Home Films/DVD Asylum

Movies from comedy to drama to your favorite Hollyweird Star.

RE: strange

I will concede that the movie has aroused enough curiosity to cause this discussion in this forum. Yet I remain a disappointed viewer. Probably because I was never that great of a fan of the Alien movies to begin with.

There was only one Alien movie worth viewing--the first one--directed by Ridley Scott, who not coincidentally directed Prometheus.

The glass is half empty. In an Alien movie, the glass is always half empty.

The first Alien (again, the only one worth viewing and repeat viewing) is a brilliant visual poem exploring the human consciousness of "other". From design of set structures that conjured comparison to sexual organs to the juxtaposition of different races, sexes, species and indeed experiences.

This movie,Prometheus, indicates that the monsters are actually living weapons designed for the depopulation of a planet. Ours. And that like us, the monsters were constructed by the engineers. But for some unknown reason, the monsters have turned on their creators at this remote installation and killed them all except for the one remaining survivor, who later is consumed by a monster and dies.

That's just the outer layer. As you say, the question is "why". Why would the creators of life decide to snuff it out? Why would tools made of the stuff of creation not work as intended?

The Elizabeth Shaw character, the story's protagonist is, at the end, seen blasting off the planet in one of the Engineer's ships. She, along with the robot, David, are off to find the Engineers and have that talk with them that her dead husband originally so strongly desired to have.

Yes, but that conversation is like "talking about God"...you just don't do that in a movie script, unless you want to sound stupid. A good advertisement doesn't tell you "go out and buy some potato chips; it makes you feel--through words and images--like tasting them. That is exactly what needs to happen in films that dance around questions about the meaning of life and its origins. You don't go and show what happened, or have the creator sit down with the created for a cup of tea and a friendly chat. That just doesn't do justice to the gravity and importance of the question--and in the context of sci fi, establishing a mythology must remain mysterious in order to inform real life, in which the answers to these questions are unknowable.

Do I detect potential for the sequel to develop into a huge sweeping saga about planet Earth's desperate attempt to avoid extinction and find a way to defeat the Engineers.

I could just as easily dream up a narrative where Shaw is sucked up in a plot for the engineers to save themselves from their own creations. Or where they try to find their creator(s) to beg to be spared.

Could we learn that there is something more that the monsters and us humans have in common? What did the Engineers learn that made them want to depopulate the Earth? Should we be? Or are their motives less than noble. Do they just covet our planet for their own population? A sequel could explore stuff like that. But, having seen the other Alien movies I know it will be something downbeat. There will be corporate greed. There will be villainous, traitorous corporate officers. And actions that shows humans, by their own behavior, that they deserve nothing less than extinction. It will be depressing and demoralizing. Like all the other alien movies.

Well, so far Scott is slated to produce if not direct the sequel. So I hold out hope that it will not rapidly degrade into mediocrity like the Alien series. Certainly if Cameron gets involved it will become a joke.

Compare it to 2001 where, at the movie's end, Bowman is rescued by the unnamed beings who left the monolith on Earth. The viewer then is allowed to see that Bowman grows old in comfort, dies, and then reincarnates into something different. And then the movie ends but leaving the viewer to wonder if the answers to life's biggest questions aren't about to show themselves.

See, I thought those kinds of things were rather silly and undermined the importance of the subject matter.

I think we are putting too much thought into an "Alien" movie.

I don't think you can put too much thought into something produced by one of the greatest working directors who worked on the film for over a year at the cost of about $125 million. I think what bothers many sci fi fans about Prometheus is the way it is largely an anti-scifi film, the way Unforgiving was an anti-Western. If we take Prometheus at face value, scientists are the retards. Faith in God is the saving grace of humanity. This conclusion alone is worth meditation.



Edits: 11/11/12

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.  


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
  • RE: strange - Jazz Inmate 22:05:11 11/11/12 (2)

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.