Just watched Prometheus. It was everything I expected from Ridley Scott, and Michael Fassbender. Great details with some mystery, and an overall great movie. I went in with decent expectations, and left impressed. I am not attached to the Alien films, so some of you may have a different opinion.
Definitely a prequel to Alien... but will not follow the same storyline, simply in the same universe. As for the movie itself, EPIC. One of the most intense movies from start to finish, Scott is the master of this uneasy tension that he causes you.
Stellar directing, acting and special effects. Damon Lindelof is a sh-t writer who should have been shot after Cowboys vs Aliens. His script was a hot mess that only a genius like Ridley Scott could save.
I hate Lindelof with a passion. From what I gather from all the reviews everything wrong is the result of his terrible writing. He's just the god awful worst, what a terrible human being.
Can anyone share their experiences with seeing the film in 3D? I'm particularly concerned about IMAX 3D vs. RealD 3D. Prometheus was filmed using the Red Epic 3D camera, but not with a true IMAX camera/70mm film like the Dark Knight or Inception. Here's what I've heard about the general differences: IMAX 3D: old-school popping 3D effect, have to keep head straight since tilting gives the ghosting problem, brighter picture, not as sharp as RealD, louder surround sound, bigger screen if seeing on a true IMAX-size screen and not LieMax, need to get there 2 hours early to get good seats. RealD: more depth, more seamless, not as fatiguing as IMAX 3D, darker picture, higher resolution. I'm confused about which to pick because Prometheus's aspect ratio is 2.35:1 which means the IMAX 3D crops some of the picture to fit its 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Then again, is the louder surround sound and bigger yet blurrier picture worth the cropped picture?
I went to a midnight screening. I don't think it's one of Ridley Scott's masterpieces (Alien, Blade Runner, in its own way Black Hawk Down), but I think it's a great movie. One of the central premises of the movie is that Spoiler mankind was deemed unworthy of survival by its alien creators. Cool story, bro: I missed twenty minutes of the movie because a belligerent drunk, completely alone (with no date to impress), kept shouting out at the screen every few minutes. He and the guy in front of him got into an argument. Drunk was forced by management to move back a few rows. Drunk leaves, comes back five minutes later (Went to the john? Grabbed a weapon from his glovebox?), sits back in his previous seat. So I miss twenty minutes-plus of the film about Spoiler man-as-failed-experiment-upon-the-world , trying to figure out, if he pulls a gun, if I can jump the drunk, before he shoots the guy in front of him. 'Cause if he shoots the guy in front of him, and I try to run away, the aisle is blocked, and those I'm with are getting it right in the back. Long story short: the aliens/our creators were right: Spoiler Humanity is a virus after all. So, though I probably would have anyway (it's that good), I definitely am going to see this again before making any final judgments on its place in the canon. And it is definitely a Spoiler direct prequel to Alien. And all the better for it.
Thanks for the early reviews and sounds good. I am either catching it tonight or tomorrow at a matinee.
Saw the midnight showing as well, not in 3D though. This is going to be a very hard movie to describe and review. I purposely stayed away from as many spoilers as possible, and I think I succeeded, and this is one movie where that is a benefit, so everything past this point is spoilered. Do NOT read if you don't want to be spoiled. Spoiler This is tough. First things first, this movie is NOT a 'same-universe-but-very-loosely-tied-to-Alien' movie. This is a prequel to Alien, 100% for sure. I can also see the connections to Bladerunner, primarily in the character of David, specifically in the several moments where his utter IN-humanity show, as well as in his very-thinly veiled contempt for humans. Fassbender once again takes a unique role and OWNS it. The rest of the cast, everyone, Theron, Rapace, Pearce, everyone was top notch, no flaws anywhere. It's technically brilliant, and somehow it looked to me like the most 'high-definition' movie I have ever seen. I don't even know if that makes sense, but that's what it felt like. Now I never watched Lost, so I have no feelings one way or the other for Lindelof, who wrote this movie, and I can't say that I thought the writing was terrible. I can say that i seems clear that a lot had to be cut, probably for time and pacing purposes, in fact I am now very interested to see the 'Director's Cut' whenever it comes out. And I am not going to go through the story or the plot, not yet anyway, I just want to talk about the general message and tone of the movie. I'll say this first: it stick with you, makes you think afterwards, one of those 'talk about it later' types of movies, of which there have been a few the last couple years, Inception for example. To back up a bit - I loved Alien when it came out, when I was a teenager. I mostly loved Bladerunner, but of course it was dystopian and depressing as hell. Aliens is one of my all time favorite movies. (any Alien movies after Aliens simply do not exist to me, and that is all there is to be said about that) So I have been waiting for over thirty years to see the events which transpire in Prometheus. That's a heavy burden for Scott and Lindelof to embrace. And they put together something very... clever. Yes it's clever. But I don't know if we NEEDED this movie. I don't know if it was necessary to try to lift the veil of utterly alien mystery surrounding the alien ship in the first movie, the 'Space Jockey', the cargo hold, etc etc. It was already a masterful job of giving us tiny glimpses, but sill enough to let our imagination fill in whatever fit for us as viewers. As you can tell, this is a difficult movie to try to review, or talk about, because now, 8 hours after having see it, the overwhelming sensation I am still feel is.. disappointment. And I have to be very careful about that word, because I am not disappointed by the movie itself. I think the movie is brilliant, clever, and well made throughout. No, it's just that THAT is what the movie is ABOUT: disappointment. The heartbreak, the anguish, the sheer disappointment and and abandonment of being told simultaneously that whatever you may have ever believed in is probably not true, but also that what truth there IS is simply ugly and hurtful. It is about emptiness, barrenness, and rejection. It is about thinking you are just about to have every question answered, only to be slapped in the face. It's about desperately wanting to love your parents and be loved by them, only to one day have to face the fact that your mother or your father is just a piece of crap who never loved you. It is Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's safe. In other words, the movie is a huge downer, maybe the hugest deliberately 'down' movie I have ever seen. Needless to say, I don't think this is going to be a monster huge hit, because it is simply not going to get a lot of great word-of-mouth. I think now, after the fact, the marketing has been a bit deceptive, starting with the very title of the movie itself: Prometheus. Prometheus was a God who cared for humanity so much that he gave us the greatest gift in history: fire. And he suffered for it, forever. It was a sacrifice of himself for the good of the humans, whom he loved and cherished. This movie not only has NONE of that, it is actually the EXACT OPPOSITE of that. Maybe it's supposed to be ironic, I don't know. Not going to get into the nuts and bolts of the plot, although there were a couple of plot points which were totally unexplained and frankly a little bit silly, but that is for a later time. Bottom line, while I may watch it again when it comes out on DVD, I certainly have no desire to see it again in the theater, and I can't quite imagine why anyone would WANT to. Go see it, I recommend it, but don't expect to be feeling really great afterwards... I think I am going to watch a few episodes of Archer now.
Fantastic post, Nero. Yeah, I think the key takeaway line is the one Fassbender says to Rapace, about the origins of life: Spoiler Paraphrasing, "Why were [androids] created?" "Because we [humans] could." "And what if that's the same reason [humans] were created?" What if we're all just spare parts? Flotsam and jetsam, leftovers; something tinkered over then abandoned? Conversely, what happens when the gods want you dead? This is a biblical analogue: we're all humanity, before the flood, and there is no Noah among us worth saving. And God (though preposterously ripped) is an absentee parent. Carrying it further, take the heroine's Caesarean birth in this film. Is everything we create also worthy of abortion, horrors to our eyes? Are these, our children, forced upon us? Are we no better than our creator(s)? I disagree with your conclusion, though. I definitely have to watch this again, and soon. After all, in the end, we're still searching.
Downtown. There's no subdivision on crazy. Dude had some mental issues, based on what he was saying. I may have been paranoid, but the guy came back, sat down in his previous seat, and started yelling at the screen. Again. To no one in particular. Seemed to be trolling for a fight. (And, as Mike Tyson said, never let the guy go to his car and come back.) Management, called back a second time, threw him out on his ear, and I was able to see the last hour in peace. They handled it well.
Does anyone know if there's a non-3D IMAX showing in town?? I'm pretty sure there's not unfortunately. I can't wait for this shoebox 3D crap to die, and on principle, I try to avoid going to any 3D showings; well, save for the times when I'm the odd man out in a large group... BUT I love the IMAX standard sound systems! I'm conflicted! Or perhaps, did any of you catch a 3D (IMAX or Real) showing and were impressed? Also, my friends and I are watching Alien before we go see Prometheus tonight. I'm not sure it'll necessarily make for an epic movie night, but it can't hurt to get our heads in the universe.
Watching it tonight 7pm showing near Boston. They have a true imax screen(a lot of people assume that these Lowes and AMC theaters that say imax means its true imax) in Reading. I was fortunate because every other times in that Imax theater were sold out.
I was impressed by the 3D version. If you want to see it regularly, plenty of places show it like that. For example, I live in Missouri City. AMC 1st colony shows it in 2D, 3D, and "IMAX" 3D. Star Cinema Grill also shows it in 2D.
Eh whoops, maybe I was unclear: I am wishing for a 2D IMAX showing. The bigger screen doesn't do too much for me, but the juiced-up surround sound definitely does.
My fault, AMC in 1st Colony or Dunvale should have it in their "IMAX" both 3D and non 3D. Edit- Just checked, and neither AMC or Edwards at the Marq*E have it in non 3D IMAX. Sorry.
There only four IMAX 3D screens in Houston. So most cinemas are showing it in regular 2D. 3D gives me a headache a few days after so I only go on special occasions. This is one of those occasions. The movie looks brilliant. It was shot with 3D cameras and not converted in post like a lot of films claiming to be 3D are.
