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Film: Prometheus
Do the screenwriters get paid half their salary if only half the movie makes any sense? Should customers get 50% of the ticket price back? What happened? This movie made about as much sense as Tree of Life.
To dismiss it, however, would be a bit too easy. There was some super cool visual shit and actually found the 3D to be used really well. Something about the dark palette, the big exteriors, and cave stuff (Ridley smartly used Cave of Forgotten Dreams as a template more than Avatar). I can't say I regret seeing the movie, but was among the many in the theater trying to piece together w-t-f the story was and what the characters were trying to accomplish. I'll need to go re-watch the original just to remember how simple storytelling works so much better.
UPDATE: Here is a really accurate review summing up the problems nicely.
3 comments:
I agree - for such fertile subject matter (and huge budget) - Scott's result was incredibly boring and muddled.
Tough to reconcile. Really thought I was watching a potentially benchmark kind of movie and then to have it come crashing down completely colors the first half. Tarantino talked about a similar problem he had Danny Boyle's Sunshine - that the first half was so fantastic that when it turned, it so upset him that he became angry at the film, filmmakers etc, but that he still thought it was worth appreciating the half of the movie that was great. To appreciate failure or not I suppose.
Watched this new Kevin Smith movie talk show kind of thing - thought the audience's comments about Prometheus were pretty good:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/369061
it is an interesting question of promise and letdown. it occurred to me in super 8, jj abrams abused mystery as a screenwriting tool, by setting up questions and forcing us to pay attention to clues and then not paying them off (i can't remember the specifics, i just remember thinking this at the time). and although i didn't watch lost - i think many were dissatisfied with the ending. there is something corrupt about this style of storytelling - the same sort of feeling one gets when a girl has lead one on, only to pull the carpet from under. is that worse than not showing any interest in the first place? it certainly feels worse and makes one angrier. i don't know. it somehow offends my sensibility to promise answers and then change the questions later. a bait and switch. it is the stuff of teenagers and flakes - not of men.
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