission..

"uuuh ok this is the single most important expedition in mankind, lets see that we got all our bases covered personell wise"
one moody punkrocker from london - check
one icecold beautiful bitch that has no purpouse to the expedition - check
a cool archeologist straight out of a college movie, might aswell have been driving his mustang to lv426 - check
token black guy - check
token asian guy - check (and am i crazy but was the 3rd crewman of persian origin?)

"oh wait, if everything goes horribly wrong, will they lay down their lives for the good of humanity?" -oh hell yes, in fact they'll even needlessly throw themself on bullets if the opportunity presents itself!

Sounds like I was right too.

I won't be paying to watch this.

[DEL]

sven666 wrote;

ok so it doesnt outright michael-bay-suck but its definetly straight hollywood produce, very dissapointing

Dammit.
I guess CMoon was right on the money with his observation before seeing it:

but one thing I feel people are forgetting here is that Scott is a very inconsistent director.

Its true, Ridley has been both awesome and not so....

[third_strike]

Sounds like I was right too.

I won't be paying to watch this.

I will pay $8,00 and watch it in IMAX3D

[PC Engine Fan X!]

EDIT - Anybody ever go through the excellent Colonial Marines Technical Manual?

Yes, I bought the softcover version of that cool "Colonial Marines Techincal Manual" back in the day. Sure goes into greater detail of all the necessary gear/weaponry that makes up a typical four man squad (and even delves into deep space military fightercraft -- i.e. - the Sulaco and it's related counterparts) as shown in the Aliens flick. Also makes for a handy back reference guide for the Atari Jaguar game of AvP game indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[mesh control]

[Drum]

I thought it started out really well. Android dicking around on the ship while everybody's in hypersleep was rad. Second half of the movie is poor and confused, goes nowhere. A lot happens but I didn't give a shit.

[JBC]

I've come close to spoiling myself a few times with this thread in the last week. Better duck out, but that shot of Charlize is great for showing off the space suits, Mesh Control. They do look Mass Effect, but ME never showed us the style IRL. It's really good looking.

[Daigohji]

So how scary is this movie? Any cheap shocks? Any tension at all?

[PROMETHEUS]

There is some genuine tension here and there and relatively few cheap shocks from what I remember, it's one of the film's main qualities at the side of all its flaws, in my opinion. Some scenes depict in a rather interesting way special encounters and feelings of being overwhelmed by events, discoveries with the inability to grasp their full meaning or extent.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'd imagine that viewing the Blu-Ray version of Prometheus with some deleted scenery footage will give the viewer more backstory to gloss over.

Yep, there's the 11:59pm showing of Prometheus for the USA tonight. Will surely check it out tomorrow in RealD 3D format and give my personal comments and opinions about it.

The screewriter has mentioned that the planet the Prometheus crew lands on is the very same planet that the Alien crew finds the emergency beacon signal orginating from in the first Alien movie (or better known as LV-426 in the Aliens flick). So even if Prometheus isn't related to the Alien flicks, you could say that it's set in a parallel universe with backing from the Weyland Corporation funding the deep space exploration venture for their own personal gain/interests.

Of course in the Alien mythos, it's the American & Japanese joint venture known as the Weyland-Yutani conglomerate (aka "The Company") that has a very heavy hand in deep space exploration, mining, etc. with their vast & deep finances back on Earth.

Would there be room for a proper Prometheus sequel or not?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Weak Boson]

Saw this last weekend and enjoyed. The biggest problem for me were the moments where I found myself thinkng "hey this is like that bit in Alien", or Aliens, 3 etc. Didn't make it feel that fresh. That said there were some very nicely done scenes. And when I say nicely done I mean scary and repulsive.

[JBC]

BOOM. Perfect film.

It's everything I ever hoped for or wanted it to be. It heads in the direction I wanted it to go. It proves all my old theories and creates new questions. It has a proper amount of throwbacks to Alien without repeating itself. I can count my complaints on two fingers.

Logan Marshall-Green is the weakest character/actor with some eye rolling dialogue and I prefer the SJ's as majestic space elephant men, not human-like with elephant helmets. Totally unnecessary change that makes the SJ's seem less imaginative.

So how scary is this movie? Any cheap shocks? Any tension at all?

There is a scene equivalent to the breakfast/chestburster sequence in the original Alien that ups the ante in all regards without copying it directly. To put it short, it's seriously fucked up. Nothing about it comes off as cheap though, and 'terrifying' is a more powerful word to use for the scene than 'scary'.

The movie as a whole isn't focused on horror as much as Alien was with it's oppressive atmosphere and dark corridors. Prometheus is a brighter, clearer picture with characters that have more energetic personalities. It's horror comes more from the idea of being violated rather than hunted, so it's more like it draws on what made Alien scary in it's first 30 minutes than the cat n' mouse stuff that happens later aboard the Nostromo.

It's a modern masterpiece.

[D]

I saw this 2 hour long beautiful masterpiece.
As for the 3D, it only slightly bothered me. This movie does not need 3D at all. But if there´s only a 3D version available, go ahead, it´s watchable.
Details on genre, pacing, action:
Horror, no.
Lots of shooting/action, no.
A friend of mine said: woooot, hardly any action, man!
It could have been that, but this is this. It is a more beautiful civil alien life exploratory movie, for the fans of the Aliens movies, that have grown up. Pacing is more like an episode of Star Trek
Yet, every second apart from the obligatory sex moment, was exciting to me (being a sci-fi fanboy)
Beautiful scenery.
The ending was a bit quick though.

[RGC]

tickets booked for 2D version tomorrow 15:30 BST

now averaging a respectable 7.9 on IMDB

[third_strike]

I saw it.
Enjoyed it.
Now I am waiting the sequence (Prometheus 2? I guess which Would be better call it Paradise).

[DEL]

Just seen it in town.
A merely passable filler, a teaser-trailer for the next one, which I hope will be better.
Sven was right.

The Scottish woman Kate Dickie was atrocious in it . Horrible acting. She only had about four lines and she messed up two of them. Her first line sounded so hollow it CLANGED like a belltower.
Idris was ok but he didn't need to put on an American accent (the Scottish woman didn't).
Charlize was passable.
Fassbender also.
Noomi is a bit of a strange looking beast, but her thighs do it for me, so that's ok.
The rest of the cast were barely there. Needs moar Ron Perlman & Michael Wincott!