Prometheus!
On a scale of 1 to 5, I would rate it "incoherent." Also, "it's true because Freud."
I'm going to mash together metaphors somewhat because it's almost 2 AM: Prometheus is a beautiful shell that ultimately holds no water. It's more than easy on the eyes, but rarely do any of the spectacles that are obviously meant to inspire wonder, confusion, fear, etc. actually inspire anything other than puzzlement and aesthetic admiration. I almost started crying while watching the first Alien movie during scenes in which little to nothing happened for extended periods of time because they were so tense and horrible. That movie does both the visceral and the sublime equally well. In the corresponding "oh god alien birth chamber" or "towering alien edifice of unknown import!!" bits here, I felt mainly bemused. (Yes, Prometheus has grander ambitions than "just" being a really really really good horror thriller, but it fails both at horror [except for the [spoiler] C-section scene!!] and at being Contact.) The grandest things that happen in Prometheus are purely phenomenal, physical: the opening flyover of a primordial planet (I'd see the movie again just for those two minutes); a raging silicate dust storm; a titanic spaceship tumbling down and crashing.
Many viewers are doing a really nice job decoding the Judeo-Christian mythology but I couldn't find it in myself to invest any energy in doing the same, which is nuts since normally I'm the one going "why are you talking about plot?!? THEMES!!!!!!!"
HOWEVER, I would gladly watch a whole movie about David the gay-coded android. Even after [spoiler] he becomes just a head, in the grand tradition of Alien androids. Even better - a multi-season TV series in which Vickers, mysteriously alive, carries him around in a bowling bag and they solve mysteries together.
I'm going to mash together metaphors somewhat because it's almost 2 AM: Prometheus is a beautiful shell that ultimately holds no water. It's more than easy on the eyes, but rarely do any of the spectacles that are obviously meant to inspire wonder, confusion, fear, etc. actually inspire anything other than puzzlement and aesthetic admiration. I almost started crying while watching the first Alien movie during scenes in which little to nothing happened for extended periods of time because they were so tense and horrible. That movie does both the visceral and the sublime equally well. In the corresponding "oh god alien birth chamber" or "towering alien edifice of unknown import!!" bits here, I felt mainly bemused. (Yes, Prometheus has grander ambitions than "just" being a really really really good horror thriller, but it fails both at horror [except for the [spoiler] C-section scene!!] and at being Contact.) The grandest things that happen in Prometheus are purely phenomenal, physical: the opening flyover of a primordial planet (I'd see the movie again just for those two minutes); a raging silicate dust storm; a titanic spaceship tumbling down and crashing.
Many viewers are doing a really nice job decoding the Judeo-Christian mythology but I couldn't find it in myself to invest any energy in doing the same, which is nuts since normally I'm the one going "why are you talking about plot?!? THEMES!!!!!!!"
HOWEVER, I would gladly watch a whole movie about David the gay-coded android. Even after [spoiler] he becomes just a head, in the grand tradition of Alien androids. Even better - a multi-season TV series in which Vickers, mysteriously alive, carries him around in a bowling bag and they solve mysteries together.