Hopes For a Sequel

So after 'Lost, in Space' we will have "Paradise, Lost". (Thoughts below slightly edited from a comment I made in the News section). I'm glad that many people enjoyed the film. Personally I didn't. If there is to be a sequel then I think that continued involvement by Lindelof would be a certain kiss of death. Fans may take pleasure in drawn-out and way-out theorising, but given Lindelof's past 'triumphs' and the flakey nature of many of Promentheus' elements, it takes more confidence (dare I say 'faith'?) to believe there's *any* coherence underlying it all. It's all a bit too po-mo. Mind you, apart from the visual grandeur, Scott himself has little to be proud of in this mess. He is waaaaay past his peak. Here's what I would personally hope for in a sequel, traits all sadly lacking in the first: * Character development. * Semi-decent dialogue. Most quoted line from the film: "We were so wrong" (ironic, ay?) Best line: "My room. Ten minutes." (Hardly Cannes.) Funniest lines (all from the audience): "Back off man, I'm a scientist!" and the immortal "Run Sideways!" * Believable characters who do something active, rather than just sitting around being passive victims or utterly stupid. (We have a "trillion dollar" interstellar mission that seems to be crewed by work placements from the Sheffield Labour Exchange.) *A less banal plotline that relies on thinking SF rather than B-Grade horror for its inspiration, and that develops via character action rather than wordy info dumps and bizarro alien home movies that just *appear*. (Prometheus was doing ok till the head exploded. Then it felt like my head had exploded). [Generic horror checklist: exploding head, tick: tentacles, tick: zombies, tick: melting faces, tick: body horror, tick: girl with axe, tick: talking decapitated head, tick: lone survivor, tick... ] * A self-contained story that makes conceptual and dramatic sense on its own, without needing twenty seven external videos, fifteen web sites and endless forum posts to make sense of. You know ... premise, plot, climax, resolution; beginning, middle, end; challenge and catharsis. Story stuff. Meaning stuff. * No more Wonder Woman antics like Shaw rappelling down a cliff ten minutes after an abortion that severed her stomach muscles. * Less reactionary gender stereotyping. (That's a big one, not much discussed so far). * Less of this pretentious philosophy for fourteen year olds. Good films can and should question and challenge, but to do this you have to be able to take them seriously. They have to build on a base of reason and reality, not a derivative collection of hackneyed horror effects that work best as black comedy. * Less of this 'faith' bull. For all the hackneyed Christian lip service and forced imagery, Shaw's belief is the antithesis of Christianity, and her 'miraculous' Christmassy barren womb birth is the birth of a demon. And btw, they're not gods. They're aliens. All, of course, my own diabolical opinion. After three viewings.