Prometheus!
Jul. 26th, 2012 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keire_keHa, so I had three hours off today and I went to see Prometheus (side note: weirdly enough, Chrome spellcheck includes Promethean, but not Prometheus) and hell, I loved it! It's absolutely lovely to watch (and I don't mean just Michael Fassbender, though he contributes a lot to the pretty), the script is simple, straightforward and doesn't fall into the dreadful "Supporting character #3, state your hobbies and familial relations, for the audience to gauge your chances of survival". Ugh, I hate that trope. Sure, the crew of the ship is apparently 17 in numbers (captions tell you so), and I can remember maybe six of those people, and even the I don't remember the names of the pilot and that other guy. It felt really nice and human, no show whatsoever. I know people complain that it doesn't really explain anything, but does it have to?
The overall resolution gives you this: the Engineers created humanity for kicks, and continued to develop species all over the universe, some to use in warfare, some to test the former. They seem to have a cavalier attitude to the passage of time, so they can afford the wait. I really didn't think it needed more explaining, or elaboration - "we made you because we could" is what the movie says, and it takes a moment for the message to sink in, but it's there. It's a reason. Not a good one, but it is a reason that human brains are more than familiar with and David had every right to look partly scandalised, partly vengeful when that answer was presented to him.
Speaking of, no kidding, Fassbender is easily the most awesome thing in the movie (on one hand, unnerving as hell, the way he moves, talks and interacts with things, on the other, he keeps you wondering about how much of his reaction is straight-up programming, particularly the "how disappointing it would be" scene), but Dr Shaw is a close second - hardcore, girl! You rock! Heee, and at the end they go off together, to have adventures in space! :D
Charlize Theron is killed by what seems to be lack of education in physics - the frigging ship was approximately round, why would you run straight ahead, when there is a good chance the gyroscopic effect and momentum will keep it on a straight path? Dr Shaw rolls, and finds a small groove, which is the way to go. I appreciate that running away from alien spaceships doesn't leave you braincells to spare for thought, so this particular bit didn't bother me. Don't ask about any and every time DNA was mentioned, because omg, I was giggling myself stupid through the opening sequence, as I usually do when movies try to create visual representation of DNA (I appreciate that the distances between nuclei in a particle is ~10-4 m, and a set of vague dots spiralling would mean nothing to no one, but it's still funny. Same as dr Shaw isolating a strand and comparing it to the Engineers - lady, a strand? Seriously? I appreciate that a single DNA molecule can be 2 meters in length, which is all the more impractical to analyse it in strands. Furthermore, 100% accuracy? Buahahahaha. Yeah, the entire opening sequence had me lolling.
Peter Weyland is clearly a young man in old man makeup, which distracts, but since he's only there for a minute or three, no problemo. :D
Okay, I admit, the thing that makes the least sense (aside from the science) is how the fuck they got Our Mighty Creators out of a planetary system cave drawing. Unless there was tiny font there. Then again, Hollywood archaeology tends to arrive in weird places.
The second thing I was wondering about was whether David had the foresight to download the placement of pantries on that other ship, because otherwise Dr Shaw will not go terribly far. Also of interest: handwaving the issue of whether the Engineers eat the same things (fair bet, given their similar environmental requirements), is anything aboard still edible? I know honey would be, and that implies the presence of bees. Space bees. Think about it!
Can't remember anything else - suffice to say that a) forget you ever heard it's an Alien prequel, it's a totally different thing, with a few nods b) it's awesome. :D
Oh, and I got my diploma in biophysics. Well, passed the exam, for which I got a 5.0 (4.5 overall) on a scale of 2-5. WOOHOOO!
The overall resolution gives you this: the Engineers created humanity for kicks, and continued to develop species all over the universe, some to use in warfare, some to test the former. They seem to have a cavalier attitude to the passage of time, so they can afford the wait. I really didn't think it needed more explaining, or elaboration - "we made you because we could" is what the movie says, and it takes a moment for the message to sink in, but it's there. It's a reason. Not a good one, but it is a reason that human brains are more than familiar with and David had every right to look partly scandalised, partly vengeful when that answer was presented to him.
Speaking of, no kidding, Fassbender is easily the most awesome thing in the movie (on one hand, unnerving as hell, the way he moves, talks and interacts with things, on the other, he keeps you wondering about how much of his reaction is straight-up programming, particularly the "how disappointing it would be" scene), but Dr Shaw is a close second - hardcore, girl! You rock! Heee, and at the end they go off together, to have adventures in space! :D
Charlize Theron is killed by what seems to be lack of education in physics - the frigging ship was approximately round, why would you run straight ahead, when there is a good chance the gyroscopic effect and momentum will keep it on a straight path? Dr Shaw rolls, and finds a small groove, which is the way to go. I appreciate that running away from alien spaceships doesn't leave you braincells to spare for thought, so this particular bit didn't bother me. Don't ask about any and every time DNA was mentioned, because omg, I was giggling myself stupid through the opening sequence, as I usually do when movies try to create visual representation of DNA (I appreciate that the distances between nuclei in a particle is ~10-4 m, and a set of vague dots spiralling would mean nothing to no one, but it's still funny. Same as dr Shaw isolating a strand and comparing it to the Engineers - lady, a strand? Seriously? I appreciate that a single DNA molecule can be 2 meters in length, which is all the more impractical to analyse it in strands. Furthermore, 100% accuracy? Buahahahaha. Yeah, the entire opening sequence had me lolling.
Peter Weyland is clearly a young man in old man makeup, which distracts, but since he's only there for a minute or three, no problemo. :D
Okay, I admit, the thing that makes the least sense (aside from the science) is how the fuck they got Our Mighty Creators out of a planetary system cave drawing. Unless there was tiny font there. Then again, Hollywood archaeology tends to arrive in weird places.
The second thing I was wondering about was whether David had the foresight to download the placement of pantries on that other ship, because otherwise Dr Shaw will not go terribly far. Also of interest: handwaving the issue of whether the Engineers eat the same things (fair bet, given their similar environmental requirements), is anything aboard still edible? I know honey would be, and that implies the presence of bees. Space bees. Think about it!
Can't remember anything else - suffice to say that a) forget you ever heard it's an Alien prequel, it's a totally different thing, with a few nods b) it's awesome. :D
Oh, and I got my diploma in biophysics. Well, passed the exam, for which I got a 5.0 (4.5 overall) on a scale of 2-5. WOOHOOO!
