Confused by the mixed reviews.

I think my statement was fairly clear and to the point. If people *choose* to interpret it in some broad, sweeping fashion and then take offense at their interpretation of it, i don't see how I can really do anything about that, but I don't think I (or anyone) should have to walk around the board on eggshells terrified that someone *might* elect to take a general observation that's thrown out there personally. You know? If people are that insecure about their opinions and conclusions, maybe they should be more selective about what they do or don't expose themselves to...

Do not post links to pirated material on this site, thanks.

@ Freeze! Who was posting links to pirated material?

There must be something wrong with you if you thought the movie was "amazing" yes visually but that's about it seriously!

@Drakeequation, nice name by the way! To answer your question, I have it moderated now. Links to sites hosting pirated material have been appearing, as well as this thread not that long ago. Gotta be quick! I wish I was this fast on my toes... LOL

Lovely. Another civilized (more or less) thread. :•) The point about audiences becoming jaded (though not being expressed precisely in that way) is a really valid one. I think compared to 1979, WE’RE BORED, because we've become conditioned to be so by an inordinate amount of content on cable, on the web, in theaters, everywhere!! In general, it's super difficult to impress us. The bar isn't even just a bar that's been raised anymore, it's a series of jungle gyms in an obstacle course that ends with a zip line through the forest in PV, Mexico where [i]Predator[/i] (I) was filmed. It's real. I've been there. I do feel, however, that getting into and connecting to/with a film is a very subjective, personal thing. I've said it before here too. The acid test is [url=http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/thetreeoflife/][i]Tree of Life[/i][/url]. It's WAAAAAAAY at one end of the spectrum of public appeal. You either get it, or you don't. If you do it's utterly brilliant. If you don't, it's shite. I'm convinced that it was made without a shred of thought for those who are doomed (by a lack of, not intelligence, but life experience) to hate it. And if you'd like a counter-example at the other end of the spectrum, [u]Avatar[/u]. Made to be adored by the masses, and it is. If you don't believe me look at [url=http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/]this[/url]. 2 BILLION [u]outside[/u] of the US. It transcends all cultures and languages. It is brilliantly crafted for the LCD (Lowest Common Denominator), but that includes 12-year-olds in Xian and Grandmothers with PhDs in Helsinki. I have not seen it yet, but I predict that [i]Prometheus[/i] will fall more or less in the middle of that spectrum leaning more towards [i]ToL[/i] than [i]Avatar[/i]. It will have "big ideas" yet it will be decidedly mainstream. It HAS to be mainstream because it has to make at least $325 million or so to make the right folks happy. That's the way the industry now works, and we only have ourselves to blame. They give us what we pay for. We pay for amazing visuals. We pay for human drama. We pay to see corporate giants fall. We pay for tragic deaths and existential crisis after existential crisis. I will like it not because it is perfect or even necessarily REALLY good, but largely because I'm determined to like it. I'm determined to find the [u]value[/u] in it—whatever and wherever and whenever that is. If Jar Jar Binks shows up I will be horrifically disappointed in that, but I know that there will be other good in it; somewhere. I have nothing to gain by being a snob about it one way or the other. And, if it's truly awful in every way, I'll eat a crow or two (but I'm pretty sure the crows in my neighborhood have nothing to worry about). My ampoule is half full.

I agree on most things. That said, Ridley sure misled us with the trailers that contained the horrific Alien sounds. It isn't a horror movie. He should've told that before. Second, the last hour was way too short.

big beginnings have small endings

@mizere Have to say you must have seen a completely different film than what I saw - Regarding age I am 41 and first witnessed Alien when I was 9. I have been a massive science fiction fan from very early childhood, Alien I must have seen over 100 times also. One of the most iconic, dark but beautiful well acted game changing movies in cinematic history. For you to say you dont understand why people are not liking it is statement itself that there is no point in me explaining why it is such a horribly disappointing movie. If you cant see the massive plot holes and flaws, badly written script, movie pacing, editing, certain acting then I guess you view movies through completely different eyes and brain proccessing to myself and various others. Thats not a BAD thing! In fact I am almost envious that you have obtained pleasure from Prometheus and "see it" as been a fantastic film, you have not had to go through "Prometheus Aftershock" which I have been suffering for 4 days now, after spending 2 years in excitement and anticipation for a film that (I didnt care about any Alien connection) would be a game changing, question raising, original Sci-Fi film..... That it most certainly is not my friend.........

@Mizere, I appreciate your thread and look forward to writing a review once I've seen it. I will surely ask you to join in to the conversation!

Right my 2p worth...... I'm 35 and like well put together films. I don't need spoon feeding and am happy to watch films which raise questions and leave ambiguous answers. I'm fairly bored of being told the reason why I don't like Prometheus by other people. The main argument seems To be that my expectations were too high. I don't think that is true. I went in a group of five people, me and another long time alien fan and three more general movie goers. None of us thought it was good, in fact we were all very very scathing about it. You could almost here the WTF from the audience when the credits rolled. Call me old fashioned, but when it comes to film making its the story and character that are the most important thing. This is movie making 101, everything else is secondary. Think about the films you love - they have this, regardless of how they look and it's the story and character which draw you in. I was more immersed in Primer that Prometheus, a film that cost $7,000! I am amazed that people can dismiss the plot and character issues as nit picking or trivialities. These are core issues in any film.Great visuals and interpreting meanings is not film making. It's attending an art gallery!

@slipp-Digby amen to that! Story, story, story Characters, characters, characters......

i agree totally with what drakeequation said:" I think the extremely subjective nature of movie watching probably means it will be impossible for people from both sides to come to an agreement on whether the film was bad or good as a whole." this is what's happening to the community, no movie had this kind of subjective interpretation of mixed opinions, we simply have in our mind an idea of a movie that we want it to break all expectations in script writing, and being the most atmospheric experience of a legacy or a myth, and that's where we were so wrong!!!! in trying to think that way.

@ramscifi That's all well and good mate. But you would seriously expect such "professionals" to get the basics right!

slippdigby: i agree that plot and character are core elements of a good movie. This is partly why i loved Prometheus. The characters are interesting (especially shaw, david and holloway) and the plot is far from the usual 'straight ahead' routine.

everyone is entitled to there opinion, and mine is i loved it, i thought it was a very deep dark and intelligent film cant wait to see it again

Dear fellow Prometheans, First of all, to all of you who have not watched the movie yet, don't be put off by comments and expectations, reviews, analysis, percentages and blue bars here or there. Go see the movie. Twice. You won't be disappointed. The first time to appreciate its flaws (it does have them indeed) and to constantly compare it to 'Alien' and, in some extent, to 'Aliens' (forget the rest of the movies in the series, AvPs and other siblings included); the second time to merely enjoy it for what it is once you are done with all the criticism and you dare to leave your 'Alien' persona at home because this is a very clever and well made movie... (Shame on the trailers which gave away too much information, though, as it is sadly the norm nowadays.)

To be honest I am prob gonna go a third time this week. Melkor [url=http://wp.me/p2tPJ3-1]My review here![/url]

The trailers did give away WAY too much...

well that;'s what i was afraid of, giving away too much from trailers, i hope after i watch i feel satisfied i dunno, all these mixed reviews are giving me a headache.

I didn't really like the film that much. It's not because I had to "think" either, my favourites films include things like The Machinist, Vanilla Sky, Inception, Matrix, Shutter Island, Momento etc. And I love science fiction big time. The problem for me was that everything that happened seem to be / get contradicted by something else later on. Like the physics of the universe it's set in kept being re-written. This goes for character motivations all the way to... The way things seemed to randomly happen (to put it in a way without spoiling anything). If a sequel is made then I can't wait to see how they try to explain everything and continue things. But with that said, yeah there were some great moments in terms of visuals, some good acting too. But I couldn't help thinking throughout the whole thing "why is this happening? why is he doing that? how can that thing happen if *blah blah* happened earlier?" I've never been second guessing a film and confused by every character's actions the whole way through before. I'm sure there's a good film buried in there somewhere. But it's buried very deep. Although other people seem to have gone away from seeing it and love it... So I guess you all just need to see it anyway and decide for yourself.

I'm getting really tired of hearing how if I didn't like the film then I'm too dumb or I just wanted Alien or I'm not really a fan or I wasn't appreciating it or that I'd hyped it up in my head and was never going to be satisfied or that I wanted to be disappointing just so I could hate on it. It didn't deliver because it was poorly paced, edited, poor dialogue, lack of tension, missplaced score, stock characters and no resolution

@Cypher I believe the staggered release was due to the Euro Cup (football). I can't see how they can change the end for USA viewers... it's good enough as it is. BTW. I thought it was a great movie, and I want to see it again (which is something thats never happened to me in the past!)

Yeah, I wasn't a huge fan of the music (although having listened to the soundtrack, some of Strietenfeld's motifs are actually kind of catchy in a simplistic sort of way...)