AdamPD
MemberFacehuggerMay-25-2017 5:44 PMJust thinking out loud, am I the only one who loves the mythology, mystery and backstory to the Prometheus/AC films, as opposed to the gore, violence and such?
I enjoyed scenes where they actually discover things, such as the engineer body in Prometheus, the murals, the writings and seeing the engineer chair rising out of the floor was awesome.
In AC I was hoping there would be SOMETHING about the engineers, their tech or some story about why david bombed them and what he found out about them, but nada.
Is Ridley scott trying to steer away from that aspect of the Alien universe and focus on scares/gore/violence?
Vespasion
MemberOvomorphMay-25-2017 6:43 PMI prefer the myth over the gore. I always wanted to know what that giant was in the chair in Alien as well. I want to know more about the Engineers and the races they created. I want the back story brought to the front.
Blackwinter-witch
MemberPraetorianMay-25-2017 6:50 PMYes I do, and that's what I am seeking to preserve in my fanfiction works.
FOX doesn't seem to give a damn, but I do and I am well aware many in the fanbase do as well.
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
airshaft_surprise
MemberFacehuggerMay-25-2017 7:37 PMYes, thats why i like prometheus, the mythos, the xenomorph is only part of the story, shaws and davids inquisitive mind and discovery was way more interesting.
Spearfish
MemberFacehuggerMay-25-2017 8:24 PMYes. And I want to know how they lost control over the weapon they developed. That may be our story, and is bigger than a few people wandering off to sponge bathe on a new planet with no closed doors and with Neo's running around.
NYfootballGiants
MemberOvomorphMay-25-2017 9:39 PMI prefer the mythology over the gore all day. My biggest fear going into this movie was being let down with the lack of answers and connection to the beginning. Sure enough I was left wanting a lot more when I left the theater. At this point I am quite dubious that we will ever get the complete mythology I was hoping for. I'm going to watch it again and hope I just missed something the first time around.
Blackwinter-witch
MemberPraetorianMay-25-2017 9:58 PMI suspect the mythology and such that we were hoping for has been jettisoned in favor of the franchise now being all about David The Destroyer.
Frankly, the direction the franchise is going is lacklustre, frustrating, unimpressive, progressively-degenerative and derivative of the classic Trope-Cliche` of Rogue AI.
In short, it's falling apart at the seams and I'm starting to hope they just let it die instead of morphing it into this cobbled-up crapfest about an angry/psychotic AI with Mommy-Daddy issues out to play Doomsday Machine.
It's becoming a travesty, a joke attached to a gorefest...and it hurts to watch it go down like this.
I think from now on I'll follow Fan-Based works more than the Franchise.
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
NYfootballGiants
MemberOvomorphMay-25-2017 10:20 PMI agree Blackwinter, when I left the theater I knew I was so disappointed and literally had to lie to myself to feel like I liked it. My buddy and I talked about for a minute and were like that was lame. I'm a sucker who never gives up hope so I'm still hoping they fix it, by I'm not holding my breath.
strella777
MemberOvomorphMay-25-2017 10:38 PMI prefer mythology to gore immeasurably. And I hate the direction Scott has taken David. I was fascinated with him in Prometheus. He was such a complex and mysterious character. I despise the David-as-a-pure-villain persona that has been inflicted on him in Covenant. It's hackneyed and uninteresting. I would have found the movie far more compelling had there been less emphasis on violence, and if Scott had made David a bit more nuanced and sympathetic.
Blackwinter-witch
MemberPraetorianMay-25-2017 10:50 PMYeah, I can understand that, been getting a lot of the same reports from friends. I'll wait for it on on-demand.
In the meantime, I'll do what I can to keep what we in the fanbase love about this franchise alive.
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
sherris
MemberChestbursterMay-25-2017 11:00 PManother massive yes from me too!!
mythology over gore/horror EASY!
the fact that everyone was told it was scary and it wasnt at all, what next?
i dread to think where we are going.
i have had the luxury of having to watch it at home this week and i watched it maybe another 3 or 4 times, im trying my best to get some talking points regarding the engineers and the scraps that we have just dont seem to be going anywhere.
this had the potential to be massive but for me, its just another action/horror flick that could stand as a forgettable lone movie if we excluded canon. nothing more.
dont get me wrong i still get something from it but not in the way i was expecting.
were going to be debating over scraps and crumbs at best for the next however long.............
even then there are no guarantees we will get what we want.
Take This.... This is the blood of our lord
dmx1138
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 12:17 AMAbsolutely. Scott was right when he said the beast was cooked. There is SO MUCH more possibility in this property than just remaking the same tired monster movie over and over again.
Bubba Zanetti
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 3:12 AMYes, mythos over gore.
However, there is still much to the beast that can assist in the mythos. The formula Scott used "Its not what you see but what you think you see" is still important.
The reproductive cycle of the Alien (Egg morph, Queen or sexual assault) Can still 'unsettle' the audience if done correctly. I also enjoyed the subtext in Alien3 that the beast may control the weak minded at some level.
The egg morphing scene from the original is one of the most underrated scenes in all the franchise IMO.
The reason I think both can still get an audience is most of us know how reproduction works in a species and its usually set by a system that is very specific. A organism that basically reproduces outside all known rules, with out making it totally expository on film, usually makes for great cinema.
Just a few thoughts.
BZ
AdamPD
MemberFacehuggerMay-26-2017 5:13 AMYea I think that's why I feel so disappointed with the movie, I was so hyped up about it, thinking there would be something more about the engineer culture, but alas.
I doubt I'll be seeing any future releases in the cinema.
sosse
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 5:48 AMI want both, the mixture is what made the first movie work so well. Add some mystery & unknown stuff like the creature, the ship it came from and it's dead passenger.
And then equally essential (to me at least), the error in the air shafts with Dallas and the strange and haunting moves the Alien made towards Lambert
murnau
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 8:55 AMI enjoy both, but was afraid that A:C would ditch the mythology completely in order to feed the clamour for more alien action. I was pleased to see so much connection to Prometheus, and I like the David The Destroyer theme - it may not be original, but nothing under the sun is, and what is important is how its written and whether it resonates with our times. It's no surprise that so many stories are about AI, artificial life, the post-human, etc. These are the anxieties of our time. The close links to Alien and Blade Runner (opening shot of an eye, anyone? 'That's the spirit'?) make this a script that Ridley has had a strong hand in, and it makes it one of his most personal movies.
I wanted to see much more - or SOME - info about the Engineers and their homeworld. 10 minutes more in the movie exploring that would have been fab. Roll on the sequel, we may get something there about the Engineers. Whatever happens, if Ridley is in charge, expect him to pack lots of ideas in there, even if they're not the ones you were hoping for. . . .
thoughts of murnau
Jurassic Park Fan For LIFE
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 9:54 AMDefiantly the mythology more but the violence is essential.
Also, it depends on which version of the mythology you're a fan of.
Capt Torgo
MemberFacehuggerMay-26-2017 10:10 AMblack winter witch, well said. This film had tons of potential with a few different directions. However, dousing it with overcooked creationism and psychotic robots is NOT the flavor I was hoping for. The engineer city and its apocalypse got barely any screen time as well as David's lab. This hugely sucks! The mythos all are speaking of may be in books but Ridley sold out idk or just tried to stuff too much in. Maybe some other director will try Paradise Lost or Mountains of Madness. I know I'm gonna run my dvd player to death with AC but I still feel let down. What's funny is "father" Dan O'Bannon hated the Android in Alien and likened it to the classic "Russian spy" syndrome that many films fell trap to pre-1980's. Ashe was done well though but wow I don't think he would be too tickled today. All that said, maybe Noomi Rapace was asking for too much money or possibly difficult to work with, idk.
Ed-Eddn'ED-E
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 5:22 PMI'm with you on that. As much as I liked the violence in AC, I was looking forward to something closer to Prometheus. As I have said on other forums, there are two types of Alien fans right now: The casual movie goer fans who are more interested in horror and gore and then the 'Cult' fans who read all the spin-off comics. I feel like Prometheus catered to the cult fans by focusing more on expanding the overall story and universe of Alien, which is why I loved it so much. As for AC, after all the complaints about Prometheus I feel like RS was pushed to sacrifice that structure for the gore fest that people want. Obviously, the amount of horror/gore junkies and casual movie enthusiasts is way larger than the amount of HC Alien fans so he had to make a decision (though I'm sure bigwigs above him had a lot of influence in that, just speculating) that would increase projected takings. It's sad to say, but movies of this caliber have to take in a hell of a lot of money, and that money comes in the form of a higher volume of sales, therefore the movie has to cater to the bigger audience... sigh... :(
Just to specify I'm a serious gore junkie myself but this is one example of a franchise where I would have preferred a film that focused on the lore.
Ed-Eddn'ED-E
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 5:22 PMI'm with you on that. As much as I liked the violence in AC, I was looking forward to something closer to Prometheus. As I have said on other forums, there are two types of Alien fans right now: The casual movie goer fans who are more interested in horror and gore and then the 'Cult' fans who read all the spin-off comics. I feel like Prometheus catered to the cult fans by focusing more on expanding the overall story and universe of Alien, which is why I loved it so much. As for AC, after all the complaints about Prometheus I feel like RS was pushed to sacrifice that structure for the gore fest that people want. Obviously, the amount of horror/gore junkies and casual movie enthusiasts is way larger than the amount of HC Alien fans so he had to make a decision (though I'm sure bigwigs above him had a lot of influence in that, just speculating) that would increase projected takings. It's sad to say, but movies of this caliber have to take in a hell of a lot of money, and that money comes in the form of a higher volume of sales, therefore the movie has to cater to the bigger audience... sigh... :(
Just to specify I'm a serious gore junkie myself but this is one example of a franchise where I would have preferred a film that focused on the lore.
Ed-Eddn'ED-E
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 5:24 PMI'm with you on that. As much as I liked the violence in AC, I was looking forward to something closer to Prometheus. As I have said on other forums, there are two types of Alien fans right now: The casual movie goer fans who are more interested in horror and gore and then the 'Cult' fans who read all the spin-off comics. I feel like Prometheus catered to the cult fans by focusing more on expanding the overall story and universe of Alien, which is why I loved it so much. As for AC, after all the complaints about Prometheus I feel like RS was pushed to sacrifice that structure for the gore fest that people want. Obviously, the amount of horror/gore junkies and casual movie enthusiasts is way larger than the amount of HC Alien fans so he had to make a decision (though I'm sure bigwigs above him had a lot of influence in that, just speculating) that would increase projected takings. It's sad to say, but movies of this caliber have to take in a hell of a lot of money, and that money comes in the form of a higher volume of sales, therefore the movie has to cater to the bigger audience... sigh... :(
Just to specify I'm a serious gore junkie myself but this is one example of a franchise where I would have preferred a film that focused on the lore.
Ed-Eddn'ED-E
MemberOvomorphMay-26-2017 5:27 PMsorry for the duplicate posts not sure what happened there... :/
Phallic Jaw
MemberFacehuggerMay-26-2017 9:38 PMNeither. The mythology wasn't there (they shat all over what was started in Prometheus), and the gore didn't do it for me. I stopped caring about gore after I watched every single "Saw" movie. Plus a movie can't get by by gore alone.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched Androids blow and finger each other's flutes.