I saw it, I went for a good 8.5. It was an ambitious film, and that counts a lot for me. It meant that some things like character development and clear answers got pushed to the wayside at times, but overall it was deeply enjoyable and I never found myself saying 'No, please go back and explain that to me', it's one of those films where you're quite happy for the momentum of the film to carry you forward with it.
Best part for me is when they have a mission briefing AFTER they wake up from cryo-sleep! 😂. - "you want the job?" - "what job?" - "we'll tell you when we arrive, now get in the tank!" - "I'll take it!"
Some genuine vision in the art direction - particularly the engineer, really making use of the uncanny valley effect there. Some awe-inspiring ideas, at least in the set-up. And the character of David was truly great. Most everything else was a bungle. My biggest problem was that the characters had almost no definition whatsoever. There were some gestures toward definition, but quite random & adding up to nothing. I can hear the writers, "Uh, I think these are the kinds of things people do."
i saw it in 3D last night and the 3D was incredible. I worked as a projectionist for a long time and this was best presentation of this 3D nonsense ive ever seen.
Kermode says "I think some people have been disappointed because they were expecting something else". Spot on, Marky-boy. People like me were disappointed because we WERE expecting "something else": A GOOD MOVIE. Something original, with chilling atmosphere, tense action scenes, sympathetic characters, a fascinating conceit and a good tight plot. Instead we got boredom, stupidity, sub-par CGI, cringe-inducing dialogue, and plot holes so big you could fly a Prometheus through them. Arse whole.
Thats because he says something to the engineer, that sets it off. It just doesnt attack them randomly, David says something, and we dont know what it is. That is why this movie needs a sequel. To answer the questions from the first one.
I felt it had some good elements of tension, but only when the film had a direct link to Alien (for example the scene with those vases) I knew what was in there and it made me nervous.
To be fair, Joss Whedon has said that the final cut wasn't like anything from his original script. So I'm guessing the studio made changes in the editing and what not. A similar thing happend with David Fincher for Alien 3 when the studio made changes in the editing stages behind his back.
It's set before the 'Aliens' series with Sigourney Weaver and John Hurt. It seems to be about both the origins of the human species but also the origins of the Xenomorphs (the Aliens).
8) The purpose of 'infected Fifield' showing up was to show obviously the infection in question, what it could do and obviously to the crew aswell. It wasnt hard for him to find the ship because obviously they were on a straight path 'God doesnt build in straight lines' the path leading directly to the 'tombs' or because he followed the crew back.
Yes, It gives us questions that need to be answered in Prometheus 2, which will then have more questions that will be answered in Prometheus 3, which then link to Alien. People need to listen to Ridley Scott's interview he did with Simon Mayo and Kermode before Mark did the review, this is not a direct prequel.
How the enemy/monster was defeated in the end was pretty abrupt, but I don't think it spoiled the movie at all, because coupled with that event is a dozen other events that happened leading to it and after. All I know is this will be a blockbuster, and it will be liked by scifi thriller fans and action fans alike.
I liked this movie and agree with this critic that it does have flaws. He mentioned that Scott said they were not on LV426. The whole time I thought they were. I don't remember when the film mentions they are on LV223. Well that changes a lot of things for me now.
I don't know because I am not- Ridley Scott. He is the director of the Alien series. I have complete faith that he will lead us to these answers. Prometheus is not a direct Prequel it is an ORIGIN story, which will be followed by more movies. Which may lead up to/ end up at the beginning of Alien. It's not inconsistent to Alien since it explains the Xenomorphs in that film.
Can't wait to see it, will be coming out here on the 8th of August. Yeah, crazy... I don't feel like waiting another two months so I will probably have to download a pirate copy. Unfortunate, because I would be more than willing to pay my 12 euros to see it in IMAX.
Well if it slows down digestion and aging, why would you assume it doesn't slow down everything else? I think he would have still propositioned Vickers if he'd been laid an hour earlier by Shaw or (shudder.... Forde)...
Well, I think that should be explicitly stated, since everyone I've seen got confused (especially since the spaceship ends up on its side and the jockey has a hole in its chest missing.
I would consider that an unlikely interpretation. Life on earth, as best we know, started somewhere between 3.65 and 3.85 billion years ago. So, are you suggesting the scene where the engineer sacrifices himself occurs 3.85 billion years ago? Possible, but hard to make sense of it.
I'll be interested in seeing that. I hope it explains how the Captain of the ship went from knowing nothing to knowing everything about the planet, the engineers and what they were doing there. That scene really annoyed me because it's blatant exposition rushed in at the last minute.
Kermode is spot on. This sums up pretty much how I felt walking out of the theatre. + Visuals/Art Direction/Set Design (yay for sets and not green-screen fest) + Michael Fassbender (the opening act is wonderful) + Noomi Rapace + Some themes and ideas (makes you think, not just popcorn escapism) - The minor characters (Theron was a big waste) - Script/Storytelling (this is what hurts it the most, in my opinion) - Score (didn't like the Trek-like optimism, give me minimalist and brooding) 7.5
@@hebeusuthu8143 Miles per hour has a measure of time in the expression, but it's a measure of speed, not time. Light years is not a measure of time, simple.
For me, it was more about the questions being proposed in the movie than the plot. I can see how people didn't enjoy it, but I think we have to give Ridley Scott credit for trying (and I emphasize trying) to go where classic scifi movies in the past have gone. It's far from perfect, but better than most things being shown these days. Just the fact that people are expressing their opinions about the movie and trying to answer these questions tells me that overall it was a success.
yer i guess trailers seem to give a bit much away now a days but then if it doesn't show looks of cool visuals in the trailer then people won't go and see it
About the ending: It's not directly tied to the original Alien. Prometheus is set on a different planet/moon than Alien so that crashed ship is NOT the same one seen in Alien. Sequels are planned which we assume will finally tie into Alien. The reason the chestburster doesn't look the same as the one in Alien is because 1) it's an earlier form of the species and 2) it had a different host. (don't you remember the dog like xenomorph from Alien 3 and the warrior xenomorphs from ALIENS.
this movie was suppose to explain all of them. From alien to avpR. We have waited the better part of 30 years to find out that we have to wait even longer maybe to 2016 before we get our answers. The main thing i was looking for was the relationship between the space jockey( the engineers) and the predators. Nothing, not even the questions asked in the movie were answered.
My problem with the scenes is not that they are violent, it is that they are, or at least FEEL, completely random. My earlier comment spelled that out. Every death in Alien is shocking and we are sad to see that character leave. But in Prometheus there are 17 characters, about 10 of whom are superfluous to the story and only exist to get killed in the infantile, pointless action scenes. Also, Prometheus seemed barely interested in the David character. Much less than 2001 was in its technology.
Fair point about the guy ignoring the worm in his eye. Maybe he thought he had just imagined it. I guess we've all ignored potential symptoms before and thought "ahh it's probably nothing." I just thought that, given the circumstances, people would be hyper-vigilent about stuff like that, rather than trying to ignore it.
Your point is very valid in regards to opinion. I personally enjoy Kermodes reviews because his taste in movies mirrors my own and he has a very broad taste in film. Its because of this that I value his opinion, not because I 'only' wish to validate my own opinion about films i've liked/disliked but because he's also brought my attention to films I've never heard of and seen before, for example Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet. That's what good critics do.
... while in contrast in prometheus we don't even know who the main antagonist(s) are or if indeed there is one. In promethues everyhing is more first person, we only know as much as the characters know. This instills a feeling of mystery, and I think Scott did something very original. Star Trek = classic bad guy vs good guy with strong emphasis on developing good guy characters. Promethues = dark, gritty, mystery thriller, we don't know - for sure - who the antagonist(s) are from the onset.
I didnt, but I got Battleship on Disc, and it was Surprisingly enjoyable, even if it was hard to suspend disbelief about wave hopping alien ships... it was still an enjoyable film.
If it had nothing to do with Alien -would it be as good? I really enjoyed it, because of the connection with Alien. Was it more to do with my love for the greatest film of all time (For me)
Trilobyte makes more sense, yeah. I read online somewhere that it was the Queen, and the reason they've been around for thousands of years before Prometheus, is that the Engineers built a statue of an Alien on the wall- and apparently it's what the Engineers were running from in the hologram 2000 years previously.
I admired the visual scale...the 3D worked very well, with all the floating screens...and it's a truly handsome gorgeous production. But when they awake the alien fellow in the chamber, he just gets out and starts knocking people around..how well thought out is that? And the viseral stuff with goo and completely odd creatures grappling and killing...it just saps the creative thrust right out of the film. The acting and production was the best part.
The comments you make on the dialog contrast between Prometheus and Alien are absolutely right. I was able to enjoy Prometheus for what it was, I was entertained watching it. The theater was full of people questioning everything about it at the end - but I would also say it's better to have people talking about how they were entertained and let down than talking about how terrible it was as a whole. It's not great but certainly better than a lot of films with the similar goals.
I think reviews can serve a function of letting you know not to get your hopes up. Better to know ahead of time not to be too excited so that if you wind up not liking it you can go, "well people were telling me it wasn't all that good".
Kermode doesn't normally give a rating to films. Which I find odd. I maybe wrong here, but after watching Prometheus my thoughts of the film were very critical but I still 'enjoyed' the film. Maybe Kermode is perhaps trying to validate this point with a score of 7.5 and finds enough 'good' in the film to warrant a recommendation. It is also difficult film to a review and not give plot spoilers away. It will be interesting to see an opinion once enough have seen the film.
I saw the 2d version as 3d does absolutely nothing for me but as the movie goes alway through I was asking when does this tie into Alien and it did that in last minute of the movie. I guess I liked it but it certainly wasn't as good as as Aliens or Alien. I guess I had hoped to see more Aliens or something.
Thank god, there's at least one other person who understands the difference between leaving questions unanswered to make people think, and leaving plot holes because it's a bad script.
9) For all we know they did have defensive weaponary, not everything has to be explained, what would be the point of a sequel? Do you have a personal defense against a Nuke?
This movie is a prequel to Alien the scene where the being got into the control pod and had the mask over his face was exactly the setup in Alien except there were those pods with face huggers I would agree its maybe 2 more movies before Ripley shows up in Alien but agree on the 7.5 out of 10
It is a prequel to 'Alien' in the sense it's an origin story of how the Xenomorph came to be, but it's not an 'Alien' film, it was never promoted as an 'Alien' prequel at all or with the same theme. Ridley Scott said many times it's a stand alone film, if you were expecting loads of aliens jumping from air vents and ripping people apart then unlucky. Theres a 30 year gap between Prometheus and Alien and RS already said he's willing to make more. Big things have small beginnings
BTW mine are simple logic, not 'hard SF' objections. The 'hard SF' objections might relate to whether travel is sub-light-speed, in which case humanity would have evolved into something else by the time they got back, and veterans of various missions would be from reproductively incompatible but human-descended species, and there are many problems with series chronology; or whether travel is faster-than-light, in which case why the 'stasis'-sleep, how was Ripley found in normal space in Aliens..
Prometheus is a prequel to Alien but it's not a direct prequel. There are questions left unanswered but they are not answered in Alien. They are going to have to make a sequel to set everything up for Alien.
I agree it was a good film with a few flaws and you have to take it in the context that more are coming. Question is will a sequel focus Dr Shaw or Meredith Vickers (who I don't think was killed). I could see the sequel focusing on Vickers awaiting rescue whilst being stalked by the nasty in the escape pod or maybe she stowed away on the horseshoe ship.
i wouldn't call it a major spoiler since that same ship is already crashed in alien and it was only revealed not to long ago that it was a different planet.
"create a precurser for the next one to two or more installments." Yep. It was only 1/3 a film that I paid a full price. Sigh...But agree with you that this is a setup for two more "prequels."
Mark touches on some great points that people seem to be forgetting or ignoring. I mean Ridley has always said from the get go he's not replicating Alien and it's not a direct prequel. If people have even a remote interest in Sci-Fi please go watch Prometheus it's a really great movie.
Liked the movie though it was an excellent prequel which it undoubtably is, hope they do another, the 3D though well I'm getting to the point of what is the point.
7) The fact they were freaked out is the reason they didnt run, they didn't know what it was, it could of been harmless for all they know, it looked harmless at first obviously and didn't strike until the Biologist went to touch it. Gear to deal with it? They didnt know how long they were going to be trapped
You think they should go join Vickers to the lifeboat, which has 2 years of supplies for 1 person? And it took MORE than two years to get there, so even if they got off a distress call, a rescue mission might not get there before they are dead?
Well there were obviously several alien space ships on the planet, which apparently David/Shaw could fly with ease...so they could have chosen NOT to die (since it was totally unnecessary) and take their chances on one of the Engineers' ships. In fact, even thought they might not have known about the additional ships, surely it would make more sense to take your chances and try and think of a solution in your remaining 2 yrs, rather than simply accept death on the say-so of some stranger?
I want know if that feeling of desolation on the firts Alien is present, that sense of Desolation like in 2001, An empty Space and nobody wants to talk about.
Apparently Riddley Scott had said he intended to make two movies. From what I understand, the sequel to Prometheus will depend on how well Prometheus does. They did leave a lot of mysteries, and didn't answer much. And I think he did that intentionally.
Might actually see what all the fuss is about. I missed the trailers because I am not on the pulse evidentially, but hey,a reasonable good sci-fi by a sentient being is pretty darn rare...
Just went to saw it in cinema. Brilliant movie. Creepy as hell, very intense. Very nice CGI and good music score. Those who hate this movie obviously don't use their brain.
1. Weyland was on deaths door, was looking for a way to prolong his life. These 'conmen' that don't exist so no point in even mentioning them didn't have the proof in the form of the star maps they found to convince Weyland otherwise. 2) Davids goal in dosing up a member of the crew im speculating was to see for himself out of curiosity or a preconcieved agreement by Weyland to see the effects of this unknown bio-contaminent on human life
As am i. Blade Runner being well up there for me too, but wouldn't you agree Blade Runner has its fair share of mistakes/bloopers/plot holes whatever you want to call them to? yet it's one of two of your favourites
Dam this movie was SO good! I havnt had one a long time making me want the next so bad,i even came to look up videos on it as soon as i got home from the theatre!
You're saying that if I think Prometheus is bad I should watch Transformers 3 and Prometheus will no longer seem so bad. That is the most pathetic defense of this abortion of a film I've come across. Both films are rubbish but at least Transformers isn't pretentious. "Great movie, blow me." Wow! Fantastic review, man! I'm convinced! Seriously though, as I wrote in my last message, explaining why Prometheus is good is impossible, because it isn't. But you've not even bothered trying.
Given the positive response from Mark re Prometheus(which I loved and would have wanted to see the follow-up film exploring that more), in his review of Romulus he slated Prometheus - 😞
3) See point number 2) also to use Shw as a vessel to transport the Alien life-form back to Earth obviously for testing/research 4) I have no idea what your going on about with number 4. You ended that point with 'was just dumb' so i'm going to assume you couldnt think of a reasonable point for number 4
I saw it, I went for a good 8.5. It was an ambitious film, and that counts a lot for me. It meant that some things like character development and clear answers got pushed to the wayside at times, but overall it was deeply enjoyable and I never found myself saying 'No, please go back and explain that to me', it's one of those films where you're quite happy for the momentum of the film to carry you forward with it.
Best part for me is when they have a mission briefing AFTER they wake up from cryo-sleep! 😂.
- "you want the job?"
- "what job?"
- "we'll tell you when we arrive, now get in the tank!"
- "I'll take it!"
It's a great script. Especially when these' intelligent' characters are running and running in the same direction as the giant rolling spacecraft.
And when the cabbage in the cave tries to pet the newly discovered serpent.
The dumbest crew ever.
yeah but like elizabeth shaw i wanna fail at running away from things
Great review. Always informative. Really enjoyed Prometheus. It offers up plenty of questions to be answered. Can't wait for the next in the pipe.
I liked the film a lot. I think the ending is Scott screaming "Give us the money to make another, make it now!"
Some genuine vision in the art direction - particularly the engineer, really making use of the uncanny valley effect there. Some awe-inspiring ideas, at least in the set-up. And the character of David was truly great. Most everything else was a bungle. My biggest problem was that the characters had almost no definition whatsoever. There were some gestures toward definition, but quite random & adding up to nothing. I can hear the writers, "Uh, I think these are the kinds of things people do."
i saw it in 3D last night and the 3D was incredible. I worked as a projectionist for a long time and this was best presentation of this 3D nonsense ive ever seen.
Pretty good and pretty accurate. Now if you could just cram in some more words and thus make the review feel a bit more articulate and full.
Remember that they're basically in a biological weapon factory and the targets have turned up and are wanting to have a chat.
cant wait to see this film !! thanks for the quick upload :)
Haven't seen the film yet but is Michael Fassbender credited for playing the Fender Bass in the original motion picture soundtrack for Prometheus?
my favourite reviewer. whenever i come back and watch a review about a film i've seen, i nearly always agree with mark.
Kermode says "I think some people have been disappointed because they were expecting something else".
Spot on, Marky-boy. People like me were disappointed because we WERE expecting "something else":
A GOOD MOVIE.
Something original, with chilling atmosphere, tense action scenes, sympathetic characters, a fascinating conceit and a good tight plot.
Instead we got boredom, stupidity, sub-par CGI, cringe-inducing dialogue, and plot holes so big you could fly a Prometheus through them.
Arse whole.
Thats because he says something to the engineer, that sets it off. It just doesnt attack them randomly, David says something, and we dont know what it is. That is why this movie needs a sequel. To answer the questions from the first one.
Was there not an interview with Ridley Scott and Kermode? That's the one I want to see.
Father is a reference to the original film when Ian Holm (a similar role to Theron's) would contact "Mother".
Giant squid was early version of facehugger just like Alien (or maybe early version of chestburster).
I felt it had some good elements of tension, but only when the film had a direct link to Alien (for example the scene with those vases) I knew what was in there and it made me nervous.
To be fair, Joss Whedon has said that the final cut wasn't like anything from his original script. So I'm guessing the studio made changes in the editing and what not. A similar thing happend with David Fincher for Alien 3 when the studio made changes in the editing stages behind his back.
I'd like to hear what Mark things about the deleted scenes. I got a chance to watch them and think they add a lot to the film
I loved it, fassbender out-acted everyone else on screen, and I really hope there's more to come
It's set before the 'Aliens' series with Sigourney Weaver and John Hurt. It seems to be about both the origins of the human species but also the origins of the Xenomorphs (the Aliens).
So...how did the engineer get back into the seat (where they found him in Alien)?
For myself, it gets better each time, similar feeling I had to 'The dark knight'.
What’s the line from 2001: a space odyssey in Alien: Covenant? I’ll watch it again.
8) The purpose of 'infected Fifield' showing up was to show obviously the infection in question, what it could do and obviously to the crew aswell. It wasnt hard for him to find the ship because obviously they were on a straight path 'God doesnt build in straight lines' the path leading directly to the 'tombs' or because he followed the crew back.
Yes, It gives us questions that need to be answered in Prometheus 2, which will then have more questions that will be answered in Prometheus 3, which then link to Alien.
People need to listen to Ridley Scott's interview he did with Simon Mayo and Kermode before Mark did the review, this is not a direct prequel.
How the enemy/monster was defeated in the end was pretty abrupt, but I don't think it spoiled the movie at all, because coupled with that event is a dozen other events that happened leading to it and after. All I know is this will be a blockbuster, and it will be liked by scifi thriller fans and action fans alike.
I liked this movie and agree with this critic that it does have flaws. He mentioned that Scott said they were not on LV426. The whole time I thought they were. I don't remember when the film mentions they are on LV223. Well that changes a lot of things for me now.
Well, if my memory serves me correctly, that those jars are similar to those found in Alien where a good old John Hurt found those facehuggers.
I don't know because I am not- Ridley Scott. He is the director of the Alien series. I have complete faith that he will lead us to these answers. Prometheus is not a direct Prequel it is an ORIGIN story, which will be followed by more movies. Which may lead up to/ end up at the beginning of Alien. It's not inconsistent to Alien since it explains the Xenomorphs in that film.
Can't wait to see it, will be coming out here on the 8th of August. Yeah, crazy... I don't feel like waiting another two months so I will probably have to download a pirate copy. Unfortunate, because I would be more than willing to pay my 12 euros to see it in IMAX.
Well if it slows down digestion and aging, why would you assume it doesn't slow down everything else? I think he would have still propositioned Vickers if he'd been laid an hour earlier by Shaw or (shudder.... Forde)...
Well, I think that should be explicitly stated, since everyone I've seen got confused (especially since the spaceship ends up on its side and the jockey has a hole in its chest missing.
I would consider that an unlikely interpretation. Life on earth, as best we know, started somewhere between 3.65 and 3.85 billion years ago. So, are you suggesting the scene where the engineer sacrifices himself occurs 3.85 billion years ago? Possible, but hard to make sense of it.
I'll be interested in seeing that. I hope it explains how the Captain of the ship went from knowing nothing to knowing everything about the planet, the engineers and what they were doing there. That scene really annoyed me because it's blatant exposition rushed in at the last minute.
Kermode is spot on. This sums up pretty much how I felt walking out of the theatre.
+ Visuals/Art Direction/Set Design (yay for sets and not green-screen fest)
+ Michael Fassbender (the opening act is wonderful)
+ Noomi Rapace
+ Some themes and ideas (makes you think, not just popcorn escapism)
- The minor characters (Theron was a big waste)
- Script/Storytelling (this is what hurts it the most, in my opinion)
- Score (didn't like the Trek-like optimism, give me minimalist and brooding)
7.5
Light years is a measure of distance, not time.
cycodamo it’s the description of distance travelled over a period of time.
It literally has a measure of time in the expression
@@hebeusuthu8143 Miles per hour has a measure of time in the expression, but it's a measure of speed, not time. Light years is not a measure of time, simple.
For me, it was more about the questions being proposed in the movie than the plot. I can see how people didn't enjoy it, but I think we have to give Ridley Scott credit for trying (and I emphasize trying) to go where classic scifi movies in the past have gone. It's far from perfect, but better than most things being shown these days. Just the fact that people are expressing their opinions about the movie and trying to answer these questions tells me that overall it was a success.
yer i guess trailers seem to give a bit much away now a days but then if it doesn't show looks of cool visuals in the trailer then people won't go and see it
About the ending:
It's not directly tied to the original Alien. Prometheus is set on a different planet/moon than Alien so that crashed ship is NOT the same one seen in Alien. Sequels are planned which we assume will finally tie into Alien.
The reason the chestburster doesn't look the same as the one in Alien is because 1) it's an earlier form of the species and 2) it had a different host. (don't you remember the dog like xenomorph from Alien 3 and the warrior xenomorphs from ALIENS.
no I mean the poster with the ship crashing, look at it in detail.
this movie was suppose to explain all of them. From alien to avpR. We have waited the better part of 30 years to find out that we have to wait even longer maybe to 2016 before we get our answers. The main thing i was looking for was the relationship between the space jockey( the engineers) and the predators. Nothing, not even the questions asked in the movie were answered.
My problem with the scenes is not that they are violent, it is that they are, or at least FEEL, completely random. My earlier comment spelled that out. Every death in Alien is shocking and we are sad to see that character leave. But in Prometheus there are 17 characters, about 10 of whom are superfluous to the story and only exist to get killed in the infantile, pointless action scenes.
Also, Prometheus seemed barely interested in the David character. Much less than 2001 was in its technology.
Fair point about the guy ignoring the worm in his eye. Maybe he thought he had just imagined it. I guess we've all ignored potential symptoms before and thought "ahh it's probably nothing." I just thought that, given the circumstances, people would be hyper-vigilent about stuff like that, rather than trying to ignore it.
Your point is very valid in regards to opinion.
I personally enjoy Kermodes reviews because his taste in movies mirrors my own and he has a very broad taste in film. Its because of this that I value his opinion, not because I 'only' wish to validate my own opinion about films i've liked/disliked but because he's also brought my attention to films I've never heard of and seen before, for example Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet. That's what good critics do.
... while in contrast in prometheus we don't even know who the main antagonist(s) are or if indeed there is one. In promethues everyhing is more first person, we only know as much as the characters know. This instills a feeling of mystery, and I think Scott did something very original.
Star Trek = classic bad guy vs good guy with strong emphasis on developing good guy characters.
Promethues = dark, gritty, mystery thriller, we don't know - for sure - who the antagonist(s) are from the onset.
Happy thinking. I prefer it when a story has a middle and an end personally.
I didnt, but I got Battleship on Disc, and it was Surprisingly enjoyable, even if it was hard to suspend disbelief about wave hopping alien ships... it was still an enjoyable film.
Ian Holm was the android in alien not lance henriksen. Lance came out in Cameron's sequel.
If it had nothing to do with Alien -would it be as good? I really enjoyed it, because of the connection with Alien. Was it more to do with my love for the greatest film of all time (For me)
Trilobyte makes more sense, yeah. I read online somewhere that it was the Queen, and the reason they've been around for thousands of years before Prometheus, is that the Engineers built a statue of an Alien on the wall- and apparently it's what the Engineers were running from in the hologram 2000 years previously.
I admired the visual scale...the 3D worked very well, with all the floating screens...and it's a truly handsome gorgeous production. But when they awake the alien fellow in the chamber, he just gets out and starts knocking people around..how well thought out is that? And the viseral stuff with goo and completely odd creatures grappling and killing...it just saps the creative thrust right out of the film. The acting and production was the best part.
The comments you make on the dialog contrast between Prometheus and Alien are absolutely right. I was able to enjoy Prometheus for what it was, I was entertained watching it. The theater was full of people questioning everything about it at the end - but I would also say it's better to have people talking about how they were entertained and let down than talking about how terrible it was as a whole. It's not great but certainly better than a lot of films with the similar goals.
I think reviews can serve a function of letting you know not to get your hopes up. Better to know ahead of time not to be too excited so that if you wind up not liking it you can go, "well people were telling me it wasn't all that good".
I adored the film!. you must see asap
Kermode doesn't normally give a rating to films. Which I find odd. I maybe wrong here, but after watching Prometheus my thoughts of the film were very critical but I still 'enjoyed' the film. Maybe Kermode is perhaps trying to validate this point with a score of 7.5 and finds enough 'good' in the film to warrant a recommendation. It is also difficult film to a review and not give plot spoilers away. It will be interesting to see an opinion once enough have seen the film.
I saw the 2d version as 3d does absolutely nothing for me but as the movie goes alway through I was asking when does this tie into Alien and it did that in last minute of the movie. I guess I liked it but it certainly wasn't as good as as Aliens or Alien. I guess I had hoped to see more Aliens or something.
So, going to see this tonight. Watch in 3D or not?
Thank god, there's at least one other person who understands the difference between leaving questions unanswered to make people think, and leaving plot holes because it's a bad script.
Did he ever discuss the 3D?
Like, in another video or something?
I'm so exited! But since I'm german, I gotta wait till august to see this. That sucks...
9) For all we know they did have defensive weaponary, not everything has to be explained, what would be the point of a sequel? Do you have a personal defense against a Nuke?
This movie is a prequel to Alien the scene where the being got into the control pod and had the mask over his face was exactly the setup in Alien except there were those pods with face huggers I would agree its maybe 2 more movies before Ripley shows up in Alien but agree on the 7.5 out of 10
It's still fresh now
how do u know this? Do u have any info to back up what your saying? I read the info on this movie and it said prequel.
It is a prequel to 'Alien' in the sense it's an origin story of how the Xenomorph came to be, but it's not an 'Alien' film, it was never promoted as an 'Alien' prequel at all or with the same theme. Ridley Scott said many times it's a stand alone film, if you were expecting loads of aliens jumping from air vents and ripping people apart then unlucky. Theres a 30 year gap between Prometheus and Alien and RS already said he's willing to make more. Big things have small beginnings
BTW mine are simple logic, not 'hard SF' objections.
The 'hard SF' objections might relate to whether travel is sub-light-speed, in which case humanity would have evolved into something else by the time they got back, and veterans of various missions would be from reproductively incompatible but human-descended species, and there are many problems with series chronology; or whether travel is faster-than-light, in which case why the 'stasis'-sleep, how was Ripley found in normal space in Aliens..
Prometheus is a prequel to Alien but it's not a direct prequel.
There are questions left unanswered but they are not answered in Alien.
They are going to have to make a sequel to set everything up for Alien.
I agree it was a good film with a few flaws and you have to take it in the context that more are coming. Question is will a sequel focus Dr Shaw or Meredith Vickers (who I don't think was killed). I could see the sequel focusing on Vickers awaiting rescue whilst being stalked by the nasty in the escape pod or maybe she stowed away on the horseshoe ship.
i wouldn't call it a major spoiler since that same ship is already crashed in alien and it was only revealed not to long ago that it was a different planet.
"create a precurser for the next one to two or more installments."
Yep. It was only 1/3 a film that I paid a full price. Sigh...But agree with you that this is a setup for two more "prequels."
Loved the "Good morning David" part, a wink to 2001 ; )
Mark touches on some great points that people seem to be forgetting or ignoring. I mean Ridley has always said from the get go he's not replicating Alien and it's not a direct prequel. If people have even a remote interest in Sci-Fi please go watch Prometheus it's a really great movie.
Liked the movie though it was an excellent prequel which it undoubtably is, hope they do another, the 3D though well I'm getting to the point of what is the point.
7) The fact they were freaked out is the reason they didnt run, they didn't know what it was, it could of been harmless for all they know, it looked harmless at first obviously and didn't strike until the Biologist went to touch it. Gear to deal with it? They didnt know how long they were going to be trapped
Reviews can give awareness to a film of which it would not have received if it were not for film critics.
You think they should go join Vickers to the lifeboat, which has 2 years of supplies for 1 person? And it took MORE than two years to get there, so even if they got off a distress call, a rescue mission might not get there before they are dead?
Just back from seeing it in IMAX 3D, it had some interesting ideas to it and harks back to the original Alien.
Well there were obviously several alien space ships on the planet, which apparently David/Shaw could fly with ease...so they could have chosen NOT to die (since it was totally unnecessary) and take their chances on one of the Engineers' ships. In fact, even thought they might not have known about the additional ships, surely it would make more sense to take your chances and try and think of a solution in your remaining 2 yrs, rather than simply accept death on the say-so of some stranger?
prometheus was a thinking sc-fi mans film,like 2001 space odyssey and possibly do droids dream of electric sheep ? ,i personaly liked it a lot .
I want know if that feeling of desolation on the firts Alien is present, that sense of Desolation like in 2001, An empty Space and nobody wants to talk about.
I'm now officially intrigued... by the word 'Grooey'.
probably gruey. as in gruesome, meaning something that induces shivers.
but, anyway, it isnt. its just facepalmy.
Apparently Riddley Scott had said he intended to make two movies. From what I understand, the sequel to Prometheus will depend on how well Prometheus does. They did leave a lot of mysteries, and didn't answer much. And I think he did that intentionally.
:-D thats the best description of this movie ever!you've superbly summed up in one sentence, 3 hours of film!
Great movie, hope there are more to follow. Please go and see it
grue [groo] Show IPA
verb (used without object), grued, gru·ing. Chiefly Scot.
to shudder.
Is this the word he was using?
Hellifino.
Might actually see what all the fuss is about. I missed the trailers because I am not on the pulse evidentially, but hey,a reasonable good sci-fi by a sentient being is pretty darn rare...
Can we see it?
I think Prometheus will be admired in time.
Just went to saw it in cinema. Brilliant movie. Creepy as hell, very intense. Very nice CGI and good music score. Those who hate this movie obviously don't use their brain.
1. Weyland was on deaths door, was looking for a way to prolong his life. These 'conmen' that don't exist so no point in even mentioning them didn't have the proof in the form of the star maps they found to convince Weyland otherwise.
2) Davids goal in dosing up a member of the crew im speculating was to see for himself out of curiosity or a preconcieved agreement by Weyland to see the effects of this unknown bio-contaminent on human life
As am i. Blade Runner being well up there for me too, but wouldn't you agree Blade Runner has its fair share of mistakes/bloopers/plot holes whatever you want to call them to? yet it's one of two of your favourites
Dam this movie was SO good! I havnt had one a long time making me want the next so bad,i even came to look up videos on it as soon as i got home from the theatre!
You're saying that if I think Prometheus is bad I should watch Transformers 3 and Prometheus will no longer seem so bad. That is the most pathetic defense of this abortion of a film I've come across. Both films are rubbish but at least Transformers isn't pretentious.
"Great movie, blow me."
Wow! Fantastic review, man! I'm convinced! Seriously though, as I wrote in my last message, explaining why Prometheus is good is impossible, because it isn't. But you've not even bothered trying.
I like how he doesn't give anything away of the story or plot.
Given the positive response from Mark re Prometheus(which I loved and would have wanted to see the follow-up film exploring that more), in his review of Romulus he slated Prometheus - 😞
I could seriously listen to Mark talk about movies all day, he never has anything to say that I disagree with and his opinions are really entertaining
3) See point number 2) also to use Shw as a vessel to transport the Alien life-form back to Earth obviously for testing/research
4) I have no idea what your going on about with number 4. You ended that point with 'was just dumb' so i'm going to assume you couldnt think of a reasonable point for number 4
Charge of the Light brigade comes to mind in this case.