Ridley Scott's Prometheus

[Burninator]

Ambiguity and things being unexplained is fine with, I get that. If this movie wanted that maybe there shouldn't have half explained things then. My problem with the movie is that things were either illogical or not internally consistent with the universe the movie setup. I'm sure some of you would say these are nitpicks (I would agree) but when there is so many of them it really takes me out of the movie and wrecks the atmosphere. Especially when so many of these things could have been fixed so easily.

It's a trillion dollar mission and the only scientist they can find are ones "in it for the money" because those are the best scientists right?
5 dots leads them to conclude alien life created them?
Almost all of them agree to be frozen for two years with no idea what the mission actually is.
The biologist refers to evolution as Darwinism (nit pick for sure, but they could have made a phone call to any scientist about this one).
They figure out the atmosphere is oxygen so they remove their masks with complete disregard for pathogens (better looking to not have masks on, fine)
Masks are internally lit for some reason and have condensation (looks cool, fine)
The biologist sees alien life for the first time and even though it's been dead for 2000 years he is scared of it and the room, leaves.
The biologist and geologist who as far as the movie goer can tell are in constant communication with the ship that has a 3D map, manage to get lost.
The rest of the crew, without thinking, leave them behind.
The two of them go back to the room that they were too scared to go into in the first place to sleep! Buh?!
The biologist, who apparently is a scientist, sees alien life (second time) tries to coax it toward him like a puppy. How very scientific of him. He is scared of dead alien life but not alive ones? Wah?
They stimulate the head and it explodes for some reason.
The DNA match is exact even though they are 9' tall.
The guy scientist finds alien life and is a brooding a-hole about it for no clear reason.
The alien snake thing turns the geologist into a zombie with super human strength for some reason.
The guy scientist has a snake thing in his eye and tells no one (guess he doesn't have to, you would think a scientist would)
Charlize's character doesn't want the infection guy on board so she opens the biggest door on the ship.
The infected girl is in quarantine, knocks out some dudes who never show up again.
The medical pod in Charlize's personal quarters which is tailored for her and is a separate ship, is only for men (I guess it's for the old guy then).
The old guy is not dead for some reason. Certainly no good reason, because they don't provide one.
It makes no sense why a younger guy plays an old man. The makeup is so awful it took me out of the movie. He is barely in the movie, they should have just used an old man.
They no longer care about her being infected and/or why she has a giant scar.
She can run around and lower heavy bags of stuff with seemingly little pain despite having abdominal surgery moments before. (she grunts a few times, oh right)
The old man is Charlize's father which the movie makes out to be this big reveal. But everyone saw it coming, doesn't care, and it didn't matter.
The working class ships captain who is only "in it for money" and doesn't care about the science in the mission, has a change of heart and decides to sacrifice himself to take down the ship.
While that was boarder line in terms of believability, the reason the other two go down with the ship was because of a side bet! A side bet! Insanity.
They run away from a falling doughnut like idiots (duh)
The main actress talks about her Christianity a lot, but the only thing Christian about her is that she wears a cross. They could have done more with this.

These are things that could have easily been fixed. You'll notice I didn't point out things like the opening sequence, most of the characters motivations, why the aliens seeded Earth and then decided to retract the offer of life, why the alien ripped David's head off and started rampaging, etc. I'm fine with leaving those over arcing things vague and/or unanswered. I don't need my hand held, but don't make me leave my brain at the door either. This movie didn't need to have so much illogical things in it. I think the movie needed to either be longer or had some characters be cut. There was too many and except for David none of them were fleshed out. The environment, technology and effects were great, but the rest was lacking. I am still holding out hope for a longer directors cut.

[Tinordi]

Damn you for wanting a logical movie that makes sense. Can't you just turn your brain off? You're such a wind bag for demanding that movies be good and intelligent instead of mindless with cool effects.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Damn you for wanting a logical movie that makes sense. Can't you just turn your brain off? You're such a wind bag for demanding that movies be good and intelligent instead of mindless with cool effects.

No one is saying that Prometheus doesn't have issues. Far from it. No one as said it's the best movie ever. And most people have rated it 7/10 or thereabouts. We're just saying it has elements (Fassbender) that don't make it Michael Bay or Uwe Boll bad.

[Flash Walken]

4.5/10

Glad I didn't use real money on this one.

[Erick Estrada]

Honestly it's like some of you don't understand the fiction part of science fiction. Batman for instance is preposterous on principle but I would feel sorry if a moviegoer spent the entire movie wondering why a billionaire like Bruce Wayne who could essentially build an Iron Man suit but chooses to parade around in a rubber suit with pointy ears, bat logo, and a cape. It's ######ed really but we don't ask and we don't care about how illogical it is.

[Flash Walken]

This has nothing to do with the gaping plot holes that the Batman franchise also has (Uh, so what happened to all those billionaires locked up in a Gotham Penthouse with the Joker and his goons?)

It's about the movie being so bad it'll be tough to sit through it a second time.

I LOVE unexplained portions of plot that leave it to the imagination of the viewer.

15 non-connected, unexplained scenes isn't leaving the audience wanting more, it's terrible direction/writing/editing.

Frankly, this could easily have been a prequel to AVP.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Honestly it's like some of you don't understand the fiction part of science fiction. Batman for instance is preposterous on principle but I would feel sorry if a moviegoer spent the entire movie wondering why a billionaire like Bruce Wayne who could essentially build an Iron Man suit but chooses to parade around in a rubber suit with pointy ears, bat logo, and a cape. It's ######ed really but we don't ask and we don't care about how illogical it is.

That is totally different. Was it in this thread someone was talking about the basis of suspension of disbelief?

It isn't about how big the jumps in logic are, it is about them being consistent and believable within that world.

A man dressing up like a bat is borderline ######ed and insane. However, the motivations in Batman Begins, the reasons why he chose that costume, that vehicle, that identity, the batcave etc all make sense within the world of Batman.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Honestly it's like some of you don't understand the fiction part of science fiction. Batman for instance is preposterous on principle but I would feel sorry if a moviegoer spent the entire movie wondering why a billionaire like Bruce Wayne who could essentially build an Iron Man suit but chooses to parade around in a rubber suit with pointy ears, bat logo, and a cape. It's ######ed really but we don't ask and we don't care about how illogical it is.

There's a fine line. While not everything in Batman makes perfect sense the story still holds together enough logic within its own world that makes you come along for the ride without focusing too much on the inconsistencies. Premetheus leaves you asking too many WTF questions.

No one is slamming the movie because its a fictional subject. They are slamming it because the story was poorly conveyed and presented.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by Burninator

The environment, technology and effects were great, but the rest was lacking. I am still holding out hope for a longer directors cut.

I don't think a directors cut could even salvage it. Trust me, I wanted to like this movie, I was hoping for a very good sci-fi movie (which are a rarity these days), but there's too much wrong with it to ignore.

[Tinordi]

All movies have to operate within the laws that they set in order for it to make logical sense and more importantly to make the motivations, decisions, and feelings of the characters identifiable to the viewer. Without that you get a crappy movie.

Inception is a great example of a world that makes no sense, people going into dreamland etc. No one bashes Inception for that specious premise, that you can invade people's dreams, it's just a given that you have to accept to enjoy the movie. Anyone with a base level of imagination can do that.

What makes inception work is that they lay out the rules of the world that they're operating in and the decisions that they make in that world make sense, and more than anything provide suspense to the viewer.

Bad sci-fi is when you write the characters/story into a corner and then you just "reverse the polarity" or time travel out of there. It shows laziness in the writing, etc. Even worse is when characters make illogical decisions that aren't explained. Why did character X do that when they could have just done this instead? Oh because it was more suspenseful to do X than Y. Well that's not good enough.

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Bad sci-fi is when you write the characters/story into a corner and then you just "reverse the polarity" or time travel out of there. It shows laziness in the writing, etc. Even worse is when characters make illogical decisions that aren't explained. Why did character X do that when they could have just done this instead? Oh because it was more suspenseful to do X than Y. Well that's not good enough.

99% of science fiction films have this same theme. When was the last time you watched Alien or Aliens? In both movies many of the characters made insane choices regardless if they were scientists or marines. To say Prometheus is bad because characters made illogical choices is laughable. It would be nearly impossible to create these type of movies without characters making horrible decisions.

Now Prometheus is not nearly as good as the first two Alien movies, but it is getting more undeserved flack than it should. I think in large part it has to due with the age of the audience. People that grew up watching movies like Alien or Aliens have grown to an age where they need to question everything, and want rationality in their characters. But, really if you actually watch many of the "classic" sci-fi movies with an open mind, you will find that the same issue applies to most of them.

Spoiler!

[Tinordi]

That may be true. I haven't watched Alien in a while. Have any examples of the characters making illogical decisions?

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

That may be true. I haven't watched Alien in a while. Have any examples of the characters making illogical decisions?

Maybe not shutting any doors when entering a room. Thus allowing cats and chestbusters to have free run of the ship.

[Flash Walken]

Here's the problem with Prometheus:



It all makes sense to me now.

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

That may be true. I haven't watched Alien in a while. Have any examples of the characters making illogical decisions?

Here are a few I can think of after watching it a couple weeks ago:

Why did they send a cargo ship in the first place to answer a distress call, when no one aboard the ship was experienced in these matters?

Why did they let Kane explore the hole in the ship in the dark, without at least knowing more about where they were?

Why did Kane screw around with the egg, knowing that there was movement inside?

Why did Ash let Kane back on the ship with the facehugger attached to his face, without going through the 24 hour decontamination period like Ripley ordered?

Why did they not freeze Kane once he was brought aboard the ship?

When the facehugger "disappeared", why did the entire crew essentially go back to normal, knowing something had to be wrong?

When the alien attacks Parker, why did he not use the flame thrower?

Then here are the plot holes in Aliens: http://movieplotholes.com/aliens.html

[icecube]

In Alien, Ripley puts her life in danger to rescue a cat when the ship is going to explode any minute


In Aliens, Ripley starts shooting at the nest of eggs putting her own life and Newt's life in danger from the xenomorphs and the queen- not to mention an imminent nuclear explosion that would wipe out the aliens anyhow.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Here are a few I can think of after watching it a couple weeks ago:

Why did they send a cargo ship in the first place to answer a distress call, when no one aboard the ship was experienced in these matters?

Why did they let Kane explore the hole in the ship in the dark, without at least knowing more about where they were?

Why did Kane screw around with the egg, knowing that there was movement inside?

Why did Ash let Kane back on the ship with the facehugger attached to his face, without going through the 24 hour decontamination period like Ripley ordered?

Why did they not freeze Kane once he was brought aboard the ship?

When the facehugger "disappeared", why did the entire crew essentially go back to normal, knowing something had to be wrong?

When the alien attacks Parker, why did he not use the flame thrower?

Then here are the plot holes in Aliens: http://movieplotholes.com/aliens.html

Different times. With the internet anyone with a keyboard can now call themselves a movie critic. Dissecting, being critical, and passing off your opinion as relevant is empowering for nerds behind a keyboards. Now I like most here know what a truly bad movie is. Seen lots and probably more than most here but this isn't a bad movie. Perfection? Absolutely not but taken in as an experience its mostly satisfying.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Why did Ash let Kane back on the ship with the facehugger attached to his face, without going through the 24 hour decontamination period like Ripley ordered?

This one is easy, because he was programmed to bring back Alien life at all costs. Crew expendable and all that.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by icecube

In Alien, Ripley puts her life in danger to rescue a cat when the ship is going to explode any minute


In Aliens, Ripley starts shooting at the nest of eggs putting her own life and Newt's life in danger from the xenomorphs and the queen- not to mention an imminent nuclear explosion that would wipe out the aliens anyhow.

Those things make sense within the context of the movie.

I wasn't yelling at the screen in indiana jones when he nearly loses his arm to save a piece of leather.

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

This one is easy, because he was programmed to bring back Alien life at all costs. Crew expendable and all that.

Of course that is true, but the same can be said for why David brought back the jar of goo in Prometheus (something that other people have called a plot hole).

Seriously, if you're going to bring along an android make sure it's this guy!

He's the only trustworthy android in the entire universe.