[mwardy]

Originally Posted by Danger Close

Regarding the spoiler ^^^

Spoiler

Would you try to pet a snake on Earth? What made him think an alien snake would be friendly? Why was he an idiot of impossible magnitude? Did he bluff his way through school/college/university? Why didn't he even have an inkling that these snakes might have been what the Engineers were running from? Scientist my arse!

Yes, exactly--see the first spoiler. In fact I was glad they met early and horrible deaths because it put an end to their stupid. OK, one hung on a bit--and he deserved every suffering second of it.

So there!

[Ethel_Fred]

Originally Posted by nathanbrazil

Waylands's daughter being talked into a cheap shag

Coincidently leaving the bridge empty for when the numpties get attacked by the pretty snake - what DID the Weylands (including David) know about the planet, it seems that they knew more than everyone else even the "experts". Who deleted the tapes of the attack - and why did no-one notice it?

Originally Posted by nathanbrazil

I took that to be Earth. The inference being his altered, perhaps cleansed DNA got into the primordial water, and eventually crawled out. Later still leading to humanity.

Can't be - it would imply that the Earth was visited for a very long time afterwards, long enough for Man to evolve and find out / be told about the Engineers to draw the pictograms. Which raises the other question - Why was the ship we saw in that scene different from the other ships?

[Johnny Clay]

Here's another question:

Are we getting a sequel or what? I've read reports of sequels planned, but nothing confirmed.

Business-wise, $284m (so far) on the back of a $130m budget is pretty safe I guess, but it hasn't really set the world alight in the way some figured it might.

[InTheLoop]

Where's this much vaunted poll we were promised?

[mwardy]

Originally Posted by Ethel_Fred

Coincidently leaving the bridge empty for when the numpties get attacked by the pretty snake

Yes--bad plotting. (Unless they shamelessly trump up a post-hoc justification in the next...episode. In which case it will still be shameless. I suspect it's a fine detail that will be forgotten though.)

Originally Posted by Ethel_Fred

- what DID the Weylands (including David) know about the planet, it seems that they knew more than everyone else even the "experts".Who deleted the tapes of the attack

Yes--possibly good plotting, certainly indicated by David's behaviour, which could be a big point if they make that episode.

Originally Posted by Ethel_Fred

- and why did no-one notice it?

There is no escape from this one.

BTW, nice reference Dave Bowman at the end of 2001 in your earlier post. It passed me by completely at the time, striking as it was, but it looks bang on. You don't light like that accidentally.

Add to that that David () is washing his "father's" feet, JC style, and you once again have the sense that this was a mature, intelligent script that got murdered.

[leaby]

Finally caught this over the weekend. I didn't uphold expectations for it, I just knew that it was set in the same universe as Alien and that it had the same director. That was enough for me to want to see it.

I wasn't disappointed.

Spoiler

Primarily, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much this film does relate to Alien. We are treated to a depiction of the creature's very origin, and what's more, one that is VERY fitting for it. It's essentially derived from DNA engineered as a form of bioweapon - the very purpose that Weyland-Yutani saw in the Xenomorphs when they sent the Nostromo crew to their doom in Alien. Naturally, it also contains the DNA of both humans and "the engineers" (the film receives a "you fail science forever" award for outright stating that the DNA of both are identical when there are very clearly inherent differences between the two species).

Aside from the Alien stuff, I thought it was a decent film anyway. I do see what people mean about the bad characterisation, but only in terms of the characters perhaps not reacting as real people would to the situation they’re in (which, of course, is one of the great things about Alien). Where people claim the characters are stupid, I think it’s more the case that they’re simply not “genre savvy,” i.e. they make clichéd mistakes in terms of fiction, but some of their actions are probably not beyond what a lot of people lacking in basic common sense would do in that situation. Failing that justification, I think this film could make a hilarious drinking game…

Moreover, the female lead was strong. For me, that was enough to carry the story. Also, the film makers now have a “fresh start” for the sequel, taking from Prometheus the two strongest characters (Elizabeth and David), so I think they might learn from the mistakes they made with Prometheus.

Throw in the special effects porn, a great plot for the investigation, yet more attention to detail in designing a realistic universe, and a fab sequel hook, and this film gets a 4/5 from me

[Craigywageybaby]

Originally Posted by nathanbrazil

Yes, that did not make any sense at all. Were we supposed to infer some kind of genetic racial memory?



I took that to be Earth. The inference being his altered, perhaps cleansed DNA got into the primordial water, and eventually crawled out. Later still leading to humanity.

The above, I could take, as there was room for thought. But, the dozy script: thickos on the ship, Waylands's daughter being talked into a cheap shag, and Geiger-lite critter design marred the beauty of the visuals.

Ridley Scott, stop polishing your ego, and make us a good movie!

It's an assumption that the engineers wanted us to follow them to their plant. My take was that they had influence on all earlier existance of man. Something happened to stop this influence, maybe the same reason as why the planet they landed on was desserted. A reason we'll probably find out if there is another film.

[brangdon]

Originally Posted by leaby

Spoiler

It's essentially derived from DNA engineered as a form of bioweapon - the very purpose that Weyland-Yutani saw in the Xenomorphs when they sent the Nostromo crew to their doom in Alien.

Spoiler

What intrigued me was that it didn't seem to be engineered as a bioweapon, at least at first. It was a terraforming tool.

I see the engineers as people who went around creating life on planets that didn't have it before (eg the opening scene, which probably wasn't Earth), and giving a helping hand on planets that did have it (eg Earth). They developed a tool that could rewrite DNA, and that could spread itself like an infection, but it wasn't a weapon. It was, however, dangerous, because it tended to transform any living tissue it came into contact with. What happened at the base may have been an accidental leak. Or maybe it was re-purposed as a weapon later, in the thousands of years between their first visit to Earth and their demise.

[Ethel_Fred]

Originally Posted by PJ68

blade runner was slaughtered when it first came out, no one 'got' it. now look at it though.

Speak for yourself, I loved it - even with the voice over and happy ending

[leaby]

Originally Posted by brangdon

Spoiler

What intrigued me was that it didn't seem to be engineered as a bioweapon, at least at first. It was a terraforming tool.

I see the engineers as people who went around creating life on planets that didn't have it before (eg the opening scene, which probably wasn't Earth), and giving a helping hand on planets that did have it (eg Earth). They developed a tool that could rewrite DNA, and that could spread itself like an infection, but it wasn't a weapon. It was, however, dangerous, because it tended to transform any living tissue it came into contact with. What happened at the base may have been an accidental leak. Or maybe it was re-purposed as a weapon later, in the thousands of years between their first visit to Earth and their demise.

Spoiler

My theory definitely relates to the latter. My interpretation was that the engineers had developed lots of different organic tools for creating life; the "goo" seen on the planet was designed for destructive purposes and is very unlike the substance we see the engineer drink at the beginning.

[maurice45]

Originally Posted by Ethel_Fred

Speak for yourself, I loved it - even with the voice over and happy ending

Same, I've got the DVD and I'm never parting with it!

[TelevisionUser]

I've also seen this film now in "3D" (more like 2.3D)* and it's quite fair science fiction entertainment and it can be seen as a standalone film. It does also go some way to explaining some of the things in the first Alien films.

I noticed on the end credits that they did have a science advisor. Some the things that went on did require the suspension of disbelief...

Spoiler

but some things they got completely right. For example, the reverse engineering of a language based on later clues because that's already been done on Earth with the Proto-Indo-European language. That said, I wish there had been subtitles on the exchange between David the android and the reawakened alien which might have explain why the alien was so darn hostile.

*The only decent 3D effects I have seen have been in a proper IMAX cinema.

[Densino]

Originally Posted by Johnny Clay

Here's another question:

Are we getting a sequel or what? I've read reports of sequels planned, but nothing confirmed.

Business-wise, $284m (so far) on the back of a $130m budget is pretty safe I guess, but it hasn't really set the world alight in the way some figured it might.

It's pretty much slowing down now....should come to an end with around 320 million.

[Nefrati]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koHjZg8W0Sw

[MrSuper]

Well, well, well. Sequel is in the cards. Noomi and Michael signed up.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/n...mi-rapace.html

[balthasar]

Turning the Space Jockey into a badguy in a suit may have worked in a episode of Scooby-Doo, a sequel well how many more twists & turns can fitted in?.

[Alt-F4]

Originally Posted by balthasar

Turning the Space Jockey into a badguy in a suit may have worked in a episode of Scooby-Doo, a sequel well how many more twists & turns can fitted in?.

The sequel will outline the story better for those who didn't bother to look beyond the action.

[Steve AWOL]

Originally Posted by MrSuper

Well, well, well. Sequel is in the cards. Noomi and Michael signed up.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/n...mi-rapace.html

Fortunately Lindelof appears to be unavailable!

[MrSuper]

Originally Posted by Steve AWOL

Fortunately Lindelof appears to be unavailable!

That can only be a good thing surely!

[mwardy]

Originally Posted by Alt-F4

The sequel will outline the story better for those who didn't bother to look beyond the action.

Oh good. So we will finally find out why

--the biologist ran away from the first ever human encounter with an alien species, even though it was a corpse. Then, having spooked himself and the geologist (see below) so much that they got lost in the tunnels so they were going to have to spend the night underground, went up all aah--ahhh to a very much alive, threatening, cobra-like penimonster as if it were a lost kitty.

--when the 'pregnant' Shaw escaped David and his suddenly nasty Scottish helper who were trying to stuff her into a cryogenic chamber, they didn't come after her even though she only had a ten foot start on them.

--when Shaw ran upon Weyland (a few minutes later?) during a quasi religious footwashing ceremony, nobody looked surprised or worried. And they *all* started acting as if nothing much had happened.

-- the hardass, punky, Mad Max bit part guy started out growling about how nobody was his friend, then when things got dicey, yelped that he was a geologist who liked rocks, and tried to run away.

--the no-name remaining Prometheus crew, instantly persuaded by an only slightly more sketched in captain Elba, agreed that gleefully ramming into the rising alien ship, with rollercoaster hands in the air, was the best option.

Yes, I'm waiting to have these questions, and more, answered. But somehow I think I'll wait for somebody to tell me rather than going myself, after the last travesty. (Unlike The Dark Knight Rises, which I've seen twice at the IMAX.)

Unless you can possibly fill these blanks in for me?

[dcb1986]

i enjoyed the film a lot. It could obviously have been much better, but overall pretty good. I'm glad they will have capacity to further expand the mythology with a sequel.

[premixxed]

Watched it last night, sadly it had more holes than Bonny & Clydes car.

Don't want to sound pessimistic about sequels but Ridley is 75 in November, that's hard going, even though he looks about 55.

I fear a lot of questions will go unanswered which should either not have being asked, or partially resolved.

I have a lot of questions.

Only bumping because the disk releases are soon(ish)

[ironjade]

Noomi Rapace's thighs were the scariest thing in the entire movie.

[stvn758]

Finally watched it so I can return to the thread, anyone else mentioned the Stanley Kubrick overtones - I'm no film buff but it was very much in his style. It looked great, can't fault Ridley there, it felt very rushed at two hours, could have watched it for a couple more to be honest.

The start looked like the guy was seeding life on a planet, then later we have in one sentence the explanation that this is a biological weapons plant. I do hate it when they explain everything in one sentence - a good script shouldn't need to but I was baffled so it probably helped.

[koantemplation]

Originally Posted by stvn758

Finally watched it so I can return to the thread, anyone else mentioned the Stanley Kubrick overtones - I'm no film buff but it was very much in his style. It looked great, can't fault Ridley there, it felt very rushed at two hours, could have watched it for a couple more to be honest.

The start looked like the guy was seeding life on a planet, then later we have in one sentence the explanation that this is a biological weapons plant. I do hate it when they explain everything in one sentence - a good script shouldn't need to but I was baffled so it probably helped.

We don't know for sure if that is what is happening.

That is just the interpretation they give to their findings.

It could also be their way of seeding planets like we initially thought.

But like most technology it can go wrong. So something that can mutate DNA could also create the Aliens by accident.