Quote1) But that would be just confusing for the audiences. Some with helmets on and some without. It wound't serve any purpose other than give you comfort that the entire team aren't so reckless.
If you are confused because only two people took off their helmets while the other didnt..... you should only come out and see Michael Bay movies. I really dont think it requires that much mental processing, i really dont. And yes the point is to show that the whole team isnt a bunch of morons. It's a movie about people being infected, it would do a whole lot better if the characters werent running around making it very easy to be infected by something a few minutes into the expedition.
Later on they could have maybe shown more people taking their helmets off, that would been fine, but all at the start was really kinda of silly. Hell, Fif and Milburn could have taken their helmets off, is not like they needed it for story purposes. They were going to die so outside of the helmet bong and couple effects shots that deal with the helmet there was no purpose. In fact, it seems now that they put their helmets on specifically for them to die the way they did. Heh.
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2) That's a big assumption to make i.e. a simple warning is more decipherable in a language no one (supposedly) understands.
No it's a simple assumption, if some one wants to keep as many people as possible out they would leave a message in a way that most people could figure it out. Not in their native language that no one could figure out but using math or something like that. If i remember correctly from Alien it was repeating message of 12 intervals or something? Which i am guessing was why Mother could figure out part of it, it kept repeating a pattern that they could extrapolate some meaning.
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Once the basics of a code/language are understood, the rest usually falls into place... no matter how complex (or so my father has always said – a seasoned proffesor in archaelogy and ancient history). As far as speech versus reading is concerned (I'm assuming you mean that speech is more difficult?), how do we know that David's conversation with the engineer wouldn't have been interpreted as "me David, you big man. We come for pow wow okeyday?" We don't know what level of complexity David could communicate with the engineers, but we do know that he could decipher alien text/instructions etc. - which you agree is easier than the spoken word.
No, i clearly said reading is harder... this is why in history and we still do have now illiterate people. There are people in this world that cannot understand what we are writing and all of this looks like a mess of lines yet we can walk up to them and discuss all of this with no problem. Unless i completely missed it there is nothing that Dave got his hands on that would allow him to be able to figure out one letter or sign from the Jock language, let alone the dude being able to operate their tech. The only point this was sort of ok was when he was repeating the stuff he saw on the hologram but that would not teach him anything besides the commands that were shown. There is no way that from that he could fly an alien ship. Sorry, but that is Star Trek stuff.
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3) But it wasn't like they were all hanging back and chillin'... they we're all rushing back to the ship because of an uber storm. A state of confusion. The captain did pick up on the fact that they were missing... but just too late to help them.
What was the confusion? He just called over and told them to come back and waited for them. But for some unknown reason ( silly plot) at this point all the tech at their disposal wasnt used to keep them all safe. Is not until AFTER the main team arrives back that the Captain decides to look at their cameras. Janek makes Gorman look a tactical genius in the way he operates.
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4) I'd agree with you if Milburn was presented as seeking out the 'ping' etc... but they happen on the hammerpede by chance/bad luck. Once they appear, his fear takes a step back for his proffesional interest.
As for Kane, he didn't freak out... but he was presented as a sensible chap... the 2nd in command. Putting your face into an alien egg is about as sensible as putting your hand into a naked flame... or trying to touch a hammerpede.
What i am trying to convey is that Mil knew what he was doing and showed a negative reaction to it while Kane is not a professional and did not show a negative reaction. Kane being slightly silly in his decision making is more forgivable because there wasnt that many hurdles put in front of him like Milburn had. Milburn went from freaking out about dead aliens to ooooh look alien thingy.... let me get reeeeeal close to it. What did Kane do but show some amazement at what they found? In fact, your explanation of "professional curiosity" works better with Kane than Mil because he obviously didnt have a heavy negative reaction to what was found yet they continued on and on, and sort of dropped his safety instinct.
Like i said, one scene showing Milburn calming down would have been nice cause right now we have the dude going from 0 to 60 in a few seconds.
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5) Not really. It not only references Alien, but we're getting to see what the black goo does to organic matter. A key piece of information.
By that point to me we got enough info showing that goo is bad.
And this happens shortly after two scenes showing goo is not good.
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6) It's not as if mutated Fierfield is sat on a rock looking at the sky and smoking a spliff. He's clearly turned into an aggressive monster. At this point in the movie, whilst it's obvious the black goo isn't for drinking a la cherry cola, we only have the 2 examples where it's shown to mutate. As many of the critics here are calling for more exposition, I'd posit that this is an example where it didn't need less.
Goo not good was shown at the very start of the film, the Jock head, Mil being silly, Holloway being killed, and the alien baby happens as this scene is going on. This is one of the biggest problems with the film, there are numerous aliens things happening all at the same yet none of them are connected by the characters in the film. The audience by now should CLEARLY see what is going on, having yet another example of goo not good doesnt help the audience. By now the characters should have been making connections on this stuff since the audience should be clear on this.
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7) I think just because he states he's willing to do anything/everything, it doesn't mean he would. He clearly wasn't counting on being in utter agony as he mutates into something else. He'd be the first to say it wasn't worth it in the end...
This would be fine if he went off by himself, but endangering everyone just makes me dislike the character even more. In fact it would have been interesting if Fif would have gotten replace with Holloway. Holloway disappears and no one can find him and some hours later he pops back on the ship looking all beastly wanting to kill everyone but when he sees Shaw he calm downs a bit enough to be killed. Shaw ends up making the choice of killing him.
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No... but it adds weight to the theme of being able to create life. For all Shaw's beliefs/faith, she has been short changed on something the vast majority of women need and desire. I thought it quite powerful (in context of a sci-fi flick).
I dont see how it adds anything. To me is just a person being infected with some alien virus which has been shown to be bad. Shaw being barren plays no part because no one knows about it, we dont know about until a few minutes before it happens. For it to add weight they should have put weight on it in the film, randomly mentioning a few minutes before we see it come into play is just plain plot silliness.
Quote9) I agree – the movie could lose some stuff and would be better for it. The coda with the proto xeno being the prime example. Although everyone I've seen the movie with (I've been 3 times with about 10 people) we're certainly not going "huh?" every 15 mins.
