'Prometheus' Takes A Huge Dive

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• dogtrainer | June 23, 2012 6:16 AMReply

  Bad movie. Sit. Sit! Bad movie.

• Savage Darky | June 17, 2012 5:02 AMReply

  Errata" Great Scott! It's Ridley! (I must miss Ripley, she was such an iconoclast!)

• 1979 | June 17, 2012 12:59 AMReply

  Wow. What a sad, disappointing mess. Stunningly devoid of the artistry and nuance that made Alien and Blade Runner enduring classics. It's "Big Ideas" carry the weight of a Burger King crown.

• AccidentalVisitor | June 17, 2012 12:38 AMReply

  ""Of course, some didn't like what I said. You know those: "I'm smarter than you because I actually once read a sci-fi book" types who want to show off their alledged intellectual prowess by claiming we were too dumb to see what was going on."" Sergio, did anyone actually write such a response like that on this site? From what I recall you were asserting that that was the type of defense of the movie you were EXPECTING or that that was the type of stuff you were reading from supporters of the movie at other sites. But I don't recall anyone responding to your negative review in that fashion, I don't recall anyone who were boasting about their intellectual prowess for liking the flick and attacking your intellectual capabilities for not liking the movie. Seriously what is up with you and this film? You act as if you have a personal stake in its failure or something. How else would you explain this Saturday posting regarding the possible box office struggle of this particular film? This isn't some "black movie" like Red Tails which this site would naturally have more of an invested (daily ) interest in. And why not wait until Sunday afternoon as you typically do for your weekend box office breakdown ? It is as if you are taking glee in its potential demise. Ease up, man. I took off from work last Friday to see this movie with friends . Out of my party of five, three liked it overall and two of us thought it was a bit of a mess. I was one of those two who thought it was a bit of a mess. I wasn't expecting the film to be as good as Alien or as smart as 2001. It didn't have to be. All it needed to be, as I pointed out before, was coherent and entertaining. It wasn't either IMO. How could the studio go ahead with such an awful script I'd never know. It is hard to screw up such a slam dunk of a story, but the folks behind this film did. I mean there were some good things about "Prometheus" but they couldn't make up for all of its flaws. That puts me at odds with the mostly positive reviews (74% on Rotten Tomatoes) it has garnered and with the many folks (including some of my pals) who enjoyed it. On a positive note the movie was also my first 3D/IMAX experience for a major motion picture and I gotta admit I was blown away by the look. I don't think it is justified for studios to try to milk more money from consumers with this 3D nonsense, but this film was worth putting into 3D. The visuals and cinematography for "Prometheus" were as good as the story was bad.

• WOW | June 17, 2012 12:51 AM

  I SMELL A FAKE. This cannot be the real Accidental Visitor! NO NO NO, you can't fool mother nature. I'd bet my last 5 dollars this is Mister B with a fake ID. In fact, I think I'll check the feedjet.

• sandra | June 16, 2012 10:54 PMReply

  Just came back from seeing "Prometheus" and I agree the movie is flat. It didn't go anywhere; it didn't capture my imagination. It kept flirting with the idea of something big, but never took us THERE. Also, the several useless (expensive looking) scenes of creature attacks didn't add anything. I enjoyed Noomi Rapaace's (sp?) performance though. I left the theater feeling nothing for the movie - wasn't thinking about it at all.

• M | June 16, 2012 9:27 PMReply

  Is this an actual Indiewire blog? No period at the end of the first sentence, tabloid-like assertions with zero evidence ("can only mean one thing"), not to mention the stupid and unnecessary bolding of words like "poisonous."
  
  The film has 74% audience approval on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.7 on IMDb. So to act as though there's only one possible explanation for its decline -- an R-rating, maybe? -- is obviously just you jumping to a negative conclusion based on the fact that you didn't dig the film. I've seen better-written blogs on Wordpress.
  
  (Also, for what it's worth, I didn't even _like_ Prometheus.)

• M | June 17, 2012 2:33 AM

  Sergio: What does Asimov have to do with anything? What are you even talking about? Are you always this off-topic and needlessly combative? Also, Safe House grossed around $200 million worldwide, 21 Jump Street $191 million, and Prometheus is currently at &167 million. Within a week, it'll likely surpass both of them...so yeah, you're wrong.
  
  
  Carl: I never once defended the movie itself -- did you actually read my comment? If not, let me point out exactly what I said: "I didn't even _like_ Prometheus." I was criticizing the journalistic integrity (or lack thereof, really) of this "article," not the author's opinion of the film itself. You guys are unbelievable.

• sergio | June 16, 2012 11:32 PM

  No, he's one of those guys who didn't get past the first 20 pages of an Issac Asimov novel so now he thinks he knows everything about sci-fi. And if he looked closely he would have seen that there is indeed a period at the end of the first sentence and there always was. And why would a R rating hurt it the box office/ It didn't hurt Safe House or 21 Jump Street both of whom had R rating and grossed a lot more than Prometheus will

• Carl | June 16, 2012 9:46 PM

  Thanks for showing up Mr. "M", we've been expecting you--> "Of course, some didn't like what I said. You know those: "I'm smarter than you because I actually once read a sci-fi book" types who want to show off their alledged intellectual prowess by claiming we were too dumb to see what was going on". So Mister M, maybe we should ask you a similar question: Are you an actual Indiewire reader? You said you didn't even_like_Prometheus, so what are you, an English Professor or a troll?

• Rohan | June 16, 2012 8:43 PMReply

  The film is one of a kind in my opinion. The audiences today are used to straightforward stories and films like "Nobody Mess With Zohan' which is in a way unfortunate. And, you know what else in unfortunate? - The studios relying more on remakes, reboots and kicking out originality in its face and shutting the door for better minds.
  
  I would love to see a film earning back more for the studio, but more than that for me what's important is the story, style, artistic strokes of the film-maker and originality. Some are saying SCI-FI CLICHES. - Okay, alright, Sci-fi and then comes the term 'Cliche.' If Sc-fi is cliche, then what's the real sci-fi? - Ridley is going to make a sequel to Blade Runner. So, that means after you see the Blade Runner 2 and since Scott is the director you will call it Sci-fi cliche? - It's the same film-maker who is good at what he does. That's his style.

• Sergio | June 16, 2012 11:22 PM

  "The studios relying more on remakes, reboots and kicking out originality in its face and shutting the door for better minds"
  
  Now that's funny considering that Prometheus is for the most part nothing more than a retread of Alien with stuff from Aliens and Alien 3 thrown in for good measure as well. If there's one thing Prometheus lacks, it's originality.

• ska-triumph | June 16, 2012 7:14 PMReply

  Just saw - aka wrestled with - the film for the second time. Still a "beautiful mess." Not surprised at all by the B.O. drop from what I saw earlier today. Will seek out your review Sergio and, from what you imply, I'll agree wholeheartedly with you. Just imagine what PROMETHEUS could've done this weekend if it was simply a focused, well-told story.

• Savage Darky | June 16, 2012 6:19 PMReply

  I spent good money to see Prometheus in 3D and I did not have the same transformative experience I had when I paid good money to see the original Alien back in 1979. I have my theories as to why they took my money and sold me an empty promise.
  
  The post studio Hollywood has lost a few methods of doing things that made for a good film in the old days. There used to be an apprenticeship of story writing to teach the mechanics of how to tell a solid story. There were writer's cabins on the lot that housed many creative minds who would teach one another the craft. (Writing is the only art that people of no talent delude themselves into thinking they can do with just a little time and some typing paper).
  
  When it comes to visualizing the film, today's production and storyboard artists have lost the skill of "Projection Art" which is the ability to construct set drawings from plans and elevations (blueprints) that help the director, production designer and D.P. figure out how best to block shots and construct scenes with an eye toward better story telling. Hitchcock, Welles and others had this luxury.
  
  Then there's the lack of a sense of history by the newbies who regard what has worked before as "old school" when in reality it is simply "school". Then they take the old clichés they think they've reinvented and trot them out like something new and unique. Ignorance of "old school" makes for new fools. Nothing is new except what's been forgotten and this is only the tip of the proverbial "iceberg". Hollywood's movies are nothing more than polished turds.
  
  I could go on about how anyone who hasn't read William T. Price, or John Truby or Robert McKee to name only a few, Aristotle not withstanding would feel something is wrong with the story drive of "Prometheus". Even if you can't intellectualize the problems, you will know that you didn't have a good time at the cinema. And after you dole out cash for a ticket this is all that a movie goer needs be concerned with.
  
  For those of you who understand a good story when it's told to you, stay away from "Prometheus" if you want an engaging experience, because here the script should have been burned in the fire that the eponymous Prometheus stole from the gods.

• Savage Darky | June 17, 2012 5:05 AM

  Errata: "Great Scott! It's Ripley! should read "Great Scott! It's Ridley!" (I must miss the character Ripley, she was such an iconoclast!)

• Savage Darky | June 17, 2012 4:59 AM

  Great Scott! It's Ripley! Dig man, you were born in the year Buster Crabbe was doing his thing in the Flash Gordon serials "Space Soldiers" and even those old chapter plays remain more engaging than that excretion you smeared across the screen with "Prometheus"! Your declaration of how many years you have been alive mitigates nothing! 74 years adds up to about 27,000 days and at a dollar a day you can barely buy a decent new car. In other words it's no excuse what-so-ever.

• Ridley Scott | June 16, 2012 11:38 PM

  I am 74 years old.

• ska-triumph | June 16, 2012 7:27 PM

  On the spirit of your comment - and particularly your last line - I say "here here!" I don't have a general problem with a solo visionary writer with a clear, stylized voice - one that builds on the strengths of their niche - that either direct and/or find directors to bring his/her story to light. Go ahead make your name/career on that; I certainly aspire for the same. But truly the R&D of our mainstream filmmaking - what screenwriting was at its 1990s hey-day - has faltered and failed (the Scriptnotes podcast is a gem for those insights). Only PIXAR seems to have a serious think-tank and process for their stories. Screenwriters admire them, and their success for Disney keeps intruders and profilers away.
  
  What Lindelof and Scott reportedly did the first writer's (Spaiths) draft was cut out the franchise's recent legacy down to all the many themes (self-sacrifice) and ideas (faith vs. science) that the Space Jockeys would represent for humanity. But it's so much that collides and/or crashes that does/gives so little in return. I hate to repeat what others have said, that PROMETHEUS was an alternate LOST episode set in space; FOX and the filmmakers must've thought that their trilogy was in the bag to elucidate their thematic concerns, to create such a muddy beginning. It continues to frustrate and/or anger me.

• LeonRaymond | June 16, 2012 4:48 PMReply

  I have not seen it, will check it out for sure next week, I like Ridley Scott so I will be there to check it no matter what, but the grand total of budgets of this weeks films that come into the box office this weekend are about $300 Million, or more and those 2 films are bombing, I was hoping Rock of Ages would do good just so it can open the doors for different genre films and the like. I still say when Hollywood adds up the total of films for the summer, you will have a huge number of box office bombs that just did not do a R.O.I at all and that truly shows how clueless Hollywood producers are.