I think we stumbled on the right answer in our commentary - not just a more fitting ending for that story, but as a sequel starter as well.   

First, Noomi "my silly ideas got everyone killed" gets crushed and Charlize, the power-hungry ice queen survives. 

Then Charlize, with her hated robo-head pseudo-brother, takes off in an alien ship full of death and daddy issues, headed back to Earth.

There's yer gorram sequel.

If you're thinking about Charlize's push-up form during that scene, you're paying attention to the wrong thing

Enjoyed the commentary very much (I'm in the hater camp; always nice to hear why I hated it said so well.

I have some thoughts on 'fixing' this movie.

1. David and Charlize whole "I am your father!!!" is much more in the background.

2. The scientist adjustments from the commentary happen, and they do not take off their helmets, come the hell ON.

3. Instead of being emo and a total dick, Holloway is happy stupid drunk "I found the foundations of LIIFE!!!" and it pisses David off, resulting in the poisoning.

4. Instead of being upset and scared by her creepy fast pregnancy, Noomi is totally thrilled that at last she can "create life."

5. She and (reluctantly, because he thinks it will kill her) Holloway and (because daddy) David are pitted against Charlize and the rest of the crew, who have seen what happens when whatever is in those caves mixes with humans.

So that is at least some conflict that I think is more compelling than the "god, monsters, something...?"

I know, it could never happen because of politics around reproductive rights are so crazy, but it would be interesting.

Last edited by Gibson (2014-01-03 22:56:49)

Jack Paglen is gonna feel the 'Prometheus Trap' now that his agent has signed him up to write the sequel and he has to somehow salvage something coherent from that mess. I'd rather watch the movie about how he attempts to write the sequel than the sequel itself.

Nice work, despite all the talking over each other.

My take is almost the opposite of Teague's. I hated the first 40 minutes because of how badly the character motivations and identities are sketched out. Most of the characters themselves don't know who each other is or even who is in charge. Characters disobey direct orders and wander off and get lost; the captain abandons his post without leaving anyone to monitor the lost characters.... It's bizarre.

But the last half, where stuff actually begins happening, makes just enough sense to me for me to kind of be okay with it. The engineers want to destroy humans--their accidental(?) creation--but their biological weapon got out of hand and killed them. And then we arrive and say "What up? Give us immortality!" And the engineer is like "Ha ha! LOLballs, no way."

But there's soooo much mushy near-prequel sub-plottery that the movie trips all over itself.

Last edited by Zarban (2014-03-14 16:51:08)

Could the whole thing be a fever dream brought on by the presence of a parasitic alien incubating in her chest? In which scene would she wake up?