If it lives up to the promise of the trailer this will be the first film to make me go the cinema since Avatar.
Interesting that it's being released in the UK before the US.

It's been suggested that they moved it forward on the Euro releases so that it didn't clash with the football schedule, which as the films target demographic is mostly male I suppose would make sense.

It's a good week for films for me anyhow. I've been waiting for what is possibly years for Iron Sky and Prometheus and I've got tickets for The Raid too... almost typical that we have a heatwave and I lock myself in a darkened room for the duration.

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I shall probably watch it and enjoy it...

But..

It amazes me that Hollywood seems to ignore some of the big trends of modern SF, like nano-tech fabrication, human brain augmentation, AI more intelligent than the sum of humanity, uploaded consciousness... General singularity stuff that's been around for years.

And why 30 years after Alien do spaceships still seem to have to resemble flying aircraft carriers, or tramp steamers. Haven't amy of these scriptwriters read Iain M Banks, or Peter F Hamilton or Alistair Reynolds?

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Quote Neil C:

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If it lives up to the promise of the trailer this will be the first film to make me go the cinema since Avatar.
Interesting that it's being released in the UK before the US.

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well - you've set the bar at one of its lowest settings so I think you'll be happy!!

Im looking forward to it.

Quote MarkOne:

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I shall probably watch it and enjoy it...

But..

It amazes me that Hollywood seems to ignore some of the big trends of modern SF, like nano-tech fabrication, human brain augmentation, AI more intelligent than the sum of humanity, uploaded consciousness... General singularity stuff that's been around for years.

And why 30 years after Alien do spaceships still seem to have to resemble flying aircraft carriers, or tramp steamers. Haven't amy of these scriptwriters read Iain M Banks, or Peter F Hamilton or Alistair Reynolds?

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There's stuff out there like that , maybe not Hollywood , but it's there .
Ghost in Shell is pretty big on AI and human augmentation , pretty good storyline to it too IMHO (it is manga though) .
Lordy , Star Trek and it's ilk is rank with techno babble "nano this " photonic that" "activate the plasma-graviton-neutrino-positronic-tetrion-conduit-field" . I find this stuff as dull as dirt , reminds of that advert for yoghurt "biffidus-acti-regulartum"

I always look at the huge hulking ships as necessity , fusion reactors and mass drivers not being small plant !
In today's world we don't have many atomic speedboats , just hulking great iron sea-giants .
Also , if the film is set inside the ship , it helps sometimes if the cast is not stuck in one tiny room (sometimes , not always) .

Looking forward to Prometheus , hope they do a good job of the Spacejockey "legend" .

yes it was

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Quote MarkOne:

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I shall probably watch it and enjoy it...

But..

It amazes me that Hollywood seems to ignore some of the big trends of modern SF, like nano-tech fabrication, human brain augmentation, AI more intelligent than the sum of humanity, uploaded consciousness... General singularity stuff that's been around for years.

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Whilst far from a great movie, GI Joe covers nano-mites and brain control. Not presented in a Sci Fi way, more like Team America but live action and not funny.

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Quote Yago:

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I always look at the huge hulking ships as necessity , fusion reactors and mass drivers not being small plant !
In today's world we don't have many atomic speedboats , just hulking great iron sea-giants .
Also , if the film is set inside the ship , it helps sometimes if the cast is not stuck in one tiny room (sometimes , not always) .

Looking forward to Prometheus , hope they do a good job of the Spacejockey "legend" .

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An Iain M Banks Culture General Systems Vehicle is generally big enough for a perminant population of several billion

An Alistair Reynolds Ultra light hugger is depicted as being kilometres long

Generally I would say movies are small in their imagination

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I think Alastair Reynolds books in particular would make good films. Esp. the Revelation Space series. You have all the interesting themes - the Conjoiners with their hive mind, who also happen to be the only ones who understand their space drives which everyone needs, big gothic ships first used for colonising space but now in the hands of the Ultras whose love of bionics and mechanical enhancement of their bodies and minds makes great visual stuff for Hollywood. Nanotech weapons and the good old doomsday weapons with their own AI built in. A good pre-history of older waves of space exploration and colonisation. Plus of course the underlying mystery of why there seems to be no other intelligent life out there, even though there is archeological evidence of them. Love the idea of archeology on other worlds. I would say Reynolds is the best at communicating the vastness of space, and how it would be to travel in it. Most of his stories happen "in" space rather than space travel just being a way of getting to a planet to have an adventure on - no FTLD in his books. I'm a big fan of his, even though he might not be the best writer. His books read like a film and there is a certain "film noir" element to them as well.

Looking forward to seeing the film - and seeing everyones verdict here.

Well I liked it, not quite what I expected though.

saw tonight in imax 3d - yes, enjoyed it quite alot. Not 100% though, doesn't quite feel like everything ties together, and I don't think the pacing is spot on in the later parts of the film, but overall it was definitely worth the ticket price. Also, for the 3d, it's done well generally - I'm not 100% sold on the whole 3d thing, but there are some nice bits in this film without it being too intrusive.

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+1 to everything you said - it wasn't just me then.

I too felt the last bit of the film was off, also agree a few things don't quite tie together. On the whole though a good trip.

I saw it in 3D as well simply because it was at the better time of day. I'm not sold on 3d cinema in general - it just looks a bit false, like the scenery on a stage play, it seems to be "layered" some how. I have seen several recent films in 3D now but will be looking for the 2D showings from now on. Not for me. That said, the alien holographic computer display was really nice in 3D, I must admit.

Talk about dammning with faint praise!

I remember coming out of Alien totally freaked. Me and my mate went with my mum so we could get past the rating, and she had read some kerfuffle about it in the Daily Mail so was intrigued. There was about ten people in the audience, and as soon as the 'big spacecraft' loomed, I thought - I have a bad feeling about this.

We got the bus back in almost silence knowing we had just seen something special, and me and my mate couldn't wait to tell peolple at school we'd seen the new horror everyone thought was the new schlock sensation. It seamed the perfect counterpoint to Star Wars and Close Encounters.

Still, I was yong back then and times were different eh?

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Yeah I just seen it. I enjoyed it but I was a bit underwhelmed to be honest. It's worthy of the franchise/mythology - certainly more so than the Alien/Predator tie-ins - but it's not a patch on Alien or Aliens and I agree there was some directorial shortcomings which given it's Ridley Scott is a little inexcusable - namely some pacing issues, some empty characters and some plot confusions.

I give it a B-

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I honestly didn't like it.

I would like to discuss parts of the film, a lot of things didn't make sense to me (I'm not brilliant at watching films anyway) but I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Wish I could have my money back really

Just to be clear - go see it, very enjoyable and worth the entry fee. I will get the blu-ray.

Also I just re-watched Alien...

As you say we are a little older and jaded now, harder to get excited

Quote bequick_x:

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I honestly didn't like it.

I would like to discuss parts of the film, a lot of things didn't make sense to me (I'm not brilliant at watching films anyway) but I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Wish I could have my money back really

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I get not liking it - but you wish for your money back? Eh?

Quote jellyjim:

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Yeah I just seen it. I enjoyed it but I was a bit underwhelmed to be honest. It's worthy of the franchise/mythology - certainly more so than the Alien/Predator tie-ins - but it's not a patch on Alien or Aliens and I agree there was some directorial shortcomings which given it's Ridley Scott is a little inexcusable - namely some pacing issues, some empty characters and some plot confusions.

I give it a B-

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Its better than Aliens!! I hated Aliens. The only film that matters (and is canon according to the authors) is the first one. Alien queens my ass......:)

Prometheus was great. Really liked it. Well - most of it

Quote narcoman:

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Its better than Aliens!! I hated Aliens. The only film that matters (and is canon according to the authors) is the first one. Alien queens my ass......:)

Prometheus was great. Really liked it. Well - most of it

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i used to respect you narco, i really did... *shakes head sadly*

i thought Prometheus was really good. it definitely thinks it's exploring grander themes than it really is, but when it forgets that it's a good fun ride.

there are all these little touches in Alien that point to a wider universe and bigger ideas than just a monster in space. they work because they are just little hints there in the background. in Prometheus those bit are given a lot more prominence, and as a result the film gets weighed down by its own sense of self-importance.

the visuals are AMAZING. you have to see it in 3D, if only to see what 3D is supposed to be like. just stunning. i'm not really sold on 3D but this was just something else. great cinematography and beautifully shot. it's a shame it wasn't as luminously dark as Alien but i understand the 3D cameras require brighter lighting. if that's the tradeoff then it was worth it here. i would wager that Imax 3D would be truly spectacular.

i found Noomi Rapace's character highly unlikeable - ***SPOILER ALERT*** - i was really hoping we were going to have a nice nihilistic ending with her stranded on the planet without food or air and just David's head for company. she was just a bit po-faced and full of herself - a bit like the film. don't get me wrong though, i thoroughly enjoyed it and will be picking up the director's cut on Blu-Ray as soon as it's released.

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Quote bequick_x:

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I honestly didn't like it.

I would like to discuss parts of the film, a lot of things didn't make sense to me (I'm not brilliant at watching films anyway) but I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Wish I could have my money back really

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Hmmm.. I thought it was overblown and the plot was weak and muddled (like you it left me with more questions than answers), but I did think it was an excellent cinema experience. Saw it in 3D, first time I've done that and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked overall. If you suspend disbelief it's pretty good... worth the entrance fee anyway..

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getting better all the time..

I'm curious to know peoples unanswered questions they have been left with. I realise that some might not have seen it etc but it made sense to me.

Im not sold on the whole 3D malarky, Avatar was awful in 3D at the cimema, the motion didn't track properly especially in the flight scenes, backgrounds were blurred at the wrong depth of field for the most part...i coud go on. Yes the camera's need (a bit)more light to film but there is no problem darkening it in post production/ compositing.

The only problem i had with Prometheus is Cameron's increasing tendancy to get all soppy and hippy about the world/universe and God etc. The great thing about Alien is that he didn't tug on your heart strings, these days he'd probably try and get the audience to look at things from the Aliens point of view and how it might of felt lonely on the nostromo so was comfort eating the crew or such like

Dan

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Cameron?

Definitely not Cameron.

This is a good read.

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I saw it at the Imax screen in Birmingham last week. Like you, I've not been impressed with much 3D output, most of it being like a pop-up book with two-dimensional images spaced apart artificially in depth. Avatar I thought wasn't too bad, in that respect, actually, and Prometheus was actually very good. Quite subtle 3D effects that helped rather than drew attention to themselves.

Fast motion action scenes just become a blur of confusion though... although some of that is in the style of editing that is becoming fashionable these days.

As for the plot of Prometheus, I quite enjoyed it and the way they developed the tie-ins to Alien, showing how the WMD gloop in the jars caused the local lifeforms to evolve towards the Alien we know and love. The covert 'bad agenda' of the Android was a bit too predictable though, and we could have done with more of Charlize Theron to make a happy man very old!

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Doh Scott of course it's Scott. I was having a "drummer" moment

I'll check out that link out.

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Quote Hugh Robjohns:

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Fast motion action scenes just become a blur of confusion though...

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My main gripe with 3D, too - just gives me motion sickness. I don't particularly like fast motion action scenes in 2D, but for some reason 3D seems to make it that much worse.

Thankfully this wasn't so much of a problem in Prometheus (which I didn't watch in 3D) as it was in, say, The Avengers (which I did... good film, but urgh, my stomach!).

Thought Prometheus was an intriguing film. I like how some of the things from the Alien franchise finally got resolved (such as the mega-men) and really enjoyed the more intense moments of drama (including the caesarean scene, weirdly), but I was irked that some elements of the film were not as well done, such as the Austin Powers death-by-giant-rolling-object scene and Guy Pearce's makeup :P

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Haha Dan Bo you are asking me to relate what didn't make sense to me in a film I saw three weeks ago? The answer to that is "did I see a film, matron?"...

[POSSIBLE SPOILER]
But why did the megaman drink the black stuff at the beginning? What was the big ship hovering over him? Why did he do that in very precarious place in the first place and not in a lab? What was the android's motivation for infecting the scientist on the very ship where his boss who wants to live for ever was (bit risky, no?). Why did the geologist come back to the ship as a superhuman monster (apart from providing a fight scene for the film)? Why did the female scientist not get infected with the same nastiness as her male companion given she swapped bodily fluids? How did the squiddy thing get so big so fast in a locked room with nothing to eat? Why were most of the critters not the same as the critters in Alien? Why did the super intelligent megaman rip off the head of the android (if he was that intelligent why not do something a bit more clever and less likely to result in them all ganging up on him, and ultimately spoiling his party?)

But I only saw Alien when it first came out and never saw any of the sequels so maybe I'm missing something there?

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getting better all the time..

Quote Hugh Robjohns:

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we could have done with more of Charlize Theron to make a happy man very old!

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i would have thought she would make you feel young again Hugh!

*spoiler*

was it just me who was rooting for Noomi's character to get squished by the giant rolling spaceship and have Charlize survive? she wasn't a nice character but she was a damn sight less annoying.

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Quote adrian_k:

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But I only saw Alien when it first came out and never saw any of the sequels so maybe I'm missing something there?

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I wouldn't say you have missed anything in the other films, they are generally a bit rubbish.

I can't answer any of you questions though, I've not seen Prometheus. I'll wait for the rental and check it out then.

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Quote Richie Royale:

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I wouldn't say you have missed anything in the other films, they are generally a bit rubbish.

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I think you may find a *lot* of people disagree with you about Aliens! Sure it's more action than horror, but it's still one of the definitive action films of the 80s, alongside Die Hard and Terminator. (Most people were underwhelmed by Alien 3 though, and everything else Alienated has been rubbish.)

Quote grab:

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I think you may find a *lot* of people disagree with you about Aliens! Sure it's more action than horror, but it's still one of the definitive action films of the 80s,

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It is indeed. And that's what makes it so disconnected with the Alien world; I'm very glad Scotts new movie completely contradicts Camerons entertaining but ultimately mindless addition!

I know that Aliens is well liked, but it's just not my cup of tea. Lets not mention the others.

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As people seem to have seen it now I will ask my questions as well.

What were all the cave paintings about? I mean if the planet was being used to develop the "destroy all humans" nanotech/biotech stuff what were they about? Come and see where we make the stuff that we will be killing you with soon? We learn it wasn't their home planet, so it can't have been whilst they were still friendly they were just saying, "This is where we come from."

All I can think is two factions, one group seeded Earth and tried to warn us to stay away from the other groups nasty bio weapon planet. The other group found out about the seeded Earth and decides to wipe out the enemys babies, us, before falling victim to their own bio-weapons.

I do hope there was a back story, like a good author who always has his characters, motives, history etc. worked out. Even if only hints of it get into the story it provides consistancy. I sometimes get the feeling Hollywood just makes stuff up as it goes along..........

Yes I had the same discussion with the missus..

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getting better all the time..

Saw in 3D IMAX and very glad I did. The 3D was superb and I really lost myself in the film.

I'm a huge fan of 'Aliens' (the best of the lot IMO), so was a bit worried about the people who didn't like that film seeming to like Prometheus, but I needn't have worried. I really enjoyed this one too.

I have to admit a lot of the setting up for the later films went completely over my head - millions of years of evolution happening in the space of a snake-creature, a giant squid and a proto-alien... I thought I was being dumb, but it seems I'm not alone. That aspect was a bit of a let-down.

No matter though - this one is on my Blu-Ray list for Christmas. Great stuff!

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Quote The Elf:

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I'm a huge fan of 'Aliens' (the best of the lot IMO)

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Aliens is a great film. In my opinion, it's on a par with Alien. Can't say I feel the same about the other two, and AvP was just awful.

Prometheus was good... just good. Very entertaining, though - which I guess is more what matters. I'm looking forward to the sequel(s), particularly because I'm hopeful that RS will delve a bit more into the back story and start to EXPLAIN stuff

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Quote onesecondglance:

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+1

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Man, can't believe I'm seeing love for Aliens !!!