3D Blu-ray Review Prometheus 3D Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

I loved the movie and the themes that Ridley & Co. wanted to explore really resonated with me.
It's interesting, and I don't want to paint with too broad a brush here, but for those who were very interested in the Space Jockey from the original Alien, most of the disappointment re: the engineers seem to be people who were invested in the Space Jockey concept early on.
For me, the Space Jockey (I didn't even know it was called that until very recently) was just a point of curiosity. Something neat, for sure, but didn't inspire me to wonder about its origin. I figured it was a creature that used the Alien (Xenomorph) as a weapon. Prometheus did nothing to really dispel that for me. It did not take the alien out of Alien for me. But I can understand for others YMMV.

 

[MattAlbie60]

I never thought that the Space Jockey used the xenomorph as a weapon. I figured it was just a "what happened to this giant thing is about to happen to the crew of the Nostromo" kind of thing. A bad omen, of sorts.
I think that the original Space Jockey was very, very clearly a giant weird looking alien and not a suit that a human-ish looking alien wore. But I can't say that I'm necessarily super upset with the change.

 

[Doctorossi]

I think that the original Space Jockey was very, very clearly a giant weird looking alien and not a suit that a human-ish looking alien wore.

Absolutely. For me, just as bad as the absurdity of turning the skeleton into a space suit is the narrowing of focus by putting so much attention on the space jockey in the first place. In Alien, the space jockey never appeared to be the be-all/end-all of local culture. It was just a guy in an office that the Nostromo crew happened to pass on their way down the hall. In Prometheus, it's suddenly pivotal to everything and we can feel that the only reason is because we saw it before, in Alien. Suddenly, what felt like a vast and unknowable/mysterious universe feels tiny and pedestrian/familiar.
It's prequel mistake #1 and it's one of the same ones that Star Wars made. In Star Wars, Tatooine was well-established as a distant backwater of no import- hence the unlikelihood of one of its residents growing up to save the universe. Then, when the prequels rolled around, we found out that Tatooine was pretty much ground zero for every galaxy-shaping event of the era. Again, in the blink of an eye, awe-inspiringly vast and alien becomes your uncle Stan in the apartment above the garage.

 

[dmiller68]

I just watched it and felt the 3D was very well done. I don't need the gimmicks I want solid 3D and I felt it delivered. I do think the movie seems to drag in areas. I did enjoy my second watching of it and I need to watch it at least a few more times to pickup everything. Can't wait to dig into the special feature.

 

[Mark-W]

I was hoping there would be an extended cut available on the blu-ray, thinking there had been rumors (unsubstantiated) that about 30 minutes of the film had been cut out that would have made some character's seem less stupid and/or illogical, or more fleshed out.
Thanks for the post and the links.
"In fact, many of the scenes, character choices, and plot points only make sense from a symbolic point of view."
Then the film fails. They need to work as effective characters in the film before they can work as symbols for anything.
I enjoyed this film, but I was a disappointment the way I was with Matrix 2 and 3; it got too heady and focused on bigger ideas and symbolism, seemingly thinking those things would make it good film rather than actually putting the things that make a film good in the film itself, like logical plots and character decisions.
Allusions to religious text or philosophy in films generally does not work. The attempt to be deeper just fails when it is taken on too directly. The best films about larger things usually do not scream, "I am referencing the Bible!" or "I read Joseph Campbell!"
I suspect a more agnostic approach to the film's concept would have been better received.

About the questions. Allow me to post some links, I've found very helpful.
I love the themes and the symbolism throughout, some won't, but I believe this has never intended to be "just" a mainstream movie. This is a movie that raises questions and the answers are to come.
If you like to read about the subtext, these are some great links:
The Great Betrayal: Prometheus & the Death Of the Father
Cavalorn analysis
How to approach Prometheus
The Subtext is the Text
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 1: John the Baptist
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 2: God Does Not Build In Straight Lines
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 3: Man VS Nature VS God
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 4: Don’t Lose Your Head
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 5: Color Patterns
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 6: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 7: There Is Nothing In The Desert
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 8: The Giant Head
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 9: Marduk and Mushussu
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 10: Adam & Eve
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 11: Faust
Dissecting Prometheus, Part 12: Nietzsche
70 Prometheus Questions Answered

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi /t/324314/prometheus-3d-blu-ray-review/60#post_3987817
Absolutely. For me, just as bad as the absurdity of turning the skeleton into a space suit is the narrowing of focus by putting so much attention on the space jockey in the first place. In Alien, the space jockey never appeared to be the be-all/end-all of local culture. It was just a guy in an office that the Nostromo crew happened to pass on their way down the hall. In Prometheus, it's suddenly pivotal to everything and we can feel that the only reason is because we saw it before, in Alien. Suddenly, what felt like a vast and unknowable/mysterious universe feels tiny and pedestrian/familiar.
It's prequel mistake #1 and it's one of the same ones that Star Wars made. In Star Wars, Tatooine was well-established as a distant backwater of no import- hence the unlikelihood of one of its residents growing up to save the universe. Then, when the prequels rolled around, we found out that Tatooine was pretty much ground zero for every galaxy-shaping event of the era. Again, in the blink of an eye, awe-inspiringly vast and alien becomes your uncle Stan in the apartment above the garage.

I was reading a book recently that struck me as the "right idea" to handle these kind of problems; in that book (Woken Furies) it was covered that by the time we got to Mars, everything was dead.. but that a VERY long time ago, people were there, it was like an outpost that got abandoned. And, while we couldn't figure anything out, everyone kept trying to figure things out based on the relics from there. It was an interesting take: no one cared about earth that long ago in the storyline because at that point (as they explained) the earth was "too hot" as the sun was young and hotter, and whatever blah blah blah (whether the science was real or not didn't matter) But it at least made it interesting.
The problem with Prometheus for me is that a hundred+ years from now, we discover that ancient Mayans, Egyptians, etc. had some sort of contact with these aliens (that's all that makes sense, otherwise you're in a weird "genetic memory" mode, which wouldn't just die out with them)

I also found the strange devotion of Elizabeth to ask her "questions" were ridiculous.. it just didn't make sense.

 

[Walter Kittel]

in that book (Woken Furies)

That is the third book in the Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard Morgan. I highly recommend the entire set of books for any SF fans. From the WIKI page for Woken Furies...
In the Kovacs universe, "Martians" are a long-dead, super-advanced, avian/winged species who disappeared from our galaxy, leaving behind inscrutable artifacts and a few pieces of operating technology. They are referred to as "Martians" by humans because our first discovery of them is on Mars. Their homeworld is unknown, lost in the millennium since they were active in any space humans have discovered. This mystery is compounded by the Martians' peculiar habit of showing all maps with the local settlement at the center of the universe, rather than relative to a fixed homeworld or system. Martian civilization is covered in more detail in the second Kovacs novel, Broken Angels, which centers around a Martian gateway.
- Walter.

 

[AaronMan]

I thought the movie was fine. I guess the only things that kind of bothered me was the two scientists that get lost in the pyramid. They add nothing to the story. You could remove their subplot from the movie and the main plot would remain intact. The other thing would be that Shaw's husband is kind of an unlikeable person. But in general, I thought it was a really fascinating movie. And the documentary about how they made it is incredible.

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by Walter Kittel /t/324314/prometheus-3d-blu-ray-review/60#post_3988331
That is the third book in the Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard Morgan. I highly recommend the entire set of books for any SF fans. From the WIKI page for Woken Furies...
In the Kovacs universe, "Martians" are a long-dead, super-advanced, avian/winged species who disappeared from our galaxy, leaving behind inscrutable artifacts and a few pieces of operating technology. They are referred to as "Martians" by humans because our first discovery of them is on Mars. Their homeworld is unknown, lost in the millennium since they were active in any space humans have discovered. This mystery is compounded by the Martians' peculiar habit of showing all maps with the local settlement at the center of the universe, rather than relative to a fixed homeworld or system. Martian civilization is covered in more detail in the second Kovacs novel, Broken Angels, which centers around a Martian gateway.
- Walter.

Yep, I love the entire concept of that series, the first book "Altered Carbon" is just outright fantastic... I mean, there is a lot of over-the-top graphic violence and sex in it, but it so well establishes the reality of the body market that it's hard to imagine selling the concept without it. Not for everyone, though. But I brought it up because for Prometheus, I just found the core concept "oh, so we're saying all evolution is a joke, etc." was just too far. The problem with prequels as someone mentioned is we try to make things far too "neat", whereas the concept of saying: we just stumbled onto this somewhere else would have blunted a lot of questions and odd story telling I found hard to get past by making earth always the center of everything.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Just finished watching this film.

Second viewing and even more disappointed with the
movie overall than I was the first time I saw it. With all
the pre-hype given to Prometheus, I thought it pretty much
fell flat.

Speaking of flat...the 3D is pretty much non-existent
here. There is little sense of depth, if any at all, through
most of the film. I have to agree with Matt Hough's
assessment that the 3D adds nothing to this film over
the 2D counterpart except for a slightly higher price tag.
I would highly recommend avoiding the 3D version
unless you want the extra features that come with it.

The transfer is top-notch complete with audio that really
envelopes the viewer. This is about as great as Blu-ray
gets.

I am a huge fan of Ridley Scott, but I have no clue as
to what he was trying to accomplish with this film. It is
really beneath what I feel his best efforts could have been.

Of course, I expect quite a few people to disagree with
that opinion.

 

[Kevin EK]

The big thing that the 3D edition gives you is that extra disc of special features, including the Lauzirika documentary.

I just finished listening to the writers' commentary. To their credit, they do mention the various bits of Dan O'Bannon's original ALIEN script that were incorporated into this film, including the pyramid. And they make very clear what the Spaihts script really was, and how Lindelof changed it. From what I can tell, Lindelof improved the Spaihts script considerably, but still got tangled up in the basic logic problems. The writers' commentary still does not make clear why the characters make the decisions they do, and in such a hasty and strange manner.

I am left with my original impression of the movie, after all the discussion that "Questions will be Answered". This was a beautifully designed movie - where the design imperatives wildly overwhelmed the script logic. In the end, you get a beautiful movie that doesn't completely make sense. I don't think that was the aim, but it was certainly the result.

 

[Doctorossi]

I have to agree with Matt Hough's 
assessment that the 3D adds nothing to this film over
the 2D counterpart except for a slightly higher price tag.
I would highly recommend avoiding the 3D version
unless you want the extra features that come with it.

Wow. I'm sorry you feel that way, Ron. I wouldn't recommend either version of the film because it fails for me, but if you're going to watch it, I say 3D all the way. I think the 3D is beautiful, but I guess it's not going to satisfy you if you're looking for 3D roller-coaster thrills and not just gorgeous and evocative cinematography.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Quote:

I think the 3D is beautiful, but I guess it's not going to satisfy you if you're looking for 3D roller-coaster thrills and not just gorgeous and evocative cinematography.

The film was flat. There was hardly any sense of separation to be found.

I wasn't going into this film looking for 3D roller-coaster thrills. I was
looking for depth -- a reason to switch up from the 2D version.

 

[Doctorossi]

The film was flat.  There was hardly any sense of separation to be found.

Hmm... Perhaps it's been dialed back for Blu-ray. I didn't find it lacking in depth in the theatre.

 

[Matt Hough]

Sometimes when a film is converted to 3D, depth goes lacking, but this is the first shot-in-3D film that I felt was a real letdown in terms of increased depth of field. Except for a few prime moments that I mentioned that impressed me with the 3D, I really was not blown away, and I really wanted to be. I really thought this would be a visual extravaganza, but it wasn't, at least for me.

 

[JamesNelson]

Prometheus had some of the most natural-looking, perfectly rendered cinematic 3-D I have ever experienced. In some ways, at least in terms of some people's expectations, its 3-D suffer from its own excellence. It looks so realistic, so natural that its effect becomes transparent. It is all too easy to forget that one is watching a stereoscopic approximation of reality (and I mean that as an accolade). One is not constantly consciously aware in the real world of the dimensionality of objects. One does not typically say to one's self "wow, that desk looks particularly three dimensional." And so it is with Prometheus. I think Scott achieved precisely the 3-D effect he intended.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I thought the 3D version was anything but flat. I was frequently noticing a lot of depth. There were frequently characters at 3 or more levels and it was noticeable. I admit I'm still in the "gee whiz" stage of my 3D experience, but I think this movie will always have depth for me. The 3D version will always be the one I will watch.

 

[ijthompson]

The 'deepest' 3D shots I remember from the cinema are the holograms on the table. How do they look on the blu? I don't have a 3D display yet, though I do have the disc.

 

[FoxyMulder]

You guys hate screencaps, so let me give you one and a link to someone who says the 3D version is not as detailed, by a long shot, to the 2D edition.

http://www.landofwhimsy.com/archives/2012/10/so-that-3d-disc-of-prometheus/

Is there any pop out effects in this film at all. ?

 

[Tino]

I thought the 3D on the Prometheus blu ray was excellent. Plenty of depth. Of course not as immersive as it was in IMAX 3D but pretty close. By far one of the best 3D blu rays I own.