Prometheus, WTF you say?

What did you think of Prometheus (Warning MAJOR SPOILERS) if you have not seen the movie you may want to skip
this for now.....

Prometheus has a very dense “Religious & Mythological “ subtext, but is so ambiguous in execution
That it is only obvious in post analysis of the movie.

What we get instead of a solid narrative & characterization is just symbolism, to me that is just lazy writing.

At first viewing there are a lot of story beats that make no sense in the overall plot, but in review
The symbolism helps flesh out the meaning & actions of some of the characters in the movie.

For example the planet the mission goes to is “LV 223”
From the Bible, Leviticus 22:3

"Say to them: 'For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD.”

Now we have an idea of the motivations of the Alien “Engineers” the team discovers
And the sole alien survivor’s hostility towards Humans.

Ridley Scott has been quoted to a major plot point that was to be used, but does not show up in any obvious context in the movie “Jesus was an Alien” I guess they lost their nerve in making it an actual plot point instead of burying it in symbolism.

A main plot point made in the movie, something happened to the Alien Engineers on LV223
2000 years prior to the Prometheus Team landing, that caused the death of all but one Alien, What happened at that time in Earth history, The crucifixion of Christ of course, So if Christ was an Emissary of the Aliens, How do you think they may react?

The Alien “Engineer” depicted in the opening of the movie is literally “Prometheus/God”
The creator of man who is punished by the other Gods, because he gave Fire to Man.

MAJOR SPOLIER: The main character Elisabeth Shaw can’t have children but is impregnated
By her Scientist/Boyfriend who unknowingly has become infected with the Alien DNA changing Virus
On December 25th Christmas, Now to the Bible:

'And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.'

A barren woman called Elizabeth, made pregnant by 'God'?

So a movie about our creators being Aliens, We show our appreciation by killing their emissary “Jesus”
And their retribution by unleashing the perfect killing organism.

Sorry about all the religious content but I am just shining a little light on some of the less obvious plot points.

I can't remember another movie that I was so looking forward to and being left so disappointed. :(

They should have just had Charlize Theron strip down to her underpants and point the flamethrower towards the rest of the irritating cast. :)

And Horror/Sci-Fi as Jesus allegory?? It was done better in "The Day the Earth Stood Still". And even better yet in "Bride of Frankenstein"...

Bottom line, All the subtext still does not make a satisfying story
now if you have a solid narrative you can throw as much subtext into a movie
and still be engaged.

Damon Lindelof writer of Prometheus & the TV show "Lost"
did the same thing on Lost, he filled the show with so much symbolism, Myth & Sci Fi subtext
that had nothing really to do with the over all plot by the end of the show it ended up making no real sense what so ever.

But what Prometheus did do so well (And to be fair to the movie) was in the production end, The Cinematography, Art Design
& staging of the movie is absolutely gorgeous, It is one of the best looking movies in years.

But if your going to make a movie about Alien Gods & Alien Jesus, Have some balls & go for it, big time
Otherwise you end up with a weak story like this.

John "The Day the Earth stood still" did it right, Love that movie!

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2012-06-12 20:23 ]

Yeah but don't you think the cinematography, art design & staging was way better in the now 33-year old "Alien" ?? One of my favorite scenes in the original was the exploration of the alien ship (a la "Planet of the Vampires"). The way that "Prometheus" now puts that scene into context really ruins the mystery and imagination of the original. :(

Please oh please let's not make a "Blade Runner" sequel !!

On 2012-06-12 20:46, JOHN-O wrote:
Yeah but don't you think the cinematography, art design & staging was way better in the now 33-year old "Alien" ?? One of my favorite scenes in the original was the exploration of the alien ship (a la "Planet of the Vampires"). The way that "Prometheus" now puts that scene into context really ruins the mystery and imagination of the original. :(

Please oh please let's not make a "Blade Runner" sequel !!

Well considering the much lower budget & how important setting a tone & atmosphere was on Alien, you may be right.
I think the big problem here with Prometheus was the so called big ideas(and execution) negate much of the mystery & awe of the original
(First two) movies.

Also I am so bored of the Faith vs Science concept in modern Science Fiction film
A good example "The Black Hole"

On 2012-06-12 21:52, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:

Also I am so bored of the Faith vs Science concept in modern Science Fiction film...

Would you consider "2001: A Space Odyssey" as part of that genre? I really loved that film. :)

On 2012-06-12 21:52, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Well considering the much lower budget & how important setting a tone & atmosphere was on Alien, you may be right.

When Alien was in production, the Film Studio was trying to cut everything... cut the budget, cut the schedule, cut the budget some more. I think it forced everyone to get to the point and tell the story.

Promtheus, however, had what was reported big piles of money thrown at it and that might be what is wrong with it... no reason to work for anything. It is like the spoiled brat of the movies because it didn't have to work for anything.

John, 2001: A Space Odyssey's main theme of Alien contact,intervention & influence on our evolution
then taking a further step ,maybe evening causing that jump to a new level (The Star Child)
are themes hinted at in "Prometheus" (Notice the Visual nod to 2001 in the movie also? Even the Android David
has H.A.L. as a part of the characters DNA)

But Arthur C. Clark was keen on keeping religion out of the 2001 plot, (Thank God!) intended pun!
and while rich in symbolism & subtext, It's there to serve the story instead of convolute it, Like in Prometheus.

And for the record I did not hate the movie "Prometheus" as John did, I think it was entertaining
It had some good scary moments, A few good ideas & a couple of good performance's (Michael Fassbender is great)
It is the poor writing (Many of the characters are just plain stupid & unrealistic) and subtext instead of a solid plot
that make this just an OK movie, mainly because of the potential was there for it to be a great movie
but it just ends up falling on it's face in the end.