Sci Why?
4/10
Author: robin-hectors from Belgium
30 May 2012

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

OK this is a lame title for a review, but prometheus kind of deserves a lame intro.

The move opens up very promising, with epic landscapes and a beautifully done intro and epilogue. Then there's a scene where we see David doing his every day chores and keeping himself busy while the rest of the crew is still in cryo-sleep. This scene is utterly genius and should'v really set the tone for the rest of the movie, but all what comes after is really disappointing.

The film builds up quite nice, but until half of the movie it slips away in to unnecessary dialogs. probably to cover up the major plot holes. I was sitting in the theater just asking myself: why are they doing that? Why is this character stereotype in the movie? How did they find this place so fast? Why in the hell do they have a switchboard that turns on holograms about what happened last time and who put them there? What is up with the zombie??? and so on.

If all these questions were compensated with raw action, or tongue in cheek humor, i could have just waved it away; But the film propagates itself as an intellectual, epic adventure about the beginning of mankind.For a guy who made brilliant films such as Alien,Bladerunner Gladiator etc. You have to wonder, why is he satisfied with a lame sci fi movie that any other director could have made... and i hear he's planning a sequel to blade runner... Please, will somebody tell him he has to stop before he destroys his name as a brilliant director...

Mauvais genre...

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Trivia
Showing all 53 items

-The androids' names in the Alien films follow an alphabetical pattern: in Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979) it's Ash, in Aliens - Le retour (1986) and Alien 3 (1992) it's Bishop, in Alien, la résurrection (1997) it's Call and in this film it's David.
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-During production, Ridley Scott kept the use of computer-generated imagery as low as possible, using CGI mainly in space scenes; Scott recalled advice VFXpert Douglas Trumbull gave him on the set of Blade Runner (1982): "If you can do it live, do it live", and also claimed that practical VFX was more cost-effective than digital VFX.
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-Charlize Theron found herself struggling during her action scenes due to her smoking habit, particularly the segments that required her to run through sand in boots weighing 30 pounds (14 kg).
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-Ridley Scott decided against featuring Xenomorphs (the titular Alien of the film series) in the film, as "the sequels squeezed him dry, he did very well... and no way am I going back there." Instead, this being an indirect prequel to Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979), he decided to feature a Xenomorph ancestor/parent.
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-Designer H.R. Giger, who worked on the original design of the Xenomorph Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979), was brought in to assist in reverse-engineering the design of the Aliens in the film.
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-Director Ridley Scott named the film "Prometheus", seeing the name aptly fit the film's themes: "It's the story of creation; the gods and the man who stood against them." In Greek mythology, the Titan Prometheus was a servant of the gods, who stole and gave to mankind the gift of fire, an immeasurable benefit that changed the human race forever (for better AND worse).
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-During the on location segment shoot in Iceland (the movie's opening sequence), Noomi Rapace was able to visit her family who still reside there where she was partly raised.
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-To prepare for his role as the android David, Michael Fassbender watched Blade Runner (1982) (a Ridley Scott film), L'homme qui venait d'ailleurs (1976), The Servant (1963) and Lawrence d'Arabie (1962) (mentioned by Peter Weyland). Fassbender also studied Olympic diver Greg Louganis, drawing inspiration from Louganis's physicality.
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-The "beginning of time" sequence that opens the film was shot in Iceland. The whole shoot took two weeks to complete.
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-According to Ridley Scott, the film's plot was inspired by Erich von Däniken's writings about ancient astronauts: "Both NASA and the Vatican agree that it is almost mathematically impossible that we can be where we are today, without there being a little help along the way. That's what we're looking at: we are talking about gods and engineers, engineers of space. Were the Aliens designed as a form of biological warfare, or biology that would go in and clean up a planet?"
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-Ridley Scott instructed Charlize Theron to stand in corners and move in lurking movements, in order to accentuate Vickers's distant, enigmatic nature.

-Charlize Theron was originally cast as Elizabeth Shaw, but had to decline the role due to scheduling conflicts. Later, another change in schedule freed Theron to do the film, thus allowing her to take the role of Meredith Vickers, as Noomi Rapace had already taken the role of Shaw.
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-As mentioned in the film, the original Prometheus was a character from Greek mythology. He was a Titan (an immortal older god), who gave the gift of fire to human beings. Prometheus was punished for this by being bound to a rock in Hades (the Greek underworld), where each day an eagle, the emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his liver, only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. In some stories, Prometheus is freed at last by the hero Heracles (Hercules). Among the ancient Greeks, Prometheus was venerated as a deity. Prometheus may derive from the Greek for "forethinker", or the Proto-Indo-European for "thief", Prometheus also tricked the gods, which is of relevance to this film.
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-In one of the screenplay drafts for Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979), there was a sex scene between Ripley and Dallas, to show how crew members would engage in casual sex during long space travels, simply to fulfill their needs. Ridley Scott never filmed the scene, but the idea was reused for this film in the exchange between Vickers and Janek.
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-When Prometheus approaches the landing zone, straight marks on the ground can be seen which are very similar to the Nazca lines located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. The Nazca lines are considered by few rogue scientists/archaeologists to be runways of an ancient airfield used by extraterrestrials. This idea was popularized by Swiss author, Erich von Däniken, and is generally regarded as pseudo-science. One of the more prevailing and accepted theories posits that the lines were part of the religious practices of the local people. Other theories place astronomical, cosmological or topographical significance to them.
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-While Ridley Scott suggested that the cast could have slept and effectively "lived" on the Prometheus interior set during initial filming, this didn't happen due to health and safety precautions.
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-The Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who plays British character Shaw, worked on set with a dialect coach to help her achieve the closest accent she could manage.
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-An innovative viral campaign was used to promote the film, consisting of several videos depicting the near future world from the film. The first was a fake TED Talk given by Peter Weyland (played by Guy Pearce), dated 2028. Later, two different versions of a commercial promoting the David 8 android (played by Michael Fassbender) were released. These viral videos were designed by Ridley Scott and Damon Lindelof themselves, and were directed by Scott's son, Luke Scott.
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In 2002, Aliens - Le retour (1986) director James Cameron discussed ideas for a fifth Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979) film with Ridley Scott, with the intention that Cameron would produce the film with Scott directing, and Sigourney Weaver returning to star in the lead role of Ripley. However upon discovering that 20th Century Fox were developing the crossover film Alien vs. Predator (2004), Cameron ceased all work on the project, believing that the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise". Though Cameron went on to state that he would never again work with the Alien franchise, Scott eventually ended up reworking their idea into this film.
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-This is not Ian Whyte's (who plays the Last Engineer) only attachment to the Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979) films. Whyte also played the Predators in Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007).
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-Ridley Scott stated that he was filming "the most aggressive film [he] could" by not caring about MPAA ratings, having support for such bold movement from 20th Century Fox CEO Tom Rothman, who addressed Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979) fans by saying that he was "very aware of their concern", and that "they can take it that the film will not be compromised either way. So if that means that the film is R, then it'll be an R. If it's PG-13, then it'll be a PG-13, but it will not be compromised." Scott shot the film with both adult-only R and more accessible PG-13 film ratings in mind, allowing the more adult content to be cut if necessary without harming the overall presentation, given the case it was asked to be cut down. Eventually, the film was rated "R for Sci-Fi violence including some intense images, and brief language", and it was released without any demanded cuts.
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-The first shot of the cave paintings at the beginning of the film, which showed a horse in motion, originate from the Chauvet Cave in the South of France, which was the subject of the Werner Herzog documentary La grotte des rêves perdus (2010), also shot in 3D.
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When Janek talks with Vickers, he mentions that his accordion was property of Stephen Stills. Stills is a singer, former member of Buffalo Springfield and 'Crosby, Stills & Nash' and composer of "Love the One You're With", that Janek sings often times.
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-Noomi Rapace landed the role of Elizabeth when a scheduled meeting in Los Angeles with producer Michael Costigan instead led to an unexpected meeting with Ridley Scott. When Scott announced that he'd seen Millénium, le film - Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes (2009) three times and was very keen to work with her, Noomi accepted the offer right away.
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-When Shaw is discussing her finds around the world in the conference, the words "Eilean a' Cheo" can be seen in the background. This means "The Island of Mist" in Scottish Gaelic, and is a nickname for the Isle of Skye, properly called "An t-Eilean Sgitheanach".
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-Was originally conceived as a prequel to Ridley Scott's Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979), but Scott announced his decision to turn it into an original film with Noomi Rapace (who was already set to star) still in the cast as one of five main characters. Some time later it was confirmed that while the movie would take place in the same universe as Alien and greatly reference that movie, it would mostly be an original movie and not a direct prequel.
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-The three-triangle logo of the Weyland corporation (while visually similar to that of the actual Weinstein Group) is actually derived from a pattern appearing on the wall in the background of an early Ron Cobb production painting of the "Space Jockey" for the original Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979) film. the logo can be seen as part of David's fingerprint.
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-Early drafts of the script had a scene on a colony on Mars where Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) had his office. Though concept art was completed, the scene was removed for pacing reasons and never filmed.
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-Ridley Scott initially wanted Max von Sydow for the role of Peter Weyland. However, Scott and Damon Lindelof conceived of a scene in which David the android (Michael Fassbender) would interface with Weyland while in hypersleep, and that Weyland's dream would reflect his looks as a younger man since he is obsessed with immortality. Though the scene was cut from the script and never filmed, Guy Pearce had already been cast in the role and thus underwent extensive make-up to appear elderly.
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-Producers Walter Hill and David Giler rejoin Ridley Scott for the first time in over 30 years since they first collaborated on Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979).
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-Gemma Arterton, Carey Mulligan, Olivia Wilde, Anne Hathaway, Abbie Cornish and Natalie Portman were considered for the role of Elizabeth Shaw.(N'importe laquelle aurait sans doute mieux fait l'affaire...)
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-Ridley Scott approached SOAS, University of London, in 2011 to find experts who could help create a new language for the film. Anil Biltoo from SOAS' Language Centre worked to create the language, as well as the alien script, which can be seen throughout. Anil Biltoo can be seen briefly in a scene with Michael Fassbender. Other SOAS staff members appear briefly and are credited, including Wambui Kunya, Sonam Dugdak, Shin-Ichiro Okajima, Kay Rienjang, Zed Sevcikova and Reynir Thor Eggertsson.
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-Marks Ridley Scott's first venture in 3D feature filmmaking and his third sci-fi movie after Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979) and Blade Runner (1982).
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-Michelle Yeoh and Angelina Jolie were originally considered for the role of Meredith Vickers.
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-Noomi Rapace wasn't yet born when Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979) was first released.
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-Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski convinced Ridley Scott that it would be possible to shoot the film in 3D with the same ease and efficiency of typical filming. 3D company 3ality Technica provided some of the rigs and equipment to facilitate 3D filming, and trained the film's crew in their proper operation. Since 3D films need high lighting levels on set, the traditional dark shadowy atmosphere of the Alien films was added in post-production through grading processes, while the 3D equipment was based on post-Avatar (2009) technology.
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-The Vatican's official newspaper L'osservatore Romano gave a negative review of this film saying that it "mishandles the delicate questions raised by... the battle eternal between good and evil."
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-Patrick Wilson, playing Elizabeth Shaw's father, is only 6 years older than Noomi Rapace.(?! portnawak)
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-Orion's constellation can be seen in the holographic star chart during the explanation of Shaw and Holloway about Engineers. It appears to the left of Shaw.
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-Logan Marshall-Green described his role of Charlie Holloway as "an ESPN X-Games (1994) scientist" who leaps before he looks.
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-The first film to feature two actors who played Charlotte Brontë's creation of Edward Rochester in two different literary adaptations involving the same character in the same cast. Rafe Spall played Edward Rochester in Wide Sargasso Sea (2006) and Michael Fassbender played the same role in Jane Eyre (2011).
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-James Franco was considered for the role of Holloway.
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-The film was originally to be called "Paradise" (December 2010).
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-Ben Foster was rumored for a role.
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-In the scene where Peter Weyland is being awoken from hibernation, a prop in the background is actually an ACL TOP coagulation analyzer.
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-Numerous white Stelton vacuum jugs appear in various interior shots of the Prometheus ship, including the ship's lab and Shaw's bedroom.
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-The film contains approximately 1300 digital VFX shots.
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Spoilers The trivia items below may give away important plot points.

When Prometheus approaches the alien solar system, it's mentioned that it's 3.27 x 10^14 (327,000,000,000,000) km from Earth. That's 34.6 light years or 10.4 parsecs.
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-When Elizabeth Shaw is having a C-Section to remove the alien from her body, the alien was wrapped in a condom filled with fake blood so that when it was pulled from her body, the condom could be punctured and explode violently.
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-Shaw's final message at the end of the film closely mirrors that of Ripley's final log entry at the end of Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979). Both messages include indication of being a "final log entry", description of the fates of the ships' respective crews, and identifying themselves as the "last surviving crew member of the (Nostromo/Prometheus)".
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-The moon's name in the film (LV223) is arguably a reference to the the bible verse Leviticus 22:3 - "Say to them, 'If any man among all your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before Me; I am the LORD.'" (New American Standard Bible). This foreshadows the events of the film, including the fates of the crew.
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-In May 7th, 2012, Guillermo del Toro declared that his long proposed adaptation for "At the Mountains of Madness" was indefinitely delayed as he felt Ridley Scott's film was extremely similar to the approach he penned for H.P. Lovecraft's novella, even to the point of having "scenes that would be almost identical. Both movies seem to share identical set pieces and the exact same big revelation (twist) at the end."
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-David idolizes British World War 1 hero T.E. Lawrence. In World War 1, the British Army, including Lawrence, used a machine gun called the Vickers. Also, Peter Weyland, who quotes Lawrence d'Arabie (1962), is the creator/synthetic father of David, but also the biological father of Meredith Vickers.

Nomination
Oscars 2013 : Oscar des meilleurs effets visuels

Récompense
2012 : Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards : meilleure direction artistique

Marche à l'ombre est un film français réalisé par Michel Blanc et sorti en 1984.

Résumé
De retour de Grèce, François, musicien talentueux mais méconnu, et Denis, bileux chronique, débarquent à Paris. Là, ils devaient être hébergés par un copain, mais ce dernier reste introuvable. Ils se réfugient dans un hôtel borgne et tentent de gagner un peu d'argent en chantant dans le métro. En vain. Sans le sou, ils trouvent refuge dans un squat au sein d'une troupe de gens d'origine africaine.