[RaiderMatt]

If you had never seen Alien or Aliens, do you believe that you would have enjoyed the film on its own merits?

[BadLieutenant]

No. The problems aren't with its continuity within the Alien franchise; they're with the dumbass characters who do dumbass things for dumbass reasons. Because they're dumbasses.

[Bos Grunniens]

The last shot would be so hilariously baffling that it'd probably be a lot worse.

[Mounix]

Originally Posted by BadLieutenant

No. The problems aren't with its continuity within the Alien franchise; they're with the dumbass characters who do dumbass things for dumbass reasons. Because they're dumbasses.

This.

This said I did enjoy it to the level and it was enjoyable enough one time viewing.

6/10

[therereturn]

Yeah, I wouldn't have liked it. The way it bastardized the Alien films just made it go from "meh" to "RRRAAAGGGGHHHRRR" for me.

[NeilMcCauley]

Originally Posted by BadLieutenant

No. The problems aren't with its continuity within the Alien franchise; they're with the dumbass characters who do dumbass things for dumbass reasons. Because they're dumbasses.

Pretty much.

The religious symbols and metaphors were pretty ham-fisted too. I tuned out as soon as Scott showed a close-up of a cross for what seemed like an eternity, and the movie was only 10 minutes in.

[TeamCanada]

Originally Posted by RaiderMatt

If you had never seen Alien or Aliens, do you believe that you would have enjoyed the film on its own merits?

I probably never would've watched it in the first place without R.Scott or the Alien'verse.

[Down With Cockneys]

It still has these moments that defy common sense and really stick out like a sore thumb, so I don't see my rating changing if the others didn't exist.

[paizlea]

I found it "meh" only as a matter of averages. Prometheus is visually gorgeous. Scott did a fantastic job creating creating environments that felt cold, alien, and most importantly, real. The Engineers were awesome, truly. Add to that some strong performances - most notably Rapace and Fassbender - and one of the best body horror scenes ever filmed, and Prometheus has some serious points in its favor.

But then there are the flaws. Professional scientists acting like middle school kids on a field trip. Ship crewmen offer to sacrifice their lives for no reason other than it seems like a nice thing to do. A couple Big Reveals that had no impact on the story, whatsoever. I could go on, but the points have been discussed to death in other threads. The story as a whole falls flat, with barely fleshed out characters, plenty of terrible science and a half-assed attempt to throw faith into the mix. In short, the screenplay sucks.

Prometheus being part of the Alien universe has nothing to do with its strengths or weaknesses, imo. It stands and falls on its own.

[Methuselah]

Originally Posted by RaiderMatt

If you had never seen Alien or Aliens, do you believe that you would have enjoyed the film on its own merits?

That's how I saw it and seeing the alien at the end only made it that much better.

The "Feel" of the movie was wonderful.

[Impavido]

Originally Posted by BadLieutenant

No. The problems aren't with its continuity within the Alien franchise; they're with the dumbass characters who do dumbass things for dumbass reasons. Because they're dumbasses.

Troll King was the screenwriter?

Though I did overall like Prometheus despite these glaring dumbass reasons in addition to really bad editing, these problems have nothing to do with the other films. However I do admire how Prometheus does not intend to emulate the franchise and appears to make its own path. Primarily because of the character arc of David, and where he and the heroine will go with it, is why I am interested in a potential sequel. There is some meat there if you can get through the fatty grisly exterior.

[Methuselah]

The biggest flaw imo was the girl and the android getting off the rock on an alien spaceship.

It was simply ridiculous that David could figure out how to fly a completely alien spacecraft that for some reason or another did not have aliens on it at all.

I guess if the main ship was the Military outpost then the rest of the planet was a giant parking lot.

Too bad they didnt see the Alien Walmart.

[Wooley]

No.
I think it is a poor film.
Period.

It would be poor if it had nothing to do with Alien.

And in my mind, it didn't and never will.

[zpt4x]

I thought the movie was highly flawed......... yet still really dug it.

[audierules]

not even meh, it sucked donkey balls.

and no to OP question.

[Lillyvon]

Originally Posted by BadLieutenant

No. The problems aren't with its continuity within the Alien franchise; they're with the dumbass characters who do dumbass things for dumbass reasons. Because they're dumbasses.

Ummm.....this.

[Fleetwood Mac Sex Pants]

It'd be a banal bore, regardless.

[TeamCanada]

Honestly, Prometheus worked for me on a level quite similar to Tree of Life (another I did not love, even as a Malick fan) but I was so plugged in & along for the entire ride in awe, I didn't care about nitpicking.
In a way, it was humanized that way.

[Dead and Messed Up]

Originally Posted by BadLieutenant

No. The problems aren't with its continuity within the Alien franchise; they're with the dumbass characters who do dumbass things for dumbass reasons. Because they're dumbasses.

It is rare and pleasing when the first response nails it.

[Atomic Cow]

Originally Posted by Methuselah

The biggest flaw imo was the girl and the android getting off the rock on an alien spaceship.

It was simply ridiculous that David could figure out how to fly a completely alien spacecraft that for some reason or another did not have aliens on it at all.

I guess if the main ship was the Military outpost then the rest of the planet was a giant parking lot.

Too bad they didnt see the Alien Walmart.

I'm not sure I understand what you are alluding to on the rest. But for what its worth its not totally ridiculous he could pilot the craft. He can read and understands their ancient texts and had been studying the pilot. The craft isn't completely alien. It is made to be operated by a human so in movie terms not too much of a stretch.

[Konnor]

It's like a bad TV pilot.

[Master King Sexington]

Originally Posted by BadLieutenant

No. The problems aren't with its continuity within the Alien franchise; they're with the dumbass characters who do dumbass things for dumbass reasons. Because they're dumbasses.

This. Also the poorly implemented themes and bizarre editing choices.

Also I didn't find it "meh". I found it to be very bad.

[Steveland. Danger.]

I didn't find the movie "meh" I found it to be incredibly disappointing. I feel like there was lots of potential there, without being attached to the Alien universe, and it just completely and utterly missed everything. I hesitate to call it bad but I think it might be a bad movie.

[Noir]

I've never seen Alien and I enjoyed it a great deal.

Take that for what you will.

[Neclord]

I hadn't seen any Alien films prior and I thought it was just okay.

[Dead and Messed Up]

Originally Posted by Noir

I've never seen Alien and I enjoyed it a great deal.

Take that for what you will.

Bad life choices?

[Methuselah]

Originally Posted by Atomic Cow

I'm not sure I understand what you are alluding to on the rest. But for what its worth its not totally ridiculous he could pilot the craft. He can read and understands their ancient texts and had been studying the pilot. The craft isn't completely alien. It is made to be operated by a human so in movie terms not too much of a stretch.

It was not designed for a human, it was designed for giant "Humanoids" that we as humans were modeled after. That still doesnt mean that he would be capable of figuring this which doesnt even begin to explain how a single giant ship can be piloted by one woman. Also correct me if Im wrong but it looked like most of the technology was centered around being more biological than mechnical so I dont think its too far of a stretch to assume that they must have some kind of a security setup.

I'm not really going to dig into this movie too much because Im seeing it for what it was. I really dug the feel and the overall look of the movie more than anything and I think that a movie like Avatar may have been a far more concrete movie if they had followed this example instead of making it look like a cartoon.

[Stryder]

Ridley combined a brain-dead 80's flick with an ambitious sci-fi epic..

Neither worked.

[Morris Schæffer]

Scott is the director of Alien. As such he's created a standard that I feel he should try to live up. I don't think he's done that. Prometheus has standalone issues, but I'm still fairly certain that, had I never seen Alien, let alone had no knowledge of it, my appreciation of the 2012 flick would have been different, possibly more positive.

[Takoma1]

To me the characters really sank the movie.

Was it inevitable that any female lead would fall in Sigourney's shadow? Yes.

Would I have liked Rapace's character more without Ripley existing in the franchise already? I don't think so. She was so wishy-washy and childish. "We found our creators." "But who created them?!". Or "It's not that hard to create life." "I can't create life!" Blah.

I found the David character most interesting out of all of them, but his treatment by the other characters was totally confusing and superficial. They say horrible things to him about not having feelings and not being real, and you can see emotions on his face.

I was charmed by the Captain, but he didn't get to do anything meaningful. Kate Dickie is an awesome actress who was wasted as a sounding board for Rapace's character.

I liked the look of the movie in several scenes, but the script left me feeling at arms distance from the characters. It was gory, but never gritty enough to feel like a real series of events. Only the claustrophobic chaos of the "abortion" scene had any strong effect on me (and I did like the sinister exchange between David and Rapace's character immediately preceding that scene--beginning with his hands taking away her necklace it was disturbing and nastily intimate).

Also, since I'm not sure when another Prometheus thread will roll around--have you guys seen this: Paper Prometheus.