Prometheus (Alien Prequel)

[Neil]

I finally saw Alien for the first time the other day. I know, I know... What cave have I been hiding in all this time? Pretty decent, and the commentary was enlightening during a rewatch. My kid wants to take me to see this tomorrow but I'm going to get superbaked first. For me, the best of all the Alien films is Cameron's. Alien is of course a great flick, and ground breaking in many ways. But Aliens is just such an intelligent and solid story, backed by incredible film making, it just takes the crown (for me).

[MinionZombie]

Out of them all, Aliens is also the one for me too, with Alien a close second. I personally don't get the level of some of the bitching coming from some folks about Prometheus though. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'll be pre-ordering the Blu-Ray. Clearly a divisive movie, mind. As for walk outs - I saw that when I went to see Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead. In the former, there was two blokes and a woman (both in their mid-to-late 30s, I'd say), and clearly they couldn't get in to see Revolver (the new Guy Ritchie movie at the time), and as soon as the gore really started flying about half-way into the movie, the woman got up and fucked off with the two blokes in-two. With Diary of the Dead, there was me, a couple, and another bloke in the screening (this was like 2pm on a Friday, mind you), and the one bloke down the front sodded off about half way in ... although I'm not sure if he was someone who worked there. The couple hated the flick and were going to demand their money back.

[bassman]

I personally don't get the level of some of the bitching coming from some folks about Prometheus though. Just for kicks, look at the IMDB board for the film. So many threads about how Prometheus is the "worst movie of all time". They're quite funny. I've seen similar discussions on other forums, as well. The movie definitely has it's flaws, but I believe it's the current "cool to hate" film. Most people don't give it a fair shake and just bash it entirely because it was a highly anticipated film.

[MinionZombie]

Just for kicks, look at the IMDB board for the film. So many threads about how Prometheus is the "worst movie of all time". They're quite funny. I've seen similar discussions on other forums, as well. The movie definitely has it's flaws, but I believe it's the current "cool to hate" film. Most people don't give it a fair shake and just bash it entirely because it was a highly anticipated film. Cue HPOTDers taking this comment entirely out of context and complaining that 'people aren't allowed to criticise a movie anymore/have a dissenting opinion'... But I know what you mean, I've seen some of it out there too, and there's definitely an air of "cool to hate" about this flick among the tosswank hipster set and general movie moaners. Also interesting that Randy Pitchford (of Gearbox Games - who are pimping Colonial Marines at the moment) totally missed that Prometheus isn't set on LV-426, despite seemingly being quite the Aliens nerd. I've seen more than one interview with him from E3 where he speaks of being able to go into the derelict 'from Prometheus' ... no, the derelict was from Alien and Aliens, the ship in Prometheus is an entirely different ship (of the same design, no doubt part of a fleet used by the engineers generally) on an entirely different planet ... ... that confusion (in spite of the fact that LV-223 is shown on-screen quite clearly when they arrive in the movie) really irks me, I have to say.

[Danny]

Just for kicks, look at the IMDB board- Why do you hate yourself?

[Neil]

Also interesting that Randy Pitchford (of Gearbox Games - who are pimping Colonial Marines at the moment) totally missed that Prometheus isn't set on LV-426, despite seemingly being quite the Aliens nerd. I've seen more than one interview with him from E3 where he speaks of being able to go into the derelict 'from Prometheus' ... no, the derelict was from Alien and Aliens, the ship in Prometheus is an entirely different ship (of the same design, no doubt part of a fleet used by the engineers generally) on an entirely different planet ... ... that confusion (in spite of the fact that LV-223 is shown on-screen quite clearly when they arrive in the movie) really irks me, I have to say. This was another tiny thing that annoyed me. In Prometheus, when they said they were going to LV-223 I interpreted this as the same planet (moon) as Alien/Aliens as I could remember "LV" but not the specific number. So it confused me and threw me. Indeed why even start it with "LV" risking this confusion. Why wasn't the destination "PD-223" or "QX-1G" or something so as to in no way risk confusing it being the same as the location of Alien/Aliens?

[MinionZombie]

This was another tiny thing that annoyed me. In Prometheus, when they said they were going to LV-223 I interpreted this as the same planet (moon) as Alien/Aliens as I could remember "LV" but not the specific number. So it confused me and threw me. Indeed why even start it with "LV" risking this confusion. Why wasn't the destination "PD-223" or "QX-1G" or something so as to in no way risk confusing it being the same as the location of Alien/Aliens? No doubt "LV" stands for something, but I can't find it online, and clearly it'll tie-in to a sequel down the road where they explore more of this world pre-Alien.

[bassman]

I've read that you can apparently see the title of "LV-426" on one of the ship's monitors as it enters the planet's atmosphere. Did anyone notice this? Intentional or mistake?

[shootemindehead]

Never mind LV-4 blah ds blah...the only reason the film has anything to do with the Alien franchise at all is to get a few more bums on seats. The producers suspected (quite rightly) that there would probably be less interest in a straight non-'Alien franchise' "origin of the species" story and zero interest in an Alien sequel after the utterly wretched 'Alien Resurection', so they tacked on the "Space Jockey" as "Engineers" malarkey and while it's not the "worst film ever made", it does contain some really stupid characters, scenarios and scenes that deflates the whole project. I don't hate the film, but it is a rather forgettable piece of trash dressed up in fancy clothes, with a single stand out performance from Fassbender. I certainly don't consider it part of the Alien franchise, which for me remains 'Alien', 'Aliens' and 'Alien3'. The worst thing about 'Prometheus' is that it could have been a fine film, on its own merit without the "Alien franchise" shoehorned into it and some simple prudence on the idiotic parts of the script. As it stands, it's just a below average, uncomfortable, ill-fitting, forced semi-prequel to a great film.

[krakenslayer]

No doubt "LV" stands for something, but I can't find it online, and clearly it'll tie-in to a sequel down the road where they explore more of this world pre-Alien. Could be wrong, but I'd just assumed that, in some future method of stellar classification (focused on space navigation as opposed to astronomy as our current systems), the LV would designate a star system - in this case Zeta Reticuli - the 4 (or 2) would designate the parent planet (in both cases, an enormous gas giant) in sequence starting with the closest to the star, and the 26 (or 23) would designate the specific satellite of that planet. Twenty-six and twenty-three might seem like awfully high numbers, but if you consider that, in our own system, Saturn has 62 confirmed moons and Jupiter 49 (with several more awaiting official status), ranging from asteroid-like rocks to planet-sized bodies with full atmospheres, it actually seems quite reasonable. The LV thing didn't come into play until the second film (interesting that Ridley is using elements from Cameron's film, as it goes some way to confirming that Aliens remains future canon to Prometheus's universe), and according to some accounts online, Cameron has said he just wanted it to sound line some kind of technical navigational notation, and the letters LV apparently don't stand for anything in particular.

[rongravy]

Saw it tonight. I liked it just fine, but it had a few long boring stretches. Can't say it was great, but it wasn't crap either. They could've cut some parts out.

[SymphonicX]

I thought actually it wasn't nearly as fleshed out as it should have been. I loved the opening 30 seconds - the Engineer on that waterfall. The place just looked so bleak, so gritty...I felt from that moment that I was truly on a hostile alien world - it was such a textured scene, so blatantly beautiful. The story I felt was fragmented and unrealised - the whole "twist" was a bit shit, that it was essentially an old man's quest for immortality. Worse still they get a young guy to play him, and don't show him as a young man - just cast an old man!! The design on the film was amazing, the atmosphere was unbelievable. Like many Ridley Scott movies in fact....

[Neil]

I felt from that moment that I was truly on a hostile alien world. But it was (almost certainly) Earth?

[MinionZombie]

But it was (almost certainly) Earth? Aye, that's exactly what I took it to be.   One of the engineers is killed with that thing, and basically he becomes 'Adam' as his DNA begins its long journey through our world to create mankind. It makes me wonder - did the Engineers create us to ultimately be test subjects for various intentions?

[Neil]

^^ Suspect the directors (extended) cut might put more meat on these bones!