#alien: prometheus

[laufire]

it's taken me forever because the link kept breaking but it's done!! I finally watched Prometheus. included the deleted scenes (I think. there might be some more). mostly I agree with the decision to cut them -some stuff is better left implied than spelled out, like that scene between Meredith and her father-, but I would’ve liked a shorter version of the scene where the captain goes to talk to Meredith after she burns Shaw’s boyfriend, mainly for the quote “I burned my hand.” vis a vis the Lawrence of Arabia motif.

overall I enjoyed it quite a lot. the first half wasn’t grabbing me as much, tbh -I think I was subconsciously comparing it to Alien; the tension build-up there was something else and here... not so much, IMO. my other main gripe with it (beyond “why must I deal with so much casual sexism in a film set in 2094″) was that I found the scenery largely boring. some visuals were sick (complimentary), like the horrifying (again, complimentary) cesarean, and stuff generally surrounding Elizabeth/David/the xenomorth, but overall I expected better and better lightning I’m so tired of dark and grey in films it’s an alien planet you could’ve really gone nuts with it!!!

I liked what I expected to like: everything regarding artificial life/creation/religious metaphors, David 8. plus a few things I wasn’t so sure I would or hadn’t expected because my dashboard talks less about them, like Elizabeth and Elizabeth-David (especially the latter I had NOT expected to enjoy this much lol); or Meredith and the Meredith-David(-Weyland) family dynamic, that I wish we’d seen more ngl.

finally, a few things on the list have planted a seed, or implanted an embryo, so to speak, that I can already see influencing my own writing and ideas in the future, which I always welcome ^-^

[shyce-overgod]

Out of the six crews so far, the Convenant's crew is the most stupid. Not a single procedure or preventive measure. Just straight up strutting about with no suit and touching everything. At least the others tried ffs.

Also, cheers to the Prometheus' crew. That's how you keep a ship clean.

[junkfoodcinemas]

ALIEN Franchise (1979-2024)

[lambf4rm]

alien franchise girls

[camilleflyingrotten]

[snailsfall]

[tinymintywolf]

i like him a normal amount

[saucefunk]

david

[galileosyeast]

the guy next to me in class saw me draw this and said it was funny

[clarkarts24]

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

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[laufire]

David 8 and Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus (2012)

[lust4m3tal]

so…less than a month ago i watched Deadpool and Wolverine for the first time …then i proceeded to watch all the Xmen movies… now im watching the alien movies?? Is this the butterfly effect or am i just really attracted to micheal fassbender

[superectojazzmage]

Just back from Alien Romulus and hoooo boy oh boy. Review/analysis.

Easily the best Alien movie since the first two, which isn't saying much, yeah, but it is legit a really cool and well-made movie, competing with Late Night With The Devil, Longlegs, and Cuckoo for title of my favorite horror movie this year.

In a lot of ways it's about harvesting the few good ideas from the post-2 movies that were squandered and doing them right, plus getting the series back to it's healthier roots, kinda the movie equivalent of someone doing physical therapy to get back in the saddle after an injury. This means it's not quite brand new ground like some may hope for and I've heard some people feel it gets a little derivative at points because of it. I can kinda agree and certainly understand that criticism, but I feel it does what it's aiming for really well and sets things up for future works to go in even crazier directions. Furthermore, it takes a lot of time to try and weld together the disparate post-2 movies in a way that brings the series back to a little coherency.

The atmosphere is really intense and cool, swinging between lovecraftian dread and build-up and high-energy chaos. The aesthetics and special effects are gorgeous, taking full advantage of the progress that technology has made since 2 plus really digging in to the used cassette future vibe of the older films. The characters are likable and actually intelligent (or at least understandable) in behavior like in the first two movies, so you care about what's happening to them instead of just waiting for them to get munched. The action and kills were really cool and creative, the cinematography in general was off-kilter in an awesome way - there's a definite attempt to make the movie feel claustrophobic and intimate. Fede Alvarez did a fantastic job in general, I'd love to see him do more with the series.

It REALLY cranks up the series' psychosexual, freudian, and sexual assault subtext, arguably to a point where it's just plain text. So if you're sensitive to stuff like that or if this is your first go at Alien, be warned for that.

More specific notes go under the header for spoilers. Highly recommend you go in as blind as you can.

Andy and Rain were wonderful leads, their dynamic was fantastic and Calie Spaeny and David Jonsson both turned in great performances. I direly hope they join the first two films' casts as "major" characters for the series going forward.

The effects to make Daniel Betts look like Ian Holms were quite possibly the one and only time the special effects failed. It looks very wonky, which is sad because Betts does a really good job copying Holms' mannerisms for Ash while still making Rook feel like a distinct character.

In addition to the usual themes of sexual unease, genetics, and parenthood, this movie adds in some really interesting themes of familial legacy, the rise of new generations, foundations, etc.. Andy and Rain are like Romulus and Remus of myth, orphaned and left to fend for themselves but growing into founders of a new age - both in-story with their carrying the XX121 substance and evidence of Weyland-Yutani's misdeeds to Yvaga and out-of-story with them being the protagonists of a new era for Alien. Likewise, the Offspring is the first example of an entirely new species, neither human nor alien but taking from the lineages of both through Kay and Big Chap, a Romulus-like founder of it's breed that will later bear fruit in Resurrection with the Ripley clone and Newborn.

I'm really not kidding when I say above that the psychosexual undercurrents are taken to the extreme here. This movie basically sees the ways the original film subtly pin-pricked at those themes, says "fuck that", and deliberately rubs it in your face in a way designed to make sure you can't ignore it. It wants you to be grossed out and to squirm in your chair and it knows exactly how to make it happen.

Alvarez noted in the lead-up to release that he took a lot of influence from Isolation and you can definitely see that in how he depicts the Xenomorphs and the general aura of the film. He further described it as a kind of halfway point between the first and second movies and you can also see that; it has the Lovecraft-style tension and horror of the first, balanced with the energy and action of the second, and it does a really good job finding a middle ground between Ridley Scott and James Cameron's styles while also doing it's own dance.

I mentioned way back at the start how the movie basically harvests the good ideas from 3, Resurrection, Prometheus, and Covenant and gives them the room they deserve while dumping the bad. It does that in both terms of themes/style and continuity/lore. Concepts that those movies bungled like xeno-human hybridism, the black goo, genetic engineering as a focus, and so on are done here more creatively and competently. Themes that those films tried and failed to tackle are handled with significantly more grace. It has the atmosphere and characterization of 3 but none of it's baggage and needlessly depressive tone. It has the body horror and weirdness of Resurrection without taking it to the zany, embarrassing areas that movie went. The effects and creativity of Prometheus and Covenant without any of their awful writing and clumsy messages. Alvarez takes on kind of an Al Ewing-esque "repairman" writing style here.

The Xenomorphs are absolutely deranged in behavior compared to most portrayals, attacking like either cruel sadists or raging chimps and rarely bothering to take hosts. I'm not sure if such a reading was intended, but I got the vibe that the idea is Xenos raised without a queen or hive grow to be basically sociopathic like how real world predatory animals grown without parental figures become feral and dysfunctional. Which would also explain a lot about how the Xeno in the original movie, Big Chap, acts there.

The Offspring's design is fucking wicked and I love it.

One of my few major criticisms is that Big Chap died off-screen instead of getting more to do. What was the point of having him be alive at the start if he wasn't gonna be used beyond a backstory point to set up the main story?

All in all, a very impressive effort and a great return to form for the series that I recommend highly.

[junkfoodcinemas]

ALIEN Franchise (1979-2024) + Protagonist

[lambf4rm]

i prefer the term ‘artificial person’ myself

[tabubranku]