My second viewing of Prometheus NO SPOILERS

Great OP, I feel the same. There is always a mob where nothing will ever be good enough for them, especially if you are older, you can kind of become a snob about your memorys, I'm 31 and I remember being scared when I first saw Predator as a young kid and how how I was discusted with AVPR, this is differant, Ridley did a good job creating a new theme to explore in the Alien universe. I found David to be reminisent of Roy Batty from Blade Runner with his childish curiosity and love of quotes and art. There is much to be discovered in Prometheus, so I'm putting my foot down and glad to to be on the positive side, I am not easily pleased and have seen many of my favourite franchaises murdered, Terminator 3, Duke Nukem Forever, AVPR, the list goes on but Prometheus left me feeling happy, I love that kind of stuff.

I hated it first time but am more thoughtful after taking my son. Like you, I saw Alien first time around despite being under 18. After the second viewing of Prometheus, my list of positives that I hope all those who were upset by it (and I won't drone on about my opinions why I believe it was poor) are: Fassbender was excellent...the best android in any of the films I've seen. The right touch of childishness but with a subtle hint of menace. The Prometheus ship is stunning. The sets, like those of Alien were awesome and believable. The designers and set builders deserve an award. Elba was awesome and had a great bit of interplay with Vickers...made me laugh. some great acting. The visuals overall were stunning. Costumes were great. The tech was largely believable and also stunning (holographic maps etc) I am glad you loved it...the more people who do the better. Life's too short for disappointment. I suggest that all those like me who feel it was a number of opportunities missed and were gutted by it, go see it again. Drop your expectations...those are all gone now. Just watch it as a stand alone film and you are likely to enjoy it...this from a guy who was massively angry on opening night. Life's too short for disappointment...look for the positives, this film has a great many. Spread the love M

Thanks to @Space Jockstrap & @Mithra for your honesty and your vision. I am going into thismovie with an open mind and not a thought about Alien. This is a whole new relm od SCI-FI and a whole new story for me. I am seeing the movie Thursday at 12:01 so I will be back with my opinion. I have read alot of reviews here and it seems to me people just want an ALien movie and trashed this movie becasue that was not what they got. I agree with the fact Alien left a lot of questions and today we still do not have the answers. So what! That is why it has lasted so long and still today is a classic. Maybe, just maybe RS will answer the long awaited questions of Alien in the sequel or Prometheus or maybe not. I am so looking forward to seeing this movie - thanks again for your honesty.

Nicely put Mithra, thank you Exactly the right approach dopelganger.....enjoy !

I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. No one is arguing with the visuals, the movie uses some breath taking backdrops that have to be seen to be belived. But I personally don't go to the cinema just to watch amazing scenery, I go to be entertained. If by your definition watching a movie and wanting more than "endless monologue about plot, characterisation, score blah, blah, blah" makes you a doomster then doomster I am.

I have seen Prometheus also. I didn't hate it or dislike it. I wouldn't go as far as some people have gone on about it (Giving out). I felt the same as most people leaving the cinema. Looking at small points of the film that were annoying. Maybe looking to much for perfection. I've changed my opinion over past couple of days reading opinions. And sitting back and thinking about it again and reading the above review, I think you right. I must see it a second time and maybe this time instead of looking at every single detail just enjoy the ride and thrill of the film. Because it still is a cool slick film. Plus the Engineers i thought were awesome. Large, menacing and believable.

that's exactly how i intend to approach this movie....with a very open mind....not a prequel at all....the type of movie that is open to personal interpretation....I am sorry but i never thought that Alien was this fantastic, brilliant, end all-be all movie that people make it out to be....I loved it....but it never really scared me that badly....even as a child i thought is was just plain mesmerizing and oh so fucking cool...i copied it to video and had all my friends watch it....i forced them....i can be very manipulating in that way...lol So yes it is and was a great movie....but the way people are putting it on this pedestal...like it was the best movie experience ever....nah...I am sorry it was'nt that great....it was very slow and the chestburster scene horrific as it was...i have seen way worse...the tension buildup was slow....sometimes excruciatingly slow....and you merely glimpsed the alien towards the end.... Why do people do this....why is the original always better....is it just cause it came first?...Prometheus is not even attempting to be a proper prequal....Ridley has been their and done that....go lick the xeno's smooth penile head and get a room with it if you are so obsessed with the Alien!

I personally think there's a better cut in there somewhere - the first one seems rushed, if anything fueled by pressure from Rothman to get the thing in on time when it was looking to be delayed till Christmas. In fact Rothman stating that "not a single frame would be cut" could be where the problems lie - in truth more should have been cut, and some added. Again, as others have pointed, both Alien and Bladerunner had mixed receptions on release. The latter only recognised as a classic when fanboys began to infiltrate Hollywood and use it as reference for their own pics. We are at fault for expecting everything from Ridley, when really the finest work in his repetoire is founded on a series of re-edits and bolstered by fanboy mythology. He has made a great, entertaining film that has used Alien as a starting point but will probably go into another direction before it returns to the Nostromo storyline (if ever). It asks questions, but dosen't resolve them - yet, I feel the priority with a $250m project was never to be preachy, merely entertain and make enough bucks. It's like some drunk, ill informed hippy at a party, rambling on about Gaia or the Celestine Prophecy - they don't know what they're talking about and have no answers, but it's entertaining none the less. My one disappointment is Lindelof's contribution - a sometimes crude, clunky script from a self confessed fanboy...probably the last person that should have been involved in the writing. But did I enjoy the movie? Oh yes. Will I by the Blu-Ray? Damn right.

As I've commented in other threads, it seems to me that the fans who are bashing this movie were going in expecting a solid link to "Alien" and were disappointed. The ones who seem to enjoy this film (to some extent) understood what Ridley said from the beginning (this is not a prequel) and went into it with no expectations. This seems to be further proved by a couple of new negative reviews I've read from this past weekend that made several comparisons to "Alien". I'm going into this with a completely open mind. Can't wait for this weekend!

Alien was not a perfect film. It was a surprise with little build up and many naysayers. Reviews were bad. Almost all questions were unanswered. The acting was tense and rigid, but didn't make you feel deeply for anyone all that much. It was a Horror Film with lot's of rough edges and spotty dialogue. Comparatively, Prometheus has alot in common with Alien, but had a prolonged Fanboy base overthinking it leading up to it's release and the visuals dominate due to better technology. At least here we get a chance to explore a whole new Universe of possibilities. See it 2 or 3 times and enjoy it for what it is....a thrill ride:O)

there was no internet in 1979, hence less pre-hype from RS and less discussions among fans

Short and valid point Pier75 In 1977 I clearly remember having two large posters on my bedroom wall depicting some unknown, nameless creatures. Later that year I went to see the movie which had been discussed momentarily on the playground only to discover these characters were called C3PO, R2D2 and Darth Vader...the rest is history. How would Prometheus have been perceived if we had never been exposed to a single still, trailer of even the word "engineer" ?

I agree with some of the positives, the film has great visuals, I've just seen it on big screen in 3D as I imagine most of you have. But, even as a stand alone film it has big weaknesses. Firstly, it feels rushed, and as if the plots biggest priority was setting up the next movie in the franchise. (To my mind, as an avid film fan, that smacks of cheating the audience.) As well as the lack of character development and plot, and overly pretentious dialogue, I actually felt that the soundtrack was way below par. Especially the bit there are very sinister goings on, with music suggesting awe rather than themes of destruction. I also disliked the theme, which has been done to death elsewhere, (and heavily flagged in the Traliers as well as the title) that humans were seeded by other aliens. There is nothing novel about this, and putting a 'twist' on it, by then having them decide to destroy their creations, smacks of poor imagination by some over eager fan boy, keen to link up with other mythology like the Greek gods killing humans for sport, or the Biblical god drowning everyone but those on the Ark, seeing as our heroine is big on the christian symbolism. As far as the Alien franchise goes, there IS a reason to be a bit snobby about it. Not everyone goes for the scares and the explosions... some go because very good science fiction taps into good themes, in a well crafted way (not endless flat dialogue about good ideas). And Alien has been badly served in this regard by later films. It's one thing churning out a mediocre sequel to a mediocre movie, but actually aiming for a low bar after a very well crafted start is unworthy. I don't mind a film of that calibre being a slow burner, because life is a slow burner, and development does not come in one scene. I especially disliked the attempt in the end to mimic a signature monologue from the first film. It lacked the feeling, and delivery, and was badly set against the visual that accompanied it.

@Space Jockstrap.... from the first viewing of Alien I thought they'd left plenty of clues about the intent and origins of those eggs. The very fact of how they were arranged and covered by a blue 'field' was a major clue, and I think many people copped on to their real purpose (esp when you consider how perfectly destructive the organisms are). Hence, many people anticipated such a movie to explain their origins. It would have been a great jump off point for Alien 3, to be honest, rather than killing off Hicks, Newt, and dropping Ripley into a third nightmare scenario, making her into a total Rambo character. My beef with this film isn't that Ripley's not in it though. It's just that having such great premises to draw on, it makes such a mediocre plot and script. They over do the dialogue, where they should be SHOWING instead of TELLING, and have fun laying obvious teasers like right at the start, a question of how that guy got selected, did he volunteer or not to be where he was? They may answer that in the next film, but to be honest, I'm not that curious. Teasing questions should be interesting. But if the characters are not that interesting, simply menacing, then it's on soft ground. Alien, didn't answer some of the questions for good reason, the film has enough to do already, presenting a horrible scenario and letting the characters deal with it. Several films on, we're already familiar with the horrible set up, so there should be more effort to bring us onto explanations, without characters engaging in philosophical dialogue. Bad as I thought Alien 3 was (mostly on premise, not terrible as stand alone ) and terrible as I thought 'Ressurection' was (both on premise and as a stand alone sci-fi) at least they didn't feel like they had cliff hanger endings with an eye on a sequel. We had so many horror films in the 70's and 80s with long, long battles, only to find some monster hitching a ride on the back of the hero's car, plane, whatever, signaling the intent to come back for more box office. Prometheus theme wise, did a clever thing of switching from a naive theme to suggesting a more practical theme at the end, to be fulfilled in a sequel, but I don't like my teasers to last two hours with a "pay another €10 in a year or two so we can get to the movie you wish THIS one was" hangover.

Thank the Engineers that this discussion is civilized! I haven't seen it yet either. Here's [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/3711#41933]my 1979 Alien story[/url] (again). I was there at the very beginning. And, Alien is a great film. It kind of "changed everything" for the genre. But, as you'll see from the story, one of my main take-aways from it was not just the content of the film. It was an "experience" and afterward I was [u]fascinated[/u] by the concept art. The books were just as much or more interesting to me than the film itself. I don't give a flying flip about explanations about the origin of the SJ. I know that it's not real. It's a story that is/was constructed only well enough to "tell itself" on the big screen. If something relatively plausible is in there that lets me infer something interesting (even of my own imaginative creation), then great! Holes, schmoles! Give me an example of the perfect sci-fi plot in the last 30 years, and I'll kiss any part of your anatomy that you choose. A good cheeseburger and fries costs more than the price of admission. I for one am going to enjoy it (as an [u]experience[/u]) no matter what the hell happens on the screen and in my ears. I could tell that David 8 was going to rock my world even from the virals. He's a whole lot more compelling than the "real" Lawrence of [i]Lawrence of Arabia[/i]. That's for damn sure.