Prometheus

[Rishathra]

A possible theory that I haven't seen mentioned:

[Ironwood]

I don't want to see this film anymore.

[Ghambit]

Btw.  If you can see this in a proper IMAX theatre (meaning a 5-story screen etc.), definitely do it.  Similar to Avatar, makes a huge difference... moreso even.
Also, spend some time on the Weyland website.

If you ever intend to see it I would do it in a theater.  The main redeeming quality of the film, which has been uniformly praised here, is the visual appeal and immense scale of the imagery.  I think that would be lost outside of a theater.

I'm one of those picky motherfuckers who likes a decent story to go along with the great visuals as my motivation for getting out from under my rock and out to the theater.

There's plenty of story in this movie, it's just painted in broad strokes designed to evoke thought rather than tell you what to think.  The analogies to Inception and 2001 are correct; not as good a movie as either obviously, but a nice jaunt into some fresh territory.

A possible theory that I haven't seen mentioned:

I don't want to see this film anymore.

One flick where your spoiler-readin actually is a good thing and you don't want to see it.  pfft  That figures.

[Kitsune]

I don't take it as a sign that the engineers were anti-religion, as they kept arriving as religious figures to people.  It's only once their emissary wound up killed that they seemed to sour on the prospects of humanity.

[Wasted]

There was a lot I liked about this movie but ultimately I left disappointed.  I think the difference between this and and something llike Inception is that for the most part Inception is a pretty well contained story that you can enjoy superficially, but gives you  something to ponder about later if you wish.  Prometheus doesn't feel complete, the whole movie posits a question that it willfully refuses to answer.  Most of the movie elements where quite well done as mentioned, the visuals and acting was fine and even the plot and pacing of the movie was pretty good, all let down at the end when even some hints of the answers you where hoping for don't come.

[Lakov_Sanite]

There was a lot I liked about this movie but ultimately I left disappointed.  I think the difference between this and and something llike Inception is that for the most part Inception is a pretty well contained story that you can enjoy superficially, but gives you  something to ponder about later if you wish.  Prometheus doesn't feel complete, the whole movie posits a question that it willfully refuses to answer.  Most of the movie elements where quite well done as mentioned, the visuals and acting was fine and even the plot and pacing of the movie was pretty good, all let down at the end when even some hints of the answers you where hoping for don't come.

Exactly, almost all the elements of a great movie were there but they didn't tie it together. I blame the xenomorph myself because it felt like the movie built up to that being the big payoff when the rest of the movie had little to nothing to do with it specifically.

[Mrbloodworth]

Exactly, almost all the elements of a great movie were there but they didn't tie it together. I blame the xenomorph myself because it felt like the movie built up to that being the big payoff when the rest of the movie had little to nothing to do with it specifically.

What? How many counts of DNA-Incest to make the thing. Start from 1.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Let me re-phrase.  While things led to the creation of the xenomorph, just hey it popping up and saying "hi im an alien!" -roll credits- is not an ending, there was no payoff there and we all knew it was coming.  Not to mention that the film never really explored more in depth the strong themes and symbolism it contained.  The was an epic ball-dropping if ever I've seen one, all the great elements were present except the script.

[lamaros]

The more Inception fanboys rag on this the higher my expectations go.

[Ghambit]

Let me re-phrase.  While things led to the creation of the xenomorph, just hey it popping up and saying "hi im an alien!" -roll credits- is not an ending, there was no payoff there and we all knew it was coming.  Not to mention that the film never really explored more in depth the strong themes and symbolism it contained.  The was an epic ball-dropping if ever I've seen one, all the great elements were present except the script.

Everything you just said is pretty much what happened in 2001 as well.  Didn't get fleshed out til 2010, and again later in 2061, etc.  Ended up just being a visual feast to provoke thought and that's really it.  Really fleshed-out stories tend to do the thinking for you.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I don't really want the story explained and all wrapped up but the movie needed some kind of closure to it.

[01101010]

I don't really want the story explained and all wrapped up but the movie needed some kind of closure to it.

Closure is for sequels... or however many it will spawn.

[Mattemeo]

Let me re-phrase.  While things led to the creation of the xenomorph, just hey it popping up and saying "hi im an alien!" -roll credits- is not an ending, there was no payoff there and we all knew it was coming.  Not to mention that the film never really explored more in depth the strong themes and symbolism it contained.  The was an epic ball-dropping if ever I've seen one, all the great elements were present except the script.

[jakonovski]

I'm one of those picky motherfuckers who likes a decent story to go along with the great visuals as my motivation for getting out from under my rock and out to the theater.

Not going to the theater happens to me a lot and I've come to the conclusion that it just a bad idea in general. You start elevating the movie you choose to go see on some kind of a pedestal, which is guaranteed to result in a disappointment. We should just get our asses off the computer chair more often. 

[Oz]

Pretty sure the xenomorph at the end was the queen seen in aliens...

[Margalis]

A movie from the Lost writer poses some questions and has no answers for them?

Shocking.

[Paelos]

A movie from the Lost writer poses some questions and has no answers for them?

Shocking.

Yeah that was pretty much my exact thought on the front end of all this. We went through the whole wankery on the interwebs the first time around, and when the curtain was finally pulled away, we still had nothing. Why people would bother doing it again is beyond me. Maybe because he's hiding behind Scott this time.

[Mrbloodworth]

Or maybe, because we like aliens, got SOME answers, but also enjoy that with those answers came more questions.

I liked the picture and story this move painted, I liked the insights into things we never knew about the series, I like that there is more to tell.

[Paelos]

Do you like the fact they may charge you $13 a pop for 3 movies when they could answer those questions in one pop?

[Mrbloodworth]

I don't have a problem with it no. Why would I? I love the alien setting.

Unless they jump the shark.

[01101010]

I don't have a problem with it no. Why would I? I love the alien setting.

Unless they jump the shark.

Like :Resurrecton? 

I shall go see this...IMAX styles tomorrow afternoon. From what I gather here... it is probably the only way to watch this movie and enjoy the shit out of it (and not read the spoilers).

[Wasted]

The problem is the way that they didn't answer the questions, not that they left some to explore.  They made a point of not giving you all the information that the characters in the movie had on hand. 

[Lakov_Sanite]

[Rishathra]

Look, I get that you don't want to answer every question, and that you want to leave some things mysterious.  However, this movie managed to give almost no concrete answers to anything.  Everything was, at best, implied, or suggested.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I don't disagree with that at all. The movie needed to answer more questions than it did, the ending just felt unsatisfactory and flat.  Would have worked for the pilot of a tv series but not a movie. I just mentioned the 2000 year thing because of what wasted said, the director is clearly stating that cause/effect from that was his intent.

[Paelos]

Look, I get that you don't want to answer every question, and that you want to leave some things mysterious.  However, this <__________> managed to give almost no concrete answers to anything.

"extended, mostly unsatisfying foray into deeper mythology with very little payoff."
"It all leads up to a conclusion so false and off-key that it is borderline astonishing."
"Real suspense comes from answers, not questions. Suspense comes not from wondering what's going on but from wondering what happens next."
"We don't just need answers, we need justifications."
"Meditations on the meaning of it all don’t amount to much."
"much of that speculation is trapped behind a series of unanswered questions that are more distracting than helpful."

Some of those quotes are from criticisms of the movie, and some of those are criticisms of LOST.

[Mrbloodworth]

Because LOST was a Failure.

[Ironwood]

How so ?

[Mrbloodworth]

Should have been green I guess.

[Rishathra]

I agree that Lost had many of the same problems.  Now, I also enjoyed both Lost and Prometheus quite a bit, flaws and all.

In fact, what I disliked the most about Prometheus wasn't the vagueness and lack of answers.  That was annoying at most, but not enough to trash the entire movie.  What pisses me off is the endless stream of colossally stupid behavior from pretty much every single character.  Every single death in this movie was the result of someone doing something completely ridiculous, that no sane, reasonably un-stupid person would ever attempt.  One or two moronic moments are unavoidable.  Sometimes someone needs to fuck something up in order to get the ball rolling.  Here, though, all the various dangers came almost entirely from people having  moments.

[Kitsune]

From pretty much the moment that anyone took their helmet off, I was 

[Mrbloodworth]

Stupid moves is a staple of horror movies. Please see cabin in the woods.

[croaker69]

Or the original Alien

[01101010]

Movie lacked an emotional connection that I got from Alien. Overall though, I enjoyed seeing it...especially in IMAX.

[Mrbloodworth]

You were just worried about the cat.