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My Review: where are the plot holes again?

Maiafay

MemberOvomorphJune 08, 20121385 Views29 Replies
I want to say I'm a casual Alien fan. I never got nerdy or nitpicky over details in the franchise. I even liked Alien Resurrection. Hell, I liked AVP for what it was. The only movie I grimaced at was Alien 3 – but for personal reasons (Newt dying, Ripley bald, etc..) and I acknowledge its place in the Alien universe (begrudgingly). Anyway, just got back from my "twilight" viewing of Prometheus (the damn popcorn and drink was more expensive than my ticket, go figure), and all the imagery and info is still bouncing around in my head. Quite a bit there, even though I was spoiled rotten going in. But this time being spoiled worked for me rather than against me. I knew when certain scenes were approaching and could prepare accordingly (most noteworthy: the do-it-yourself caesarian and angry cobra worms from hell). Every bit of violence came quick and brutal – even the subtle gesture David made when poisoning Charlie's drink. Though I knew when the nastiness was coming it still caught me off guard. Quite a bit of tension when in the temple/ship. I'm afraid I'm biased as hell when it comes to temples/mysteries. Love them. Love the holographic engineers running from some unknown pursuer, love the pile of bodies outside the door. Such powerful beings reduced to mummified corpses – makes one wonder and fear (as Milburn and Fifield rightfully had) what had horrified them so? Some other noteworthy concepts/performances: David of course – then again, I'm biased there too because I love Fassbender. I could watch an entire movie about David, lol. I believe David is the product of his creator/programming/lack of guidance. Poisoning Holloway was the direct result of Weyland saying “try harder” (which I interpret as try harder to find answers) and David's personal dislike of how Holloway treated him. And this action then justified in David's mind with a pointed question to Holloway of “what would you do?” It's a classic be “careful what you wish for” concept. David just gave Holloway what he wanted. David's callus treatment of Shaw I think stems from his excitement over his discovery of the surviving Engineer. It seems to me, he's dismissive because he found a better way of pleasing Weyland. Then when Shaw operates on herself (damn, that was nasty), David is impressed at her courage and seems more respectful. I noticed David's less savory behavior heightens in the presence of Weyland. That entire segment where they enter the temple/ship to meet this Engineer, David seemed arrogant, vain, condescending, and reckless – until he gets his head yanked off. Then it's a reality check. Everyone is dead and he's left conscious and not attached to his body. I think he might have been alarmed - if not a little afraid he would be left in that state. I heard genuine relief in his voice when Shaw answers him later on. Yes, there was some subtle blackmail there, him knowing how to pilot the other ships, but he had no other card to play. And to those who ask how DID he know where the other ships were, or how to pilot them – I believe he learned with the holograms. He's an android. He's going to absorb every detail. He has a photographic memory (implied anyway). It's not that much of a stretch to assume he gleaned info from those Engineers (and perhaps what they were saying to the one in the chair) and used it accordingly. Anyway, I hope he's back for the sequel and shows Shaw how to reattach his head. Glad she lowered his body and took it with her. Hopefully he won't be just a head talking in the next movie. Shaw and Holloway I liked – and liking Holloway was a surprise. If he hadn't been such a dick to David, I would have been more sympathetic when he died. He loved Shaw, and it showed. And the reason I think he chose to die (because some were complaining he was too quick to chose that route) was because he realized there was no way he would survive. He was decomposing practically in seconds. He wouldn't risk infecting the others, especially Shaw(And I assume “Holloway” assumed this infection was contained to him – as Shaw exhibited no symptoms). And fire pretty much kills anything infectious, hence forcing Vickers to incinerate him. His motivations made sense to me. When people were bashing the flute, I thought it was some grandiose extended scene of melodramatic flute playing and little worms swaying in time to the music. Actual flute playing was like two seconds. Okay, four if you count the Engineer using it to operate his station (and you barely heard it). Really? All the fuss over that? You know what? The flute fit. It was fine. And the organic buttons were fine (saw someone complain about those too). Due to the organic nature of the ship's design, I'd say the buttons match. Now all we need is tentacle drapes and a white squishy loveseat. *sigh* Actually, the flute gives insight to a culture that may regard music highly – to the point of incorporating it into their security. Disagree or agree. That's my theory. My only nitpicks are the movie should have been longer and the score was odd. I didn't hate it, but it ended up distracting me sometimes. One scene in particular felt truncated with Janek suddenly talking about the Engineers and weapons of mass destruction. I supposed he could have surmised this based on looking at scans and his brief time inside the temple, but it kinda seemed like it came from nowhere. Eh, it's nothing to hate the movie over, but I do hope there's an extended cut for the DVD. I will be seeing it again. I keep hearing it improves after a second viewing, and spending more on my popcorn than movie ticket sounds fair enough to me. And if anyone would like to throw some other "plot holes" at me, I'd be more than willing to discuss them – amiably of course :)
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Maiafay
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@Drakeequation Bughunter answered some of your plot holes in his review - particularly the goo and how it affects people differently. Fifield is human. He makes mistakes. He's also in a cave where at least one of his puppies had issues with mapping (kept trying to go through the closed door and is why David offered to repair it). Fifield is also stressed; he wasn't expecting to actually FIND anything. People under duress behave oddly. As for taking off helmets...they had scanners. The scanners said the air was great (not in those exact words, of course). So they took off their helmets? And? From what I can recall, no one died from being without their helmet. Both Milburn and Fifield kept theirs on when the worms attacked. Milburn is reacting to a creature he's trying desperately not to be afraid of. It's almost hysteria. And he treating it as he would an earth animal - and while that's not the brightest (I sure the hell wouldn't touch it), any expert in the field will rely on their past experiences with similar creatures or situations. He made a stupid mistake. People aren't perfect.
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alteredstate.
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Sounds like a fair assessment maiafay thanks for thread.
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JP
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Try this one for size....you're being attacked in your temple, all your mates are getting massacred, you had a mission to destroy earth, your the last engineer....what more of an excuse do you have to get the hell out of there? actually no...I'll just stay here and have a kip for 2000 years!! Also...any reason at all for hunting down Shaw at the end? He's a bit of an idiot this one....get in another ship lad and do your bloody job! Someone needs to give Lindelof a serious slap...he's a fraud
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JP
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Maiafay
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@JP Please stop hating on Lindelof. I'm frankly tired of it. The Engineer's ship just got rammed by the Prometheus. He's pissed off. I would be pissed too if some little snot decided to ruin my mission. He went after Shaw to insure she couldn't interfere - and again, he was pissed. Anger makes anyone behave irrationally. It's universal. And in an interview with Fassbender, he said the Engineer sees us as flies, annoying pests. He wanted the last fly swatted. No explanation needed. We have no idea how their society works. YOU would leave because that's how YOU would react. You are human. The Engineer is close, but obviously more advanced and from an entirely different culture. These Engineers seemed like a warrior caste. What warrior would abandon his post? What honor is in that? We have no idea how their society is, what they place value on, or what deity they serve. It could have been worse for him to abandon his duty than to continue forward.
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Shaw's_sweet_baby
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In the old days we used to kill desserters if they left their post... Perhaps this is what the Engineer would be facing if he returned to his home planet without results.
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loseyourname
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The ship's medic states when they first arrive that the atmosphere is roughly identical to Earth's aside from having more carbon dioxide, to the point that it would kill you in about two minutes. Every seen someone breathe into a paper bag to calm themselves? Doing so increases the carbon dioxide mix in the air, which has a sedative effect and would eventually kill you if the mix got high enough. It would have no effect whatsoever on the ability of fire to burn, however.
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astromax
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You were not paying attention. The medi bed's decontamination system was activated by Shaw and its pod closed before the thing could escape. It, limp lifeless, DIED ! What’s exciting about the end of Prometheus is we will finally deal with the Engineers, not just their various xeno creations. We now know what they look like, that they have no exoskeleton. It's a suit with a helmet. The SJ is awoken to find what? Unknown Trespassers in his military weapons facility. Shoot first ask questions later. The question is asked by Shaw, "Why do they hate us?" But, think about it. This SJ doesn’t know where we came from or who we are. He has been slumbering. We just showed up. The SJs are understaffed due to some event so we enter the facility unopposed. That's where the sequel comes in. Sure we crashed the Military base and hijacked a ship but by the time we arrive at their home planet, or a planet a little further up the chain of command, they may be expecting us.
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Symmetricon
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1. We do not know if the SJ who rips Davids head off was in hibernation before or after the incident that led to the death of the others. To presume to know would be an error. 2. We do not know that the baby was dead, there was no scan done on it to make sure it had no life signs, nor do we know what kind of life signs it would have. Again people presume to know that which they do not. Before seeing the movie, and after reading negative reviews, I was expecting to see some major logical fallacies, but I did not. First of all, we a freaking talking about aliens that created us..... its a fantasy sci-fi movie, it requires a certain suspension of disbelief......

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