Prometheus
Basically: I really didn't like it.
And, it's more than the fact that generally I don't do scary (thriller/horror) movies. But when I do, they have to pay the price of trauma for me. If not... I end up distressed and upset without the payoff an awesome story/meaningful experience (and just because I learned it this semester, something that is not necessarily 'good' but is a meaningful experience in media is known as eudaimonia). The payoff really wasn't there for me, I wasn't satisfied by almost any part of the story and the pretty really wasn't pretty enough for me to take away from the distress I was feeling by the end.
Things that didn't work for me:
* I had no investment in any of the crew at all.
* Charlize Theron was wasted
* They couldn't decide on the actual threat and thus there was no real narrative that I bought.
* Alien pregnancy trope. Urgh.
* Resolution of any of the flip-flopping the threat is x narratives.
* The execution of the ancient alien as creators of humans narrative.
* The technology being newer despite being a prequel
* Elizabeth Shaw was hamstrung as a character in so many ways, (though the actress I thought did an amazing job with an awful character setup).
* They didn't do anything with the Ancient Aliens storyline... it seemed to be the crux and yet overall had so little point and impact.
The few things I liked:
* Elizabeth hacking the med pod to the manual surgery
* The incredible star map
* Elizabeth going on to explore instead of going home.
So, while I struggled with Alien and Aliens which I watched recently in the leadup to watching Prometheus, and when I say I struggled, what I mean is massive distress in watching which lingered for hours after. But for both films I am so glad that I watched them, they were so worthwhile. I got so much out of them, not the least of which was to experience Ripley first hand instead of through others' view and writing of her awesomeness (appreciated since I didn't expect I'd actually be able to make myself watch). I loved the layered storylines and the narratives, and how all the characters worked with each other. There was a massive payoff in appreciation of both movies that made them worth the price of the trauma.
Prometheus just didn't deliver and I think it's a poor showing from Scott - I know he's capable of so much more. I'm curious as to if there are extenuating factors that contributed to the fact that the movie was just... poor.
tl:dr: I didn't like it and for me, it wasn't worth the cost of the trauma in watching a scary film. No payoff.
This entry was originally posted at http://transcendancing.dreamwidth.org/851521.html