PROMETHEUS Thread - PROMETHEUS 2 "Moving Ahead"

[AndyDursin]

ALIENS is a film to be experienced, whereas ALIEN is a film to be absorbed. I guess that's how I would summarize how I feel about the two films.

Brilliant summation Michael! For me I'd add that ALIENS is also the more dramatic and developed story. The characters have a dimension, dramatic arc, that does not exist in ALIEN, where it's just a group of "truckers in space" being picked off one by one. Ripley's character, her relationship with Newt, the maternal aspects of their scenes together, and even the fact that Bishop isn't just another "evil android" were all narrative surprises -- plus the movie wasn't just a group of action scenes or a recycling of the original film. It's a different type of picture, but I think Fox was wise to go with Cameron and not just make a sequel that would've been "more of the same."

ALIEN is like a painting from a master artist, a canvas that beckons you with its atmosphere and cinematography; ALIENS visually isn't quite on that level, but in terms of character and drama -- not to mention action -- I think the sheer nature of its approach lends itself more readily to repeat viewing.

Love them both though. In my little universe, the story ends with ALIENS and everything that came after is just a bad nightmare. lol.

[Monterey Jack]

Love them both though. In my little universe, the story ends with ALIENS and everything that came after is just a bad nightmare. lol.

Considering how many franchises have simply ignored or retconned previous movies to make the most current entry the "true" sequel (see Halloween: H20, which ignored every sequel after the second, or the third Nightmare On Elm Street, which pretended the bizarre/homoerotic second film never happened), I'm surprised the Alien series hasn't done this yet. Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn still have action-hero authority, and there are dozens of actresses in their late 20's/early 30's would jump at the chance to play a grown-up Newt. The Dark Horse comic books from the late 80's and early 90's are still the "real" sequel to Aliens in my mind.

[Monterey Jack]

Exactly right. As evidence, the movie got 1.5 stars in Leonard Maltin's video guide for years until it was "re-assessed" and now nets 3.5. (Blade Runner was the same -- 1.5 stars for years after it opened, and now I think it gets 3).

Don't forget John Carpenter's The Thing ("Non-stop parade of slimy, repulsive special effects turn this into a freakshow and drown out the suspense"). Most critics held their noses about the film back in the day, but three decades later, and now it's an untouchable classic that had people fuming about the "gall" to make a prequel to.

[AndyDursin]

Exactly right. As evidence, the movie got 1.5 stars in Leonard Maltin's video guide for years until it was "re-assessed" and now nets 3.5. (Blade Runner was the same -- 1.5 stars for years after it opened, and now I think it gets 3).

Don't forget John Carpenter's The Thing ("Non-stop parade of slimy, repulsive special effects turn this into a freakshow and drown out the suspense"). Most critics held their noses about the film back in the day, but three decades later, and now it's an untouchable classic that had people fuming about the "gall" to make a prequel to.

Another 1.5 star Leonard Maltin review!

Just think, INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL gets 3 stars in that book...higher than AMADEUS (and TEMPLE OF DOOM and LAST CRUSADE!). lol.

[AndyDursin]

Love them both though. In my little universe, the story ends with ALIENS and everything that came after is just a bad nightmare. lol.

Considering how many franchises have simply ignored or retconned previous movies to make the most current entry the "true" sequel (see Halloween: H20, which ignored every sequel after the second, or the third Nightmare On Elm Street, which pretended the bizarre/homoerotic second film never happened), I'm surprised the Alien series hasn't done this yet. Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn still have action-hero authority, and there are dozens of actresses in their late 20's/early 30's would jump at the chance to play a grown-up Newt. The Dark Horse comic books from the late 80's and early 90's are still the "real" sequel to Aliens in my mind.

I believe Biehn when he says Sigourney was the one who wanted Hicks and Newt dead, so she could have the spotlight all to herself.

[Eric W.]

Another 1.5 star Leonard Maltin review!

Just think, INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL gets 3 stars in that book...higher than AMADEUS (and TEMPLE OF DOOM and LAST CRUSADE!). lol.

Are you serious? Wow. I don't watch that scene very closely but guess whose credibility just flew out the window?


I certainly don't expect Prometheus to be anywhere near the level of Alien or Aliens, either, though.

[mkaroly]

I expect a fun film, visually stylistic and engaging, that will provide a scare or two. It won't win best film of the year but I am expecting it will have been worth the wait. Lol...I guess we'll see!

[AndyDursin]

I certainly don't expect Prometheus to be anywhere near the level of Alien or Aliens, either, though.

Given that Scott hasn't directed a particularly good film here in a while, neither was I. Sounds like the film is good, but not quite a groundbreaking sci-fi film that certain folks were probably overestimating.

[Monterey Jack]

Another 1.5 star Leonard Maltin review!

And he gave two stars to Taxi Driver.

There's a great running joke in the MST3K episode Laserblast, where Mike and the bots take Maltin to task for his **1/2 star review for the film and list a string of acclaimed films that received **1/2 stars or less. Made me glad to see him getting strangled to death by the title characters in Gremlins 2...

[AndyDursin]

Another 1.5 star Leonard Maltin review!

And he gave two stars to Taxi Driver.

There's a great running joke in the MST3K episode Laserblast, where Mike and the bots take Maltin to task for his **1/2 star review for the film and list a string of acclaimed films that received two stars or less. Made me glad to see him getting strangled to death by the title characters in Gremlins 2...

That was hilarious -- one of the best (and the last) MST3Ks too as memory serves.

To be fair, I do think Maltin has gotten it right on a lot of occasions, he's also a terrific historian and at least -- as GREMLINS 2 showed -- has a sense of humor about himself. There is no person on the planet you're going to agree with most of the time except for yourself Also, a good chunk of those reviews are written by 'staff,' and there are times he tweaks them.

[AndyDursin]

Lots of disappointed reviews now showing up

Please NO SPOILERS until everyone has had a chance to see it...we're going Sunday night provided Paul gets to RI in time!!

[mkaroly]

I'm going tonight...very excited. Still haven't read any of the reviews. Don't care what they have to say.

[Monterey Jack]

I won't be able to see this until I have a day off early next week. No spoilers, please...

[AndyDursin]

Prometheus pulled in $3.5 million at midnight, which is very good indeed. I'm guessing a $60-$70 million opening weekend unless it's really frontloaded.

[DavidBanner]

Having seen the film last night and contributed to the 3.5 million, I think this will probably be a crowd-pleaser.

Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that I give the movie a B-. It's not a bad movie. Most of the direction is quite good - and a bit more elegant than I've seen from Ridley Scott in a while. The production design and the effects are great. The 3D is okay, except for a few moments where it really comes into play. The overall story in the script is very interesting and lines up with what Scott has been saying he wanted to do. The dialogue is good - I would say that in many cases, it saves scenes that might otherwise not work due to other reasons. But there are a lot of outlandish choices made, both in terms of the writing and a bit in terms of a directorial choice.

If I were to rank the movies, I'd put it in behind ALIENS in terms of the overall story, and ahead of ALIENS in terms of the dialogue. ALIEN fans will enjoy much of this, but you don't need to have seen ALIEN to enjoy it.

We'll see how it does, but I have a feeling it will do pretty well in theaters and then better on home video.

I'm not sure about the idea of a sequel to this. I personally don't think it needs it.

I look forward to the time when more people here have seen it so that we can discuss some of the questions that came up here.