www.bbc.co.uk/5live Fridays at 2pm on BBC 5 live. Mark Kermode reviews Prometheus, Ridley Scott's latest sci-fi offering set in the same universe as the Alien films.
I get incredibly irritated when dirty Prometheus lovers (including Kermode, in this review) say that those of us who don't like the movie were simply disappointed because we were "expecting something else", i.e. a straight-up Alien prequel. Balls. I did NOT want an Alien prequel. Prequels generally don't work. I was encouraged when Scott said it merely "shares some of Alien's DNA". All I wanted was a story that didn't insult me and characters who didn't infuriate me. Seemingly too much to ask...
I can’t think of another movie that, relative to the hype and the content of the trailers, has been such an utterly frustrating disappointment! I watched hours of the behind the scenes and the making of but felt even more disappointed by the movie itself!
I saw it, I went for a good 8.5. It was an ambitious film, and that counts a lot for me. It meant that some things like character development and clear answers got pushed to the wayside at times, but overall it was deeply enjoyable and I never found myself saying 'No, please go back and explain that to me', it's one of those films where you're quite happy for the momentum of the film to carry you forward with it.
Best part for me is when they have a mission briefing AFTER they wake up from cryo-sleep! 😂. - "you want the job?" - "what job?" - "we'll tell you when we arrive, now get in the tank!" - "I'll take it!"
Some genuine vision in the art direction - particularly the engineer, really making use of the uncanny valley effect there. Some awe-inspiring ideas, at least in the set-up. And the character of David was truly great. Most everything else was a bungle. My biggest problem was that the characters had almost no definition whatsoever. There were some gestures toward definition, but quite random & adding up to nothing. I can hear the writers, "Uh, I think these are the kinds of things people do."
Kermode is spot on. This sums up pretty much how I felt walking out of the theatre. + Visuals/Art Direction/Set Design (yay for sets and not green-screen fest) + Michael Fassbender (the opening act is wonderful) + Noomi Rapace + Some themes and ideas (makes you think, not just popcorn escapism) - The minor characters (Theron was a big waste) - Script/Storytelling (this is what hurts it the most, in my opinion) - Score (didn't like the Trek-like optimism, give me minimalist and brooding) 7.5
i saw it in 3D last night and the 3D was incredible. I worked as a projectionist for a long time and this was best presentation of this 3D nonsense ive ever seen.
Thats because he says something to the engineer, that sets it off. It just doesnt attack them randomly, David says something, and we dont know what it is. That is why this movie needs a sequel. To answer the questions from the first one.
8) The purpose of 'infected Fifield' showing up was to show obviously the infection in question, what it could do and obviously to the crew aswell. It wasnt hard for him to find the ship because obviously they were on a straight path 'God doesnt build in straight lines' the path leading directly to the 'tombs' or because he followed the crew back.
@@hebeusuthu8143 Miles per hour has a measure of time in the expression, but it's a measure of speed, not time. Light years is not a measure of time, simple.
Fair point about the guy ignoring the worm in his eye. Maybe he thought he had just imagined it. I guess we've all ignored potential symptoms before and thought "ahh it's probably nothing." I just thought that, given the circumstances, people would be hyper-vigilent about stuff like that, rather than trying to ignore it.
I admired the visual scale...the 3D worked very well, with all the floating screens...and it's a truly handsome gorgeous production. But when they awake the alien fellow in the chamber, he just gets out and starts knocking people around..how well thought out is that? And the viseral stuff with goo and completely odd creatures grappling and killing...it just saps the creative thrust right out of the film. The acting and production was the best part.
How the enemy/monster was defeated in the end was pretty abrupt, but I don't think it spoiled the movie at all, because coupled with that event is a dozen other events that happened leading to it and after. All I know is this will be a blockbuster, and it will be liked by scifi thriller fans and action fans alike.
Yes, It gives us questions that need to be answered in Prometheus 2, which will then have more questions that will be answered in Prometheus 3, which then link to Alien. People need to listen to Ridley Scott's interview he did with Simon Mayo and Kermode before Mark did the review, this is not a direct prequel.
Trilobyte makes more sense, yeah. I read online somewhere that it was the Queen, and the reason they've been around for thousands of years before Prometheus, is that the Engineers built a statue of an Alien on the wall- and apparently it's what the Engineers were running from in the hologram 2000 years previously.
My problem with the scenes is not that they are violent, it is that they are, or at least FEEL, completely random. My earlier comment spelled that out. Every death in Alien is shocking and we are sad to see that character leave. But in Prometheus there are 17 characters, about 10 of whom are superfluous to the story and only exist to get killed in the infantile, pointless action scenes. Also, Prometheus seemed barely interested in the David character. Much less than 2001 was in its technology.
Thank god, there's at least one other person who understands the difference between leaving questions unanswered to make people think, and leaving plot holes because it's a bad script.
About the ending: It's not directly tied to the original Alien. Prometheus is set on a different planet/moon than Alien so that crashed ship is NOT the same one seen in Alien. Sequels are planned which we assume will finally tie into Alien. The reason the chestburster doesn't look the same as the one in Alien is because 1) it's an earlier form of the species and 2) it had a different host. (don't you remember the dog like xenomorph from Alien 3 and the warrior xenomorphs from ALIENS.
It's set before the 'Aliens' series with Sigourney Weaver and John Hurt. It seems to be about both the origins of the human species but also the origins of the Xenomorphs (the Aliens).
Prometheus looks great, that doesn't mean it's a crushingly boring bad movie, which it is. The story is so big it didn't need to be linked to Alien, that just made it seem even worse. Biggest letdown since Phantom Menace.
"create a precurser for the next one to two or more installments." Yep. It was only 1/3 a film that I paid a full price. Sigh...But agree with you that this is a setup for two more "prequels."
7) The fact they were freaked out is the reason they didnt run, they didn't know what it was, it could of been harmless for all they know, it looked harmless at first obviously and didn't strike until the Biologist went to touch it. Gear to deal with it? They didnt know how long they were going to be trapped
For me, it was more about the questions being proposed in the movie than the plot. I can see how people didn't enjoy it, but I think we have to give Ridley Scott credit for trying (and I emphasize trying) to go where classic scifi movies in the past have gone. It's far from perfect, but better than most things being shown these days. Just the fact that people are expressing their opinions about the movie and trying to answer these questions tells me that overall it was a success.
Haven't seen it but I have heard about it. I have read Ellison's short story, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, which is a horrifying sci-fi novel, so he would be great for Prometheus. Good call
It is a prequel to 'Alien' in the sense it's an origin story of how the Xenomorph came to be, but it's not an 'Alien' film, it was never promoted as an 'Alien' prequel at all or with the same theme. Ridley Scott said many times it's a stand alone film, if you were expecting loads of aliens jumping from air vents and ripping people apart then unlucky. Theres a 30 year gap between Prometheus and Alien and RS already said he's willing to make more. Big things have small beginnings
Well, I think that should be explicitly stated, since everyone I've seen got confused (especially since the spaceship ends up on its side and the jockey has a hole in its chest missing.
The comments you make on the dialog contrast between Prometheus and Alien are absolutely right. I was able to enjoy Prometheus for what it was, I was entertained watching it. The theater was full of people questioning everything about it at the end - but I would also say it's better to have people talking about how they were entertained and let down than talking about how terrible it was as a whole. It's not great but certainly better than a lot of films with the similar goals.
Just went to saw it in cinema. Brilliant movie. Creepy as hell, very intense. Very nice CGI and good music score. Those who hate this movie obviously don't use their brain.
To be fair, Joss Whedon has said that the final cut wasn't like anything from his original script. So I'm guessing the studio made changes in the editing and what not. A similar thing happend with David Fincher for Alien 3 when the studio made changes in the editing stages behind his back.
... while in contrast in prometheus we don't even know who the main antagonist(s) are or if indeed there is one. In promethues everyhing is more first person, we only know as much as the characters know. This instills a feeling of mystery, and I think Scott did something very original. Star Trek = classic bad guy vs good guy with strong emphasis on developing good guy characters. Promethues = dark, gritty, mystery thriller, we don't know - for sure - who the antagonist(s) are from the onset.
Prometheus is a prequel to Alien but it's not a direct prequel. There are questions left unanswered but they are not answered in Alien. They are going to have to make a sequel to set everything up for Alien.
5) They took there helmets off because inside the temple/tomb there was an atmosphere similar to Earths, it was breathable. Everyone calling him stupid was clearly them not taking any risks 6) He got lost because he's a Geolist, he doesnt have Xray fucking vision, the scans he was taking were being sent back to Prometheus for the captain to relay there location and guide them.
Mark touches on some great points that people seem to be forgetting or ignoring. I mean Ridley has always said from the get go he's not replicating Alien and it's not a direct prequel. If people have even a remote interest in Sci-Fi please go watch Prometheus it's a really great movie.
I don't know because I am not- Ridley Scott. He is the director of the Alien series. I have complete faith that he will lead us to these answers. Prometheus is not a direct Prequel it is an ORIGIN story, which will be followed by more movies. Which may lead up to/ end up at the beginning of Alien. It's not inconsistent to Alien since it explains the Xenomorphs in that film.
I think reviews can serve a function of letting you know not to get your hopes up. Better to know ahead of time not to be too excited so that if you wind up not liking it you can go, "well people were telling me it wasn't all that good".
1. Weyland was on deaths door, was looking for a way to prolong his life. These 'conmen' that don't exist so no point in even mentioning them didn't have the proof in the form of the star maps they found to convince Weyland otherwise. 2) Davids goal in dosing up a member of the crew im speculating was to see for himself out of curiosity or a preconcieved agreement by Weyland to see the effects of this unknown bio-contaminent on human life
Whilst the film feels long & underwritten, the film’s still A well acted, stylish & fresh prequel in the cult sci-fi horror series. (74%) (3.5/5 stars) (positive)
The encouraging thing is that there are very few people (critics AND audiences, as far as I can tell) who come right out and say "Prometheus is awesome!" Most people who like it will say "It's okay, nothing special", or "It wasn't a masterpiece, but at least it's not as bad as Transformers 3". But the thing of it is, lots of people really love Transformers 3. Very, very few people really love Prometheus. "Meh" is the operative word in most cases. "Shite" is the operative word in my case.
Your point is very valid in regards to opinion. I personally enjoy Kermodes reviews because his taste in movies mirrors my own and he has a very broad taste in film. Its because of this that I value his opinion, not because I 'only' wish to validate my own opinion about films i've liked/disliked but because he's also brought my attention to films I've never heard of and seen before, for example Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet. That's what good critics do.
Dam this movie was SO good! I havnt had one a long time making me want the next so bad,i even came to look up videos on it as soon as i got home from the theatre!
Yes, I know this, and we've discussed a similar issue below. The point is, so what? Oh, so Holloway was poisoned by David, became a mutant, and was then torched to death?! So what! The characters doesn't seem to care anymore or even remember it, why should I? Oh, so Shaw just removed a snarling alien baby from her stomach seconds before it killed her? Ho hum, never mind, looks like she's just gonna stroll across the road to the alien spacecraft for the third time...
this movie was suppose to explain all of them. From alien to avpR. We have waited the better part of 30 years to find out that we have to wait even longer maybe to 2016 before we get our answers. The main thing i was looking for was the relationship between the space jockey( the engineers) and the predators. Nothing, not even the questions asked in the movie were answered.
I agree with you 100%. People are just slating this film, as if they want to hate it because they found out it has nothing to do with Alien? Grow up people...
Well first of all, I can't imagine anyone, regardless of their speciality, would genuinely say "All I care about is rocks". Whether you're a plumber, a barber, a teacher or a geologist, if you stumble across something as significant as an alien life-form, no one would EVER say "I don't care about aliens. I just care about plumbing/cutting hair/educating children/rock".
I didnt, but I got Battleship on Disc, and it was Surprisingly enjoyable, even if it was hard to suspend disbelief about wave hopping alien ships... it was still an enjoyable film.
Apparently Riddley Scott had said he intended to make two movies. From what I understand, the sequel to Prometheus will depend on how well Prometheus does. They did leave a lot of mysteries, and didn't answer much. And I think he did that intentionally.
I agree. Incidentally, Kermode gave Kill List a very enthusiastic review. His love of Prometheus I find rather baffling, but sometimes he's clearly on the right tack.
