Prometheus Fan Reviews

[Munkeywrench]

I went to the midnight showing of Prometheus last friday I thought by the end of the movie Id be blown away but I left the theater a little disappointed. Not that I thought it was a bad movie I thought it was good but not great I think I just expected more from it. I thought the special effects were amazing and I loved the music, the Engineers looked good I wish they had more screen time though.

[stephen]

Warning SPOILERS

This movie fails on it's own merits.

1. What exactly was the deal with the engineer at the start?  He drank that thing and then disintegrated and we're supposed to assume that they're "seeding" a planet - possibly ours?  Ok - that's fine if you want to explore that (though it's been done countless times before) but the problem is that the movie never tells us why.

This is one of the things deliberately left ambiguous. We don't really need to know. Shaw believes the Engineers created mankind and are proof of God-like intervention. At he end of the movie she knows she hasn't found the answer she wanted but she has the means to keep searching.

Then I don't care for it at all.  It falls extremely flat.

2. If the dna of the engineer EXACTLY matches our dna, thus making us them and them us - why then are they twice our size? Perhaps this shows my lack of DNA knowledge but it stands to reason that if that is the case - they didn't make us at all.  We're just simply them.

From the look of the blood there is some major transistion, perhaps the DNA is only a match later, so the engineers on LV-223 are different to the initial engineer on Earth. It's very open to interpretation.

I disagree.  The movie tells us specifically that the DNA is a match.  We're supposed to be them.  If that's not what the movie was trying to say then it failed miserably.

3. Given 2, why then did they supposedly give different cultures the star map, and then leave us alone?

Another question for a sequel?

I can  only assume that most of the questions I have will be answered in a sequel.  The problem is that this movie just leaves me feeling flat because of it's lack of answers to the questions this movie raises itself.

While I dislike it enourmousely, at least AVP had an answer - just one I hated, but it had one.

4. Given 2. and 3. why then did they want to kill us?  Why then did the engineer the second he was woken kill everybody he saw.

If you accept that the film is really centred around life and creation, then both Shaw and David have their own agendas to follow. It may be that choosing David as the interface between humans and Engineers was the big mistake - humans creating a being in their own image. [http://johnnor.tumblr.com/post/24842386929

That is a major assumption.  Bottom line is that it just simply was not answered.  At all.

5. What the hell did the ping actually pick up?

The one surviving Jockey in hypersleep. The pup probe halted at the door to the Juggernaut.

Thats what I thought as well and it can really only be this as it was at the door.  But it wasn't really explained all that well.

6. How did those guys get lost?

The temple/pyramid is supposed to be as big as the Empire State Building (in volume?) according to Arthur Max. Fifield and Milburn decide to make their way back through the very dark tunnels which they have just run blindly through in chasing the holograms. It's far from inconceivable that they took a wrong turn and before they knew it were trapped by the storm and lumbered with finding the best spot to take refuge, back were they came from when they were last with the rest of the crew.

But he had the map.

7. Why did David infect (can't remember his name was it holloway?) with the goo?  what was the purpose of that?

David had just come from an audience with Weyland, and an encounter with Vickers. After finding nothing but dead and decaying relics in the temple, and Shaw's destroying the head, he has been instructed to try harder. He infects Holloway to stir things up and see if there is life: the possibility of recreating something of the Engineers by proxy. Holloway, by saying he would do anything to find his answers, effectively grants David permission (in his eyes) to take the next step - if Holloway is willing to do anything, he is willing to be a guinea pig.

I was thinking along these lines myself.  I'd have to rewatch it to see if the sequence is right, but I can go along with this.

8.  How come the goo affected holloway? differently to the other guy that came in and attacked the crew in the hanger?

Holloway ingested a tiny bead of the goo as administered by David. Fifield fell face first into a river of goo. Holloway was on his way to a similar fate nonetheless by the time he was taken back to the Prometheus.

Ok.

9. What exactly was up with the impregnation of Shaw and the subesquent surgical procedure that seemed just a bit too far fetched?

Shaw was made pregnant by the infected Holloway, whose sperm had been altered by his being spiked by David. The emergency Caesarian section didn't seem particularly far fetched to me; clinical and automated but still quite brutal, made more so by Shaw's having to rapidly reprogram the med-pod for a 'close enough' procedure. 

I know how she was made pregnant.  To be honest this scene simply felt like they thought "ok we need a chestburster scene without having a chestburster, ok here's what we're going to do..."

It comes across as far fetched and ridiculous.  ESPECIALLY when Shaw goes running around the joint.  Sure she shows signs of pain but come on.

10. What was up with those worm like creatures having acid for blood?

The goo in the urns changes anything it touches into a bio-weapon, and just like the good old alien, it's even lethal in death thanks to acid blood.

Did any of the humans that came into contact with the goo have acid for blood?  I always thought that the worm like bad ass creatures were the worms we saw before - wiggling around in the dirt.

11.  The creature that came out of Shaw was a "facehugger? the size of a giant goddamn octopus???

It was a giant creature later. It was held in the med-pod and closed away for some time (an hour maybe) The med-bay in the escape pod is likely to hold nutrients. The escape pod itself contains 2 years worth of food supplies, (said by Janek) and this food is more than likely accessible from the med bay. The proto-facehugger grew.

Yes I know it grew.  I'm not asking that question.  The question I'm asking is that the link the movie makes between it and the " goo" and the humans is kind of ridiculous.

The goo infects humans - we know this as we see it happen.  We are left to assume that the worm like creatures were turned into what they are from the worms at the start.

but then we see this impregnation scene? If the goo turns creatures into a bioweapon what is the need for the impregnation?  Just doesn't seem all that .......good.

12. THe creature that burst from the engineer??

Is a proto alien, a result of human, squid-facehugger and Engineer. A fleshier less biomechanoid version of what will come later.

Yep I get that, But the link as I said above is ridiculous.  Smacks to me of them trying to hard.

13. Why the need to have that crappy Vickers/weyland connection?  "father"?

A conflict with David, a hint that she is either human or android?

Crappily executed.

14. Shaw's ending decision to go after the engineers and not Earth???

To find the answers she came to LV-223 to find. Also because either everyone has to die in Prometheus to not conflict with A  L  I  E  N , or they have to not return to Earth.

So it's illogical then?

15. And after all of the above - the connection with Alien - We are left to assume that the goo in this one was one experiment and the alien in Alien was another experiement - ok I can accept that - the Derelict and the engineer in Alien really have no direct connection to Prometheus - ok I can accept that.  But the company knew about it.  The Nostromo was rerouted and Ash put on board.  The Derelict was sending out a warning beacon.  I assumed that just about everyone in prometheus was going to die, and somehow the company was going to get some information surrounding the Alien so that the nostromo's orders could be issued.  I expected perhaps something surrounding the warning beacon was going take place.  I never expected the Alien to be in it, except perhaps maybe at the end - and that would be perhaps the big reveal of this movie.

Ultimately - This movie fails on two counts - it's own merits and the merits of being a connecting film to Alien.  The film doesn't answer it's own questions, the questions itself poses and fails to really answer those few questions from Alien.  The big question of who/what exactly the Space Jockey is is only half answered in Prometheus and not in a satisfying way.

Also - did anyone get a "Superman" theme feel from the music?

Not getting a Superman vibe at all. The Gregson-Williams theme is more upbeat and to some extent reminiscent of some of the Star Trek movies (quite a few of those were scored by Jerry Goldsmith - so a few of his scores might have been used as a temp track to get the moody stuff and the broader more uplifting theme that is there for Shaw. I prefer Marc Streitenfeld's stuff in the score, which is generally darker and throbs quite eerily in certain set pieces, but the contrast is there for a reason. I don't recall it being as intrusive as some people here do. I might feel different with another viewing.

Fair Enough.

[Gren_86]

I've got a question concerning the engineer after his ship crashed. How did he mange to get from his ship to the escape pod without a oxygen mask/helmet ?

[BANE]

I don't know. How do whales survive underwater if they need air to live?

[KirklandSignature]

So I finally saw it a few days ago. I thought it was a very good movie but it had its fair share of flaws.



The characters- Aside from Vickers,Holloway and Shaws character, the rest of the crew are fodder and serve as mere red shirt and chill in the background. However there were several minor characters who are given some decent charactersdevelopment. I liked the little bickering/flirting between Milbourne and Fifield. I definitley felt as if the Shaw character would of been better played by a male actor. I mean, how f**ked up it would of been if the infected Holloway had sex with "male" Shaw and got "pregnant". Vickers came off as a huge bitch, the kind of woman who steals all the good men, I honestly wasn't sure if she was human, even if she had sex with the captain, Ridley has shown in his previous works, androids capable of having sex so this is why I believe this.


The Story- I give it a B+. The begining of the movie was epic and awe inspiring, One of the questions is did the sacrifice engineer's dna create the first multi-cellular organisms or did it lead directly to the creation of humankind? There are MANY questions tha get left un-answered. Did they not expect the sacrifice engineer's DNA to create life? is that why they sent one of the ships 2,000 years to "clean up" the accident? Are the alien lifeforms related to the Xeno from Alien? What was the purpose of the hammerpedes? they didnt seem to mutate higher than the "snake" form and they kill or maim 2 characters before slithering off never to be mentioned or seen again.



Overall, I gave this movie a B-

[mastermoon]

I've watched this movie about 4 times now and the characters that had the most character development were Elizabeth Shaw and David.

KirklandSignature has a good point characters development.

I wish the Hammerpede's had more screen time, because that was a really cool creature.

[Darth Vile]

I've got a question concerning the engineer after his ship crashed. How did he mange to get from his ship to the escape pod without a oxygen mask/helmet ?

My assumption is that he still had his helmet on till he got inside the escape pod - or maybe he just held his breath

[Nightmare Asylum]

The suits that the Engineers were are very biomechanical, almost as if they were designed to be integrated with their bodies themselves. If they are willing to go that far to modify themselves, I wouldn't be surprised if they, as a sort of precursor or companion to terraforming, did something to themselves internally that would allow them to breathe on LV-223.

[DoomRulz]

I don't know. How do whales survive underwater if they need air to live?

They breathe in air and hold their breath for extended periods. Quite simple, really. Given how big the Jockies are, they likely can hold their breath long enough to survive without air.

[Aurelian]

I liked this movie a lot, but something that worries me is that it leaves the door open for any number of humanoid beings to appear in the series as creations of the Engineers. Another writer might even come along and claim that the Engineers seeded life on the Predator planet. Only a really good director could pull that off, and I hope Fox doesn't take the risk.

[DaddyYautja]

I don't know. How do whales survive underwater if they need air to live?

They breathe in air and hold their breath for extended periods. Quite simple, really. Given how big the Jockies are, they likely can hold their breath long enough to survive without air.

But why did he take off his gear? And not bring weapons?
The world may never know.

[BANE]

I don't know. How do whales survive underwater if they need air to live?

They breathe in air and hold their breath for extended periods. Quite simple, really. Given how big the Jockies are, they likely can hold their breath long enough to survive without air.

But why did he take off his gear? And not bring weapons?
The world may never know.

We never saw any weapons, besides the black goo. And if he brought a gun, people would complain and say 'f**k, where'd that gun come from!? What a plot hole filled movie!'

And his 'gear' was the space jockey suit attached to the pilot's seat.

Oh, and DoomRulz, I was just being sarcastic to illustrate exactly what you said while simultaneously making fun of the lack of the guy's critical thinking.   

[cloverfan98]

I don't know. How do whales survive underwater if they need air to live?

They breathe in air and hold their breath for extended periods. Quite simple, really. Given how big the Jockies are, they likely can hold their breath long enough to survive without air.

But why did he take off his gear? And not bring weapons?
The world may never know.

I assume the Jockeys are far suprior to humans in terms of physical powers but I didn't like how he hunted down Shaw. It just turned him into anot her typical villian/monster.

[DaddyYautja]

We never saw any weapons, besides the black goo. And if he brought a gun, people would complain and say 'f**k, where'd that gun come from!? What a plot hole filled movie!'

No, they would be saying, "OMG that biogun was awesomesauce!"

And his 'gear' was the space jockey suit attached to the pilot's seat.

But we saw Jocks with gear not in seats.

Oh, and DoomRulz, I was just being sarcastic to illustrate exactly what you said while simultaneously making fun of the lack of the guy's critical thinking.   

ok.

[BANE]

Honestly, with the amount of nitpicking the bandwagon haters are doing, I think people would have complained about the random appearance of a gun.