Those who loved Prometheus, what were some flaws that you noticed in the movie?

Some of Janek's background was not included for editorial reasons. However, IMHO he still behaved in character. Ultimately, he's a good guy, and he always has his crew's safety in mind. He's already seen what happened to Millburn & Fifield, links their death with the changes that were seen in the oozing 'vases', and sees a video feed of a stash of similar urns in a cargo hold. Not to say seeing several team members blatted by an Engineer. Why wouldn't he believe Shaw? It would have been dead easy for her to just let the Juggernaut leave. As it is, she was also condemning herself to death. Or so she thought. The one thing I would have changed is the Fifield transformation. Turning him into half an alien would have been much more creepy.

I loved Prometheus, and anyone who read my official [url=/review/]review of the film[/url] would see that, haha. I thought everything about it was incredible. However, if I had to choose a [i]flaw[/i] I would say the Milburn scenes when exploring the Engineer temple. Being afraid and wanting to leave the expedition after discovering a dead Alien corps, yet, willing to pet an Alien snake. That to me was the only "flaw" I could spot. Most of my other minor concerns were satisfied after watching the Prometheus BluRay special features. One thing I didn't [i]like[/i] or wish was done better was the Fifield mutation. I preferred the more Alien-mutated Fifield to the zombie-like Fifield we got. That's my only main gripe, is I wish they kept the original concept in the final cut of the film. Looked scarier and more Alien.

Chris, isn't it that Fifield was the one was scared of the dead engineer? I didn't get the sense Milburn was scared of the dead engineer, he just followed Fifieled because fifield told him to come with him. And seeing how Milburn has such a man crush on fifield, he walked away with him. Zzplural, I think you're right on that. Its just my initial impression on Janek was he only cared for himself. It's why its kind of hard to believe he made such a quick decision on ending his own life. Maybe I should watch it again and think some more of the character. As for the Alien Fifield VS Zombie Fifield. I wouldn't mind both of them, both are great ideas. I think the reason they ditched the alien fifield is because ridley wanted to separate Prometheus away from Alien elements. We have already seen xenomorphs in action in 4 movies, so why see another xenomorph-like creature again in Prometheus when he can choose something else. Although Zombie isn't something new, I thought the way the action was edited made Zombie fifield looked very scary and menacing. The zombies in 28 days later were scary as hell, and Zombie fifield had the same effect on me.

Ok I'm going to brag just a little. In my review months ago I speculated Millburns' confidence derived from being in the equivalent of a bullet proof hazmat suit. This was borne out later in Spaights' script, when Millburn plays with the Hammerpede ( actually a huge centipede in the script) he reminds an anxious Fifield that their suits are bulletproof! I think they relied on the shale storm scene to illustrate the suits' indestructibility.

I'm so blue eyed to Prometheus that I didn't put up with the flaws :D Only thing that stung was mutated Fifield and the underrated Engineer... and I wish some scenes would a bit longer... that's it

ah! i havent read spaights version... i wondered about the '..pede' bit ohhhh and thank f@@@ they didnt do a giant milipede type thing i REALLY hate them REALLY REALLY REALLY i would've been ill! i mean we want to be scared a bit but id've freaked!

I loved the movie, it really grabbed me like no movie before. That said, the unprofessional scientists like Fiefield and his buddy were ridiculous, taking off helmets on an alien world, never happen in the real world. Burning a crewman who was sick and/or injured was crazy too, plus the quick response to die taking out the alien ship was a little unreal as well. It is not a perfect movie although I love it so. Wish more of the engineers were shown and explained, that left an empty feeling. Oh, I thought the flute to arm a major starship was contrite at best. More hard science would have gone a long way.

when they all woke up after there long trip, you would think before a large expedition such as this one ,all the crew members would have known each other at least a year before the trip started

keep itreal you ask quote>The flaw I think it needs to be corrected was how Janek was so willing to sacrifice his life by crashing into the juggernaut <, >fix this issue is get to know Janek's personality a little bit more.< Your concern is with the past and that future character building would immortalize a soldier's honor going forward? Actually, I don't see a Soldier Character Flaw. If you see it from a Combat Perspective you might see that it is quite inline with what was portrayed. A classmate of mine never returned from the ravages of war. He made the Ultimate Sacrifice, he threw himself on a grenade without holding back to save his team’s lives and greater good for country and the objective. For all that he got the Presidential Metal of Honor Posthumously. Of recent go see 2012 movie "Act of Valor"

lol I think the title of this thread kind of defeats its self! If you LOVED Prometheus your probably someone who chooses not to see the flaws because there were so many! But speaking as someone who loved and hated it they really need to work on characters next time - that was the biggest 'flaw' with the film - people acting totally out of character all the way through or just plain not making sense (after all this was supposed to be set in our 'universe' and be realistic). Thank god the only two good characters that actually seemed to act within character survived! And thank god the engineers were so awesome as they will probably be in it again too...the only reasons I feel this still has hope...

My biggest flaw is that it ended & I now have to wait to see what happens next!

Janek agreeing with Shaw is backwards. He was the one who came to her cabin and told her that he thought that the Engineers made military bioweapons that got away from them - end of story, so you can't say he just took her word for it. Regarding him sacrificing himself for the better good of all mankind, sacrafice is a recurring theme in this movie and a man who sacrafices himself in that manner is known as a hero and is noble. He did agree to do what ever it took to prevent that stuff from coming back to earth, also in Shaw's cabin. I think the real flaw was Melbourne. I cringe when he starts whining about how beautiful that hammerhead was and calling it a 'lady'!!!! What scientist in his right mind would attempt to pet an alien reptile, when its a known fact that many species of snakes and other reptiles on earth are venomous. Sure he was wearing a suit but who can say how strong an unknown alien species is. Of course it helped when I saw the deleted scene when he also over reacted when they found their first alien worm thing. Seeing him react the same way and explain how this was the first time they had ever cataloged any lifeforms larger than a bacilli reinforced his otherwise gushing behavior. Serves him right that the damn thing wound up making love to him! lol.

".. he thought that the Engineers made military bioweapons that got away from them .." And following that statement he was emphatic that the creatures/goo was not going back to earth. Janek must have realized the extent that thje Goo may have already invaded the Prometheus,, For example what happenned to all the leftover Goo David had after spiking Holloway's drink? The way the story is protrayed Janek seemed ready to take off for earth at Vickers' command. Even that seemed a bit strange considering how many crew member might still be around. It was only by chance that Shaw was able to get in touch with the Prometheus and Janek before the ship was on it's way back to Earth.

Indy - more like he had seen the destructive potential of the goo. He was actually unaware that David had infected Holloway, only that Holloway somehow got infected. Since no one seemed to be aware that David smuggled that container filled with ampules on board, Janek also was not aware of the remainder of the goo on board, I do remember wondering as a viewer what would have become of the left over goo if Prometheus had made it home. Weyland Inc would have had a field day with that stuff. Their bioweapons division could have explored its properties all day long and make their own aliens by tinkering with it and producing another protofacehugger using humans as Guinea pigs of course (covering their asses by cloaking the program in total secrecy and having all involved sign contracts of non divulgement).

Do you really think that Weyland Inc. would exploit the goo's potential and start to create their own aliens? In that respect I guess the Engineers and Humans are 100% related and that is a very scary thought.

That whole Janek part was one of the cringe worthy moments - felt so unrealistic and why did they not bring a weapon on the spacecraft which was so lovingly made with a pent house suite and many other luxuries that are so not indicative of a rushed together craft!

The weapons issue has been discussed at length. But in a nutshell, it was all about Weyland, and it was his last chance. He fully expected to go there and be granted more life. Not to engage in a stand up fight (which would almost certainly be lost). In his position, I'd have probably done exactly the same thing.

Janek had the scene with Shaw where he says he will not allow any of the Alien weapons of mass destruction material reach Earth. Shaw confirms, "Make sure you don't captain". So I'm ok with Janek's willingness to sacrifice his life for the greater good. But, There is no setup for that kind of thinking from the two pilots who are eaqually willingly to die. They only had a bet between them. I would fix it by having them argue about staying to die or escaping with Vickers. One escapes and one stays. I think that would help solve the "so willing to die" problem.

Yes true it's been discussed ... I just can't see a genius with unlimited money and a well built craft that was clearly not rushed saying - no don't put any weapons on the craft just incase but do bring some small guns that can't hurt anything big n tough :p . And yer it only needed one of them to suicide or surely if they have worked out faster than light travel they can tell the ships computer to do it or control it remotely. An app on there phones eh? :D

Since it was a scientific mission I bet Weyland and Vickers woulkd not have arthorized any form of self destrucion system of the Prometheus. A military yes..this mission probably not. You make an interesting point point about some sort of remote control being used. At this point the story is moving along (finally) at a fast pace so so quick decisions led to quick actions. Sacrifice oneself to save the Earth or figure out a way to remote control the Prometheus to take out a Juggernaut that just arose from the ground ...sort of a Hobson's Chiose

On the remote control point I ment it would already be part of the ships system - maybe integrated into the captains future equivalent of a mobile - probably implanted in the skin to give a head up display of the controls from anywere within say 50 miles of it - the type of technology I expected to see. But I guess Ridley favoured dramatics over realism...and yer 3 of them to pilot it? We have autopilot already today - in the future it must be well in advance of this!

I better understand your point, You would think that Weyland Corp. had done missions without crew members, all remote cointrol so to speak. In anything, as you suggest, a built in system could have been used if the Pilots are disabled and the safety of the remainder of the crew could be insured.

djamelameziane that was covered too. Remember the crew and their resources were chosen by the guy who footed the bill and remember, just about everybody is in the dark until they arrive. Shaw says to the security guy with his rifle, "Scientific mission. No guns". So, I don't have a problem with that.

They may be partially in the dark but they were flying the ship so they must have been fully trained of course! And yes that's another point weyland brought weapons as we see in the film but decides not to bring bigger weapons hmmmm!

One big flaw I really didn't like was how the whole crew/supposed to be the best scientists were doing everything against the basic quarantine/self-secured procedures. As a nurse I could't and still can't swallow the way, how they took their helmets off and how they touched everything even the nasty cobra-like creature...;)

Sure Indy, look how hard they have always tried to get their greedy corporate hands on a xenomorph, even to the point of the genetic resurrection of Ripley in Alien 4, although I hate that movie other than the creature special effects which were quite smooth and the funny statement that Walmart won the corporate war over Weyland and Yutani. Weyland bioweapons division at some point yet to be determined following Prometheus in the Alien-Prometheus timeline will learn about the existence of xenomorphs and shield that info from the rest of the corporation explaining why the members of Ripley's inquest in Aliens, was unaware of the existence of xenomorphs after they had investigated over 300 planets. They actually knew about xenomorphs before Alien itself and after Prometheus, which is why the Nostromo was diverted, so maybe that is an event that we can hope to see in Paradise. Whatever happens in that sequel some how gets sent back to the company perhaps through David,for example. He may be programmed to transmit through whatever means any information useful to the Weyland Inc even after Weyland himself is dead. He would be following a protocol programmed into him in his inception and probably feel that he was honoring his creator's wishes in his twisted computerized head, conflicted as he is, considering his statement to Shaw that all children wish their parents dead. From what I have seen on other movies involving AI, it is often contradictory programming that causes some kind of cognitive dissonance such as with Ash or with Arthur C. Clark's HAL9000. I'll bet we will see more of this type of conflicted robotic misbehavior in Blade Runner 2. In Prometheus I think the conflict within David is he both respects and honors Weyland and at the same time despises humans for being inferior and treating him like Holloway did, while secretly and subconciously - if such a thing is possible in an intelligent machine, wishes to be one of us so that he can experience the organic aspect of human life with the possibility of a soul and maybe even death itself. All of this is speculation on my part but I base it on my experience as an avid Sci Fi viewer and reader.

I agree Redhead although I think millburn and fifield were supposed to be dumb and I guess holloway. And for me at least they all did something dumb by the end that just didnt seem realistic except maybe david...It was hard to work out weather it was supposed to be a b movie joke style situation so they made the deaths / characters stupid on purpose. Or Ridley was making a comment on society 'dysgenics' style. Or basically it was just plain bad script writing and Ridley is getting old so hes lost his edge possibly :S ...

"..whole crew/supposed to be the best scientists .." Yes with Fifiels and Millburn one of the last to begrudgingly remove theirs, Though seemingly the least professional in their conduct at least showed more restraint than the lead scientists Shaw /Holloway. I am not sure where Ford falls into this timeline but she is the most down to earth(no pun intended) scientist in the group and would not be the first to dsmple the dome's air.

djamelameziane Don't blame Ridley Scott. While he supervised things, the actual scripts came from Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts. This movie was far too good to sit in judegment and make statements that RS has lost his edge. I think that with its little flaws, Prometheus is still one of the best movies I have ever seen or I certainly wouldn't bother with this site. Let me ask you this, did you get a chance to read either the Spaihts or Lindelof scripts? If not then you are unaware of the evolution of this story line and where it began. If Spaihts had been the only writer, then the movie would have suffered from being yet another totally predictable prequel that answers all questions instead of one that still has people guessing and has stimulated a whole conversation that has pervaded our whole culture. Pretty good for 'just plain bad script writing and Ridley is getting old so hes lost his edge possibly :S ...". That is an insulting comment that belies your understanding of this movie. You should watch the additional material including 'The Furious Gods" documentary before you make blanket statements like that. This movie asks the big questions that too many movies nowadays myopically ignore. I don't mean to come down like a hammerpede on you for expressing your opinion - after all that is the purpose of this site, but I just roll my eyes when I read some of the things posted here. The amount of work that went into this movie can only be appreciated by watching the above mentioned documentary and a greater insight into the story development is gained by access to the also above mentioned two scripts. Check all of this material if you can get it and then rethink your statement and I am sure you will change you opinion overall.

I'll have to read all posts of this thread later, so please apologize me butting in like this, but- irt. [b]nostromo001[/b]: I'd like to propose an alternative interpretation, which basically is, 'blame Ridley'. I have read Spaihts' script, titled "Alien: Engineers". It was a funny experience, as it seemed to have been written [i]after[/i] the deluge of complaints about incoherences and plot-holes started. But no, that was the first polished draft. I did so at the advice of a commentator on Mark Kermode's blog. The fellow (not Kermode, the commentator) also said that Lindelof's first version, though not as coherent as Spaihts', was still better than the film. I think I'll lean towards trusting that judgement, though granted, I haven't read Lindelof's first version. And I don't much care for Lost anyway. Point is, while it's easy to blame Lindelof- and I certainly do- there's [b]3[/b] stages that can make or break a film. Scriptwriting, Direction, Editing. And it's not just Scriptwriting's fault that we have what we have. And what we have is delicious. Yes, I think Spaihts "A:E" is more coherent, but I prefer the film as made.

BLAND, so it sounds like you generally like the finished film. The Lindelof script version that a lot of us got to read before they yanked it off the web was the fifth revision. It was a great addition to the Spaihts script but still wasn't quite there. The time frame that they constructed this movie in from beginning script writing to final cinematic production using red 3D cameras was 2.5 years!! That is amazing and in the Furious Gods they documented all the steps involving the process including previsualizations. creature effects, practical set building using extended sound stages in order to physically create all the tunnels and that huge pilot chair sequence. Overall it is an astounding accomplishment and I was in awe when I saw what they went through to realize a dream visually that evolved as they continued their work. That's why I defend RS and all involved with this movie and am willing to over look the few flaws such as Melborne, but don't get me started on him!

Dont get me wrong nos but my judgement was based on all the films Ridley made since matchstickmen. And I dont hate Promethues over all just parts of it - it just stunned me how great some bits were and other so awful - like watching two completely different films spliced together. I think it was the most wonderful idea that they have attempted its right up my ally its just I could see how much better it could of been with so many simple mistakes which Ridley use to spot :S . And loosing ones edge seems to happen to all directors as they get old - in fact pretty much in every walk of life - its just part of life. Not that I am saying someone cant rarely buck the trend but in general yes. I just felt a younger Ridley probably would of spotted the strange script and got one more re-write in before the film at least if not 2 and spotted strange parts such as make up looking really weird on weyland especially in his first scene and cringe worthy moments like why didn't they run left or right when it was instantly obvious the round craft was rolling forward!! And janek and the other 2 suiciding - arghhh! And fox's viral campaign - wow again amazing idea that was unbelievably messed up lol ! And yes I forced myself to get a 2nd hand copy of the blu ray just to give it every chance - must say what they attempted with the blu ray is again a very good idea and the design is very nice - the 2nd screen app is a little buggy but I am only about 30 percent the way through it all so far so need to do it all for a final final decision :P... And yes I dont want to knock the amount of work involved thats why I almost never score a film below 4 just for pure work! The engineers are amazing everything about them - the way they act etc. - that was the biggest triumph for me.

for one, the basic premise of the movie is that the engineers created humans and left. so, how did human civilizations chronicle or even draw the engineers planets if they had left immediately after they seeded the earth?

Prometheus is a neccesary process . I love the movie - its a beautiful movie . But there is just a promise that I now know will never be fulfilled. Let's go the engineer route because I am very interested to know. What the engineer greater scheme is . Are there factions. Is there indeed a superior race above the engineers. I don't think the movie flaws as nuch as it is a case deliberate misdirection,. The thing that destroys me is not knowing exactly who was behind this. Ridley or hill/giler ? Did ridley ever at any stage had a say in what was the final outcome of alien ? Somehow (and I can't prove this ) I just have a feeling that ridley could turn himself out p2 out of his own choice cause his heart might NOT be in it. I hope I am wrong .

Will fox indeed leave the xeno origins out of p2 ??

I have no problem with Janek and his Sacrifice.... You see he had already assumed from what he saw that that place contained death in those urns, and knew this stuff killed off its creators and he also recognized the Juggernaut was a Ship. And unless he had more reasons to doubt that ship had the bio weapons on and that it was heading to earth, then he could not risk the chance of it going to Earth. What got me with Janek was he was shown as a good character but contradicting in a way that he did not show too much concern for the welfare of Milburn and Fifield. As far as the movie, it has many errors and flaws and such, but they are not major as every movie has its share.... If i could changed some things then i would have used more of the deleted scenes and other scenes not even shown, and i would also had gone for the alternative Fifield that shows us more Xeno Connection. But the biggest flaw for me was SCALE of the Engineers, i think they should have used the same trickery that Lord of the Rings and Hobit use to make 5.5ft tall actors appear 3.5ft tall. This could easily had shown the Engineers 7ft actors as 9-10ft tall as they was supposed to be. Instead the illusion was only 7.5 (Last) to 8ft (Ghost) Tops

@MSD Yes taking off the helmets was a bit silly, but then we have to assume that the equipment they had was accurate and they did say the air was cleaner than Earths, and for a risk taker like Holoway that was enough for him to do it without regards of maybe not knowing if there are any microbes in the room and what effect they could have. But we have all and still do make mistakes especially when we are excited or intoxicated. The burning of Crewmen is logical, they had seen evidence of a contamination and Vickers under no circumstances was not going to risk any contamination, and Holloway knew something was up with him and Sacrificed himself to Vickers so he did not run the risk of spreading any infection. As far as the Alien Ship goes, they quickly had to make up a decision they had seen enough proof that this place was carrying Death, and that should any of that get to Earth the results could be bad. And they could not take that risk, and had no time to consider options as the ship had no weapons and also they can not say how fast their ships can go, it would be unwise to assume that a Advanced Race vessel would take as long as Prometheus to reach Earth and Warn Earth defenses to take the Ship out... So yes one other gripe would be that surely they would implement some defense capabilities on Prometheus, even if its just a hand full of torpedoes..