PROMETHEUS post-release discussion - Page 17

The problem with the ending, and with what some of what is said in the film is that - though this film obviously has great scale - it implies that we're not really seeing the cool shit, if that simply was a base camp for whatever.

Been reading positive reviews. Yes, there's a lot of interesting thoughts in the film, but none of them are coherent. With the title PROMETHEUS, how is anything that happens connected to that? What can be explained in text why the engineers don't like us, or how the black goop works, or why they were running away from their own shit. Some of this I understand why it's vague, but you can posit that David basically tells the Engineer to suck his dick as much as ask what Weyland wanted and it makes no difference.

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Originally Posted by Richard Dickson 

I'm also curious as to why Theron is painted as a bad guy and gets the traditional Bad Guy Horribly Exaggerated Death.  She's probably the one person in the film with the most common sense.  "If you find any alive, don't make contact with them."  "Don't let that obviously infected crew member back on board." (Which is exactly what our hero Ripley wanted Dallas to do in the first film, BTW).  "This mission has gone to shit, we need to leave.  NOW."  Maybe she's a little no-nonsense, but it's just another character who behaves as the plot dictates.

It's probably due to the fact that Vickers' (Theron's) insistance of all of the above stems from her demonstrated sense of self-aggrandizement.  All through the film she treats everyone on board like shit, including David (yelling, screaming) and her own father Weyland (seething and talking to his face about his own death).  She's patiently waiting for Weyland to die once and for all so that she can take control of the company and would just as likely disconnect David the moment she gets a chance as she threatened to do in her interrogation of him.  

When she says "Don't make contact" to Shaw and Holloway, she probably wants to prevent her father from getting whatever he's seeking as well as throwing her weight around, instructing her charges with the manner of a dog trainer admonishing her pups.  She's in charge and she not only likes it but wants everyone to know it.  Everything else she does reeks of self-survival.  You''ll remember how beautifully her "personal quarters/escape pod" was adorned compare to those pods of the other commoners.  She's a rich bitch princess who only deigns to associate with the grunts when it pleases her or when she's sexually challenged by the Captain -- the only male on the ship "man" enough to catch her eye.  

Ripley, one gathers, is making her choices in ALIEN because it's the legitimately, rational, scientific, protocol thing to do for the safety of the mission and her crew mates.

My take, anyway.

Twenty seven minutes of deleted scenes...

On the other hand Vickers isn't aggresively stupid like many others on the crew.

One thing I immediately noticed about the Engineers, was how similar their facial features resembled Greek or Roman drawings/sculptures.  To wit:

Now, this completely worked for me.  And yeah, I know why this was done. 

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Originally Posted by dudalb 

 A friend of mine I was sitting with in a theater is a Registered Nurse,and she was yelling out about how stupid the surgery scene was. I don't care how advanced the surgical techniques are..and cutting open a chest is still cutting open a chest even if done by a computer.....you are not going to just go running down the hallway after a Caeserean.

Accordgin to my friend, even if she was under a local anesthetic she would still be in a state of shock when the surgery was over with all the blood she lost. I am amazed that a director as good as Ridley Scott let something that outrageous get by.

And the film is full of plot holes,but I will have to see the Director's Cut before making a final judgement. But as it stands, it's a film with great visuals, good performances and some great individual scenes that is badly damaged by a mess of a script.

I'm surprised they didn't just go, it's the future "lasers!" as a way of healing her up enough to move as opposed to just stapling her belly shut.

Also, all that gunk that fell into her when that sac broke, ugh, what kind of post-op infection is that going to lead to?

The look of the Engineers didn't bother me in the slightest (though the one Engineer we get to meet--we'll call him Bob--seemed to have a case of changing in height depending on what the shot called for). The fact that we go in pondering a whole huggy bunch about them and their motivations and get precisely dick in the way of exploration, however, eats at me with each passing day.

My read on Vickers is that Charlize wanted to be a part of the film, or they wanted another female, or something. Perhaps Scott and Co. wanted Noomi as the lead for greater international appeal, so they couldn't give Theron the part, but... When you look at what VIckers has to do in the film, there's really nothing there or much to the character. My guess is that Idris Elba's character was originally larger, and encompased more of her part, and they gave Theron some of his stuff and so both don't really have enough to do.

"I don;t know how to do it, but I'm hoping we will.. or it will be a good sleight of hand"

hmmmm, think that could be applied to this as much as Prom 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damon Houx 

My read on Vickers is that Charlize wanted to be a part of the film, or they wanted another female, or something. Perhaps Scott and Co. wanted Noomi as the lead for greater international appeal, so they couldn't give Theron the part, but... When you look at what VIckers has to do in the film, there's really nothing there or much to the character. My guess is that Idris Elba's character was originally larger, and encompased more of her part, and they gave Theron some of his stuff and so both don't really have enough to do.

I just read that Theron was set to be Shaw, but due to scheduling conflict with Mad Max, had to drop out.  BUT when that was all cleared, Theron was back in, but as Vickers.  

ETA:  Oh, how much better the film could be if Elba's character was given more room and overall, there were less characters.  

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Originally Posted by Monster Pete 

Arrow in the Head gave it 4 out of 4 stars.  That's all you need to know. 

What's "Arrow in the Head"'s feelings on the price of eggs? I think I at least need to know that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neoolong 

 

I'm surprised they didn't just go, it's the future "lasers!" as a way of healing her up enough to move as opposed to just stapling her belly shut.

 

Also, all that gunk that fell into her when that sac broke, ugh, what kind of post-op infection is that going to lead to?

I'm pretty sure they do laser her shut. It's hard to tell because of the edit - the stapling process has already begun and is distracting. But it's still a hugely WTF sequence.

Is the afterbirth/placenta still in there? At least she'll have something to eat on her trip to the Jockey Homeworld - Ammiright? ...Am I? ......Guys?

"Staples:  When a band aid just won't do"

Never again will I ever look at a staple gun the same way.  

Another thing I initially noticed, and was talking about this with Bob Plissken over on facebook was that it seems the black oil is sensitive to "living creatures." The urns started to "bubble" and react once the humans entered, and it's not exactly a surprise that the one "person" who is able to take one on board without it reacting is David the android. Yes, it appears that he uses some kind of decontaminating or freezing agent on it before he puts it in the sack, but then once on board the Prometheus, he's able to handle it without anything happening.

After they leave the giant head room, and then Milburn and Fifield shack up in there, the whole place has pools of the black oil all over the place. Seems that once there's a living presence, whatever urns are around are going to start the process, and not stop.

That reminded me of the scene in ALIEN where John Hurt noticed the blue mist over the eggs, and when he slipped and fell in through that mist the facehugger egg started twitching.  I'd alwasy thought that was a sort of warning system for the eggs, to let them know when a suitable host was nearby -- the way when a fly gets trapped in a web the vibrations let the spider know it's lunchtime.   I'd originally thought it was the same deal that once the Prometheus Crew stepped in the water, things got nutty.  Now with all the "black goo" talk (THE X-FILES, anyone?), I have no idea.

I had posted this in The B-Action Thread, but the black oil in Prometheus isn't too far off from how it's used in The X-Files: Fight The Future movie. I mean, that movie starts out with 2 cavemen getting attacked by an alien, it kills one, and the other kills the alien. The alien bleeds the black oil, which is sentient, and it infects the caveman thus hinting that it's influenced humanity.

About the only difference between the 2 is that the black oil in Prometheus is merely a reactive agent/biological weapon, and the black oil in The X-Files is alive, and can contaminate people and leave them at will. When threatened it can also irradiate people.

I've got a theory for why the Engineer did what he did: They were setting themselves up to be gods.

They create life on our planet. Then they regularly visit our ancient civilizations to supply us with awe and wonder of them. Later they would come back to rule over us. Something happens between 11 AD (more or less) and the plan doesn't go through. The whole debacle at the outpost on LV-223 happens and our sole survivor goes into hypersleep, waiting for a rescue. Woken by Earthlings, he realizes the jig is up, the plan won't work, and humanity will have to be wiped out so the Engineers can start all over again. Can't have bastard children wrecking the God Illusion for the other civilizations you create.

Plus, I go with the theory that the first scene is a religious ceremony: a death to create life. Thus, Xenomorphs are part of their religious murals as representatives of Death.

Not sure if the following has been already posted, so apologies if that's the case.  But it's an interesting examination of the movie.  

http://srbissette.com/?p=14694  <--You'll need to scroll through the first review of "Iron Sky".  Or, read it too ;) 

That's a cool post actually.  I like the idea that he killed every one because humanity got too big for it's britches. 

Also, the xenomorph as the Jockey's angel of death is an amazingly cool concept.  It's such a shame they couldn't have implied that a little bit more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rene (Mr.Eko) 

Another thing I initially noticed, and was talking about this with Bob Plissken over on facebook was that it seems the black oil is sensitive to "living creatures." The urns started to "bubble" and react once the humans entered, and it's not exactly a surprise that the one "person" who is able to take one on board without it reacting is David the android. Yes, it appears that he uses some kind of decontaminating or freezing agent on it before he puts it in the sack, but then once on board the Prometheus, he's able to handle it without anything happening.

 

After they leave the giant head room, and then Milburn and Fifield shack up in there, the whole place has pools of the black oil all over the place. Seems that once there's a living presence, whatever urns are around are going to start the process, and not stop.

Did the top of the "sweating" one not also start the proto life that became the wiggly worms, that hit the goo, then mutated into the penis cobra?

If you go with the early shots of the "life" bowl being on the altar it's almost like the room is a huge protection mechanism for that.  Which would have been interesting, but instead we get green gem thing.

So I'm going to make a movie about the beings who created us. It's going to be heavy stuff, about death and science and faith and truth and the meaning of life and existence. About God, ultimately. It's about us meeting God, and confronting God. How will I approach God, you ask? It's a delicate issue. A lot of people have had a lot of opinions about God over time. Will I make God amoral and brilliant and merciless? Will I make him envious of us? Or disappointed? Or proud? What motives will I give him for creating us? How will he react upon seeing us and our creation? What purpose will he give for us? Will he love us and give our lives meaning, as so many hope? Will I embue this meeting with love, and gravitas, and profundity, and will I complicate it with some sort of tragedy? I believe I must. How will this God look, sound, act, behave? How will that moment - that all of human history is building to - when man looks upon his God and asks for the answers to all the questions of the world... how will that moment play out? So many thematically rich options....

Well, I think I'll make God a buff, non-emotive, dead-eyed and silent brute wearing briefs. And I think his reaction to the best and brightest of his creations coming to speak to him, will be to punch them and throw them and kick them and stuff, just knock them around. And then I think I'll have a big squid monster eat him. 

Yeah, upon careful consideration, this movie has not gotten any better in my estimation. For all those who enjoy it though, good for you, I wish I could. I really wanted to. 

Jesus christ. I made it through 6 pages of this thread and had to stop reading. Too much unwarranted nerd rage. Do we have to pick a movie to absolute pieces. Focusing on things that are supposedly terrible...instead of mentioning the awe inspiring parts. I stay out of most movie discussion for this exact reason. Is it so hard to just enjoy a film? Anyway, with that said....

Seeing 6 pages of people tearing this movie to shreds after having had one of the most incredible moviegoing experiences I can remember really made me scratch my head. I purposefully stayed away from reading or watching anything except for the trailers. Never saw any of the viral stuff, and thus I went in with only the expectation of it being Ridley Scott going back to the world of Alien. Prometheus blew my mind. Some of the most incredible cinematography I've seen. The 3D was just used perfectly. I thought the whole cast was great, especially liked Fassbender, Rapace, and Theron. I really wish others here could have enjoyed this as much as I did. I guess I'm one of those rare film nerds that doesnt feel the need to deconstruct EVERYTHING.

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Originally Posted by DJ Dylan 

Jesus christ. I made it through 6 pages of this thread and had to stop reading. Too much unwarranted nerd rage. Do we have to pick a movie to absolute pieces. Focusing on things that are supposedly terrible...instead of mentioning the awe inspiring parts. I stay out of most movie discussion for this exact reason. Is it so hard to just enjoy a film? Anyway, with that said....

 

Seeing 6 pages of people tearing this movie to shreds after having had one of the most incredible moviegoing experiences I can remember really made me scratch my head. I purposefully stayed away from reading or watching anything except for the trailers. Never saw any of the viral stuff, and thus I went in with only the expectation of it being Ridley Scott going back to the world of Alien. Prometheus blew my mind. Some of the most incredible cinematography I've seen. The 3D was just used perfectly. I thought the whole cast was great, especially liked Fassbender, Rapace, and Theron. I really wish others here could have enjoyed this as much as I did. I guess I'm one of those rare film nerds that doesnt feel the need to deconstruct EVERYTHING.

A lot of that Nerd rage is down to the disappointment that the story beats in Prometheus are weak sauce.  Pretty much everyone has mentioned that the film looks stunning (it does) the 3D is good (didn't see it in 3D so can't comment).  The movie has problems with stuff happening that downright just doesn't make any sense what so ever, things happen then are not referenced again which is just silly.

Oh, that's cute of you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ Dylan 

Jesus christ. I made it through 6 pages of this thread and had to stop reading. Too much unwarranted nerd rage. Do we have to pick a movie to absolute pieces. Focusing on things that are supposedly terrible...instead of mentioning the awe inspiring parts. I stay out of most movie discussion for this exact reason. Is it so hard to just enjoy a film? Anyway, with that said....

 

Seeing 6 pages of people tearing this movie to shreds after having had one of the most incredible moviegoing experiences I can remember really made me scratch my head. I purposefully stayed away from reading or watching anything except for the trailers. Never saw any of the viral stuff, and thus I went in with only the expectation of it being Ridley Scott going back to the world of Alien. Prometheus blew my mind. Some of the most incredible cinematography I've seen. The 3D was just used perfectly. I thought the whole cast was great, especially liked Fassbender, Rapace, and Theron. I really wish others here could have enjoyed this as much as I did. I guess I'm one of those rare film nerds that doesnt feel the need to deconstruct EVERYTHING.

Honestly, that's great for you. I really wish I felt that way too. I unabashedly love Watchmen (probably the only one around here) so I know how weird this dissonance feels.

But there never is a feeding frenzy without blood in the water. Never. I recognize this for movies that I love in contrast to the consensus and it is certainly true for this one.

I got the impression that the Engineer at the end was frozen before word came down to abort the plan to wipe out humans.  So when he wakes up and sees himself surrounded by them, he's like "Holy shit, they're HERE!" and goes to town on them.

What about fish?  What about deer?  What about birds?  All evidently part of Engineer DNA.

Really, there's about as much "engineering" in throwing your DNA in the water and hoping something evolves as there is in tossing a bunch of ingredients into a pot and hoping it becomes a stew.

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Originally Posted by smugbug 

"Staples:  When a band aid just won't do"

 

 

Never again will I ever look at a staple gun the same way.  

I don't know what they do on the inside, but after her Caesarian my sister wasn't stitched up on the outside at all - it was just staples. And it's disturbing to look at. It looks way way wrong...and apparently they give you a bottle of stuff with an eyedropper so you can squirt on the places where it starts weeping from minor infections...

A friend's wife chimed in on the surgery and said it was 3 months before she felt she could run or be in any way athletic again (and hers was an emergency c-section too). They must have some awesome drugs in the future.

I'm still liking the idea that David says "The old man wants you to blow him.".

I'm firmly with stelios and Prankster on this film: while it's sure pretty to look at, it's irredeemably broken by dumb plotting, poor/nonexistent characterization, and half-baked (at best) ideas.

What really sinks the film, IMNSHO, is not the poor or poorly executed treatment of the "big questions" - that's something I've not yet really wrapped my head around - but in flat-out dumb plotting and characters. This is exemplified by the much (and rightly so) criticized scene with Milburn and Fifield in the Temple (not to mention the ridiculousness of them getting lost when there's a fucking 3D map of the complex on Prometheus and they've remained in contact with the ship). Two characters acting utterly stupidly simply because the plot calls for it. It breaks suspension of disbelief to accept that a trillion-dollar expedition would hire two guys dumb enough whose first reaction on seeing an alien life form is to PET IT. (It also beggars belief that the expedition would not have given training on this kind of protocol.) 

Also stupid: landing on a planet and insisting they all race out, with just a few hours of sunlight, to explore the very first structure they find....and then simply racing through the structure, and doing no on-site studying or artifact collection. The only thing they do (David's covert specimen collecting notwithstanding) is map the place and bring back a severed head. Now, I understand why the film doesn't want to show us an exact replication of an actual expedition - it would get tedious and boring. But a very quick montage or even a few lines of dialogue to acknowledge the passing of time and initial, INTELLIGENT efforts to explore and catalog the site, would've settled the problem.

For those who are defending the film - and I'm asking this sincerely - why don't these kinds of lazy, intelligence-dismissive choices bother you? Again, this isn't about whether the movie succeeds or fails in its underlying themes or targets of the big questions. This is basicaly moviemaking 101 stuff - why are you giving the film and the director (an experienced, accomplished filmmaker who is not at all stupid) a pass on this kind of stuff?

And chalk me up as someone who HATED the score. It was completely wrong for the film, and much of the time actively worked against the attempts at fright and fear on the screen. Weirdly, the music at the end credits was damn good, and the film could've used a lot more stuff like that.

A couple of last notes:

I was strangely cheering on the wakened Engineer near the end of the film. While I find the entire scene poorly done WRT writing and clarity of WHY things are happening, for some reason I loved him taking out Weyland and David.

The scenes with David alone on Prometheus in the beginning were great. I wish the film would've fulfilled the promise in those minutes.

MichaelM: The script issues didn't bother me because, aside from the "let's pet the dangerous-looking tentacle" scene and the questionable tactic of having Weyland lie about him being dead, I was otherwise engaged with the movie on every other level. I *understand* many of the complaints, but none of them ultimately sink the film for me. I'm definitely more on Justin and nooj's side here.

It's kind of like what happened with John Carter, although that script definitely has more out-and-out passion and quotable lines to make up for its occasional sloppiness.

Oh, and how great were the practical effects between the Jockey head, the facehugger-on-steroids, the other creatures, and those final shots? The CGI was great too, but I was so glad to see extensive practical work too.

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Originally Posted by Chris Spider 

I was otherwise engaged with the movie on every other level. I *understand* many of the complaints, but none of them ultimately sink the film for me. I'm definitely more on Justin and nooj's side here.

It may be we're simply at a YMMV fork here, but I guess I just don't understand how you could be engaged with a film that is so incredibly....well, dumb. I am not saying YOU are dumb, Chris (nor anyone else who likes the film). I guess I'm just not understanding what about the film engaged you so much, and am hoping to do so.

As a side note, I really love someone's idea upthread about collapsing the Shaw and Vickers characters into one. It doesn't address a ton of the logic problems the film has, but it would have solved some of the character-based ones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Spider 

Oh, and how great were the practical effects between the Jockey head, the facehugger-on-steroids, the other creatures, and those final shots? The CGI was great too, but I was so glad to see extensive practical work too.

The scene with the Jockey head was good on a visceral level (if not dumb from a science and plot perspective). Wish we would have had more follow up with the exploded head and their examination of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nighttrap38 

I've got a theory for why the Engineer did what he did: They were setting themselves up to be gods.

 

They create life on our planet. Then they regularly visit our ancient civilizations to supply us with awe and wonder of them. Later they would come back to rule over us. Something happens between 11 AD (more or less) and the plan doesn't go through. The whole debacle at the outpost on LV-223 happens and our sole survivor goes into hypersleep, waiting for a rescue. Woken by Earthlings, he realizes the jig is up, the plan won't work, and humanity will have to be wiped out so the Engineers can start all over again. Can't have bastard children wrecking the God Illusion for the other civilizations you create.

 

Plus, I go with the theory that the first scene is a religious ceremony: a death to create life. Thus, Xenomorphs are part of their religious murals as representatives of Death.

There is also Vicker's line to Weyland: "A king has its reign, and then he dies; its inevitable"; the engineers are the ancient kings of creation, nurturing humanity for their own ends, but when they become undone by their own creations (the initial outbreak), their plans get disrupted and humanity develops on its own.

Thats why the lone surviving engineer reacts as he does; humans having reached their creators is concrete proof of their creation having become a threat to them, so he reacts with violence and tries to finish the job; its also an echo of David's relationship with humans; he's inmortal, unburdened by emotion and superior in mind and body, but he's bound to serve and exist beneath them.

The movie's grand idea is that of creators being outdone by their creations, be them humans, androids or xenomorphs...which, in an ironic twist, end up as the superior beings in the cycle, since their very existance is fueled by the death of their creators and competing species.

Its not just "dont fuck with gods" as a main theme, but also "if you play god, get ready to get fucked eventually" as well.

As for the DNA similarity, its a stretch, but when you look at it from a genetics POV, it makes sense; what better DNA to experiment and work with than your own?

The visuals engaged me. The characters and performances of David, Vickers, Shaw and Janek established a personal stake. Scott's excellent direction kept me involved, especially in scenes like the initial discoveries in the cave, David's introduction, and horror scenes like the "abortion" or Steroid-Facehugger.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelM 

As a side note, I really love someone's idea upthread about collapsing the Shaw and Vickers characters into one. It doesn't address a ton of the logic problems the film has, but it would have solved some of the character-based ones.

How would that even work? Those 2 characters' aims are diametrically opposed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Spider 

MichaelM: The script issues didn't bother me because, aside from the "let's pet the dangerous-looking tentacle" scene and the questionable tactic of having Weyland lie about him being dead, I was otherwise engaged with the movie on every other level. I *understand* many of the complaints, but none of them ultimately sink the film for me. I'm definitely more on Justin and nooj's side here.

 

It's kind of like what happened with John Carter, although that script definitely has more out-and-out passion and quotable lines to make up for its occasional sloppiness.

This; to me, the film is flawed, but its visuals, performances and themes make up for its flaws; its not perfect nor great, but its pretty solid.

Then again, as always witn Scott, i'll wait final judgement until I see what got cut.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Spider 

The visuals engaged me. The characters and performances of David, Vickers, Shaw and Janek established a personal stake. Scott's excellent direction kept me involved, especially in scenes like the initial discoveries in the cave, David's introduction, and horror scenes like the "abortion" or Steroid-Facehugger.

Fair enough. I was visually engaged by the film, but never really emotionally or intellectually. IMNSHO, it didn't earn that kind of engagement.

But, hey.  Glad it worked for you. We can debate writing and plot all day, but like all art, the deciding factor is our own subjective and personal reaction to a piece.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evi 

 

How would that even work? Those 2 characters' aims are diametrically opposed.

Can't take the time at the moment to find the original post in 17 pages, but it's there and I think it could have been done. The movie is cluttered with undeveloped and unnecessary characters.

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Originally Posted by Damon Houx 

Also - as my friend Amy pointed out - the end has a human take off in a ship with no food or water.

For some reason I'm remembering a scene where Shaw was grabbing supplies from Vickers' ship (bunch of white bottles/containers from a shelve).

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelM 

 

Can't take the time at the moment to find the original post in 17 pages, but it's there and I think it could have been done. The movie is cluttered with undeveloped and unnecessary characters.

I think merging Shaw and Vickers could had worked, if the character started as Shaw and ended up as Vickers.

Shaw starts the movie as a person of faith and hope, who's eager to discover the origin of her species and meet her creator, all while thinking such a meeting/discovery would be peaceful and in line with most religions views of a nurturing, benevolent creator; by the end of the movie, she would end up as a Vickers, a pragmatic, cynical and practical individual that realizes the danger of blind faith and that some discoveries are not worth their price/danger.

Hell, you could had made her Weyland's daughter as well; her views clashed with her father, until his "death"; whereupon she embarks on the Prometheus mission, in order to prove herself and her ideals to her father...only to see he has taken her dream/discovery for his own, selfish ends.

It could work, but it would take a longer and more nurtured screenplay to do so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElCapitanAmerica 

 

For some reason I'm remembering a scene where Shaw was grabbing supplies from Vickers' ship (bunch of white bottles/containers from a shelve).

Yup, Vicker's emergency pod is stated by Janek to have enough food/water/life support systems for two years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryoken 

Then again, as always witn Scott, i'll wait final judgement until I see what got cut.

I totally disagree with this.  Scott shouldn't get special dispensation because he's put out a few director's cuts that were superior to the released versions.  This is the cut he deemed good enough to put into theaters.  If it doesn't work, we shouldn't shrug and say, "Well, who am I to judge, he cut scenes out."

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ Dylan 

Do we have to pick a movie to absolute pieces. Focusing on things that are supposedly terrible...instead of mentioning the awe inspiring parts. I stay out of most movie discussion for this exact reason. Is it so hard to just enjoy a film? Anyway, with that said....

It's the lack of discernment from the audience that led us to the age of the blockbuster in the first place.  You know, bland, middle of the road amusement park rides that offer nothing but contempt for humanity...movies that act like everyone who will ever see it is a retarded 13 year old boy who masturbates too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Dickson 

 

I totally disagree with this.  Scott shouldn't get special dispensation because he's put out a few director's cuts that were superior to the released versions.  This is the cut he deemed good enough to put into theaters.  If it doesn't work, we shouldn't shrug and say, "Well, who am I to judge, he cut scenes out."

exactly.  Scott isn't a first time director, this isn't Fincher with Alien 3.  Scott had control from day one, and if memory serves me correct, he took the Alien Prequel and turned it into this.  The entire film was his call, and yes, it was a bad call, a bad call Ripley.

Whatever he cut out, was his decission.  And reading some of his interviews, he doesn't even know what he made.

Was that beginning planet Earth?  "I'm not sure, it could be"