It doesn't surprise me at all that Jack Paglen was hired to pen PROMETHEUS 2 after watching TRANSCENDENCE.
In some ways Paglen's script has both convinced me that he should be able to flesh out the characters and dialogue and make PROMETHEUS 2 all the better for doing so. There are some interesting 'freak-out' moments (even if the director Wally Pfiser didnt handle them too well) and I can see how that combined with the threads already aligned at the end of PROMETHEUS, will make for some interesting sci-fi. Honestly, TRANSCENDENCE, the film was rather disappointing, and much less exciting than it wants to be, nor thrilling and scary. However, I also got the impression it was held back by its rating. I have the script and it read better than the film was executed.
The religious themes, God/creator stuff is quite prominent in Jack Paglen's mind. It's VERY easy to see how the themes of TRANSCENDENCE could be applied by the same writer to an PROMETHEUS story.
That might make it of some interest to ALIEN fans...NOW. Since, we know Michael Green is currently re-drafting Paglen's script. After seeing the flaws in TRANSCENDENCE, I'm half glad he wrote P2 because I think the first PROMETHEUS needed to be fleshed out like Paglen's script was (if not a bit too fleshed out). That said, I'm also no longer worried about there being current re-writes to make Paglen's script more exciting...even if I believe the writing wasn't the problem with TRANSCENDENCE. The script is good (if not derivative and talky). It was most likely dulled down by Production and Pfiser's inexperience with actors/ building tension. It has a great deal of style though. The effects and cinematography were something. Its almost ironic that it has a lot of the same flaws as PROMETHEUS.... Which is a much better film.
Anyway,.. seen TRANSCENDENCE?... Thoughts?
According to this review, the writing seems to suffer from turning towards more predictable elements:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67005 (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67005)
Dont get your hopes up for Jack.
Transcendence looks like a film that probably started out as eXistenZ fan fiction to me
I heard this movie sucked from people I know who saw it over the weekend. So meh, probably skipping it myself.
Anybody knows what the budget is for Prometheus 2?
I went to see this move to see what Paglen's work was like...did not enjoy. At all. Boring, thought it was smarter than it was, went no-where.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 24, 2014, 06:13:32 PM
I went to see this move to see what Paglen's work was like...did not enjoy. At all. Boring, thought it was smarter than it was, went no-where.
The script is being re-written so. We'll see, I wouldn't pre-emptively judge Prometheus 2 based on this.
I enjoyed Trancendence, I've read both the script and seen the movie now, thematically Plagen does a good job with what's there and it lines up with the themes presented in Prometheus, the main one being the hubris of humanity.
All the reviews saying that trancendence doesn't follow it's own logic points out the stupidity of the reviewers.
My wife also thought the film was boring, and I can understand the complaint, it's shot in a muted way, and is heavy on dialogue, in ways it reminds of scifi from the 60's and 70's.
I'm interested in what Plagen can bring to David and the Engineers as a writer, he did a great job with the ai in Trancendence in my opinion.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 24, 2014, 06:13:32 PMI went to see this move to see what Paglen's work was like...did not enjoy. At all. Boring, thought it was smarter than it was, went no-where.
He's the right man for the job then. :P
Every Lindelof has his Paglen.
Quote from: ChrisPachi on May 03, 2014, 12:52:03 AM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 24, 2014, 06:13:32 PMI went to see this move to see what Paglen's work was like...did not enjoy. At all. Boring, thought it was smarter than it was, went no-where.
He's the right man for the job then. :P
And that's what I'm worried about. :-\
The thing that was missing in Prometheus was the story of the engineer and the depth of the race/character.
The thing that made Alien so interesting and mysterious in the beginning was the undefined jockey and ship.
They should have worked that out better in Prometheus, but instead the mystery wasnt there nor was the story about the engineers.
So i hope they move more into that in part 2 but then again you need someone with a vision like Giger to co-operate.
Just heard he will work on a Battlestar reboot, while the last BSG to me was just pure awesomeness.
You seen giger lately... He ain't fit for it.
Quote from: Infected on May 07, 2014, 12:07:24 PMThe thing that was missing in Prometheus was the story of the engineer and the depth of the race/character.
None of that was missing. The engineers have no story or depth. The Space Jockey was a red-herring. The Alien is arbitrary. Suck it up. :P
Quote from: ChrisPachi on May 08, 2014, 03:48:41 PM
Quote from: Infected on May 07, 2014, 12:07:24 PMThe thing that was missing in Prometheus was the story of the engineer and the depth of the race/character.
None of that was missing. The engineers have no story or depth. The Space Jockey was a red-herring. The Alien is arbitrary. Suck it up. :P
So you went to see that movie too watch the survival of Ripley or Shaw? LoL
Its all about the alien and the engineers.
It's about the human beings facing them.
Pretty much.
Yep. Look at Aliens vs. Predator Requiem for a movie that is literally about creatures. Like, Wolf is like the literal star of the movie. Wolf. I can't believe I typed that out. They gave a damn nickname to a creature. Which would be cool I guess if the movie had deeper thematic content, it could perhaps justify itself. But it's not.
Now, look at ALIENS for a movie that is like, about humans. It's the journey of Ellen Ripley. She's no longer the red shirt that survived from the first movie. Here, she has a personality. She has a life. She has likes and dislikes. She gets called mommy by her makeshift daughter towards the film's end. There are monsters in this film, but it is not about the monsters. It is about Ripley.
The number one rule for a good monster movie: don't have it be about the monster. Notice how in Alien or Aliens, there is never a scene in which a creature is present when a human character is not? That's the way it should always be.
QuoteThey gave a damn nickname to a creature. Which would be cool I guess if the movie had deeper thematic content, it could perhaps justify itself. But it's not.
The gave a nickname to the Space Jockey, facehugger, chestburster, Big Chap, Grid, and Scar.
Wolf suited the
intent of the character.
Right. But the makers of AvPR were so concerned with minutiae. Homages in the form of music cues, characters, character names, gore, that they forgot to concentrate on a good story. Amazing.
"Look at how much gore we've got in this one! It'll be like back in the good 'ol days!"
Uh, I don't know who the f**k you think you talking to, but Alien really only has one gory sequence, and Aliens would literally be bloodless if not for the chestburst and Ferro's window swipe.
Those two films were nominated for a combined total of 9 Oscars, so uh, they were doing a little more than dumping buckets of blood on latex costumes in a forest, boys.
Alien3 and Resurrection were gorier than the first two, but AvP2 was trying to get back to some of that after the moronically blood free AvP.
Of course they went stupid, but there you go.
Prometheus NEEDED a story with the engineers? I don't think so. I think we got too much in the movie. I guess you missed the point of the lack of the engineers story. It was not meant to be thorough, hense the mystery. You get an explanation of the jockey (the engineers) then it moved away from that developing even more mystery with the goo.
That's the mystery. Why must we talk this over and over and over again?
It's not Star Wars folks.
Quote from: Infected on May 07, 2014, 12:07:24 PM
The thing that was missing in Prometheus was the story of the engineer and the depth of the race/character.
The thing that made Alien so interesting and mysterious in the beginning was the undefined jockey and ship.
They should have worked that out better in Prometheus, but instead the mystery wasnt there nor was the story about the engineers.
So i hope they move more into that in part 2 but then again you need someone with a vision like Giger to co-operate.
Just heard he will work on a Battlestar reboot, while the last BSG to me was just pure awesomeness.
Why can't I find a biography on jack paglen ??
He's only dome two films (not including Prometheus 2). Doesn't really warrant a bio if no one knows him.