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

[JBC]

Needs moar Ron Perlman & Michael Wincott!

Haha wut

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Just got back from watching Prometheus at the local theater in Real D 3D format. I really enjoyed it and had a good time with the lavishly done and plenty of eye candy galore set pieces. The Weyland Corp. with it's trademarked "Building Better Worlds" slogan & stylish "W" logo is mentioned a couple of times & is up to it's old tricks again with the planetary exploration venture. Lots of twists 'n' spins that I didn't see coming.

Yes, director Scott has expressed interest in doing a sequel to Prometheus.

If you watch the ending credits, Weta Digital, Ltd. handled the majority of the CG EFX.

This hybrid sci-fi/horror flick clocks in at 2 hours & 4 minutes easily.

Even the CG "countdown" sequence shown in this film pays a nod towards the classic Alien film with it's Nostromo destruction countdown sequence.

Some of the interior Prometheus set pieces have that classic Scott futuristic deco vibe...it's what the classic Nostromo interior set shots would've looked like if it was filmed today instead of it's original '79 release date.

H.R. Giger, once again, lends his iconic alien biological touch with some impressive background scenery sets.

A few new alien creatures are introduced for the first time to marvel at (as with the Alien flicks). It's a given alrighty. The original Prometheus screenplay had the classic xenomorphs from the Alien universe in place but they were axed out for some different creature entities to take their place instead (because the general thinking was that this flick would be a retread of the Alien franchise if proceeded with this route). I understand the logical reasoning for going this new direction with the new alien creature designs scheme.

Even a nod towards the '86 Aliens with a Sergeant watching his squad go through the underground tunnels of the terraformming facility via live video, it's the same thing with the Miss Vickers character in charge of the exploration crew with live video feed as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[mesh control]

Just watched in IMAX 3D and it pulled the visuals off well, unlike that avengers piece of shit.

Story was like a 90's Honda civic you might find in some working class neighborhhod in detroit. Where the owner is trying to make it into a race car but only puts a fender and spoiler on, but forgets about the stuff under the hood. Also there was bondo involved.

@_@
@_@

Fassbender's character was good.

[BIL]

Thought it was okay, granted I was only asking for a moderately thoughtful extraterrestrial adventure with well-executed body horror. Nice sense of scale in the premise and setting, a few memorably intense scenes, and David is an interesting character with sympathetic and repellant qualities. Horror movie retardation+faceless cannon fodder among the rest of the cast, and a generally aimless plot with no real conclusion bring it down a few rungs.

[third_strike]

Just watched it again, this time translated to my native language.
Now I can give my rating: 5/5
Loved all things in film. Now I am waiting for director's cut with over 200min of run time.

[CMPXCHG8B]

Needs moar Ron Perlman & Michael Wincott!

Haha wut

Aliens 4. It was kind of ridiculous and over the top. But it was still better then this atrocious piece of garbage.

I'm not sure what on earth the big deal was about this film. Everyone said it was a prequel to Alien, but absolutely nothing lined up. The planet in Prometheus was LV-223, the planet in Alien was LV-426. The original Alien had Space Jokey sitting in his chair with a hole in his chest and eggs all around the ship, Prometheus had nothing of the sort. The technology in Prometheus had holographic displays and touch panels everywhere, the technology in Alien was vastly CRT-based with loads of mechanical bits (unless you're trying to tell me humanity went backwards in technological advancements).

H.R. Giger, once again, lends his iconic alien biological touch with some impressive background scenery sets.

Citation needed?

I didn't see anything worthy of Giger's name. If he did do something in that flick, then it wasn't up to his usual standards. I thought the majority of the Alien scenery was bland and boring, it all stunk of a rip-off from Alien. There weren't even any Giger-class xenomorphs in Prometheus. No face huggers, no big black wall crawlers. Just some oversized knock-off squids and something in the end that had eyes (god dammit, the original aliens didn't have eyes- that's part of the reason why they were so disturbing).

If what PC-E says is true, then that just confuses me even more. How can you have a prequel that doesn't want to re-tread the original franchise? That'd be a reboot. I went expecting to see the genesis of the Alien race, what happened on LV-426 in regards to the crashed ship (at least they kinda got that right, but the final resting position of the ship was wrong), and some sort of explanation as to why Weyland Yutani ("the company") was so goddam desperate to capture and domesticate the xenomorphs- enough to send the Nostromo over there to bring back a sample.

Instead I got a really crappy movie with some horrible prop issues, brutal acting, weak aliens, and a shallow and irrelevant story.

I don't understand what all the rage is about. I think all your standards are too low. You should all go watch Alien and Aliens, and tell me that Prometheus was even remotely deserving of 1/10th the praise those two movies got.

-CMPX

[RGC]

I thought it had been made clear that Prometheus is not a prequel to Alien.

[DEL]

@RGC - It is a prequel to Alien. Events occurring before Alien. If its somehow something else, please elucidate...


CMPXCHG8B wrote;

I don't understand what all the rage is about. I think all your standards are too low. You should all go watch Alien and Aliens, and tell me that Prometheus was even remotely deserving of 1/10th the praise those two movies got.

Agreed.
It was watchable, but lacking.

[RGC]

I gathered it was set in the same universe, and there ended the link.
Didn't Didley himself state this months ago?

[CMPXCHG8B]

I gathered it was set in the same universe, and there ended the link.
Didn't Didley himself state this months ago?

I guess he did?

From Wikipedia:

In late 2010, he brought Lindelof onto the project to rewrite Spaihts' script, and together they developed a separate story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to that franchise. According to Scott, though the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak", and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus will explore its own mythology and ideas.

I'm so bloody confused.

So... Weyland is a big part of the movie (just not Weyland Yutani, pre merger I guess?), their computers stole UI elements from Alien, Space Jokey and his giant chair was in the movie, the (crashed) ship from LV-426 was there, the monster design was highly suggestive of the face huggers and xenomoprhs without directly using those actual creature designs... But it's not a prequel to Alien, and it's not connected to the Alien franchise.

WTF?

It's like a bad dream where everything is just flat out wrong, and nothing makes sense. Sorry, but this entire thing wreaks of design by a bunch of people who had no clue what they were doing. I know it's supposed to be Ridley, but I don't understand how they could wave the Alien carrot in front of everyone then go "Whoops bad knockoff!" instead. It's borderline bait and switch.

They had a chance to make an unbelievably kick-ass movie and revitalize an entire dead franchise. And they blew it. That's what really sucks.

-CMPX

[Skykid]

They had a chance to make an unbelievably kick-ass movie and revitalize an entire dead franchise. And they blew it. That's what really sucks.

When you get to the point where you expect them to blow it, stuff starts getting a lot less disappointing.

It's a modern masterpiece.

Stands tall alongside Citizen Kane and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[DEL]

circuitface wrote;

It's a modern masterpiece.

Haha wut


-----------------------
No but seriously, peoples' epectations of movies must have dropped somewhat in recent years. Mostly due to the sincere lack of masterpieces. I bought an issue of Empire (or was it Total Film?) recently and remarked that there wasn't a 5 star film in the whole issue. Barely any 4 stars either.

As for CMPXCHG8B's confusion. I feel it if.....if
if Prometheus isn't supposed to be a prequel to Alien. Which wouldn't make any chronological sense at all.
Plus it would be throwing a spanner into the works of the whole Alien story/Universe so far.

I would in fact be perfectly happy to accept this film as one of at least two prequels to the 1979 Alien film. Especially as this is not LV-426.

[PlanetHarriers]

I had high expectations for this as Alien and Blade Runner are my fave films ever, but sadly this isn't in the same league.

I left the cinema disappointed, yet I still find myself thinking about the movie. I'm having trouble deciding if this is decent or complete bobbins.

One thing for sure, it definitely lacked tension. Alien was brilliant because it had a cohesive story, while maintaining a strong sense of mystery. Whereas in Prometheus it feels like the mystery is a product of a poor script.

The original Alien was terrifying. Some moments in Prometheus seem decidedly B movie-ish. Giant octupus and exploding heads anyone?

I dunno, I may think about this some more and have a different opinion in the morning.

[RGC]

Just seen it. Best film of 2012 so far. Really good. Not great, but really good.

[Randorama]

I saw this movie for free, at the cinema.

I find it to be garbage. A few reasons on why I think this:

1. Script is really poor. I can't think of any lines that do not sound absolutely trite.

2. There is really no plot, a bit like the first Alien, really. Humans arrive on a planet that looks like LappLand or Siberia but with a fake Saturn in the background, find aliens, massacre ensues.

And then there are the things to appeal the bellies of the Yank masses.

A. First death is the darwinist biologist, true believers don't die, though. Also, true believer has sin to repent for, since she had sex (bad! bad!). Scott was clearly paid by Intelligent Designers.

B. Blonde, glacial slut aims for BCC. Relevant dialogue is straight out the poorest porn movie one can find. Scott watches too much redneck pr0n.

C. The Jokeys show an attitude towards humans and a degree of intelligence, that is on par with the Blob and other aliens from the reactionary movies of the '50s, not something one would expect from the "Engineers".

Was Scott trying to appease the KKK or something?

Yahoo, aliens are all bad! They don't eat burgers! They don't watch Oprah! They speak moon language!

The movie deserves a 0/10 only because of this.

And aside that: the engineers look like Doctor Manhattan. Lame.

3. The movie predates several things from the comics, often in a simplistic way. Say, the surgery looks like the one in "Aliens: labyrinth". The jokey treats David like his counterpart did to another synthetic, in a special published by Dark Horse (after Earth War). I noticed other plain rip-offs.

4. I am not too bothered by continuity, and other lame superheroes stuff, but they really had to make up their minds on whether they wanted to connect this movie to Alien or not.

Say:

A. Do these guys land on LV-426 or LV-223? Italian version, the one I saw, had one line that included a mention of LV-426.

B. The jokey ship looked like the one in Alien, as many other things did. So, why the parasites looked like "something else" (I am trying to avoid spoilers)?

I am aware that the parasites should take the morphological features of their hosts, so why they don't, in this movie? Did Scott want to pay homage to Magician Lord, Stage 3's zaku enemies, at least in the surgery scene?

Seriously: luckily I didn't pay for this, and not even for the drinks.

EDIT:

The musical score is at times annoying, I think.

[Moniker]

Saw it, quite liked it. Will prolly watch it again sooner or later. Would've appreciated a little more narrative focus, but overall I can't really complain about anything. Thought Michael Fassbender was awesome, perhaps beating out Bishop. Most of the other characters were sorta throwaway, though I did like Noomi, and the Cap'n, even if he did veer a bit too much towards the Apone cliche.

And... yeah. I think some of the backlash on this thread is a bit absurd. Internets will be internets, I guess.

[Randorama]

And... yeah. I think some of the backlash on this thread is a bit absurd. Internets will be internets, I guess.

What?! What?! I want my money back, dammit! (...ahem).

Actually, I agree that Fassbender's character is excellent, although derivative in style (Data was '87). He also plays the role very, very well.

And that's it, really.

[DEL]

I agree with Rando.

1. Script is really poor. I can't think of any lines that do not sound absolutely trite.

There were things that the characters said and did that did not.....fit with:
1. Basic human curiosity
2. Basic human reactions to certain events.
no spoilers
& Indeed the script was clunky. I found myself saying; "I wouldn't have had the character say that" etc

Head exploding was pointless

Rando wrote;

C. The Jokeys show an attitude towards humans and a degree of intelligence, that is on par with the Blob and other aliens from the reactionary movies of the '50s, not something one would expect from the "Engineers".

Indeed, the Jockey's reaction was uninteresting to say the least.
I mean, did the writers just cop-out because they couldn't think of anything intelligent to say?!
I know from a previous documentary that Ridley himself is a bit Dark but c'mon. Like I mentioned earlier, I really hope that a sequel prequel can enlighten us a bit better than this nihilism.

Moniker wrote;

And... yeah. I think some of the backlash on this thread is a bit absurd. Internets will be internets, I guess.

^Are we not allowed to dissect this movie if we feel a bit shortchanged

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I saw this movie for free, at the cinema.

I find it to be garbage. A few reasons on why I think this:

1. Script is really poor. I can't think of any lines that do not sound absolutely trite.

2. There is really no plot, a bit like the first Alien, really. Humans arrive on a planet that looks like LappLand or Siberia but with a fake Saturn in the background, find aliens, massacre ensues.

And then there are the things to appeal the bellies of the Yank masses.

A. First death is the darwinist biologist, true believers don't die, though. Also, true believer has sin to repent for, since she had sex (bad! bad!). Scott was clearly paid by Intelligent Designers.

B. Blonde, glacial slut aims for BCC. Relevant dialogue is straight out the poorest porn movie one can find. Scott watches too much redneck pr0n.

C. The Jokeys show an attitude towards humans and a degree of intelligence, that is on par with the Blob and other aliens from the reactionary movies of the '50s, not something one would expect from the "Engineers".

Was Scott trying to appease the KKK or something?

Yahoo, aliens are all bad! They don't eat burgers! They don't watch Oprah! They speak moon language!

The movie deserves a 0/10 only because of this.

And aside that: the engineers look like Doctor Manhattan. Lame.

3. The movie predates several things from the comics, often in a simplistic way. Say, the surgery looks like the one in "Aliens: labyrinth". The jokey treats David like his counterpart did to another synthetic, in a special published by Dark Horse (after Earth War). I noticed other plain rip-offs.

4. I am not too bothered by continuity, and other lame superheroes stuff, but they really had to make up their minds on whether they wanted to connect this movie to Alien or not.

Say:

A. Do these guys land on LV-426 or LV-223? Italian version, the one I saw, had one line that included a mention of LV-426.

B. The jokey ship looked like the one in Alien, as many other things did. So, why the parasites looked like "something else" (I am trying to avoid spoilers)?

I am aware that the parasites should take the morphological features of their hosts, so why they don't, in this movie? Did Scott want to pay homage to Magician Lord, Stage 3's zaku enemies, at least in the surgery scene?

Seriously: luckily I didn't pay for this, and not even for the drinks.

EDIT:

The musical score is at times annoying, I think.

If you watched the ending credits, you'll see that that the alien landscape was filmed in Iceland.

As for the parasite creatures, the one inside the female host was just a new version "face-hugger" type of egg carrier and nothing more. The resulting alien creature shown at the end is the prototypical basis for the current familiar xenomorphs shown in the Alien mythos. I'd imagine it would make the crash landed ship it's new home & thus, setting the stage for the events that take place in the first Alien movie (despite several obvious & glaring movie storylines issues presented between both Prometheus & Alien).

I'm sure if the script had taken into considerstion the events that take place in Alien, there would've been a more careful logical series of events that goes into greater detail as to why they happened.

The mysterious distress signal was never issued at the conclusion of Prometheus (unless it was coming from the crashed ship). Not to mention, it opens a bunch of issues of telltale signs of Weyland Corp's involvement (with the strewn Prometheus wreckage + the escape pod unit, etc.) years before what unfolds in the beginning of Alien.

As for the Weyland Corp, being named as it is, it hadn't combined forces with the Japanese company, Yutani, yet. It seems that both Weyland & Yutani combine forces in the period between the ending of Prometheus & the start of Alien that sets the ball rolling for their unrelentless pursuit to get their grubby hands on the xenomorph entities for their own bio-weapons division.

A trillion dollar budget to fund this exploration venture that ends up going south reveals that the Weyland character had more $$$ than he knew what do with it.

If a Prometheus sequel could tie up some loose plot ends, it could be the proper basis leading to the first Alien flick on planet LV-426. The LV-223 planet is just one of many planets that the "Engineers" know about (as shown on their holographic galaxy map routes).

If said Prometheus sequel can deliver with higher expectations & getting it's storyline correct on all key issue plots, both sci-fi & Alien fans will be quite happy.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[RGC]

The movie deserves a 0/10

Your opinion is wrong, and your taste questionable at best.

Being serious, the only thing that bugged me was the violation of what should be a universal law of film-making: Never use 'old' make-up. I've yet to see it done convincingly. Just use an old person, ffs.

[burgerkingdiamond]

I'm seriously confused by how they didn't even land on the same planet as in the original Alien. Nothing makes sense.

So there just happened to be two ships that independently landed on separate mysterious planets with the "Engineers" and Xenomorphs?

I also agree that it's stupid when prequels are made that have noticeably advanced technology over their originators. I noticed that same thing with the Star Wars prequels.

I did enjoy the movie though. Maybe it's due to seeing so many really bad ones in the past few years. And I'm not a huge Aliens geek.

[mesh control]

The movie deserves a 0/10

[Skykid]

Your opinion is wrong, and your taste questionable at best.

An accusation that works both ways.

^Are we not allowed to dissect this movie if we feel a bit shortchanged

Of course you are! Give that shit both barrels if you think it deserves it. No amount of hype, gloss and budget should allow a film to buy its way out of mediocrity (even though in fiscal terms, they manage it almost every time. )

[Randorama]

Pc Engine Fan X: ah, yes, it makes perfect sense that they shot it in Icelands, since the heart of the country looks like an alien planet...or the more isolated parts of Alps/Appennines, like the region I come from (NE of Rome). I could drive 20 mins and get similar landscapes, especially in winter.

That's another thing that subjectively bothered me...the movie clearly discriminates us mountain people, because of its politically charged settings, dammit! (ahem #2).

RGC: "I rock, you suck" is the most you deserve as an answer. Nothing personal.

DEL: my general feeling was the same. Add that there simply too many times that characters said pretentious assertions, the type of line that can sound cool to some young & illiterate cretin (the target audience, very likely).

Plus, I also honestly think that the writers are likely too stupid to put intelligent lines in the mouths of Jokeys. Script-wise, the rock bottom was reached during the exchange:

Remarkably dull character A: "Why these guys want to destroy us?"
Remarkably dull character B: "Sometimes, before you create, you must destroy"

Or something like that. WWE raw have better writers, honestly.

And yes, continuity-wise this movie is a mess. It seems like they were too lazy to check the basic facts mentioned in the Alien(s) movies. They gave some fanservice, in the form of the Jockeys' ships and other aspects of design, as those aspects didn't involving reading the original script, probably.

This movie has the Randorama's seal of eugenics approval (TM).

[burgerkingdiamond]

Also, you don't run around 5 seconds after having a C-section.

[RGC]

Yes, that bit couldn't happen IRL; the rest is fine.

Rando, I believe you recycled my line.

[Moniker]

Moniker wrote;

And... yeah. I think some of the backlash on this thread is a bit absurd. Internets will be internets, I guess.

^Are we not allowed to dissect this movie if we feel a bit shortchanged

Certainly. It's not the criticism I find absurd so much as the histrionics and hyperbole that go along with it. Obviously I can't prevent this type of discourse, but I for one would prefer a more calm and thoughtful atmosphere.

Just my 2c.

[neorichieb1971]

What happened at the beginning with the eating of the oily stuff? I don't understand why he did that.

I also came out with more questions than answers. Not alot made sense. A few dots were not connected.

[JBC]

Moniker wrote;

And... yeah. I think some of the backlash on this thread is a bit absurd. Internets will be internets, I guess.

^Are we not allowed to dissect this movie if we feel a bit shortchanged

Certainly. It's not the criticism I find absurd so much as the histrionics and hyperbole that go along with it. Obviously I can't prevent this type of discourse, but I for one would prefer a more calm and thoughtful atmosphere.

Just my 2c.

Agreed, I'm gonna have to duck out. I'd rather it not affect my enjoyment and appreciation of the picture. It looks like some people just didn't get it. In a few years, when the film is celebrated they'll rewatch it and go, "... Hmm."

[Randorama]

This movie is so bad that our hyperbolic tones on this thread are the only intellectual value that can come out from the movie, if only indirectly.

Michael Bay would have made a ten times better movie with his eyes closed.

It looks like some people just didn't get it.

Yeah, some people celebrate this mess. Truly out of this world, dattebayo!

Rando, I believe you recycled my line.

We need a facepalm smilie, I'd guess.