Alright, just got home from watching Prometheus (originally 2:55am--didnt realize i was going to write so much) and have some thoughts running through my head I want to write down.
First, I thought the movie was great. Even though we had been told this would not be a direct sequel, I kept waiting for that moment where the stories would connect. There were many nods to the original Alien movie as had been discussed before--the concept of being in hypersleep/stasis, David the Android, corrosive blood, the egg chamber, the new "xenomorph" at the end and most obvious the Engineers (Space Jockeys).
A few things I noticed and want to see if others caught the same:
The opening scene - The shots during the opening credits were supposed to be Earth before there was life. The engineer drank the black substance which appears to be a purely organic catalyst for evolution. The ship hovering above the waterfall is how he arrived. His DNA was mutated and when he fell down the waterfall it was dispersed into the water and the cells began to replicate. This is the origin of life as we know it on Earth.
The Engineers have visited Earth many times during the course of human history. Why exactly they came and for what purpose I still don't quite understand.
The cobra looking creatures that killed the first two crew members evolved from the worms in the ground.
Just like the pilot explained, the Engineers basically created a stockpile of the organic material that somehow may have leaked. The holographic images of them running down the corridor must have been when the chit hit the fan. The one that fell and was decapitated must have been inflicted, fell over from the pain and boom goes the dynamite. The others appear to have been locked out of the "star map" chamber by the last surviving Engineer. They died outside the door when whatever evolved creature burst out of their bodies. Why the Engineer chose to go into hyper sleep instead of take off from the planet I still don't quite follow.
I'm not sure I really cared about the old man or the fact that Charlize Theron's character was his daughter. To me, it didn't seem important to the story except for the fact that they had a ton of money to pay for the mission in the first place. Were they trying to make it seem like the old man already knew about the black substance and the existence of the Engineers? Or was he just so obsessed with life that he found out about Ellie's discovery that he had to go "meet his maker."
David asked Ellie about how her father died and I believe he said "bubonic plague." then he said he saw her dreams. Did he mean that literally or could her father have been involved in researching the black substance for the old man's company and was somehow exposed?
What was the point in David spiking Mr. Ellie's drink with the black stuff only to let him be killed when it was discovered he was infected? Did he logically conclude that she would sleep with him and create another evolved creature inside her? I ask only because David wasn't too concerned with what happened to the alien fetus once it was growing inside her nor did he have a reaction when he realized she had it surgically removed. Was he trying to have one brought back to Earth?
I really liked that they made the Space Jockey's face a helmet and discovered that the thing behind it was nearly human. It's like someone had been holding onto that secret for nearly 40 years since the original Alien. I thought this was an awesome basis to create a "loose prequel."
I was at the edge of my seat when the Engineer hopped into the cockpit of that massive gun-looking machine because I figured that was the crossover moment. I feel like they did a great job developing the background, but once the Engineer woke up the story moved a little too fast. It wasn't even 10 minutes I think from the time he woke to when the ship was crashing back down to the ground.
The Ending - I'm pretty sure this is going to be the biggest point of discussion. I wanted to jump up and say "Yes!" when the parasite thing jumped into the Engineer's mouth because I just knew at that point that this was the origin of the Xenomorph from Alien. Well, after the movie was over I realized that that was not the connection I was looking for. Obviously the alien creature came out of the Engineer in the ship while he was laying down and not while in the cockpit. I was a little disappointed in that at first, but then I realized that these events happened elsewhere from the original. Ellie leaving the planet with David in an identical ship leads me to believe that there could definitely be a sequel. So when everyone was saying this is not a direct prequel, perhaps it's just semantics. What if this movie is a prequel to the real prequel? What if Ellie finds where the Engineers came from and another line of evolution begins, leading to the setting of the original Alien. Of course, it's obvious to me now this is not even the same planet or moon as the events in Alien occurred on the planet LV-426 and this movie takes place on LV-223. I think that's ultimately where Ellie is going.
So overall, I thought the movie was entertaining and they definitely stuck to the "this is not a direct prequal to Alien" mantra, but I'm convinced now that it means this could really just be the prequal to the prequal.
IBtl;dr
[This message has been edited by mikefromdilley (edited 6/8/2012 4:20a).]
First, I thought the movie was great. Even though we had been told this would not be a direct sequel, I kept waiting for that moment where the stories would connect. There were many nods to the original Alien movie as had been discussed before--the concept of being in hypersleep/stasis, David the Android, corrosive blood, the egg chamber, the new "xenomorph" at the end and most obvious the Engineers (Space Jockeys).
A few things I noticed and want to see if others caught the same:
The opening scene - The shots during the opening credits were supposed to be Earth before there was life. The engineer drank the black substance which appears to be a purely organic catalyst for evolution. The ship hovering above the waterfall is how he arrived. His DNA was mutated and when he fell down the waterfall it was dispersed into the water and the cells began to replicate. This is the origin of life as we know it on Earth.
The Engineers have visited Earth many times during the course of human history. Why exactly they came and for what purpose I still don't quite understand.
The cobra looking creatures that killed the first two crew members evolved from the worms in the ground.
Just like the pilot explained, the Engineers basically created a stockpile of the organic material that somehow may have leaked. The holographic images of them running down the corridor must have been when the chit hit the fan. The one that fell and was decapitated must have been inflicted, fell over from the pain and boom goes the dynamite. The others appear to have been locked out of the "star map" chamber by the last surviving Engineer. They died outside the door when whatever evolved creature burst out of their bodies. Why the Engineer chose to go into hyper sleep instead of take off from the planet I still don't quite follow.
I'm not sure I really cared about the old man or the fact that Charlize Theron's character was his daughter. To me, it didn't seem important to the story except for the fact that they had a ton of money to pay for the mission in the first place. Were they trying to make it seem like the old man already knew about the black substance and the existence of the Engineers? Or was he just so obsessed with life that he found out about Ellie's discovery that he had to go "meet his maker."
David asked Ellie about how her father died and I believe he said "bubonic plague." then he said he saw her dreams. Did he mean that literally or could her father have been involved in researching the black substance for the old man's company and was somehow exposed?
What was the point in David spiking Mr. Ellie's drink with the black stuff only to let him be killed when it was discovered he was infected? Did he logically conclude that she would sleep with him and create another evolved creature inside her? I ask only because David wasn't too concerned with what happened to the alien fetus once it was growing inside her nor did he have a reaction when he realized she had it surgically removed. Was he trying to have one brought back to Earth?
I really liked that they made the Space Jockey's face a helmet and discovered that the thing behind it was nearly human. It's like someone had been holding onto that secret for nearly 40 years since the original Alien. I thought this was an awesome basis to create a "loose prequel."
I was at the edge of my seat when the Engineer hopped into the cockpit of that massive gun-looking machine because I figured that was the crossover moment. I feel like they did a great job developing the background, but once the Engineer woke up the story moved a little too fast. It wasn't even 10 minutes I think from the time he woke to when the ship was crashing back down to the ground.
The Ending - I'm pretty sure this is going to be the biggest point of discussion. I wanted to jump up and say "Yes!" when the parasite thing jumped into the Engineer's mouth because I just knew at that point that this was the origin of the Xenomorph from Alien. Well, after the movie was over I realized that that was not the connection I was looking for. Obviously the alien creature came out of the Engineer in the ship while he was laying down and not while in the cockpit. I was a little disappointed in that at first, but then I realized that these events happened elsewhere from the original. Ellie leaving the planet with David in an identical ship leads me to believe that there could definitely be a sequel. So when everyone was saying this is not a direct prequel, perhaps it's just semantics. What if this movie is a prequel to the real prequel? What if Ellie finds where the Engineers came from and another line of evolution begins, leading to the setting of the original Alien. Of course, it's obvious to me now this is not even the same planet or moon as the events in Alien occurred on the planet LV-426 and this movie takes place on LV-223. I think that's ultimately where Ellie is going.
So overall, I thought the movie was entertaining and they definitely stuck to the "this is not a direct prequal to Alien" mantra, but I'm convinced now that it means this could really just be the prequal to the prequal.
IBtl;dr
[This message has been edited by mikefromdilley (edited 6/8/2012 4:20a).]