Critic Review Thread (79% fresh - 7.1 average rating)

[Valaquen]

Spoiler

Theron's character would've been fine if she wasn't undermined by a really dodgy, "yes, father" line delivery towards Weyland. And her meaning still wasn't entirely clear - was she a human, or was she his daughter in the sense that David was his son?  We never find out because it's brought up and then dropped, with no reflection on the moment

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Spoiler

If she had been an android, there was no point in her wasting precious time getting suited up before jettisoning in the escape pod. There are also several other factors pretty much identifying her as a human, to me at last. I feel like there should have been much more tension between her, Weyland and David, perhaps to the degree that old Weyland would die by her hand and not the engineers. The writers setup a huge amount of antagonism between the 3 of them, but didn't put it to any good effect, mostly demonstrated in how Vickers dies in the end. A bit of a waste imo.

Sorry for the long rant 

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Good point.

Spoiler

So she was human, and her relationship with Weyland still wasted. This movie needed to be Avatar-like in length. A real epic.

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[Darth Vile]

My thoughts during the film, exactly. The editing here is on par with Terminator Salvation.

Oh no you di-in't!

Seriously?!

Seriously. Things happen with no consequence. Conversations feel cut up, or are cut off. Plot points are dropped. Characters go nowhere. Even when the film thinks it's giving you an answer, it's really, really not: (spoiler!)

Spoiler

Theron's character would've been fine if she wasn't undermined by a really dodgy, "yes, father" line delivery towards Weyland. And her meaning still wasn't entirely clear - was she a human, or was she his daughter in the sense that David was his son?  We never find out because it's brought up and then dropped, with no reflection on the moment

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EDIT: I should add that the beginning of the film is impeccable. Later, things fall apart.

I don't think that's true (in terms of plot points dropped, conversations going nowhere etc.)... I certainly think there are too many characters for Prometheus to be a character study piece... (Alien is certainly a lot tighter regarding the character dynamics) therefore there is no real sense of emotional arcs for the main protagonists in Prometheus... but I'd argue 'why should there be?'. My view is that the movie is just a well made/intelligent sci/fi movie designed to appeal to the masses. It's a lot more mainstream than Alien was, but it's hardly Avengers Assemble (unless that type of vapid entertainment rings ones bell). 

[Valaquen]

Aliens managed to gather a crowd of characters into a room and give them all their say. Prometheus doesn't manage this; it doesn't even try. They don't even need character arcs, just character.

Spoiler

The way Chance and Ravel chirpily agree to end their lives and ram into the Juggernaut ... I couldn't believe it. What do these guys think of life and death? Nothing. They're props and nothing more.

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[Cvalda]

Guess this gives the "Ridley Scott sucks at characterization" crowd a buffet of new ammo.

[Valaquen]

He needs good writers. I get the hunch that Lindelof and Spaihts were too busying fawning over him than calling out bullshit and fixing their script.

[Eva]

They could essentially have cut the cave expedition scenes just after the opening montage and perhaps also the sequence showing David monitering Shaws dream. Those scenes didn't really amount to anything the way the were utilized in the theatrical cut. Some 7-8 minutes extra added in other places of the film, could have helped ironing out a couple of issues.

[Valaquen]

They could essentially have cut the cave expedition scenes just after the opening montage and perhaps also the sequence showing David monitering Shaws dream. Those scenes didn't really amount to anything the way the were utilized in the theatrical cut. Some 7-8 minutes extra added in other places of the film, could have helped ironing out a couple of issues.

I thought the same thing about the Scotland scene. It added nothing to the film; everything they find is explained to the crew minutes later.

Spoiler

The film would've been better off leaving off from the dissipating Engineer and cutting to the shot of the Prometheus ship in space.

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[Eva]

^ And it could have been quite an awesome homage to 2001 

[RagingDragon]

Spoiler

Theron's character would've been fine if she wasn't undermined by a really dodgy, "yes, father" line delivery towards Weyland. And her meaning still wasn't entirely clear - was she a human, or was she his daughter in the sense that David was his son?  We never find out because it's brought up and then dropped, with no reflection on the moment

[close]

Spoiler

If she had been an android, there was no point in her wasting precious time getting suited up before jettisoning in the escape pod. There are also several other factors pretty much identifying her as a human, to me at last. I feel like there should have been much more tension between her, Weyland and David, perhaps to the degree that old Weyland would die by her hand and not the engineers. The writers setup a huge amount of antagonism between the 3 of them, but didn't put it to any good effect, mostly demonstrated in how Vickers dies in the end. A bit of a waste imo.

Sorry for the long rant 

[close]

Eva, you have that rare quality in which your rants are as good-looking as your face.

But seriously...

I imagine Ridley's attention was so focused on crafting his epic visually, with the 3-D and the designs and everything.  I mean, how much can that old bastard really do?  From everything I've read, he poured his heart into every visual aspect of the film, and may have just neglected the plot a bit too much, trusting in the hack writers to not fail him.

I keep being reminded of Lindelof's interview at the London premiere.  He's got to be aware of how the film is received and where the obvious faults lie.  Sean Harris (Fifield) is displaying a lot of standoff-ish kind of tension when he's interviewed, and makes comments alluding to he knows about the cuts/rewrites and is worried about the final film.  He was probably not in the main spotlight enough to get away with some sn***ering little comments, but it speaks volumes to his understanding of the end product.

[Pvt. Himmel]

 criticschoice.com  has Prometheus at 80/100

[Darth Vile]

Aliens managed to gather a crowd of characters into a room and give them all their say.

No it didn't. Drake, Frost, Ferro, Spunkmeyer et al? What Aliens did (character wise) with Ripley, Hicks/Hudson and Bishop was good... but beyond that... not much there.

Spoiler

The way Chance and Ravel chirpily agree to end their lives and ram into the Juggernaut ... I couldn't believe it. What do these guys think of life and death? Nothing. They're props and nothing more.

[close]

Yes - I'd agree with that. They chose to buy the farm quite happily it seemed...

They could essentially have cut the cave expedition scenes just after the opening montage and perhaps also the sequence showing David monitering Shaws dream. Those scenes didn't really amount to anything the way the were utilized in the theatrical cut. Some 7-8 minutes extra added in other places of the film, could have helped ironing out a couple of issues.

I'm not so sure as that scene establishes us the Shaw and Holloway relationship... and their part in the expedition. If the Scotland scene was cut as it is, I think it would be confusing to the audience without some form of additional scene elsewhere =  or extra dialogue in the crew briefing scene. For me, where the pacing was off was in the back and forth to the temple. It should have been 2 trips at the most (but obviously that would have involved re-writes to cut out the requirement for a 3rd journey).

[ThisBethesdaSea]

79 percent fresh....I'd say this film is a success...so far.

[JaaayDee]

I've scoured 30 pages of google and hours upon hours of tweets to put these reviews together.  And general pattern of good/bad reviews I've seen coming in looks really good  .

[Darth Vile]

79 percent fresh....I'd say this film is a success...so far.

It's a success alright. Critics seem to like it, as do the audiences... However, it's not going to be a movie the casual viewer goes to see twice... so no box office records are going to be broken... 

[ThisBethesdaSea]

I just did a search using the keyword Prometheus on twitter...and again...OVERWHELMINGLY positive reviews...and yes, there are people who were/are disappointed in the film...but, for now, it looks like Fox has a bonafide hit on their hands, despite fanboys and girls upset because they didn't get the film the expected. ..