Prometheus...

[Larry Kelly]

I saw Prometheus on Saturday night in an Ultra AVX theatre. The most impressive part of the event was The Great Gatsby trailer. It was stunning, I've never seen 3D that added an actual "3rd dimension" to a scene any where near that effective and at the same time natural looking. I thought after seeing that, I knew that the picture quality for the feature should be great.
Then Prometheus started. It was, entertaining to a level but over all I was a bit disappointed in the picture, and it was difficult to loose myself in the story. I think that is what a lot of people are trying to say about this movie, I felt like I was a spectator in something that I just couldn't quite buy into. I may go see it in 2D and give it another chance but I have no interest in seeing it again in 3D, it was just a bit underwhelming, The Great Gatsby on the other hand, I am looking forward to seeing in 3D.

Larry

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

Can someone please explain to me what was so wrong with this film? I'm getting negative reviews from almost every direction. I though it was fucking brilliant! To quote my own facebook post...

Damn the hate, you're all insane. Seeing Prometheus tonight was one of the most exhilarating theatrical experiences I've had in years! To call it brilliant would be an understatement. I can't remember the last time I felt so enriched and motivated after seeing a film. It feels like a nuclear explosion of awesome just went off in my head. Go team Ridley!

For the record I saw it in 2D. I loath 3D and hope the fad goes away.

 

[Jason Sinclair]

Can someone please explain to me what was so wrong with this film? I'm getting negative reviews from almost every direction. I though it was fucking brilliant! To quote my own facebook post...



For the record I saw it in 2D. I loath 3D and hope the fad goes away.

Maybe it works for your personality type? How would you describe yourself? What character did you most "align" with?

 

[Andrew Rieger]

I must be one of the few people who doesn't care if this movie makes any sense or not. It's ambiguity allowed me to come up with a host of wild theories which was a ton of fun. People are acting like this is the most confusing nonsensical film ever. You want to see a film that really makes zero sense? Watch Synecdoche, New York. Please take things into perspective. Most of the confusing bits can be potentially answered with a little creativity. It seems that people are only satisfied unless the plot answers every little question.

 

[Scott Crawley]

I think that many of the lost souls are just looking for easy answers and they are cheesed off when Scott doesn't give them up. Watching Prometheus is an active experience. You can't just sit back with this one. If chewing gum is what you want you can get that, but if you do you can't bitch about seemingly silly, nonsensical characters. It is possible to get out of it what you put in.

I went to an opening night midnight showing, and in retrospect that may not be the best time to see this. You have to be sharp and pay attention. I may just have to go again. I think I'm up for that.

 

[ericyoung]

I think that many of the lost souls are just looking for easy answers and they are cheesed off when Scott doesn't give them up. Watching Prometheus is an active experience. You can't just sit back with this one. If chewing gum is what you want you can get that, but if you do you can't bitch about seemingly silly, nonsensical characters. It is possible to get out of it what you put in.

I went to an opening night midnight showing, and in retrospect that may not be the best time to see this. You have to be sharp and pay attention. I may just have to go again. I think I'm up for that.

Sorry, that's coming over very condescending. A second viewing did not really improve this film for me and I was fully awake and paying attention.

 

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Saw this last night in IMAX 3D. First of all IMAX was at the Lincoln center in NYC, even sitting way in the back you can't really see the whole screen it's so big. It's a bit annoying. Must be annoying to shoot since how do you make 3D that works at such a wide FOV when so many people will be seeing it at a much smaller FOV?

First thing I noticed was that images were quite soft and very oversharpened... That was a bit disappointing. I assume this is because the 3D was all finished in 2k? Or was 2D 2k as well? I'm sure the ridiculously large screen didnt help, but I thought even Avatar IMAX 3D looked sharper despite being captured in 1.9k and not strangely way oversharpened in post. Or perhaps the sharpening was in the projector?

Being that close to such a large screen really minimized the depth of the 3D, and from my seat I could always tell one of my eyes was seeing a bit of double image from both eyes in the corner due to the angle and size of the screen.

 

[Scott Crawley]

Does it? I'm sorry if it offends you but I stand by it. I didn't suggest that this applies to ALL detractors, so there is no need to assume that my remarks were directed at you.

MANY of the folks I have conversed with seem to be complaining about details that they missed, not because they were absent but because they simply didn't see them the first time. Many have complained because their questions have not been answered, but seem unwilling to make the effort to find the answers for themselves. Those are the kinds of folks I had in mind. You say that doesn't apply to you and i'm OK with that. How about you?

Sorry, that's coming over very condescending. A second viewing did not really improve this film for me and I was fully awake and paying attention.

 

[Lliam Worthington]

Sorry, that's coming over very condescending. A second viewing did not really improve this film for me and I was fully awake and paying attention.

Yes but that's only because your a lazy, cheesed off, lost soul that was too busy sitting back to notice the shrouded nuance and true quality of these characters and their actions...

Seemingly silly? Pffft. Bubble gum chewer.

 

[Brian Merlen]

i love that still of the snake..and the stupid stoner like smile before he gets it lol

 

[Scott Crawley]

Yes but that's only because your a lazy, cheesed off, lost soul that was too busy sitting back to notice the shrouded nuance and true quality of these characters and their actions...

Seemingly silly? Pffft. Bubble gum chewer.

Lol Liam! That can certainly be taken either way. So did I cheese whizz you off too?

 

[Lliam Worthington]

Lol Liam! That can certainly be taken either way. So did I cheese whizz you off too?

Who me?

Agreed or otherwise, I thought after your many posts where your opinion were always supported by your reasoning, that this was a bit of a serious clunker yes. But I'm not remotely bothered Each to their own flavour of bubble gum and all that.

Best
Lliam

 

[Brian Merlen]

where are you getting all these stills from? they are so crisp...

 

[Scott Crawley]

Agreed or otherwise, I thought after your many posts where your opinion were always supported by your reasoning, that this was a bit of a serious clunker yes. But I'm not remotely bothered Each to their own flavour of bubble gum and all that.

Best
Lliam

OK, then I will offer my apology to any of you ladies who care to claim it. :beer:

For the record, seemingly silly is how I originally viewed the characters. I have been thinking about this film for several days now and the more thinking I do, the more I feel I understand it. It took me a couple days to come to the conclusion that they were not so silly when viewed as archetypes, and since Prometheus is myth that reasoning made sense.

It has taken me days to arrive at a place where I think I understand what I saw and I will see it again to further refine my observations. I understand that many folks aren't willing to give a film that kind of effort and I can't fault them for it.

Sometimes all we want from a film is passive entertainment. I can see how many Alien fans might come to Prometheus expecting exactly that, since Alien was more THAT kind of film. If that is what you were expecting I completely accept that you might dislike it intensely and I respect that. I don't mean to be condescending about it.

On the other hand Ridley Scott has been saying for months that this was NOT going to be an Alien film. Folks should consider that and keep an open mind. It is unfair to the efforts of the film making team to just come out and proclaim that the film sucks because it wasn't what you expected... That is my opinion anyway for what it's worth.

Promethius is going to have long legs I think.

 

[Tim Whitcomb]

calling people lost souls and lazy Scott is a pretty lazy summation of our collective angst and disappointment.

How can you care about a film this passionately or call it genius when the hiring policy of a rich old man who has kept himself alive
far too long so he can visit some aliens who may be their maker... brings a punk rock scientist who is "only there for the money".

Is most of the rest of humanity dead? Is it hard to find people to fly on a spaceship in hyperspace? Apparently it is in this movie... or the
other stoner dude who pets the alien... yeah that was so original and genius.

Plenty of things to like about the movie too... but expectations were set and then mot met. For me and many others. doesn't make me a dullard or
better than Ridley Scott. But of he had not made this stinker, then it would be just another "alien wannabe movie"

most of this movies problem is its evident that it should have stayed or strayed from Alien... but combining it half ass was a huge mistake for
a lot of his fan base of Alien. me included

 

[Scott Crawley]

How can you care about a film this passionately or call it genius when the hiring policy of a rich old man who has kept himself alive
far too long so he can visit some aliens who may be their maker... brings a punk rock scientist who is "only there for the money".

I've yet to figure out where the Geologist fits into the mythology myself so I concede that point for now, but I'm not going to write off the entire film because I don't understand one character. The others seem much too carefully drawn for me to assume that he was just thrown in and has no significance. I assume the fault is mine for now. So far all I can assume is that they expected a Geologist to be of particular use. The entire project was after all the culmination of several archeological digs.

Maybe they hired an ignorant punk because the old man wasn't truthfully interested in archeology at all. I was under the impression that he had contempt for all of the scientists on the expedition from the beginning. They were potentially necessary to get him where he wanted to be so he brought them along as tools. He wanted people he could manipulate.

Maybe majority opinion among Geologists was that the mission was a joke and nobody wanted the job. Scientists are smart people. Maybe they saw through the old man's facade and refused to give up years of their lives to help him achieve his goals in spite of the big paycheck. Maybe they felt he was reckless. Maybe they didn't buy into the whole god is a space alien theory. Maybe this technician was the best he could get, maybe he was the cheapest guy available. He didn't really even function as a Geologist. He was more cartographer.

Anyway, every spaceship movie needs it's crewman #6. If that is all he was that could be OK too.

 

[Leo Ticheli]

Surely we can all agree that taste is intangible and not subject to any meaningful debate, so if you happen to enjoy Prometheus, jolly good for you, end of story. On the other hand, it should be obvious that the great majority of negative reviews here are Red owners and certainly Red boosters; why would we by any stretch not want Prometheus to be a great movie? We did not go to the theater with anything less than great anticipation; if anything, we were predisposed to love the film. To suggest that we are artless or of diminished depth of understanding is an unwarranted characterization.

Many of us were bored, astounded at the stupidity of the woefully underdeveloped characters, and saddened to hear the audience laughing at serious scenes. That's just a fact; it's not surmise, it's not opinion; it's what actually happened.

Believe me I find no joy in this; quite the opposite.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

 

[Peter Franzen]

The others seem much too carefully drawn for me to assume that he was just thrown in and has no significance.

Like the biologist who ran away from a well-preserved alien species that nobody had ever seen before? Or who decided that LV-223 was a giant petting zoo?

He didn't really even function as a Geologist. He was more cartographer.

A cartographer who couldn't find his way out of a cave with a perfectly functional 2-way radio and an incredible holographic map. I'd say he failed as a cartographer too.

Or how about the medical team that didn't bother putting on the haz-mat suits that they clearly had access to (as seen later, just before the c-section) while examining the severed head in their lab?

I'm sorry-- half the characters in this movie were nothing but casualties waiting to happen.

 

[Scott Crawley]

To suggest that we are artless or of diminished depth of understanding is an unwarranted characterization.

Again I apologize. It was not a blanket observation directed at the user base here.

I'm sorry-- half the characters in this movie were nothing but casualties waiting to happen.

They were all of that... By design. In mythology characters are drawn in a general way with exaggerated flaws so that the story might impart a lesson of some type that even dullards like me can understand. Does that make stories of legend bad, or poorly written?

It is not prerequisite to like the characters to enjoy the film. Is it? If nothing else can you not derive pleasure from seeing a dumbass who desperately deserves to die get what they have coming? =-)

 

[Justen Nguyen]

That must be one terrible theater. I have seen it in Imax 3D and regular 3D and it looked great. The best 3D I have seen.

My guess is it was your theaters issue because even people who despise 3D have been talking about how good it was.

Agreed. The best 3D film, visually, to date. And this is coming from someone who used to despise 3D films. But I suppose I am luck as I watched it at the Spectrum which has 4k projectors and true IMAX.

This is my 30 second review of Prometheus. It was visually magnificent. But the story was underwhelming. Lots of promising ideas/concepts/questions were presented, but none of them were fully explored, fleshed out, or answered. Let alone fit cohesively together (in this film stand alone, or with the Alien universe.) The underlying philosophical statement of the film starts off decently but becomes muddled and completely loses its focus/argument by the end. The characters lacked depth, and realistic human motivation at times. Ironically, I think David is the one with the most character.. and he definitely had the best interactions/dialogue.