PROMETHEUS Thread - PROMETHEUS 2 "Moving Ahead"

[Eric W.]

Thus far the consensus I'm seeing gather on this is something along the lines of "a REALLY gorgeous turd" was one quote from a reviewer that I saw. With some fluctuation up and down obviously.

Certainly nothing equal or better than Alien or Aliens. Not going to happen. No one should go in with those sorts of lofty expectations for ANYTHING in this day and age. It just isn't going to happen.

I'm happy to see some other people and some reviewers mentioning that they're getting tired of this Alien Gospel message showing up all over the place with this "Aliens seeded humanity" nonsense that just has really been all over the place for especially the last decade coming out of Hollywood. It's past cliche at this point.

[AndyDursin]

Thus far the consensus I'm seeing gather on this is something along the lines of "a REALLY gorgeous turd" was one quote from a reviewer that I saw

They run the gamut, but that's also to be expected with hardcore sci-fi. Still the majority of the reviews are positive -- and some quite so. Not to quote the Tomato Meter but it's still a very strong 75% or thereabouts. Now, from what I've sampled, the "fanboy reaction" is the polar opposite, and they are greatly let down because it's "not the prequel they were looking for" -- but then again, didn't Ridley tell everyone that? That "smokescreen" actually turned out to be the case to a degree, that it was going to be a different type of picture to a certain extent. Maybe we should've taken him on face value the whole time.

I'm happy to see some other people and some reviewers mentioning that they're getting tired of this Alien Gospel message showing up all over the place with this "Aliens seeded humanity" nonsense that just has really been all over the place for especially the last decade coming out of Hollywood. It's past cliche at this point.

From what I gather the film still has a pro-religious component to it. Which is also what some viewers won't care to see in there.

[Eric W.]

They run the gamut, but that's also to be expected with hardcore sci-fi. Still the majority of the reviews are positive -- and some quite so. Not to quote the Tomato Meter but it's still a very strong 75% or thereabouts. Now, from what I've sampled, the "fanboy reaction" is the polar opposite, and they are greatly let down because it's "not the prequel they were looking for" -- but then again, didn't Ridley tell everyone that? That "smokescreen" actually turned out to be the case to a degree, that it was going to be a different type of picture to a certain extent. Maybe we should've taken him on face value the whole time.

Right. I'm sure it's a good movie. I can't believe it isn't better than AVP 1 and 2 at least.

From what I gather the film still has a pro-religious component to it. Which is also what some viewers won't care to see in there.

You can count on it. Hollywood needs to get back to making fun, good movies and keep their personal agendas, political, and religious beliefs to themselves and stop constantly shoving it down other people's throats.

[AndyDursin]

You can count on it. Hollywood needs to get back to making fun, good movies and keep their personal agendas, political, and religious beliefs to themselves and stop constantly shoving it down other people's throats.

I think the fact the movie HAS a religious component is what is turning off the non-believing crowd. From what I gather, it's probably not a message you won't like if you know what I mean.

[AndyDursin]

Paul and I just came back from the 10 o'clock. I have to say: basically, wow. Thrilling, suspenseful -- as Paul said, not scary -- but disturbing and visionary. The plot and storytelling lack clarity at times, so to speak, but the ride is tremendous by itself. It's a really fine piece of science fiction with compelling themes and ideas. The fanboys expecting an "Aliens movie" might be confused as to what it's trying to do, but aside from a couple of places where I thought the script could have been clearer, I'm not one of these viewers who obsess over tiny, insignificant details ("why did they put the helmet on AFTERWARDS", "why is the guy doing this or that when he could be doing something else," etc.), of which a lot of the criticisms I've read seem to be directed. There are a couple of places to gripe about, sure, but it's not a dealbreaker for me. If those kind of issues irritate you so much, why even go to the movies in the first place? You can make those charges against basically any sci-fi film in existence.

The sense of scale and a couple of the set-pieces are just outrageously good. The film has an emotional range by itself the first ALIEN film lacked (the script for the '79 film is like a Roger Corman film; it's the direction, cinematography and art design that elevate it into classic status IMO). Noomi is superb, the effects are great...and the movie stays with you afterwards. Is it perfect? OK, it's not. But it's a hell of a lot more satisfying than AVATAR and I think 80% of the people online who are ripping apart every aspect of the movie seem to forget that ALIEN itself is a one-dimensional story that Scott and Giger and Co. turned into something special. Here, Scott was trying for something more, indeed -- not just a rehash -- while still doing it in a manner that would appeal to the masses. It may not have hit on every mark but I thought it was, overall, superb, exciting and effective.

The music is also interesting. Harry Gregson-Williams deserved more than an "Additional Music" credit -- his melodic theme is actually quite good and is used throughout the movie, far more than Marc Streitfeld's comparatively weird music. I would skip the album altogether because it is not indicative, at all, of the movie as it used in the picture...but that sure isn't new for a Ridley Scott film!

[mkaroly]

I saw it twice this weekend, and I'll admit that I was expecting more of a direct ALIEN prequel than what I got, but I really enjoyed the film.

I felt it was very thought-provoking; even after seeing it twice I am still reflecting on its themes. Secondly, it is so beautiful visually that even if I felt the film was horrible, I could still watch it a hundred times just for the visual presentation alone. The arrival of Prometheus and entry into the atmosphere sequence alone is worth watching several times...just gorgeous. Scott really nailed the look of the film. The acting was decent overall, and I loved how Scott basically reimagined (if that's the right term...maybe "paid homage to") parts of the original ALIEN film in a fresh way. For me at least those moments stood out very clearly. Finally, the movie is not the typical "find and chase" movie we're used to with sci-fi horror.

There were some things I didn't care for; for one, I felt character-wise that they left some opportunities pass by. In particular, one character's introduction and early moments were building up to something that never paid off (for me)...I thought that was a major missed opportunity. Second, there is a major sequence whose aftermath was extremely hard for me to "suspend disbelief"...I wish they could have done that moment differently. Finally, some of the dialogue was pretty weak, and some of the music was just "meh" to me.

Overall, it is very much worth seeing and I can see myself mining the depths of the film on DVD once the "extended cut" comes out (as I believe he has a bunch of extra footage that he edited out for theatrical release). My final comment is that I enjoyed the film's reflections on what I thought was its major theme which Scott has tackled before in another sci-fi film of his. This was worth the wait...I could be more specific but I don't want to include spoilers.

[Eric W.]

I broke my own rule and went to the movie theater myself yesterday. I'll "see this for real" on Blu since my theater is not that great but it was sufficient enough for me to enjoy the movie and I did. I view seeing this in the theater near me as about a step up from pirating the thing and watching a crappy stream here on my computer. It's an ok theater.


There's a fanboy element out there trying to put this thing up there with 2001 as far as "asking lofty questions and creating more questions than answers" rubbish. Spare me. This movie couldn't tie 2001's shoes. Get real. This isn't next 2001 or anywhere close to it.

This certainly is no Alien or Aliens. I'll get that out of the way.



But it's a pretty damned good movie in its own right and I enjoyed it. Certainly better than AVP 1 and 2. Avengers is clearly the King of the Summer, though, as far as I'm concerned. Far more fun and enjoyable for me than this but two completely different movies.

This one is dark, serious, somber, and oppressive at times. But that's the point. This isn't a fun place to be just like Alien in 79. This isn't Star Trek or Star Wars. And I like that.




Awesome visuals which was to be expected from any Ridley Scott movie for the most part. Large soundscape that I'm looking forward to hearing in my home theater, again on Blu. Music was mostly throw away as far as I'm concerned. People just don't know how to compose thematic and memorable material anymore and post Goldsmith it's just downright pathetic.

Even 10 years ago I would have heard better for a movie like this. The hell with it. Film music is all but dead. I hear better music in the videogame world by far these days. Jeremy Soule or Jesper Kyd could have done something for this movie that would have made your head spin. There's several other guys out of the game world that I could have put on this that would have knocked it out of the park.

Hell, from the film world, why not get Horner or David Arnold or someone that can actually DO something still with some friggin' craftsmanship? Really?

I don't understand why Ridley is practically married to these mediocrities. I appreciate loyalty and all but c'mon.

Streifeld is third tier at best and HGW has done some nice things but he's mediocre. His harsher critics call him a hack outright and he certainly didn't do anything on a major project like this to help himself out there. HGW didn't add much, either.

If you're going to go for Media Ventures sound, go for the king and get Zimmer himself at that rate.




SPOILERS AHOY:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/faq

I was amazed to see THIS much already written about this movie.


As a long time Trek nerd, I'm well conditioned to looking out for continuity winks and nods and stuff like that. I also had seen Alien and Aliens a few months ago on Blu so I could come at this thing fresh.


I'd noticed a few of those things in that movie myself and I'm happy with ALL of the attention to detail some of those represent. ALL of it. The distress signal near the end really was a nice touch. That's the one Ripley intercepts 28 years later. LOVE that kind of attention to detail. :tup:




Barring something ridiculous, I expect this to perform well enough to merit the second movie that a lot of people suspect has been planned that will essentially dovetail and tie things in more directly with Alien.

This takes place 28 years prior to the events in the first Alien movie. A lot can happen in 28 years especially after all this goes down.


As expected: A Director's Cut on Blu is going to be seeing this thing for real. You'll see material being discussed there that's missing from the theaterical version.

It's a shame there's such a hard rule at the box office that "you must get to 2 hours or less come hell or high water so we can run more shows no matter what!" when it means lots of good material gets sacrificed.


There's tons of spoilerish discussion fodder in that link if anyone wants to chew the fat.

If I were rating this movie today I'd give it a 3/5 stars. When I get it on Blu and do it right and all but certainly see missing material added it'll go to at least 3.5/5 stars. If the Director's Cut is like Kingdom of Heaven's was for that movie then I'll easily hit at least 4/5 stars.

Could have done with a lot less jump camera and there's certainly some fairly gaping plot holes in this thing but that's to be expected from any writer that was on Lost.


Overall: Good movie that I'm looking forward to seeing for real later this year at home.


I'm betting a Kingdom of Heaven situation in terms of theatrical version like what we saw here vs an expanded Director's Version that's going to be a lot better is going to happen when this thing hits Blu.

When that happens, I know I'm going to like this movie a lot more.

[AndyDursin]

Lifting the non-spoilers since most of us have seen it -- I'll change the topic thread too (MJ don't read any further lol)

[AndyDursin]

Well, they're different types of movies. I liked The Avengers alright but I didn't think it was a great movie -- it's fun, big comic book entertainment. To be honest I don't even think it was particularly well directed, but I enjoyed it. At the same time I didn't think it came close to matching the best super-hero movies -- Superman, Spider-Man 2, etc. Obviously it's made a ton of money and has wide appeal, and I'll definitely see it again, but I liked those films plus some of the other standalone Marvel movies more (that includes Iron Man, Thor and Captain America). Just IMO. The bland villains weren't that interesting...and I still don't understand why Black Widow had as much screen time as Captain America and everyone else, but hey, whatever. lol. (Now I sound like a fanboy! lol)

Prometheus has a lot more on its mind and I found it more compelling, interesting and ambitious by comparison. Even if it was flawed, I know I'll be watching this film more often in the years to come. I see a lot of people saying "this isn't ALIEN" -- well, isn't that the point? Who wanted another rehash of Alien? And who really cares how much it does, or doesn't, connect with Alien? Reading some of these message boards shows just how short-sighted viewers can be. I think they're picking apart small aspects and missing the larger thematic point of this film -- but that's to be expected.

In this new ART OF PROMETHEUS book (really nice; they sent me an advance copy), Scott mentions the reason why he abandoned the concept of doing a straight ALIEN prequel was that he didn't find the Alien by itself that interesting or compelling anymore. I agree with him. After four Alien films (two of which stunk) and two AVP films that were about as effective as the Abbott & Costello monster films (though I admit I kind of liked the first one, and hated HATED the second), I think he made the right call. For once, I'm happy a filmmaker didn't take the easy way out and regurgitate a movie we've already seen.

This movie has a much more developed and complicated narrative pallet than Alien. It's not just a group of characters running around in the dark from a monster (though obviously it still has those aspects too!). I love Alien to death but people, over the years, have overanalyzed it -- go read that script. It's not that amazing. What's amazing are the technical, artistic aspects to the design of the monster, its visuals, scoring -- all of that. The plot? It's a 1950s B movie on an A-grade '70s budget. Corman could've made that movie and it would've sucked.

Prometheus has a lot of ideas in its script by comparison. It's a different type of sci-fi experience, and it IS hardcore sci-fi -- to the point where some viewers are going to be turned off by that just because. It's not as accessible as Alien, it won't appeal to the masses as much. Comparing them, at least in my mind, isn't really fair because they're different types of films with certain shared elements.

In the end, I think Scott was true to his word. This movie isn't an "Alien prequel" in the sense that its main point is connecting back to the 1979 film. It has its own thematic line and that's Noomi's journey and the overall concept of the film -- and I found it oddly moving even at the end. But it does have elements of Alien's DNA in there, like he said.

Musically -- maybe it's because I heard the album before hand and was mostly underwhelmed, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. I liked the big, expansive theme Gregson-Williams composed that was used all during the movie. It has melodic, noticeable, and right there, that's more than anything I've heard from Hans Zimmer in his Christopher Nolan scores. It was used a lot -- probably to compensate for the fact that Streitfeld's scoring was so odd, harsh and dissonant. Ironically it was the reverse of what Scott did to Goldsmith's ALIEN score -- there, he took out the more "musical" elements of his original work (including the opening and end titles), while preferring the odd, strident and eclectic "horror" scoring. With this score, he dumped Streitfeld's music in favor of tracking Gregson-Williams' "Life" theme...and while it's not great, it worked alright. Certainly I liked it more than, say, Zimmer's tiresome scores for The Dark Knight or Inception. It may not have had a great theme, but it least it had A theme!

The movie's main problems --

1. The mid-section seemed either rushed or a bit unfocused -- right when Noomi's boyfriend got infected. We go from that, to the guys in the ship stranded, to the Captain, and it all seemed kind of jumbled.

2. The other element was David's motivation, which was odd and not entirely filled in. Why did he start the black goo process in the first place? Whether it's because it was supposed to be entirely ambiguous or not, I wanted a bit more clarity there.

3. The crew member who was infected and went crazy -- yeah, whatever. Not that impressive. Why not take it to an extreme and have some crazy alien design there (Turns out they did -- they just didn't go that direction).

4. Could have taken the 3-D away. That LIFE OF PI teaser was extremely effective and obviously is made FOR 3-D...and while Prometheus was shot in 3-D, I didn't think it made effective use of the technology. Maybe I just need to see it at home with superior brightness levels.

What I liked, I loved -- the opening. The majestic nature of the visuals. The storm and the ship crashing. Noomi's "abortion" which was tense and suspenseful. The uncomfortable, disturbing but haunting visuals of the Engineer getting assaulted by the first prehistoric facehugger -- and the birthing scene at the end. Well done. Just enough to satisfy the Alien fans but yet, the movie still ended the main story line with Noomi and David's departure effectively (and in a moving way) setting it up for another one.

I do think Scott's intention was to open the door for another film. (He says as much in that book too). I'd also very much look forward to the journey. I love challenging sci-fi with something on its mind. Even with its shortcomings this was a heck of a movie -- especially at a time when so little sci-fi is anything but recycling of stuff we've seen before (Event Horizon, Sunshine, etc.), here's a movie with some haunting and fascinating concepts. Well done, but I can see where it's going to go over the heads of the "blood and guts" crowd who complained for months that the film could possibly be getting a PG-13 rating. I think they simply didn't understand what Scott was going after -- and still don't.

[AndyDursin]

I'd noticed a few of those things in that movie myself and I'm happy with ALL of the attention to detail some of those represent. ALL of it. The distress signal near the end really was a nice touch. That's the one Ripley intercepts 28 years later. LOVE that kind of attention to detail

I think a lot of that IMDB FAQ isn't accurate. The planet they're on is LV-222 or something -- it's not the planet (LV-426) from Alien...so I think the distress signal part is bunk at least.

[Eric W.]

Prometheus has a lot more on its mind and I found it more compelling, interesting and ambitious by comparison. Even if it was flawed, I know I'll be watching this film more often in the years to come. I see a lot of people saying "this isn't ALIEN" -- well, isn't that the point? Who wanted another rehash of Alien? And who really cares how much it does, or doesn't, connect with Alien? Reading some of these message boards shows just how short-sighted viewers can be. I think they're picking apart small aspects and missing the larger thematic point of this film -- but that's to be expected.

Agreed.

In this new ART OF PROMETHEUS book (really nice; they sent me an advance copy), Scott mentions the reason why he abandoned the concept of doing a straight ALIEN prequel was that he didn't find the Alien by itself that interesting or compelling anymore. I agree with him.

So do I. How many "bug hunt gorefest" movies do we need?

After four Alien films (two of which stunk) and two AVP films that were about as effective as the Abbott & Costello monster films (though I admit I kind of liked the first one, and hated HATED the second), I think he made the right call. For once, I'm happy a filmmaker didn't take the easy way out and regurgitate a movie we've already seen.

Agreed here,too.

Is this the book? How big is it? Can you give me some more details? I'm a sucker for these when done right.

This movie has a much more developed and complicated narrative pallet than Alien. It's not just a group of characters running around in the dark from a monster (though obviously it still has those aspects too!). I love Alien to death but people, over the years, have overanalyzed it -- go read that script. It's not that amazing. What's amazing are the technical, artistic aspects to the design of the monster, its visuals, scoring -- all of that. The plot? It's a 1950s B movie on an A-grade '70s budget. Corman could've made that movie and it would've sucked.

Right. You forgot to mention a masterpiece score that, if it weren't there, I'm convinced is a big part of the reason that movie is held as highly as it is to this day.

Prometheus has a lot of ideas in its script by comparison. It's a different type of sci-fi experience, and it IS hardcore sci-fi -- to the point where some viewers are going to be turned off by that just because. It's not as accessible as Alien, it won't appeal to the masses as much. Comparing them, at least in my mind, isn't really fair because they're different types of films with certain shared elements.

Right. I'm convinced a "Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut" situation is going to happen here, too, and that's going to be something special.

In the end, I think Scott was true to his word. This movie isn't an "Alien prequel" in the sense that its main point is connecting back to the 1979 film. It has its own thematic line and that's Noomi's journey and the overall concept of the film -- and I found it oddly moving even at the end. But it does have elements of Alien's DNA in there, like he said.

A good prequel...or whatever you want to call this...ideally sets ground work where you can eventually move forward with a new and richer foundation. Sadly, most prequels don't do this.

It's going to be interesting to see where this franchise goes from here. I don't think it can go back to just being a bunch of troops in the middle of nowhere shooting seas of space bugs with a bunch of pity one liners.

Musically -- maybe it's because I heard the album before hand and was mostly underwhelmed, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. I liked the big, expansive theme Gregson-Williams composed that was used all during the movie.

LOL, I guess I can call it a theme...after I heard it and not much else musically for the entire movie.

It has melodic, noticeable, and right there, that's more than anything I've heard from Hans Zimmer in his Christopher Nolan scores.

Agreed.

It was used a lot -- probably to compensate for the fact that Streitfeld's scoring was so odd, harsh and dissonant.

It's a one trick pony. Let's face it: Neither of these composers is anything special. I'm all but certain I've seen you call HGW a "hack" right here on this board in the past.

Except for that theme...such as it was...this score was a completely throway except for creating a fairly impressive sounding "soundstage" if that makes sense.

Ironically it was the reverse of what Scott did to Goldsmith's ALIEN score -- there, he took out the more "musical" elements of his original work (including the opening and end titles), while preferring the odd, strident and eclectic "horror" scoring. With this score, he dumped Streitfeld's music in favor of tracking Gregson-Williams' "Life" theme...and while it's not great, it worked alright. Certainly I liked it more than, say, Zimmer's tiresome scores for The Dark Knight or Inception. It may not have had a great theme, but it least it had A theme!

Sure. It's not saying much any way we cut it here. I salute you for being as generous here as you are.

The movie's main problems --

1. The mid-section seemed either rushed or a bit unfocused -- right when Noomi's boyfriend got infected. We go from that, to the guys in the ship stranded, to the Captain, and it all seemed kind of jumbled.

2. The other element was David's motivation, which was odd and not entirely filled in. Why did he start the black goo process in the first place? Whether it's because it was supposed to be entirely ambiguous or not, I wanted a bit more clarity there.

3. The crew member who was infected and went crazy -- yeah, whatever. Not that impressive. Why not take it to an extreme and have some crazy alien design there (Turns out they did -- they just didn't go that direction).

Got money that says the Director's Cut covers a lot of this.

4. Could have taken the 3-D away. That LIFE OF PI teaser was extremely effective and obviously is made FOR 3-D...and while Prometheus was shot in 3-D, I didn't think it made effective use of the technology. Maybe I just need to see it at home with superior brightness levels.

Right, but here's me shrugging my shoulders at 3D yet again.

What I liked, I loved -- the opening. The majestic nature of the visuals. The storm and the ship crashing. Noomi's "abortion" which was tense and suspenseful. The uncomfortable, disturbing but haunting visuals of the Engineer getting assaulted by the first prehistoric facehugger -- and the birthing scene at the end. Well done. Just enough to satisfy the Alien fans but yet, the movie still ended the main story line with Noomi and David's departure effectively (and in a moving way) setting it up for another one.

We knew this was going to be a good looking film. Even a Scott stinker is typically going to look good.

I do think Scott's intention was to open the door for another film. (He says as much in that book too). I'd also very much look forward to the journey. I love challenging sci-fi with something on its mind. Even with its shortcomings this was a heck of a movie -- especially at a time when so little sci-fi is anything but recycling of stuff we've seen before (Event Horizon, Sunshine, etc.), here's a movie with some haunting and fascinating concepts. Well done, but I can see where it's going to go over the heads of the "blood and guts" crowd who complained for months that the film could possibly be getting a PG-13 rating. I think they simply didn't understand what Scott was going after -- and still don't.

Can't disagree with this. At least this thing has some meat and IQ points behind it so I salute that.

[AndyDursin]

It's a one trick pony. Let's face it: Neither of these composers is anything special. I'm all but certain I've seen you call HGW a "hack" right here on this board in the past.

Except for that theme...such as it was...this score was a completely throway except for creating a fairly impressive sounding "soundstage" if that makes sense.

Oh I still think he's a hack. But that theme functioned much better in the movie than listening to Streitfeld's score by itself does. I'm just glad the score took that direction as opposed to how the album functions -- ugh!

BTW Scott said the Director's Cut is going to be 20 minutes longer but he likes the theatrical version.

Is this the book? How big is it? Can you give me some more details? I'm a sucker for these when done right.

Yep that's it, it's 187 pages -- hardcover coffee table styled book. Mostly artwork, production sketches, photos and some early CGI mock ups with not a ton of text. I like it. Some of the early images of "The Deacon" (the first alien) they didn't use from the end of the movie are evocative and gorgeous. It's not a real production history, more of an 'art' book if you know what I mean. For $23.XX though I think it's pretty nice.

Right. You forgot to mention a masterpiece score that, if it weren't there, I'm convinced is a big part of the reason that movie is held as highly as it is to this day.

It's an interesting argument because in my mind Scott ruined Goldsmith's score. All hacked to pieces, etc. The score works in the film but a lot of it is either tracked or background noise -- his music is just not on screen most of the way in that movie. I do think the Hanson music at the end worked melodically more than Goldsmith's end title did.

Ironically I thought the worst music in Prometheus was the quote from Goldsmith's unused main title, which wasn't really inserted effectively. It stood out like a sore thumb.

It's going to be interesting to see where this franchise goes from here. I don't think it can go back to just being a bunch of troops in the middle of nowhere shooting seas of space bugs with a bunch of pity one liners.

Not happening with a Prometheus sequel. Maybe one day when Fox decides to reboot the Alien series altogether you'd see that again...but that's not what Scott is interested in. We'll have to wait for that real ALIENS sequel we want, but I'm OK with that for now.

[Eric W.]

Oh I still think he's a hack. But that theme functioned much better in the movie than listening to Streitfeld's score by itself does. I'm just glad the score took that direction as opposed to how the album functions -- ugh!

Right.

BTW Scott said the Director's Cut is going to be 20 minutes longer but he likes the theatrical version.

Good for him. I'm betting most of us are going to like that extra 20 minutes.

Yep that's it, it's 187 pages -- hardcover coffee table styled book. Mostly artwork, production sketches, photos and some early CGI mock ups with not a ton of text. I like it. Some of the early images of "The Deacon" (the first alien) they didn't use from the end of the movie are evocative and gorgeous. It's not a real production history, more of an 'art' book if you know what I mean. For $23.XX though I think it's pretty nice.

Sweet.

It's an interesting argument because in my mind Scott ruined Goldsmith's score. All hacked to pieces, etc. The score works in the film but a lot of it is either tracked or background noise -- his music is just not on screen most of the way in that movie. I do think the Hanson music at the end worked melodically more than Goldsmith's end title did.

Ironically I thought the worst music in Prometheus was the quote from Goldsmith's unused main title, which wasn't really inserted effectively. It stood out like a sore thumb.

Agreed on both points but obviously not the fault of the composer.

Not happening with a Prometheus sequel. Maybe one day when Fox decides to reboot the Alien series altogether you'd see that again...but that's not what Scott is interested in. We'll have to wait for that real ALIENS sequel we want, but I'm OK with that for now.

I think Colonial Marines is going to be the closet thing we get to a real sequel of sorts, and hopefully a sequel to Aliens that lets me write off 3 and 4 like they never happened...which I've basically done anyways.

[mkaroly]

I agree that the use of Goldsmith's theme in this movie was...misused. I think they should have found a better place for quoting his score; maybe they should have used the music from when they were waking up from hypersleep or something.

Also, I really, really like the opening of the film. Great mood setter, and great visually. You know, I don't think I can remember the last film that had me thinking this much about it; in recent years there has been so much dreck. I am looking forward to seeing that extra 20 minutes. : )

[AndyDursin]

Also, I really, really like the opening of the film. Great mood setter, and great visually. You know, I don't think I can remember the last film that had me thinking this much about it; in recent years there has been so much dreck. I am looking forward to seeing that extra 20 minutes. : )

Exactly. I loved the opening -- and honestly I did like the score over it too. Think of all the garbage -- Event Horizon, Supernova, that overrated Sunshine or whatever it was -- out there. This movie really did attempt to blend commercial sensibilities with something interesting. In this day and age, Scott is to be commended, no question about it.