RE: strange

RE: strange

Posted by Jazz Inmate (A) on November 11, 2012 at 22:05:11

In Reply to: RE: strange posted by user510 on November 10, 2012 at 21:32:13:

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.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Prometheus Threedux . . . - mr grits 16:11:59 11/08/12 (44)

Thanks to this post I just ordered it, NT. - Peter Breuninger 16:05:34 11/14/12 (0)

RE: good grief, I've now watched this three times as well - user510 11:53:27 11/10/12 (8)

"Dare we ask why? The movie doesn't chose to answer why." Sorry, you actually have to think about it - Jazz Inmate 20:34:44 11/10/12 (7)

RE: strange - user510 21:32:13 11/10/12 (5)

RE: earth is a military experiment - Jon L5 20:24:21 11/14/12 (1)

RE: that would fit.....(nt) - user510 20:36:58 11/14/12 (0)

RE: strange - Jazz Inmate 22:05:11 11/11/12 (2)

RE: strange - Fretless 19:54:54 11/12/12 (1)

RE: strange - Jazz Inmate 21:52:59 11/12/12 (0)

There you go. Right answer. - free.ranger 21:15:44 11/10/12 (0)

Great looking, incredibly stupid movie. - mbnx01 10:44:20 11/10/12 (2)

Movies are about sequels not necessarily answers. * - mr grits 09:38:00 11/12/12 (0)

RE: Great looking, incredibly stupid movie. - Daryl Zero 18:27:03 11/10/12 (0)

I still can't get over someone performing abdominal surgery on herself - Doug Flynn 22:15:25 11/08/12 (13)

RE: I still can't get over someone performing abdominal surgery on herself - R Browne 13:18:20 11/09/12 (2)

I'm still surprised her 'abortion' wasn't criticized by Mourdock and Akin. * - Enophile 11:37:36 11/10/12 (1)

No taxpayer dollars were used. - R Browne 12:03:18 11/10/12 (0)

Another continuity moment, along with leaving umbilical tissue and maybe a placenta lying inside as leftovers. - Enophile 11:07:21 11/09/12 (6)

Nice family movie. What's next, "SlasherManiac?" nt - tinear 16:34:30 11/09/12 (3)

12 and 15. I can send them over to help you figure out the film, if you like. - Enophile 11:23:55 11/10/12 (2)

A gory abortion scene. Yeah, real family fare. Strange family, yours.... nt - tinear 18:08:42 11/10/12 (1)

I'll put you down with Akin and Mourdock. - Enophile 22:06:11 11/10/12 (0)

It was a self cleaning device. She evin sanitized the squid NT - Jazz Inmate 15:40:36 11/09/12 (1)

She still gots 'parts' in her. * - Enophile 11:24:43 11/10/12 (0)

David complimented her survival instincts......those drugs must have been good. * - mr grits 06:04:48 11/09/12 (0)

The autosurgeon performed the foreign body removal - Jazz Inmate 22:28:45 11/08/12 (1)

by the way, I thought that "abortion" scene was more intense than any scene in the original Alien - Jazz Inmate 22:43:56 11/08/12 (0)

Just watched it again with the kids. There does seem to be a "Jesus" connection Scott is trying to make. - Enophile 20:10:04 11/08/12 (7)

Nope. Liked it better on second AND third viewings. Actually, I just really was amazed by the first - tinear 08:07:03 11/09/12 (2)

Kind of stock? Did you watch the credits . . . - mr grits 10:08:51 11/09/12 (1)

I think he meant the tropes, not the footage. * - Enophile 11:34:55 11/10/12 (0)

RE: Just watched it again with the kids. There does seem to be a "Jesus" connection Scott is trying to make. - Jazz Inmate 22:38:12 11/08/12 (3)

Maybe if you Google germ theory, it will alter your sense of the helmets' utility. - Enophile 08:01:18 11/09/12 (2)

Those two knuckleheads were there to show you how bad we have become . . . - mr grits 10:10:03 11/09/12 (1)

science has become bad...really bad - Jazz Inmate 22:16:34 11/11/12 (0)

I agree with your take...more specifically I think humanity reminded them of their own shortcomings - Jazz Inmate 18:28:27 11/08/12 (5)

I would have to go to Fourdux . . . - mr grits 18:39:47 11/08/12 (4)

"I thought the audacity of Weyland seeking immortality was the offending stroke" - Jazz Inmate 19:28:12 11/08/12 (3)

RE: "I thought the audacity of Weyland seeking immortality was the offending stroke" - mr grits 06:20:37 11/09/12 (2)

I think David was "pleased" (if that applies to a robot) because his maker was finally dying - Jazz Inmate 07:11:50 11/09/12 (1)

Agreed. Harkens back to when Weyland 'insulted' David for his lack of a soul. - Enophile 22:08:02 11/10/12 (0)

There will be a P2, so maybe some of the blanks will be filled in. - free.ranger 16:38:28 11/08/12 (2)

I hope Scott directs P2. If this series goes the way Alien went (rapidly downhill) I will not be pleased NT - Jazz Inmate 19:30:52 11/08/12 (1)

Scott is no Spring chicken, he needs to get'r done. * - mr grits 06:08:44 11/09/12 (0)

Follow Ups

RE: strange - Jazz Inmate 22:05:11 11/11/12 (2)

RE: strange - Fretless 19:54:54 11/12/12 (1)

RE: strange - Jazz Inmate 21:52:59 11/12/12 (0)

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