Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

The More I Read The Madder I Get

After reviewing Prometheus over the weekend (DW) with a minimum of spoilers, I am now reading a number of things from pre- and post-release. Seems that some of the bad science I noted wasn't just a case of Hollywood being sloppy, it appears that some of this trash was actually designed. Ridley Scott, say it ain't so!

At some point I will collect a number of links for you to peruse.

But in the mean time, I urge you to read this awesome captan's log. Larry Correia, who I'll admit is a New York Times bestselling author I've never heard of, absolutely nails Prometheus. He starts:

I quit reviewing movies here on the blog when I started selling stuff to Hollywood. The last thing I wanted to do was insult somebody that could potentially give me money for a book. However, I’ve just got to comment on Prometheus.

I really wanted to love this movie. I really did. It is gorgeous. This is one of the best looking movies ever. The acting from the main characters is remarkable. Michael Fassbender turns in an amazing performance. Idris Elba can do no wrong. Charlize Theron was great (especially the way she emoted in the flamethrower scene)… Noomi Rapace did a great job. The cast was awesome.

But despite all that good, Prometheus made my head hurt. I’ve heard some people try to say that it is a “thinking” movie for “grown ups”… No. And quit being a pretentious wannabe English professor. The problem with Prometheus being a Thinking movie is that the more you think about it, the less it makes sense. The more I think about it, the more things I have a hard time with. (you’ll notice that you never hear anybody complaining about the plot holes of the Avengers, because it didn’t try to be a Thinking movie. It just says shut up and enjoy your awesome).

Instead Prometheus was written in such a way that it required the cast of supposedly intelligent characters to make decisions like unto the cast of a low budget B horror movie. It was one step above “hey, we’re in the haunted murder mansion with a serial killer, let’s split up and wander around in the dark!” “Great idea. Let’s have sex and smoke pot so the slasher can murder us faster while we’re distracted!” I expect that kind of cheap cop-out writing from movies that cost $100 and the actors were paid in beer, not $200,000,000 gorgeous movies starring a bunch of great actors.

Yea, thar be spoilers in his piece. But it's funny as all get out. The man can write and it's spot on target.

Notice we both are still saying to go see it. But damn, it could have been a great movie. I mean really great. I mean 25-30 years later and we're still talking about Alien and Aliens -- about the timing, the scariness, the action, the questions, the awesome ensemble cast, the special effects AND the realistic settings. The list for Prometheus is much shorter. MAD Magazine could do parodies of Alien because it was great. Parodies of Prometheus will focus on how stupid the film team were.

Such an opportunity wasted.

Dr. Phil