Prometheus: why all the disappointment?

Right!

Another huge flaw in Aliens was the captain they sent with the group of marines. I umderstand he would be scared. But he had hardly seen an actiom prior to the mission. Even Ripley noticed it, and she askes him. I think that he told her that he had two missions prior to that one. Thats a huge flaw because how the hell would a corporation like Weland-Yutani send out an in-expeirienced captain to lead a group of marins into a super hostile environment against Xenomorphs. Do you really think that a corporation risk all that money. No they would not. They would send out the best Captain they could find. That right there is another huge flaw.

I agree. I think this is a great movie and having people discussing its concepts back and forth only shows that the movie actually is very good. Alien did raise a lot of questions so the mystery is still valid.

I think the movie was great as well and am planning on going to see it again as soon as possible. I think there is still plenty left to debate, but like you said, the answers are there without the LOOK I SPELLED IT ON THE WALL FOR YOU answer that everyone wants.

I love the film and I love the ambiguity and talking about it. Saying that "the answers are there without the [i]look I spelled it out on the wall for you[/i]" is taking it a bit far. All the answers aren't there. There are plenty there you have to search for and I do agree that most audiences want to be spoon fed. This fact has been talked about over and over. But there are plenty of questions that you can't answer with certainty about the film no matter how hard you look at it. IMO that kind of statement is simply ammunition for haters of the film to act like people who do like the film are full of sh*t and love the film for some reason other than it's a good film. Much like when people who like the film act like it has no flaws.

First off what happened in Alien has no connection to Prometheous. Prometheous is not a prequel to Alien. How could it be if the mummified Space Jockey is hundreds of thousands of years old. Also Ridley stated over and over that Prometheous is not a prequel to Alien. Why is that so difficult for some people to understan.

@alienfan101 I think when most individuals come away scratching their heads is more a failure in storytelling than success. Some people I know have seen the movie as "oh so that's what happened" type response but for a sci-fi detail focused audience there are inconsistencies and plot hole elements that ruin the experience for over thinkers. I think what others are dissatisfied over is that the alien franchise was fleshed out in novels and comics after the movies and many people had set in their minds what they imagined was taking place vs Scott and Lindeloff's vision. I find the idea of the engineers creating us to be disappointing as it makes them less alien. I think the idea that humans were a fluke and insignificant race added more to the dark vibe. Honestly i could go on even more but would bore everyone to death.

People are angry due to expectations as well as ambiguity. Their expectations casue them to blow out of proportion and overanalyze flaws in the film which they would accept in other films. Here's a for instance...People complain about the crew not being more military-like and careful. They just rush in because it's Christmas and Holloway wants to open his presents. Well, I'm sure a lot of people that don't like the film love Aliens. In Aliens the colonial marines and crew just rush in to the complex. Albiet they do it in a military fashion it is still fairly rushed and they go in pretty unprepaired. Once inside, they find the position of all the colonist and only after rushing in, weapons in hand ready to blow the sh*t out of what they find they fail to prepare and notice that there's a neuclear reactor or whatever near and that if they use their ammunition they will blow the place to kingdom come. Point is Aliens and just about every other film of this ilk has flaws but for some reason people want to act like Prometheus is a terrible film. I believe part of this reason is expectations and part the fact that the film asks a lot of it's audience. Just my 2 cents.

But who said that the Engineers created us because it was something they planned. Who says that we are not a fluke to them. Who says that we were not an experiment gone wrong. Maybe that is why they hate us so much. Maybe it was inperfections that upset them. That in my opinion many think that the Engineers worshiped the Xenomorphs. Like Shaw said in Alien. It is the perfect creature.

@Rubirosa...[i]"Like Shaw said in Alien. It is the perfect creature."[/i] Shaw wasn't in Alien lol.

for me...in all honesty If I had been him, I would have gone for MAJOR SHOCK AND AWE AND DONE EVERYTHING RS WANTED TO DO IN THE ORIGINAL AND HAVE THE TRUE XENOMORPH BACK IN SOME WAY BUT TEN TIMES MORE PERVERTED and ferocious doing all the things RS imagined it doing and story boarded it doing but the suits put a stop to....and then tied that sucker right intro Alien Directly. i would have gone the route of the original HARVEST fake script and shown the Genesis of the XENO from infant tiny little bugger to giant bi-pedaled creature we know from Alien and I would have had Prometheus visiting LV-426 and finding THE original derelict's cargo compromised and by whom and why, it turning out to be the Engineers. I would have Vickers working for Yutani and Not Weyland and would have had her attempting to obtain a sample of the creature and succeeding before being murdered by Shaw for it. If I were him I would have done a lot of things differently, I would have shown the Mural as part of a massive cave defense system in which the Engineers had learned how to enslave and use the Xenos to to do their bidding as a Bio-Weapon...But I am Not RS and Love the man so I have to accept what he did do and roll with it and understand it all as best I can, it is His Playground after all. & guess what...?... I still LOVED this film...Just LOVED it !

You brought up a great point @Engineering. The distractors like talking about the flaws in Prometheous. What you just said about the marines in Aliens is great. But then you mentioned a nuclear reactor. So that right there is a second flaw in Aliens. Your going to tell me that marines are going to be sent into a complex. And they are not prepared to know that there is a nuclear reactor on that complex. Should they not know that so they could aim there fire in the right direction. That was a huge flaw in Aliens. But the Prometheous bashers dont bring that point up for Aliens.

I mean Ash @Engineering , hey im not as perfect as a Xeno!

yeah but the rest of aliens was good so your not left complaining about some minor detail. Prometheus was just one big WTF!!?? with no good bits to distract you or make you forget about them.

[i]"But then you mentioned a nuclear reactor. So that right there is a second flaw in Aliens. Your going to tell me that marines are going to be sent into a complex. And they are not prepared to know that there is a nuclear reactor on that complex. Should they not know that so they could aim there fire in the right direction. That was a huge flaw in Aliens. But the Prometheous bashers dont bring that point up for Aliens."[/i] That was exactly myy point. I was watching Aliens last night and I put on my trademarked "Prometheus Hater Goggles" and the film sucks now lol. So does every other film.

[i]"yeah but the rest of aliens was good so your not left complaining about some minor detail. Prometheus was just one big WTF!!?? with no good bits to distract you or make you forget about them. "[/i] Just as the " the answers are there without the LOOK I SPELLED IT ON THE WALL FOR YOU" quote is ammunition for Prometheus haters to act like people who like the film have blinders on, the comment above is the exact opposite and gives ammunition for lovers of Prometheus to act like haters have blinders on. To say the film had "no good bits to distract you" is ridiculous...IMO of course. And there are plenty of other "flaws" in Aliens that equal "flaws" in Prometheus. That was one example. Please note that I'm critisizing both sides for what I feel are closed minded statements which are not very thought out. Not just haters of the film.

[quote]as a movie that was supposed to answer all the questions and mysteries,[/quote] This film, i am just sayin' was [b]Never Billed as such[/b] !

I understood the film, and the initial direction it was intended for, but found some parts asking too many questions. I also found the characters almost unnecessary... in fact maybe the movie should not have been made in the first place. The engineers were uninspiring brutes. The mission to destroy earth failed because we are a war-like species... and they did not bother to check the progress of the "destroy Earth mission." What kind of advanced race lets these things just languish... no backup plans. I can hear the Engineers home world now... "hey it's been 2000 years, any word on the Destroy That Bloody Earth mission yet?" Yeah... I would not call that a plot hole... but a black hole of terrible plot progression... David 8 was the main character throughout the film and was the only character that made any sense, both in motivation and as an aid in furthering along the plot. I have read many discussions that explained the motivations for each of the characters, but still find it dubious at best. If you wanted a mission to fail, just blow it up while in transit... clean and simple.... mission failure, accomplished. Vickers was a moron... if she really wanted the mission to fail... well I just told her how to do it... enough said...

Good points!

...maybe not... let's talk about our two poor guys that are left in the haunted house all by themselves... the Captain was like "who gives a shit if your stuck inside a newly discovered alien facility, with dead aliens, just chill." What kind of logic is that... This whole film is like that... Vickers is hiding in the ship, and when things go side ways, what does she do... pouts... and then the old man wakes up... Shaw just had a major issue with a squid and what do they do... lectured her... Weyland is another piece of work... like father like daughter... and android. But you know what... I did enjoy the film... like my profile says "I don't care if a movie is bad or good, as long as it made in the first place." Complaining is an art... and to listen to it take maturity and stamina...LOL

this post is a testament to how much we (human beings) have lowered our standards for film making, acting, etc... i would blame Hollywood, but it is the audience that keeps showing up for multiple viewings - that ultimately turn something like brometheus into a blockbuster! yes - i'm one of those who thought it was visually nice, but was filled with idiot "professionals/scientist" and bad story. if this had been released in 1995, everyone on here would be pissed off. ah, come on IT, it's just a movie!!!

@Spartacus....Um here's my $20.00 give me those 3D glasses, I'm first in line to see your version of Prometheus. I agree, we each do the best we can with what we saw. It wasn't what I saw that gave me problems, it was what I wasn't hearing. The devil is in the details, and this film wasn't devilish. Scott himself said he was going to scare the SH(T out of US. I'm still waiting.

@engineering - the point about aliens and the military: nobody is acting outside the parameters of their characters - gung-ho, macho, excited about actually getting into some action. nobody questioned it, because it works. everybody watching knew it was a bad idea (the audience is playing the role of fear for the marines charging into the unknown) - no different than the unsuspecting cocky military (marines) trying to prove themselves. you're catching so much flack about prometheus, because everyone wants to know why they (professionals/scientist) are so stupid. the audience doesn't really fear or care for them (i was hoping and waiting for them to die). the crowd is divided because we feel like we were tugged on by Scarlett Johannson and didn't get to finish!

@Rubirosa - did you really question the Aliens/military until you read it on this forum??? honestly???

[i]"@engineering - the point about aliens and the military: nobody is acting outside the parameters of their characters - gung-ho, macho, excited about actually getting into some action. nobody questioned it, because it works. everybody watching knew it was a bad idea (the audience is playing the role of fear for the marines charging into the unknown) - no different than the unsuspecting cocky military (marines) trying to prove themselves.[/i] I never said that there's anything wrong with Aliens imo. I was just pointing out a pretty much dead on example of how people trash Prometheus for things that don't seem to bother them in other films. And what did you do? Exactly what we do. Defended it with reasoning. Pointed out that it's not that big of a deal. Pointed out that it's ok. Gave us a reason for the "flaw" or whatever you want to call it. You explained the flaw away. In your opinion it's not flawed because of the things you pointed out. To be honest, I didn't even read all of you explaination. I don't really need to because what I pointed out about Aliens doesn't bother me. And I know that's just one example and that Prometheus does have other "flaws" but I would think one would have to look at this and at least consider the possibility that there are other reasons for some not likeing Prometheus BESIDES what's on film.

[u]8 pints[/u]: I love your post. By your mention of when and how you first saw "Alien" I'm guessing that you and I are around the same age (FYI, I'm in my early 40's). I agree with you about your comment that "Prometheus" should not be seen as wrecking the legacy of "Alien" (and, for that matter, "Aliens"). I also agree with your comment about Scott not pulling back all the curtains and doing an epic and full scale reveal to the audience about the universe in which the Engineers and Xenos operate/live. That said, my biggest critique of the film is that I think Scott got a little bit too cute with some of the editing and design choices (e.g. not showing the elder Engineers in the film, showing the barest glance of the ceiling fresco, not including more detailed shots of the pile of bodies, various issues surrounding the mutated version of Fifield). Still, the film is full of stunning imagery that supports both the plot and the development of the universe in which the story takes place. The scene in which David discovers and enters the bridge of the Alien spaceship is perhaps one of the most interesting put on film in the genre. The manner in which the scene wraps up with David discovering the sleeping Engineer is beautifully done from the perspective of sound design. While I believe and acknowledge that this film is flawed I've come to think that in many ways this film is being undervalued and underappreciated. I say that not as a salivating fanboy but as a lover of film and sci-fi. Nowadays most films made in the genre are simply awful and thoughtless and while "Prometheus" is not flawless enough to be a classic it is leagues above almost all of the competition. Going into “Prometheus” I felt that Scott was the film’s greatest liability in the sense that his career post-“Blade Runner” has been a checkered one. IMHO, “Gladiator” was dreck in that it alternated between great scenes with Russell Crowe and somnambulistic scenes in which Joaquim Phoenix moped and whinged about his kingdom. For as flawed as “Prometheus” may be I’d say that Scott’s handling of the film was in many ways a pleasant surprise to me. I find the film to be so frustrating simply because I feel that a few small tweaks would have helped it make the leap from being a very good film to a great and classic one. I've already seen the film 3 times and am planning to make see it for the fourth time at some point this week. The last film I enjoyed and appreciated this much was "Inception". I truly hope that "Prometheus" begets a high quality sequel and that 10/11/12 brings the fans of the film a great and wonderful surprise!

Prometheus is a thinker movie... I really did enjoy it, and will rewatch it until I am dead. Are all stories perfect... no. Do some plots my you laugh when they are actually attempting to be series... oh yes. Prometheus is the invitation to further explore the Alien canon without all the excess baggage of the other films (avp etc.) I am so happy Ridley decided to do this film.

please do not lump Prometheus into the same category as Inception, as Inception (as high-handed as it is) makes sense; even with its flaws! Prometheus on the other hand wants you to intuit (if that is what is truly meant to happen - which i doubt - but for sake of argument we'll go there) a great many things - david's motives, our existence, what the engineers are for, the key to perfect peach pie, etc..., but it wants you to do it and swallow all the crappy acting, character flaws, characters not making sense, silly science, which IMO is just too difficult to look over. like the perfect looking girl with the machine-gun laugh that you just can't live with. there are a few that buy into this hook, line, and sinker, but most everyone says they liked it "buuuut" or they like it because it is visually stunning and that's all movies have to be! true, and you may not register what it is that quite isn't right, but your mind did, and now you're trying to convince yourself otherwise. maybe by seeing the movie 30 times or waiting to perform fellatio on the blue ray DVD with extended "i'm not answering your fucking questions and i'm not making the professionals/scientists any smarter" scenes, you'll be able to completely lull yourself into this is an EPIC and lovable film that doesn't discredit the genre!

@Inquisitor... It seems there is some anger or hostility emanating from some of your posts. While I do understand that some people don't like the film I don't understand where the anger and hostility towards those who like it comes from or why it's there to begin with. Am I just imagining it? Does anyone else get this feeling or is it just me. [i]"waiting to perform fellatio on the blue ray DVD with extended"[/i] Yes, I can't wait to perform fellatio on the female version of the blu-ray! I bet with my skill it'll give me EXTRA special features. If I was an exhibitionist I suppose I'd have been arrested at theatres lol.

:^)