Prometheus moments of genius

[180924609]

(1) The start of an ALIEN-related movie showing real-life barren but beautiful scenery on a virginal planet accompanied by awe inspiring beautiful celtic themed music. The shadow of an immense starship hovering above the ground, chaperoning a lone humanoid figure that looks like a marble statue as he willingly accepts his body being torn apart by a catalytic liquid agent to kick-start the creation of new life. The engineer looks to the sky as he drinks and the gigantic starship tilts to the vertical position and soars off in silence into the heavens.

Original and very well executed. 


(2) Classical music choice: Chopin's "Raindrop", or more correctly "de la goutte d'eau" --> "Waterdrop".

Not only is it a beautiful piece of music that acts as a perfect sombre background for the 'quirky world of David' at the start, but also a clever foreshadowing for the subject that is to come later...



If the juggernaut canisters had been dispersed in Earth's atmosphere, the black oil would rain down and destroy all organic life on Earth (or cause it to mutate into undignified horror!!??).

Also a neat tie-in with Ridley's 'Black Rain'?


(3) David wandering the ship on a two year journey of discovery.

A clever introduction to the android David, exposing his quirky side and interests. I particularly enjoyed the scene where David stops mid stride to inspect a speck of dirt on the floor.

Visual mime comedy gold.


(4) David wetting his finger before pressing the control buttons on the wall of the Prometheus bridge to 'warm up' the control panels and expose the viewing platform...

Compare with:

David encountering the green liquid coated runes in the Engineer pyramid that act as some kind of conductive medium to facilitate touch response to interact with their control system.


For me, the first 10 minutes of Prometheus were the best 10 minutes.

[Gash]

Loved the storm and the night time scene with Janek wrapped in his blanket and flirting with Vickers. More character stuff between some of the other crew would have been nice. The whole David alone on the ship for two years sequence was great. The pups and the exploration was great too. Actually there was a whole lot that was great, excellent scenes but linked with a lack of suspense. It was trimmed more than it needed and went to a shorthand version of itself in its last quarter.

I have to admit I've only seen it once, (but I'm looking forward to seeing it again), and that was back on the 1st of June before all the negativity became a bore. I loved the opening and settled in to enjoy the whole film - and did. In the later part, after Milburn and Fifield, it felt like it skipped some stuff and there was some initial disappointment that the trailers had revealed too much but I just can't see why the level of hate is so prominent as there is - in my opinion - far more to absorb and appreciate in this film than any recent sci-fi film, or Alien sequel.

Admittedly I'm waiting for the Director's cut, or a sequel to expand the themes and make some revelations. And maybe reinstate the 'scare the sh*t out of you' factor that seems to have been played down in the edit.

[Arcyarc]

Loved the storm and the night time scene with Janek wrapped in his blanket and flirting with Vickers. More character stuff between some of the other crew would have been nice. The whole David alone on the ship for two years sequence was great. The pups and the exploration was great too. Actually there was a whole lot that was great, excellent scenes but linked with a lack of suspense. It was trimmed more than it needed and went to a shorthand version of itself in its last quarter.

Good post, and I agree with your sentiments completely. I enjoyed the film thoroughly, but some of the editing is really quite problematic.

The best example of the dodgy editing comes late in the film, when David radios Shaw to tell her that "He's coming for you..." Menacing words indeed, and it should have setup a tense, climactic cat and mouse sequence, giving us time to feel the tension and dread Shaw should have been feeling, knowing that she was being hunted and that she was in mortal peril. Instead what we get is the Last Engineer immediately burst through the airlock as soon as David's done telling her that he's coming for her. She then immediately opens the MedPod room door, and immediately the Trilobite tentacle-grabs him. There's no build up of tension here. The scene isn't allowed to play out at anything like a natural pace. It's just each part of the script on screen one part after the other almost as if the Producer(s) were fed up making the film at this point and just wanted it over and done with a.s.a.p. Maybe they shot this scene on a Friday afternoon and the crew were keen to finish up and get down the pub. It really felt rushed and it's probably the scene I'd most like to see expanded in any future Director's Cut.

The pacing towards the end of the film is in such sharp contrast to the pacing at the beginning it's hard to believe it's the same film. The scenes with David alone on the ship feel natural and unrushed (and are pretty much universally praised as some of the most enjoyable sequences of the whole film), but by the time the film is coming to an end, important sequences that should be some of the most memorable, iconic scenes of the whole film fly by so quickly the audience barely has time to appreciate them.

Extended Edition/Director's Cut, Audio commentary and a sequel are all badly needed and I sincerely hope we get all 3. Fingers crossed! 

[ThisBethesdaSea]

The moment of silence right after the Engineer is awoken. There is awe, power and wonder in the scene. It was great.

[Taxemic]

(1) The start of an ALIEN-related movie showing real-life barren but beautiful scenery on a virginal planet accompanied by awe inspiring beautiful celtic themed music. The shadow of an immense starship hovering above the ground, chaperoning a lone humanoid figure that looks like a marble statue as he willingly accepts his body being torn apart by a catalytic liquid agent to kick-start the creation of new life. The engineer looks to the sky as he drinks and the gigantic starship tilts to the vertical position and soars off in silence into the heavens.

Original and very well executed. 


(2) Classical music choice: Chopin's "Raindrop", or more correctly "de la goutte d'eau" --> "Waterdrop".

Not only is it a beautiful piece of music that acts as a perfect sombre background for the 'quirky world of David' at the start, but also a clever foreshadowing for the subject that is to come later...



If the juggernaut canisters had been dispersed in Earth's atmosphere, the black oil would rain down and destroy all organic life on Earth (or cause it to mutate into undignified horror!!??).

Also a neat tie-in with Ridley's 'Black Rain'?


(3) David wandering the ship on a two year journey of discovery.

A clever introduction to the android David, exposing his quirky side and interests. I particularly enjoyed the scene where David stops mid stride to inspect a speck of dirt on the floor.

Visual mime comedy gold.


(4) David wetting his finger before pressing the control buttons on the wall of the Prometheus bridge to 'warm up' the control panels and expose the viewing platform...

Compare with:

David encountering the green liquid coated runes in the Engineer pyramid that act as some kind of conductive medium to facilitate touch response to interact with their control system.


For me, the first 10 minutes of Prometheus were the best 10 minutes.

Thank you for this thread.

[Highland]

I really like the far shots of the Prometheus. Particularly the wide outer space shot and the descent past the giant mountain. I could sit and look at that all day. Some of the the imagery needed more time to soak in. Including the dust cloud.

the best example of the dodgy editing comes late in the film, when David radios Shaw to tell her that "He's coming for you..." Menacing words indeed, and it should have setup a tense climactic cat and mouse sequence, giving us time to feel the tension and dread Shaw should have been feeling, knowing that she was being hunted and that she was in mortal peril, but instead what we get is the Last Engineer immediately burst through the airlock as soon as David's done telling her that he's coming for her. She then immediately opens the MedPod room door, and immediately the Trilobite tentacle-grabs him 

This is even more apparent on subsequent viewings. The med pod I guess is too small but there should have at least been a period of waiting to get you built up a little.

[Cvalda]

So, wait...is this thread just for stuff you liked about the movie, or stuff that is actually "genius" about it?

If the juggernaut canisters had been dispersed in Earth's atmosphere, the black oil would rain down and destroy all organic life on Earth (or cause it to mutate into undignified horror!!??).

Also a neat tie-in with Ridley's 'Black Rain'?

Black Rain is still more horrifying.

Spoiler

[close]

[SM]

(2) Classical music choice

I really dug how they used Goldsmith's score for Weyland's hologram address.

[180924609]

So, wait...is this thread just for stuff you liked about the movie, or stuff that is actually "genius" about it?

If the juggernaut canisters had been dispersed in Earth's atmosphere, the black oil would rain down and destroy all organic life on Earth (or cause it to mutate into undignified horror!!??).

Also a neat tie-in with Ridley's 'Black Rain'?

Black Rain is still more horrifying.

Spoiler

[close]

I saw it for the second time at the weekend and in all seriousness:

Yes - the first 10 minutes of Prometheus are genius!

Unfortunately for me, its all downhill from there...

[BANE]

So, wait...is this thread just for stuff you liked about the movie, or stuff that is actually "genius" about it?

If the juggernaut canisters had been dispersed in Earth's atmosphere, the black oil would rain down and destroy all organic life on Earth (or cause it to mutate into undignified horror!!??).

Also a neat tie-in with Ridley's 'Black Rain'?

Black Rain is still more horrifying.

Spoiler

[close]

She's more scared of me than I am of her.

See? She pissed herself at the sight of me!

[180924609]

So, wait...is this thread just for stuff you liked about the movie, or stuff that is actually "genius" about it?

I am going to answer this question properly this time.

This thread is intended to be a positive thread where one can describe particular scenes from Prometheus that have a resonance or multi-dimensional aspect or just simply made you smile in appreciation.

The better your expression or train of thought, the more interesting this movie may become for many people.

I would recommend bite sized chunks rather than a monolithic blog about the movie as a whole.

[Darth Vile]

I'd agree with some of the other posts. The opening 10 minutes of the movie is better than anything since Aliens (IMHO). In fact, I'd say the whole first 45/60 mins of the movie is pretty much perfect. I particularly like the scenes involving landing the Prometheus, preparing for and exploring the temple, Holloways and David's pool table conversation and the med pod sequence. From a visual perspective (and this is his strength), I'd say this is some of Scott's best work ever.

[Svarog]

I like red lightballs that scans the area and send data to the ship!
I always wandered how space marines in Aliens didn't had those!?
...  I mean, even today those S.W.A.T. guys in a movies have some camera drones that goes before them....

[RoaryUK]

Don't know about genius, but I will say I thought the first hour of the movie was great....

[Virgil]

This scene in its entirety really stands out for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMd1QOJkyRg#ws

Particularly the line: 'Can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you, to hear the same thing from your creator'.

It's the subtle contempt David has for Holloway that brought shivers to the spine on my first viewing.