tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post2251029682419628962..comments2023-11-02T12:19:52.629+00:00Comments on Writer by Night: Why it's okay to like Prometheus...Chris Reganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15175026345423194092noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-28571280860393850322012-06-26T13:19:51.209+01:002012-06-26T13:19:51.209+01:00I too enjoyed the film but absolutely agree about ...I too enjoyed the film but absolutely agree about the poor section being after the caesarean. It was symptomatic of the loss of the audience that when I saw it there was laughter as Shaw was repeatedly hit in the stomach by anything and everything as she ran about the place, and also laughter at David's talking head and headless body dangling from the ship - don't think any of those were intended to be funny but we had clearly lost any serious sense of the action. <br /><br />I too thought it was logical that the two idiots hid in the scary room but for different reasons: they've been told something is moving, they understandably go in the opposite direction, back to a familiar place near the exit which wasn't threatening last time they were there. Also a typical sci-fi staple to have a scientist who wants to prod the alien life form coz they're a scientist, even though it's clearly going to munch their face off.<br /><br />Also, I've only seen it once but I thought the medpod thing wasn't actually built for males, just that it was currently set up for males? I.e. the aforementioned male patient? So could be used for either sex but she's in a bit of a hurry so just has to work with how it's already set up... <br /><br />I thought it needed fewer characters and a bit of concise technobabble - maybe before the eel alien chewed the idiot's face they could have fixed his arm with magic sci-fi panacea that we see Shaw use on her stapled abdomen? <br /><br />What do I know? Dead easy to see flaws in a finished film, much more difficult to actually write one. Generally enjoyable but not awesome. Avengers is awesome.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-35350433892624837582012-06-24T16:43:41.495+01:002012-06-24T16:43:41.495+01:00Thanks again for all the comments! I'm happy t...Thanks again for all the comments! I'm happy to see so many intelligent, well-written arguments on here rather than people just telling me I'm wrong. I have promised never to write anything about Prometheus again as I'm sure everyone must be sick of hearing about it by now, but if you can take more the first part of this post is pretty spot-on - <br /><br />http://thebreathingdead.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/prometheus-explained-alien-engineered.htmlChris Reganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15175026345423194092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-16143286989595976172012-06-17T12:07:07.225+01:002012-06-17T12:07:07.225+01:00Great argument against all the negativity, Chris. ...Great argument against all the negativity, Chris. I'm linking this to my own review (which is exactly the kind of review this article is responding to!) for the sake of a balanced bloggument.Rodneyhttp://www.fernbyfilms.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-87039651207229163772012-06-17T11:00:23.464+01:002012-06-17T11:00:23.464+01:00Great blog post man, well reasoned and some very g...Great blog post man, well reasoned and some very good points. <br /><br />I saw Prometheus 2 nights ago and I have to say it really disappointed me. I didn't hate it, I didn't like it much either. That said I have been mulling it over a lot for the last couple of days and that can only be a good thing. I do disagree with you on a couple of the points that you'd made.<br /><br />Firstly your praise for the marketing team. I agree that they did a superb job of making you want to see the movie, the problem is that they did that by giving away the fucking ending! In the trailer, Shaw shouts, "If we don't stop it there won't be home to go back to" then the Prometheus crashes into the Engineer's ship. That is the climax, it gives away that the engineer piloting the ship is malevolent and heading to earth to destroy everything and that it is stopped by the Prometheus flying into it. To give away that much in a trailer is pretty unforgivable. <br /><br />I don't really have that that much issue with the implausibility issues around the med-pod or the daft decisions of Fifield and Milburn, but the immediate recovery of Shaw was pretty ridiculous. I understand what you mean about considering the alternative, her sitting around recuperating as opposed to taking part in the action. You neglected another alternative though - Don't give your main character a fucking caesarean if you need them to be running round the place for the films third act! I know we suspend a lot of disbelief especially in sci-fi but you can really loose an audience when it goes into the territory of "well that just wouldn't happen". Yes we regularly accept that someone can jump back into action after a stabbing or a gunshot wound, but how many people do you know who sustained gunshot wounds? Not many I'm betting but there is a fighting chance that you know some one who has had a c-section. I had a similar problem with Terminator Salvation I wrote about that here http://insufferablyopinionated.tumblr.com/post/18576052982/terminator-salvation-and-how-it-bugs-me<br /><br />I do think that you hit the nail on the head when you said "The real problem here is that people are asking these questions in the first place." The fact that poking holes in the plot was not part of a post film dissection but something I was actively doing while watching the film means that the rest of what was happening was not engaging enough to distract me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919587570178092167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-48270809671685098922012-06-17T10:01:48.478+01:002012-06-17T10:01:48.478+01:00Hi Chris
Good arguments and agree with quite a fe...Hi Chris<br /><br />Good arguments and agree with quite a few of them but still didn't like the film.<br /><br />For me, I thought Prometheus was very pretty with some great concepts but it left me feeling blah throughout for two reasons which I don't think you picked up on in your piece.<br /><br />The script seemed to forget two of the basics of storytelling, that we need to care about at least one character and that we need some kind of vaguely defined threat.<br /><br />The only character I gave a damn about was the captain and he was only truly under threat when plunging his ship into the alien craft. All the others, well acted as you say, just didn't have anything that made me go 'fucking hell, get out of there, run!' which can be so easily done without need for a major back story, thus keeping the minimal dialogue which works well in films. Loads of examples where that works well (predominantly any kids in the woods horror does it as a matter of course or The Thing would be a good example). I guess it should have been Shaw who I cared about but I didn't engage with her at all.<br /><br />The second part about threat was that I didn't quite know where the 'danger' was that I was meant to be hoping they would defeat/get away from/be killed by (an ending where everyone died would have worked for me, fighting the good fight, as that sets you up for Alien). Here I kept being dangled lots of different half perceived threats (is David to be trusted, what about Vickers, what is on the alien ship, are the engineers the baddies?) with none of them ever really being played through with enough impact. When Shaw was having the alien cut out of her it seemed like we were getting to that point of 'ah, here's the bad guy' and then we were taken from that scene back to the threat of Weyland, David, the engineers, etc. I'm not saying show me a big, bad monster, hell some of the best 'oh crap, that's scaring the bejesus out of me, they've got to get away' films show you very little (The Haunting, 2001: A Space Odyssey even something like The Shining) but I was just being pulled in too many directions with no pay off.<br /><br />If they could have nailed those two things then I would have loved this film as the concept was excellent, visuals stunning, acting superb but it was just the script forgot to go back to basics before layering on the rest of the plot(s).Phil Slomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12464183612097326811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-45577735490834032732012-06-17T05:01:47.117+01:002012-06-17T05:01:47.117+01:00Great write-up! I'm glad I saw this on opening...Great write-up! I'm glad I saw this on opening day because once that weekend went on, I noticed more and more negative reviews pop up. I avoided the hype as much as possible I and didn't go out of my way to watch any trailers, so I had pretty low expectations. That being said, not only did I enjoy the shit out of it, but I saw it a second time (I rarely see the same movie twice in theaters) - and it held up. Yeah, it has a LOT of problems, but it was also very entertaining, visually stunning, and featured what will probably end up being one of my favorite performances by an actor this year (Fassbender). A lot of reviewers and critics have some very valid points, but then there are also those who hated it because they wanted it to be something else. Prometheus will probably end up being on my top 30 of the year list just based on sheer enjoyment and entertainment value.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02153426751208051792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-8109224595867008542012-06-16T20:45:35.615+01:002012-06-16T20:45:35.615+01:00Thanks for the excellent comments! And thanks for ...Thanks for the excellent comments! And thanks for taking the time to read a ridiculously long blog!Chris Reganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15175026345423194092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-44955776735857706712012-06-16T10:19:31.112+01:002012-06-16T10:19:31.112+01:00Great article. Loved what you said in conversation...Great article. Loved what you said in conversation: because you found it an average movie, you got put in the position of having to defend it against those who hated it.<br /><br />My pennyworth? (Uh oh - this is stream of consciousness. Haven't got time to write it shorter) I think the Alien thing got in the way. More accurately, I think the past and the way film now is in comparison worked against it.<br /><br />When I saw Alien at the cinema - in that pre-video age - we were well used to a pseudo-documentary style. Even (proper) Star Wars had that feel. Even the Clint and Burt movies that were all over the cinemas then.<br />So when you see a crew looking tired but being professional and not burdened with father/mother/son/daughter stuff - as an audience you just got on with it. <br />Aliens seemed to signal a change. Most people seem to prefer this film to Alien. You can see why: it's more 80's. It's gung-ho, there's fighting, and the good guys seem to make a difference, instead of just surviving.<br />However, I remember the heart sink when the 'marines' emerged from the cocoons and started doing their 'let's kick some' routine. In other words: inventing the Hollywood action movie. The cinema I'd grown up with had been replaced. No longer the accidental protagonists in the wrong place at the wrong time. No attempt to suggest this was real. Now we had characters. With back stories (as Dan O'Bannon said of Alien - no back stories for the characters because back stories are boring). Ripley now represented something. And nowadays everything has to represent something. And what you end up with is now. With a boring over-long ponderous pretentious movie with everyone waffling on about destiny and honour or whatever like er, let's say, Dark Knight Returns which everyone hails a classic. It probably is, if you're from that generation.<br /><br />(I'm not going to mention the real sinister legacy of Alien - the SF Female - as in Strong Feisty Female; which infects cinema like a virus... I'm not mentioning that for fear of retribution from Blazing Modesty)<br /><br />Oh yeah: Prometheus. I'm getting there. Thing is with movies, you can't go back. Alien 3 tried - but it confused dark and dingy with naturalistic and went wrong. <br /><br />Oh yeah: Prometheus. I didn't mind its mystery. But there wasn't enough. Because Alien got in the way. I didn't mind the cold way it looked at and dispatched its characters a la 2001. In fact, I wanted it to get more mysterious and more pretentious and more like Kubrick. I was convinced the end would be a 3D IMAX visual trip-out with David going through a stargate and being reborn as a human...or something. But as you say in the blog: every interesting plot point and sub-plot got wiped out by a monster attack. <br />But I still enjoyed it. It was okay. I just wish the makers of Prometheus and the audience who hated it had the courage to see it as its own film and take us forward as the 2001 for 2012.<br /><br />Sir Ridley has a flaw - we all know it: he can't do plot. So don't get the bloke from Lost in to complicate this stuff with banal sub-plots that don't go anywhere. Just have faith in the mystery. Maybe the extra footage will restore some of that.<br /> <br />Sorry to use up so much wordage but I've had fun. Not bad for a film I found merely average.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120186933538330165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-90372957718719953542012-06-16T02:52:19.833+01:002012-06-16T02:52:19.833+01:00Nice post, I didn't realise there had been so ...Nice post, I didn't realise there had been so much fuss about Prometheus, want to see it as I have time for early Scott, more so Bladerunner than Alien, but alas it was only today that I managed to watch my first film, albeit in 3 sittings, since January (this is the one thing that having a baby has made impossible). <br />I agree with everything you say from a general point of view, without actually knowing the movie of course. As I see it movie going is an over subscribed activity, because people are generally unimaginative with their lives, so an awful lot of people are going to form opinions about something that they lazily think they are interested in when in reality they have not really spent an awful lot of time trying to get the most out of it. Movie going is a social activity for most people, not an enriching artistic moment to saviour, but they also feel that they should have an opinion so they form very quick base judgements.<br />(And since when did we have to pass judgement on everything we come into contact with? What happened to just watching a movie, letting it happen to you and moving onto the next thing in your life?) If the average movie goer reduced their film consumption by half they would start to appreciate what they were seeing a lot more. <br />I tend to be of the school of thought that everything has something to offer and that 'bad' doesn't really exist and this is especially the case with movies as their is something truly rewarding and cathartic about the moving image, even when it is unartful in its construction. <br />My rant is this: people go to the movies as social sport, they want to form an opinion so they can join in the debate but most people don't let a film exist on its own terms so the debate becomes bigger than the film etc etc. Also, why do people go to see so many films. The majority of movie goers are not film fans, they go to the movies to spend time with friends and, as I say, feel like they are taking part in cultural moments, there is very little room there to actually enjoy a film let alone develop an appreciation of it.<br /><br />Ok, incoherent 3am with a baby on my lap rant over. I think my real point is that I'm just jealous that I don't get to watch films anymore so how dare these ill educated zombies spout their opinions about something denied to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-33102062576975318412012-06-15T23:59:09.318+01:002012-06-15T23:59:09.318+01:00I read the 'male only' medical pod as femi...I read the 'male only' medical pod as feminist commentary. Only 12 were ever made, according to Shaw when she first sees it, and I find it utterly plausible that it simply never occurred to the inventors that it might be needed for gender specific surgery. You could even read it as an analogy for the current restrictions being imposed on abortion in the US. <br /><br />Or maybe it was just to add tension and make the whole thing even more uncomfortable than it already was.Blazing Modestyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16037006553523406053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-213383072425289572012-06-15T22:03:15.705+01:002012-06-15T22:03:15.705+01:00I've never had an issue with it not being the ...I've never had an issue with it not being the promised Alien prequel. I don't want a remake of Alien, nor do I want something to join the dots to Alien. In all honesty, I would have really much preferred it if they hadn't included that final image, which felt like some horrible tacked on thing so they can go "SEE? There's yer alien!" Then it could stand alone as an interesting but seriously flawed sci-fi film.<br /><br />I wonder if the references to OUR world is to the detriment of the film and puts it in our world, when the Alien films never were (ignore AvP) - seeing Lawrence Of Arabia was fun, but odd. I found the odd reference to Stephen Stills felt as out of place and naff as WIll Smith waffling on about Bob Marley in I Am Legend. It didn't bring the Captain closer to me, it just felt out of place.<br /><br />If anything, the fact the internet is in endless discussion about the film is probably not a bad thing - people seem to want to check out the film for themselves and the bad word of mouth doesn't seem to be affecting it. The fact we're going to the cinema, discussing what worked and didn't, what we liked and what we didn't, can only be a good thing. Since watching it I've been reading everything which has emerged, seen the concept art which was much better than anything that ended up in the film, devouring up loads of information - all this for a film I think doesn't work. So there is something there, just I'm trying to find clues as to what I'm missing.<br /><br />I can see Prometheus ending up on one of those bad film nights in the future, like Highlander does (unfairly, but yeah, fairly in the cold light of day) which at least means one thing - that the film won't be forgotten, so for all the mess I think it is at least that's something going for it.<br /><br />(Sorry this isn't as eloquent as your argument, I'm typing it in a tiny window and a bit knackered.)Luther Bhogal-Jonesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-19785442379174732612012-06-15T22:02:57.842+01:002012-06-15T22:02:57.842+01:00I've never had an issue with it not being the ...I've never had an issue with it not being the promised Alien prequel. I don't want a remake of Alien, nor do I want something to join the dots to Alien. In all honesty, I would have really much preferred it if they hadn't included that final image, which felt like some horrible tacked on thing so they can go "SEE? There's yer alien!" Then it could stand alone as an interesting but seriously flawed sci-fi film.<br /><br />I wonder if the references to OUR world is to the detriment of the film and puts it in our world, when the Alien films never were (ignore AvP) - seeing Lawrence Of Arabia was fun, but odd. I found the odd reference to Stephen Stills felt as out of place and naff as WIll Smith waffling on about Bob Marley in I Am Legend. It didn't bring the Captain closer to me, it just felt out of place.<br /><br />If anything, the fact the internet is in endless discussion about the film is probably not a bad thing - people seem to want to check out the film for themselves and the bad word of mouth doesn't seem to be affecting it. The fact we're going to the cinema, discussing what worked and didn't, what we liked and what we didn't, can only be a good thing. Since watching it I've been reading everything which has emerged, seen the concept art which was much better than anything that ended up in the film, devouring up loads of information - all this for a film I think doesn't work. So there is something there, just I'm trying to find clues as to what I'm missing.<br /><br />I can see Prometheus ending up on one of those bad film nights in the future, like Highlander does (unfairly, but yeah, fairly in the cold light of day) which at least means one thing - that the film won't be forgotten, so for all the mess I think it is at least that's something going for it.<br /><br />(Sorry this isn't as eloquent as your argument, I'm typing it in a tiny window and a bit knackered.)Luther Bhogal-Jonesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-54182674630238829862012-06-15T22:02:30.800+01:002012-06-15T22:02:30.800+01:00A very well written argument Chris - as you know, ...A very well written argument Chris - as you know, I was disappointed with it, but doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it.<br /><br />I think the issue that I have, which is more disappointing, is the talent involved in the film created something which to me feels so flawed when I hoped for something more concrete. Although you wouldn't think it at times audiences have become more sophisticated, more cine-literate in some ways but at times Prometheus felt as dumb as some cheapo straight to video sci-fi film from the late 80s - hey, I'm happy to forgive a film like that which isn't trying to be something more, but less forgiving of this. Similarly if I had the misfortune to sit through Transformers 3 then I wouldn't expect anything beyond characters so thin Mr Creosote would refuse them, but this...was supposed to be something a bit more. I guess if people felt The Dark Knight was a "sophisticated" or at least weighty superhero movie then I think sci-fi fans expected something similarly weighty here and it didn't quite deliver. <br /><br />I'm not expecting answers to life, the universe and everything nor did I expect it to deliver that. Maybe the problem with the film is it doesn't understand the question (who does?)...to drop in another Douglas Adams reference.<br /><br />There's nothing wrong with ambiguity - I love the end of The Thing though I understand that wound people up at the time. There are elements in Prometheus which didn't bother me that they aren't explained (there's a green glass egg thing or something in the head room, which maybe had or has some significance, maybe not, but it's there and David looks at it)...and what was the mural in the room (though I think the dim 3d meant I couldn't see that!) I wasn't expecting or wanting an explanation for everything - it felt less like ambiguity at times and more that actions had little consequence to the characters and within the group characters - Rapace seems to be never pursued after attacking her crew mates and her stumbling in to Weyland's room feels a bit matter of fact, maybe she's numb and out of it, but then seems happy to go back out with these people...no one seems to be discussing what the fuck is happening to everyone but going on their merry way.<br /><br />The redshirts seemed to come out of nowhere and equally died as quickly, feeling like cannon fodder from the original Star Trek series.<br /><br />As an audience we've also built up over 30 years of expectation and daydreaming of what the space jockey was, what did it look like when it moved, why was it there...so all those revelations of what it actually was just feel a bit hollow, but that could be the fault of the audience in that no answer could probably be as interesting and exciting as the one in your head.<br /><br />News about a 20 minute extended version has already emerged and I'm sure most of the cuts must be, as you say, a missing 4th act. I also read online that the zombie attack thing which felt out of place probably should have belonged towards the finale when Weyland is leaving to go to the tomb, which explains how that ended so swiftly with little recourse.Luther Bhogal-Jonesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3424802464209000270.post-2476042293190702842012-06-15T21:10:46.326+01:002012-06-15T21:10:46.326+01:00I agree. I liked the movie. It wasn't perfect ...I agree. I liked the movie. It wasn't perfect but it had me thinking. It made me wonder what was next. It connected some dots.Christopherhttp://www.csdaley.comnoreply@blogger.com