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

[Kevin EK]

I am compelled to firmly agree with Doug on his points here. Having watched all of James Cameron's movies except Piranha 2, I honestly have yet to see one that had anything close to a solid script.

The quotes from ALIEN reflect the heavily improvisatory nature of the way Ridley Scott filmed the movie. The actors were placed in situations and allowed to react to them fairly naturally. The original Dan O'Bannon/Ron Shusett script was quite different, although the basic plot details were the same. By the time Scott was filming the movie, the script had morphed considerably, including major rewrites, and what wound up onscreen was a combination of the scripted material and many well-delivered adlibs.

The script to ALIENS was pretty much the same from the early draft I read in 1985 and the movie that came out in 1986. The same kind of writing holds true for the script Cameron wrote for the First Blood sequel. The scripts for Cameron's other movies all follow the same kind of style - heavy plot emphasis with as many built-in jokes and setups as possible.

Cameron's strong suit has always been his grasp of the technology of filmmaking. If the first Terminator movie showed him overreaching what his budget permitted (and lifting a fair amount from Harlan Ellison along the way), the later films constantly found him on the cutting edge of what could be achieved. ALIENS has several exhilirating action sequences. The Abyss has a fair amount of convincing model and underwater work and a great use of early CGI for the Pseudopod. Terminator 2 is groundbreaking in its use of CGI and morphing, and shows the director enjoying a much higher budget than the original movie. (Of course, the Blu-ray shows how limited the resources eventually were...) True Lies is another groundbreaking use of CGI and on-set resources to tell a very simple story in a complicated way. Titanic is a quantum leap forward both in the use of CGI and in Cameron's ability to convincingly present the situation of over a thousand people facing the imminent sinking of their luxury cruise ship. Avatar is a quantum leap forward both in the use of CGI and in 3D.

But the scripts for those movies, particularly the dialogue, have tended toward the unfortunate.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

They say it affects the entire transfer from beginning to end, i don't understand how that could happen and why there is such a difference but people on this thread seem happy with it, i guess if you don't watch the 2D version first then you have nothing to compare it with and will be happy enough with it.
I have never understood the "its good enough" position though and think they should strive for as near as possible perfection to the master, if they fall short, and they often do, then so be it but at least try and get there, this one looks to fall far short of it's image potential in 3D unless i'm missing something about the format.

I agree mate, i wonder what happend to this one, i know you have a 3D expert on here maybe he can shed some light on it (excuse the pun).

 

[MattAlbie60]

But the scripts for those movies, particularly the dialogue, have tended toward the unfortunate.

I don't think anyone has ever accused James Cameron of being a good screenwriter
But regardless, I still don't think that line from ALIENS is out of character or bad in some way, which is what the original comment was saying.

 

[TravisR]

I don't think anyone has ever accused James Cameron of being a good screenwriter

I think Cameron's greatest screenwriting ability lies in knowing how to write a tale that appeals to a huge number of people in nearly every country and culture. While a critic could easily say that no one has ever gone broke underestimating people's taste, it's still not an easy task to write something that connects with so many people or else everyone would do it.

 

[ijthompson]

When it comes to 'zingers' and one-liners, Aliens is positively restrained compared to Joss Whedon's dreadful Alien Resurrection!

 

[Worth]

I don't think anyone has ever accused James Cameron of being a good screenwriter

I think he started off well and has become progressively worse. The original Terminator is a great screenplay. Titanic on the other hand...

 

[ToEhrIsHuman]

Coupons.com currently has a $5-off mfg coupon for this title available.

 

[MattAlbie60]

I mean, I think he's just absolutely brilliant at writing (and directing) spectacle. And not necessarily mindless spectacle, as he is smart enough to ground it all in his story to a certain extent. His major action set pieces are typically payoffs to character arcs in some regard, which is kind of the best of both words.
Everything around the spectacle, though, is pretty standard stuff. I don't mean "standard" in that it's necessarily boring, just that we've seen it before a zillion times. "James Cameron + Romeo and Juliet = Titanic." "James Cameron + Last of the Mohicans = Avatar." That kind of stuff.
I think even dating back to the first "Terminator," his strength has always been putting on a show. And it's a mighty fine (and clearly profitable) strength to have. There's nobody quite like him in that regard.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I guess i am one of the few people in the thread that thinks James Cameron writes decent scripts, at least compared to the average film made these days, sure he ain't no Robert Bolt but then who is, he is a far better writer than most people making big budget Hollywood films these days, note i said big budget and Titanic is a great film.

 

[Tino]

I have watched both the 3D and 2D versions and they are equally excellent.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Since everyone is weighing in on Cameron's writing abilities
I think he started strong (especially in terms of concepts) but then he lost his edge around True Lies. His scripts rang less true, at least for me with more focus on the set pieces and too much stereotyping of characters as short hand for development. I don't think he is terrible by any means as he does spectacle as well as anyone around; but the screenplays for Titanic and Avatar are rife with stereotypes that diminish the overall impact of those films. Kind of agree with Steve in post #108.
I would argue that the characters in The Abyss are better developed and felt much more real to me when compared to later films such as Titanic or Avatar.
- Walter.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Tino /t/324314/prometheus-3d-blu-ray-review/90#post_3989962
I have watched both the 3D and 2D versions and they are equally excellent.

A direct comparison says otherwise.

 

[Tino]

And I say, IMO, they are equally excellent. And that's all that's important to me. And I have actually watched and compared both. Have you?

 

[Tino]

From bluray.com a differing view on the 3D version, which I happen to agree with:
then we come to the film's use of 3D, which is some of the best I've seen outside of all-CGI movies. If you saw the 3D version of Prometheus in theaters, you'll already have a good idea of what to expect on Blu-ray, namely, lots of depth and little-to-no projection. That is, you'll spend a lot of time looking into your screen—which becomes a kind of portal through which to view a 3D diorama—but you won't find any leap-out-of-the-TV-and-jab-you-in-the-eye gimmickry, which may work in horror films or cartoons, but would only cheapen the experience here. And because there are no objects jutting out towards you, you don't have to worry about the roughly 2.39:1 frame cutting anything off. (No, there's no 1.78:1 "open-matte" version available.) There are a few longer landscape shots where no dimensionality is apparent, but most of the time there's a clear and natural-looking distinction between foreground objects and their backgrounds. There are definitely some "showpiece" 3D shots, like the landing sequence, the silica dust storm, and the engineer holograms, but the 3D effect is most impressively used to add a degree of realism to some of the more mundane scenes, like when Holloway stares into the mirror of his cabin, noticing there's something unusual in his eye. Or Shaw lying on the all-white operating table. Clarity and color both hold-up well, and there are no unusual 3D anomalies to report. Of course, the effect will be better on bigger screens—and the amount of ghosting/doubling you experience will depend on the quality of your TV/projector/glasses—but in general, Prometheus' 3D Blu-ray replicates the theatrical experience rather well. Do note that all screenshots are from the included 2D Blu-ray.
Mods, if this post violates forum rules, feel free to delete.

 

[JamesNelson]

A direct comparison says otherwise.

I just re-watched chapter 23 (the star map scene) in both 2-D and 3-D. I viewed both on a 125" 'scope screen using a Panasonic AE7000 3-D projector.
In motion, to my eyes, I see no discernible difference in clarity or detail between the two. What I am seeing in motion at home on my system does not match the screenshots you linked to earlier. How were those images captured? I would be extremely leery of using 3-D BD screen grabs to judge image quality, because:

• The encoding technology for 3-D BDs is complex and proprietary; I wouldn't trust a hacked decoder to represent reality.
• The content is meant to be viewed in motion and in 3-D.

 

[Carlo_M]

Yeah I was curious how those 3D screengrabs were taken/simulated. Whenever I'm watching a 3D movie in the theaters and take my glasses off, the picture looks blurry and terrible. I'm not sure how you screengrab from a 3D BD and recombine to simulate a 2D image and be 100% sure you have faithfully recreated what the 3D looks like through the glasses. Maybe smarter people than I can chime in.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by Carlo Medina /t/324314/prometheus-3d-blu-ray-review/90#post_3990171
Yeah I was curious how those 3D screengrabs were taken/simulated. Whenever I'm watching a 3D movie in the theaters and take my glasses off, the picture looks blurry and terrible. I'm not sure how you screengrab from a 3D BD and recombine to simulate a 2D image and be 100% sure you have faithfully recreated what the 3D looks like through the glasses. Maybe smarter people than I can chime in.

I'm going to test this myself by using one of the 3D discs i have, maybe you are right, i don't know.

 

[David Mackenzie]

I just re-watched chapter 23 (the star map scene) in both 2-D and 3-D. I viewed both on a 125" 'scope screen using a Panasonic AE7000 3-D projector.
In motion, to my eyes, I see no discernible difference in clarity or detail between the two. What I am seeing in motion at home on my system does not match the screenshots you linked to earlier. How were those images captured? I would be extremely leery of using 3-D BD screen grabs to judge image quality, because:

• The encoding technology for 3-D BDs is complex and proprietary; I wouldn't trust a hacked decoder to represent reality.
• The content is meant to be viewed in motion and in 3-D.

A couple of points...
Putting in the 2D version, ejecting it, waiting for the 3D disc to load, then skipping to that point, and relying on your memory, isn't a working comparison method.
Second, using a projection setup, you have optical factors to consider that could mask any differences, especially small ones like these.
Third, the encoding technology for 3D BD is not proprietary. An AVC decoder (not sure what you mean by a hacked one?) looking at an MVC stream will see the Base View (left eye) as a standard AVC stream.
The content is meant to be viewed in motion and in 3D, yes. That doesn't change the fact that the 2D version has slightly better detail. I wouldn't lose sleep over it, it's hardly blatant. But it's a fact that can be verified.

 

[JamesNelson]

A couple of points...
Putting in the 2D version, ejecting it, waiting for the 3D disc to load, then skipping to that point, and relying on your memory, isn't a working comparison method.
Second, using a projection setup, you have optical factors to consider that could mask any differences, especially small ones like these.
Third, the encoding technology for 3D BD is not proprietary. An AVC decoder (not sure what you mean by a hacked one?) looking at an MVC stream will see the Base View (left eye) as a standard AVC stream.
The content is meant to be viewed in motion and in 3D, yes. That doesn't change the fact that the 2D version has slightly better detail. I wouldn't lose sleep over it, it's hardly blatant. But it's a fact that can be verified.

We are being told that quality differences are "facts" that can be "verified" through these screencaps. I think it is perfectly valid, then, to want to know exactly how those screencaps were produced if we are expected to accept them as proof of anything.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Originally Posted by JamesNelson /t/324314/prometheus-3d-blu-ray-review/90#post_3990295
We are being told that quality differences are "facts" that can be "verified" through these screencaps. I think it is perfectly valid, then, to want to know exactly how those screencaps were produced if we are expected to accept them as proof of anything.

The screencaps were taken directly off the disc using DGAVCIndex and as already said it's the left eye view, he has done this many times, they are 100% accurate.