Prometheus [now with deconstruction spoilers]

[Seth]

I heard Del Toro bagged on At the Mountains of Madness, since this was basically At The Mountains of Madness

Is it?

[littleidiot]

At the 1000 ft level yes.

[littleidiot]

If you read both plot synopses on wikipedia there are numerous parallels.

[Seth]

OK I went ahead and saw it, just on the basis that this might be the closest I could get to seeing an At the Mountans of Madness adaptation for a while. On that score I came away like Arthur Dent trying to get Tea from the vending machine.

Yea it has themes of exploration and pre-human civilisation, and 'the aliens made us', but with this that's the premise established in the first scene and purpose of the mission, not a shocking revelation unintentionally discovered as a result of the mission - which is the whole thing with Mountains fo Madness.

So, wow, this film actually undermines TWO movie franchises, both the Aliens franchise AND the lovcraftian movie franchise that could have been.

On the way home I decided that this actually wasn't a prequel to Alien and Aliens - rather it's the prequel to Alien III (as in, it exists in the Alien III/Highlander II universe).

[chimp_666]

I have to disagree with the consensus here. While it's certainly a plot-hole-filled mess script-wise, the excellence of the visuals and performances make it a pretty decent film. Having your expectations lowered before seeing it helps a lot.

This review expresses pretty much exactly how I feel about the film.

[Falgrim]

I agree, I just saw this and liked it. It certainly wasn't the best movie I've seen, but it was enjoyable. I agree it could have used more focus, but all in all it was good.

[Seth]

It's funny because this from the same guys does it for me (and is hilarious!)

[stormsweeper]

It's funny because this from the same guys does it for me (and is hilarious!)

I'M DYING.

[littleidiot]

You all know I'm still going to buy the Blu Ray in the hope that some bonus scene is going to explain all this right?

[boredoom]

I don't think I've ever had this much fun with a movie I haven't watched. That video just caps it off.

Yeah, the whole aliens-created-humans thing is kind of shlocky, but it can be done well, c.f. Larry Niven. His setup was much like the Promethean one, but crucially, he has an explanation for why the rest of Earth's fauna has pretty much the same genetic makeup as we do. It still doesn't quite make sense, though.