Prometheus was visually stunning but is lacking in script. Certain moments are way to rushed and there are logical iconsistencies. I’m also not sure I’m a huge fan of this lost-style script that just leaves so much to the imagination, it makes me wonder if the movie is really smart or just really dumb.
Edit: A friend sent me this link which has a seriously religious take on on it..which seems very spot on. Say it aint so. Because I think I like AVP story better than pseudo-religious-magic-pshycic-goo crapola. Still dont get it though…what..we kill space jesus and they go batshit? Because of what…survival instincts? Weak sauce. Weak.
What I choose to believe
In the end I think Prometheus is best summed up by the quote from the movie “What I choose to believe”.. and I choose to belive it’s not retarded and that the plot is not as simple as it can be thought out in 5 minutes by the captain of Prometheus.
Military installation?
In the movie we are presented with the opinion/chosen belief that they are on an alien military installation where they test weapons of mass destruction and that the goo serves no specific purpose but to be a maleovalent mutagen used to turn biological entities into ultra killers.
However this view makes no sense. Why would the engineers allow traces on earth to a planetary system (supposedly the alien canon ties nicely into ‘real-life’ alien lore in that we are talking about zeta reticuli, the supposed home of an alien race responsible for many alien abductation cases) only to let it be a military installation full of super lethal pathogens and death.
I mean logic would dictate that if you are a super advanced race capeable of interstellar travel, you’d place such an installation million if not billion of light-years away from your planet and you’d keep this location a secret.
BUT we can certainly conclude that neither LV226 or LV426 are the homeworlds of the alien engineers, because in the end of Prometheus, Shaw and David takes off for what is supposedly the homeworld of the engineers.
So if it’s not a base to produce weapons, what is it? I don’t know! And why do they have tons of goo there?
One thing that seems clear with the goo found in the “temple” is that the Xenomorph we all know and love seems to be some sort of supposed end-result of that type of goo. It is clearly depicted on the temple and thefore seems to be an intended design (again…for that goo)
It’s a trap!
Well to quote Admiral Ackbar, I’ve read on various forums they think the base was designed as some sort of trap. I find that very hard to believe.. why not just leave clear directions instead of hard to find scriblings on cave walls. It’s not like 20th century man could travel there anyway.
Big Bald Humans..tools of the engineers?
Personally I am not even sure the engineers are the same race or that they are at least different from the Big Bald Humans (henceforth referred to as BBH). First of all in the beginning, we’re shown a classical flying saucer leaving a primordial earth. This type of ship is not seen again. And why the hell would you “seed” a planet with DNA by killing yourself.. I mean certainly there must be other ways of doing this if you’re capeable of interstellar travel and super DNA modifications. Then again.. that whole sequence almost have a religious vibe to it, like he was some sort of sacrifical lamb. The bone of adam and all that..
Could it be that the BBHs serve some sort of utility function for the real engineers? That they are used as tools to create and destroy?
The way the BBH just goes mental on David and the others almost looks like he/it is programmed to perform a certain task and they are just obstacles.
I don’t remeber seeing any bursted ribcages for the dead BBHs they find either. Something certainly happened to the base and I think it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that Xenos had killed them all…but if that were true..where are they? Or the evidence of them? I’m also not sure that all the black goo is alike. I mean they walk into one room with the giant stone face and a Xeno depicted on the wall..but when they walk into the “bridge” or other storage area, they find similar containers but none of the menacing statues or stone works..and none of the containers are on the floor or has begun leaking. And clearly not all goo is alike since the BBH in the beginning of the movie drinks it for another purpose than to spread death (or well, that’s my take). Again this speaks to the theory of LV226 not being a military installation.
The fact that there are rock paintings from different areas of earth and from different times suggests that they had been coming to earth for a while and also had some form of interaction with homo sapiens..and showed them were they (immidiately) came from.
It could be that the BBH, being tools, are used to seed planets, teach, harvest genetical material and to kill when needed.. and while teaching early humans they showed them advanced starmaps that ended up on cave walls.
The easy access to the holographic system of the ship is also weird..all in all it all feels almost automated and supervised. Again as if BBH are just tools on a semi automated space station, constantly recorded by whoever “built” them.
Maybe the BBHs were the “clay” that were used, but that they in the end rebelled and “stole the fire” and were wiped out by the engineers? Were the BBH really going to earth to “wipe us out”?
Guy Pearce in makeup?
Another weird part is having Guy Pearce wear make up and act as an old guy. Like wtf? Are there additional directors cut minutes where we will see him as young or are there details left for a potential sequel.. I mean if not, why not just use a real old guy?
David and canon
I also don’t get why David would give the pathogen to Holloway. Sure, he sais he would do anything and everything but David obviously has no clue what the black goo would do to him.. and even if he was told to try harder from the Old Guy.. it still makes little sense.. but for the sake of argument lets say it’s some sort of scientific curiousity and that he does it with the hope of finding the source of youth.
I do think a lot of people might misread the weight of his actions though..that Davids random (as far as we know) actions would end up creating our fav Xeno. He merly end up creating a Xeno… not theXeno. There is no the Xeno as shown by all the movies and canon; the Xeno varies in appearance and type slightly depending on what type of host it comes from and it’s genetical..history.. so to speak.
In that way I don’t think Prometheus messes with any established canon at all.
David in general makes me think a lot about Blade Runner and Scotts clear fascination with what it means to be human. And while that’s not bad in itself I do think the development of the other characters suffers immensly because of the intense focus on David, Shaw and a few others.
Below are a few more notes that just sprung to mind
Rushed
I can’t have babies!
Some more depth could have been added..
Cut it out of me and sever muscle tissue with laser but then stitch me up SAW-style with clamps, 2 minutes later I’m up running and jumping
That’s just retarded and physically impossible. Why not atleast offer some plausible ultra modern tissue-regen gadget.
Inconsistencies
I’m a very afraid biologist, not in the least interrsted in a dead alien body!
But you want to cuddle with an alive alien slug?
Behold! My smart ‘pups’ that will map everything with a cool
looking effect!
But you get lost in your way back to the ship?
Some sort of conclusion..
Despite allll of this..or maybe because all of this I like the movie and I want to see it again to see what I missed the first time:) I very much hope there will be sequels that will fill in the holes in this one and maybe in time we’ll get more explanations to the story.
I hope there is more than the simple view we are presented with by the captain, and as long as I know that there might be, I will leave my IMDB rating of 7/10. Two of those points are on merit just for having the balls to go R and two of those are for visuals..the incoherent mess of a story gets 2 and the acting of David and Shaw earns 1 point
