Prometheus [4K UHD]

A stand-alone masterpiece among the Ridley Scott "Alien" universe. I thoroughly respect the intelligence of the screenwriters who put this script together, and the editors that made this work. This film is not for the slow crowd. It's definitely mindful, with a lot of subtext and nuance. It will leave you thinking, perhaps even debating its meaning with others. I'm a senior, and a videophile, and I rank this film in my top 50 of all time. See it! You won't be disappointed.

Loved the movie

I'll get the visceral reaction out of the way quickly. I was disappointed with the movie the first time I watched it, from a director who gave us the original "Alien" and "Blade Runner" plus gripping non-sci fi films such as "Black Rain" and "Gladiator". The best thing I can say for Director Scott is that I believe the primary problem is not with the premise, which had enormous potential, but in the plot and the line by line writing. But, I watched it a second time the next night, and some of the kinks were ironed out by noticing some lines. Also, the relevance of the Prometheus myth became far clearer, and through it, I realized an important back story explanation which was obscured by the characters' ignorance. Read the Prometheus story before watching the movie and pay very close attention to the opening (and think 2001 opening.)One indicator of how incomplete things seem is that the very old billionaire, Peter Weyland, is played by a fine middle aged actor, Guy Pearce, but we never see him younger in flashbacks, which were probably cut from the final editing. Without giving too much away, the Peter Weyland character adds very little to the story aside from being the person who funds the mission.I sensed something was seriously out of joint when the "away team" enters the cavernous artifact. After encountering something just a bit squeamish, the geologist Fifield (Sean Harris) and biologist Milburn (Rafe Spall) decide to return to the Prometheus (the name of the humans' interstellar space ship.) The remaining team does a fair amount of exploring. Among other things, they see a hologram of the intelligent giants, drawings of whom they found on Earth. they are seeking running from some unseen danger. I saw no clue to what triggered the hologram. Following the hologram, they find the decapitated head of one of the giants (as opposed to the 'aliens' we encountered in earlier films).The captain of the Prometheus sends them a message that a serious storm is approaching. The team, with the usual annoyingly distracting side efforts which slow them down, reach the entrance and begin driving their vehicles back to the ship. But, and here the train falls off the track, never to return, we find Fifield and Milburn still in the artifact, when they said they were returning to the ship. They found some kind of life which intrigued the biologist. But why didn't the team returning to the ship notice that none of their vehicles were gone. Why did they leave the other two behind? Somehow, the two truants don't get the warning about the storm, or ignore it, so they become stuck in the artifact.There are loose ends aplenty with the alien fauna on this desolate world. My expectation coming in was that the film would explore the origins of two creatures, the "Alien" and the race of the giant pilot discovered by the crew of the mining ship Nostromo in "Alien". We meet the giants soon enough, but we also encounter at least three other life forms which have a passing resemblance to THE Alien, but their connection to the life cycle of the Alien is never explained.I'm entering dangerous "spoiler" territory now, so I will not discuss any more of the plot except to say that there are a number of unexplained events. Mysteries are great in the middle of the film, but one expects most of these to be wrapped up and revealed at the end of the picture. Many are not, leaving a huge jumping off point for a sequel to "Prometheus".Part of the special attraction of this story is that the audience knows full well what will eventually happen, so there is a lot of mental "don't go there" and "don't do that" moments, because we already know what things that look like that can do. The problem with that is that there is too much "quoting" from "Alien" for my tastes. Most of it is done relatively well, but it becomes more and more obvious as time goes on, and increasingly annoying. There is also ample quoting from other major Sci Fi movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (both in situations and in dialogue). There are also some subtle cinematic (visual) quotes from "Avatar" and "Jurassic Park".One of the bright spots, aside from the imaginative, well done CGI and cinematography, is the acting, which I always thought was a weak spot in "Alien". The crewmen, such as Captain Idris Elba, are spot on (unlike Yahpet Kotto in "Alien"). Instead of the strong Ellen Ripley character, we have the physically smaller and less imposing archaeologist, Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) who sports a convincing English accent as the lead character. Charlize Theron's character is restrained and unlikable. Like both Scott and Cameron's "Alien" and "Aliens", this movie has an android (artificial person) as a principal character, in a role much fuller than in the earlier movies. The only thing which distinguishes 'David', Michael Fassbender's android from Scott's earlier android Ash (Ian Holm, Alien) and Cameron's Bishop (Lance Hendrickson, Aliens)is that David is ever so slightly stilted, somewhat like Data from "Startrek, The Next Generation."I will give this the benefit of the doubt for now, but I found a strong disjoint in the rationale between two early scenes and the climax. I sense Scott wanted to leave plenty of meat on the bone to support a sequel. (In contrast, Avatar is almost totally devoid of preparation for a sequel I suspect I will need to revisit this review after seeing the film again. If my suspicion about gaps and disconnects is born out, I may have to lower my rating to 3 stars.

First off, I went into Prometheus not entirely sure if I was indeed watching an Alien prequel or not. (according to the studio) First it was, then it wasn't, then it kinda was but they weren't calling it one, etc. Let me say that Prometheus most definitely is part of the Alien story. It just goes in an uncommon direction. The deciding factor in whether you're going to like this film or not, is what you hope to get out of an Alien prequel. If you're looking for a space horror like the original, this is not so much that. If you want an other-worldly guns-a-blazing action flick like Aliens, this is not really that either. What this is, is somewhere between those films, with a much bigger emphesis on story. As a movie-buff and one of those 70-80's kids who grew up on films like Alien and Star Wars, I constantly wanted to know what was behind everything. Where did these aliens come from? Who/what was that fossilized (appearing) creature sitting behind the big gun when the Nostromo crew entered the ship on LV-426? Who's ship is this & why was it there? Questions such as these are finally answered with Prometheus, along with one giant revelation to an unposed question. One that is much larger and far deeper than anything else contemplated within this series. One that could be potentially very disturbing to some. I will go no further into that aspect, so as not to spoil anything. Of course this film has guns-a-blazing action and the spooky atmosphere of the first two films... Just not to the degree of either one. This is a well balanced Sci-Fi film, with some truly spectacular visuals & effects that most importantly, do not overtake the story. If you're one of the few who has never seen the original Alien films, doing so is not really required (though highly suggested). The way in which these old questions are answered is not done in such a way that you ever had to have asked them in the first place. There is no big fanfare or fancy reveal, as to say HERE IT IS!. The film is thankfully not ruined in that way. But for those who have seen the first four films and have questions, the moments where everything just comes together are found in Prometheus. While this film could stand on it's own, it is left begging for a sequel, as all ends are not tied up and new questions are definitely asked.As far as the picture & sound quality of this (Blu-ray) disc are concerned, both are absolutely stunning. Prometheus is quite probably the best looking & sounding live action BD I have ever viewed. To put simply, the picture is breathtakingly flawless. I could detect no artifacts, banding or any other negative aspect, even in dark & high contrast scenes. Color is vibrant yet realistic and blacks are decidedly black. Sound is dynamic with great bass and effects are precisely placed. Most importantly (and sadly uncommon) is the fact that dialog is consistantly clear and audible without having to adjust the volume between voice & effects. When it comes to picture & sound, Prometheus is of reference quality and sets a new standard.

sometimes fans expect too much and dont take in the story and elements. Prometheus was the first part in a prequel Alien Trilogy exploring the origins of "Creators" and the evolution of the Xenomorph. You have great leads from Guy Pearce, Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rappace among a few others. The controversy among fan reception lead to delays in sequels.