Ridley Scott's Prometheus

POSTED BY: HAKEN
UPDATED: Sunday, July 8, 2012 20:29
VIEWED: 22487
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GWEK

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 1:51 AM

Although I don't disagree with most in that review, I think Two pretty much sums it up. The movie is often very pretty, and has many good and interesting ideas. Some of the cast turn in good performances (I wasn't overly impressed by Rapace, and many of the bit players seem to simply be doing characters from earlier in the Alien franchise, but Elba, Fassbender, and Theron are all strong--although Theron now risks pidgeonholing herself as the "ice queen").

Unfortunately, all of this cannot save a weak script.

Normally, I'm inclined to give the writer a free pass, but there's no denying that the main problem here is the script. Whether that's the fault of Lindelof or Scott (who may not have written the script, but I'm sure he had quite a bit of influence over the story) is unknown--and perhaps unknowable--but that doesn't really do either of them any favors.

ECGORDON

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 2:23 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by GWEK:
The movie is often very pretty...

Pretty pictures are not enough to make a good movie. It all hinges on the script. Without a coherent one everything else falls apart. Since almost everyone has said that the script is lacking, there shouldn't be any reason to try to work around that. It's a bad movie, plain and simple. As I said in my review, I'm more disappointed than anyone. I had high hopes for it but I won't waste any more time on it, and now it's time to start looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises.

GWEK

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 11:34 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Quote:
Originally posted by GWEK:
The movie is often very pretty...

Pretty pictures are not enough to make a good movie. It all hinges on the script. Without a coherent one everything else falls apart. Since almost everyone has said that the script is lacking, there shouldn't be any reason to try to work around that. It's a bad movie, plain and simple. As I said in my review, I'm more disappointed than anyone. I had high hopes for it but I won't waste any more time on it, and now it's time to start looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises.

I'm a professional writer and editor. Trust me. I know that it all hinges on the script. And that is largely lacking here.

However, while it may be a bad movie, it is not a bad movie without some merit. (Even the script, while extremely flawed in execution, has some good ideas/elements in theory.) I was trying to be polite (and, to some extent, respond to the comments/questions of some others) by leading with the good parts first.

TWO

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 2:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by GWEK:
I'm a professional writer and editor. Trust me. I know that it all hinges on the script. And that is largely lacking here. . . . (Even the script, while extremely flawed in execution, has some good ideas/elements in theory.)

The Prometheus script is like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces have the same shape and, in a random pattern, some are upside-down. They fit, but ruin the design. The writer should have fixed it. For example:

Select to view spoiler:

Original story was: Infected Charlie impregnates Elizabeth with squid-baby. Meredith Vickers kills mutating Charlie with flame thrower. Elizabeth operates on herself to remove squid-baby. Then Elizabeth does amazing athletic feats that nobody after surgery could do.

Rearranging the jigsaw puzzle pieces: Elizabeth refuses lovemaking with Charlie because she is a good Christian girl who always wears her cross. Instead, Charlie goes to bad girl Vickers and impregnates her with squid-baby. (The Vickers/Captain Janek hookup doesn't mean anything. Why is it even in the movie?) Then Elizabeth operates on Vickers to remove the parasite, which means Elizabeth knows Charlie was cheating with Vickers. When Charlie begins mutating, Elizabeth (who is still furious at Charlie) kills him with the flame-thrower. Everybody knows about the love triangle and are horrified at what Elizabeth did to Charlie in anger. It makes more sense than Vickers killing Charlie to decontaminate him.

(Since Elizabeth is the Sigourney Weaver character in Prometheus and Weaver was the flame-thrower in the original Alien/Aliens, it should be Elizabeth who is the flame-thrower. It feels right.)

Now it makes sense when Elizabeth does her running and leaping. She won't burst open from recent surgery. And while Vickers is recovering from surgery, she is left with squid-baby in the shuttle with the sickbay. When the shuttle crashes, squid-baby breaks out of its isolation and eats Vickers. It's more horrifying than her being killed by a falling croissant spaceship. It also explains how squid-baby got big enough to kill the Alien Engineer.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 5:52 PM

Uh. While that does make more sense, are we kind of sending an unfortunate message here?

Such as, Sex is evil, good christian girls are saved, and skanky girls are eaten by their own hideous god-forsaken offspring?

TWO

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 6:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Uh. While that does make more sense, are we kind of sending an unfortunate message here?

Such as, Sex is evil, good christian girls are saved, and skanky girls are eaten by their own hideous god-forsaken offspring?

The alternative that Prometheus went with is a white girl who sleeps with a black man is horribly crushed by the wheel of karma. "No! No!" she screams. That is straight forward racism and miscegenation. Which is better?

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 6:47 PM

"Better" appears to be a relative term around here. Maybe there's a possible story outcome here that doesn't involve either package of unfortunate messages? Just a thought.

TWO

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 8:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Maybe there's a possible story outcome here that doesn't involve either package of unfortunate messages? Just a thought.

I think the God punishes sinners message is great for horror movies. It makes the audience anxious. For one, the Elizabeth v. Engineer fight is over too quickly.

Select to view spoiler:

What if he had stalked Elizabeth through the shuttle for a minute? The Engineer is carrying David's head to translate: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil women." Get Samuel Jackson to voice the Engineer. Pure pulp fiction.

And Elizabeth can do nothing but scream when the Engineer picks her up by the scruff of her neck like she is a kitten. He is indifferent to her pain. That could have been really creepy to watch her go face to face with a God who knows (because robot David gossiped) she is a sinner for killing her cheating boyfriend under the guise of "decontamination" of the ship.

And then Elizabeth releases squid-baby to kill the Engineer. Same ending as before, except Elizabeth thinks she knows why the Engineers intended to kill humanity.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 8:52 PM

Quote:
I think the God punishes sinners message is great for horror movies. It makes the audience anxious.

No it doesn't. It's overdone. Like when the girl is in the backseat of her car with her boyfriend, and they're getting around third base, and the monster shows up and chainsaws them. Oh, they had sex, guess they're inevitably going to die now.

Actually, no, this is worse, because at least in that case they're getting killed because they were allowing themselves to be distracted in a dangerous situation. But this is like random boomerang karma nonsense with ethical judgement madonna whore complex stuff. This is basically killing someone in a story for no reason other than the dictates of a vengeful god. It doesn't hold up under close scrutiny, and the message, as said, carries unfortunate implications.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadonnaWhoreComplex
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheScourgeOfGod
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathBySex
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FinalGirl

I'm calling shenanigans on this whole good girl lives cliche.

TWO

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 10:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
I'm calling shenanigans on this whole good girl lives cliche.

The good girl lives was not my goal.

Here is a hypothetical dialogue between not-so-good Elizabeth and

Select to view spoiler:

the Godlike Engineer. I know Vickers actually killed Elizabeth's boyfriend with a flame-thrower in the movie, but it becomes much more meaningful if Elizabeth does it.

I'll give away the Engineer's thoughts about humans as he stalks Elizabeth through the shuttle. In the movie the Engineer followed her to the shuttle, but he never spoke. Robot David translates the Engineers words, so I keep it short and simple:

"I created you in my own image. I know your progress."

The Engineer is being kind. Elizabeth understands why the Engineer is on cave paintings.

"I know you can be great. But then . . . There was no hurry. I did not have to make my final decision until you arrived at the stars and woke me. I waited with great hope."

The Engineer has Elizabeth in hand. He has taken away her ax that she was carrying in the movie. She can not escape Judgment Day.

"Elizabeth. You were the deciding factor. I would have welcomed you. But you are not worthy."

The Engineer puts on his angry God Face. Elizabeth condemned the whole human race to death because of her jealous murder of her boyfriend.

Then Elizabeth kills God in the same fashion as in the actual movie.

The Joss Whedon script for "Serenity," where Wash lives, is
Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/two

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