We have very different definitions of harsh in that case, expecting some depth to the characters and that the actors have believable lines to deliver is far from harsh in my opinion. I don't think that's an unfair accusation to level at any film let alone this one. We agree this is pretty average sci-fi fare but that would mean that you haven't raised this up to the level that many others have, why is that? Is it the same reason that I couldn't completely and utterly slate it? I haven't seen a film where Fassbender is anything other that mesmerising but when viewed on screen with the rest of the cast it's hard to measure up to someone with his acting chops, however each of the cast have been in some cracking films and television shows in the past so they all have it in them to deliver believable performances. The reason they don't is the script doesn't give them the freedom to do that, it's so full of grand speeches and sentiments about the meaning of life it ignores the minutiae of real life, the stuff that gives characters depth and grounds them in reality. Something that if you go back and watch Alien, you will find in abundance.
Out of curiosity, may i ask what you were expecting from the film Apocalypto? I think a lot of people got dissappointed because they were expecting either Alien or Aliens but got neither. This is probably why Scott said that Prometheus was it's own thing. I watched only that trailer in December of the film and thus kept most of my knowledge to a bare minimum. However, i am a sucker for sci-fi and can thus overlook some average performances provided other actors pick up the slack (Fassbender and Rapace). It's also been a while since i've seen a decent modern sci-fi movie. The last one i saw was Pandorum. These days i tend to stick to games for my sci-fi fix.
I went in expecting at least to be entertained for two hours and at most to be blown away by something incredible. I was indeed quite happily entertained but it fell short of incredible. I can look past plot holes for the most part as you can fill in the blanks yourself but if a character isn't believable and talk in a believable way with the conviction of a real person then the whole endeavour just isn't going to raise itself above the other special effects films. I know I keep banging on about this but it's the most important flaw that everyone just seems to accept as a failing of the sci-fi genre as a whole.
The full version on their site is a lot better. Can't seem to add the clip here though which may not be a bad thing as there is a metric tonne of spoilers so you have been warned.
I don't think I was particularly chest beating so this likely wasn't directed my way but I'd like to put in my two cents. As said in my previous post, I've never watched any Alien movie before and am not sure I've ever even watched a Ridley Scott movie. Maybe I have and didn't know it, no real difference either way. I had also watched no trailers for it and honestly had no idea that there was even a movie called "Prometheus" in theaters until the night of. From this completely detached perspective I thought it was a pretty poor movie. As said before it felt very patchwork. It's as though everything happens because they're on a timeline and are just acting out the motions without any real rhyme or reason binding each scene together. The characters in particular don't feel human (well, not counting David) because their actions seem so scripted, the fact that almost none of them got a decent introduction does not help this. All the time spent underground felt even worse, I just couldn't buy it. Yes, it's fiction, no I'm not a professional in any of their fields, but none of them acted like I imagined a scientist on a foreign planet to act. Much of it felt staged to cause dramatic events. Why would the biologist have gotten so close to a snake that so clearly looks like a writhing string killy-ness, for example? Things like that are what felt like the timeline said "Characters are attacked by aliens species" and an event was created to make that happen. A bunch of little chunks strung together to make a movie without any real flow. All throughout the movie I was left not really caring what happened next, or what happened to the characters. It was just some pretty futuristic pictures on a screen.
Well, that sketch isn't included in their full review. And actually, I prefer the 4 minute review featuring the plethora of questions which succinctly describe my reaction to the film. It's also funnier.
How about this image, cut from the theatrical version but possibly reinstated on the Blu Ray/DVD release:- http://www.totalfilm.com/news/new-prometheus-image-shows-previously-unseen-alien
^That. Okay, watched the film this afternoon finally ( with my older sister- remind me never to go to the cinema with a girl; question after question every 5 minutes... ) and I can't help but feel quite disappointed really. It seemed as though they tried to pack too much into it- there was no real build up to the action starting, 90% of the characters were just cannon-fodder ( even the much larger cast of Alien 3 got more screen time and were fleshed out far better ) who barely got any screen time. The captain was very poorly fleshed out yet seemed to be rather quick / psychic in determining the nature of the planet- how did he arrive at his conclusion it was a weapons facility based on nothing more than a dead alien and some vases of goo? Why didn't he express so much concern about Earth earlier when he just considered himself the captain and wasn't interested in the engineers? Why wasn't anyone terribly bothered about Shaw's alien baby or her tagging along to meet the living engineer, despite her obviously being in a seriously unwell state? The special effects were brilliant, especially the ships colliding, but a lot of the action / sequences made very little sense; if I see a thing that looks like a snake rearing up at me, poking it would be the last thought in my mind. Where did they even come from for that matter. Why was Shaws partner killed off so readily & would he have also turned into a mutant psycho? The alien life-cycle used to be very straight forward, depending on whether you like James Cameron's approach or the ( deleted ) Ridley Scott approach from the original Alien; now it just feels like a massive mess that makes little sense ( infected human > sex > alien squid baby > giant squid thing which is also a facehugger > proto alien chest buster? WTF? What about the little facehugger snake thing, or the tattoo-headed guy turning into a mutant psycho? Argh, Ridley Scott you disappoint me with this confusing mess of a film, I hope the sequel answers some more questions instead of just creating more ( questions ).
Spoiler The guy at the beginning sacrificed himself to seed the human race, the older Engineer was there guiding him or whatever.
Where else would it be? Not sure why they'd just show that scene taking place on an arbitrary planet.
Well I assumed it was Earth but for all we know it could be any planet and they are just seeding it for life.
Ridley Scott confirmed in an interview that the planet is not earth. So it's likely an example of the "seeding" process to give us an indication to the engineers motivations. I'll dig up the quote, give me a few minutes. Edit. Okay I'm now only pretty sure that Ridley Scott has said this isn't earth and I'm struggling to find the interview. Edit 1. I'm mistaken, I've mixed up the LV233/LV426 interview.
i haven't seem Prometheus yet, but i've heard nothing but good things about it, ill wait for the dvd though, im not much of a cinema fan.
RS said the planet at the beginning wasn't intended to be earth, just a generic example of what the engineers do to seed a planet. I made the assumption that it was earth, specifically the Victoria Falls - since Africa is thought to be where humans originated from.
I'm not from this planet originally and I object to the negative portrayal and stereotyping of aliens. I will not be watching this movie.
I self-identify as dead and I object to how how the movie seems to imply that being alive is the normal state of being that people should aspire towards..
I think it was an awful movie. At least compared to the depth and plot of previous Alien movies. Even the later ones. There where so many things that didn't make sense or were just plain stupid for so called "doctors". The entire scene with the head for instance... "Oh a head, wow! Lets take it to the ship and electrocute it just for the lulz! ... WTF it lives ... err, well ... KILL IT! ... it's not like we are here to make contact or something" *head explodes for whatever reason* Oh yeah. hmkay. The main actress was a whiny baby with no trace of intelligence, too. It's not because she showed some weakness, Sigourney Weaver did the same, but in a way that was believable and in a believable situation. There were so many more things ... like how those "scientists" were handling the alien in the ship before it killed/infected them *surprise*. And don't get me started about Guy Pearce with that beautiful "old man makeup". If you need an old man, why not simply use an old actor... All that was shown in nice pictures, though. But I guess they really needed the hype to get anyone to watch that flick. So good work to you advertisers.