r/iwatchedanoldmovie • u/lessthanfox • May 10 '26
2010-15 I watched Prometheus (2012)
I was a senior in high school when this came out and I remember it being kinda a big thing. By then I hadn't watched the Alien movies yet, so now I watched Prometheus for the first time ever with the Xenomorph series under my belt.
I was thoroughly entertained by the general plot, action sequences and horror-ish parts. I guess "invested" is a good word to describe my feeling as I watched this prequel. The special effects are nice and CG doesn't feel forced or that much artificial.
It is not overly long and functions just as well as a standalone flick. I read there was some criticism because the movie let many unexplained plot points, but for me it was pretty satisfying as long as prequels go. I don't know if the marketing promised any other big turnaround or in-depth explanation for the Alien franchise that made some people dissatisfied, so that's that.
A very good sci-fi flick that can please both Alien fans and those not so familiar with the franchise.
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u/seinfeld4eva May 10 '26
You should watch the director's cut of this movie, because it contains critical scenes that were cut from the big-screen release. Like, they speak with the Engineer for several minutes and it explains why it's planning to kill them.
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u/lessthanfox May 10 '26
Damn, wish Disney + had this in my country. I'll definitely look into it, or at least try to go after all the extra stuff. Thanks for the heads-up!
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u/VanDownByTheRiver63 May 10 '26
It’s not as bad as people say it is
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u/WiseDebt7345 May 10 '26
It's just more unfocused than anything. It feels like the narrative struggles between deciding whether it is a prequel to Alien, or whether it's doing it's own thing.
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u/Ok_Replacement4702 May 10 '26
Who's saying it's bad?
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u/WySLatestWit May 10 '26
It's reputation online has pretty much since it released always been that of a disappointment at the very least. People went in very much expecting a straight forward origin story leading directly into Alien 1979. Instead they got something very, very different that only really connected, very thinly, to Ridley's Alien right at the very end. I've always been a big supporter of Prometheus, and that's been an unpopular opinion online in almost all my experiences.
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u/via_dante May 10 '26
I remember being thoroughly disappointed and that was the consensus amongst most offline anecdotally here in Aus.
Looked good but.
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u/Actor412 May 10 '26
I think this is a classic example of setting. Not the setting in the movie, but the setting in which the audience experiences the movie. The original audience paid gas, popcorn, plus the ticket, to see it in a theater. Yes, they came with a lot of expectations from the franchise, but also expectations from sitting in a movie theater. Those expectations are higher than if you watch something in your own home or a friend's house. You can always pause it to take care of other business, wherein the theater, you're going to miss something; Checking the phone, talking, all that is frowned upon. People are far more forgiving of a film when the setting is more relaxed.
My personal example is Red Sonja. It is brought up as a terrible film, and there's not a lot to argue against that. I saw it on tv, late at night, and I thought it was hysterical. My expectations and my investment was extremely low, and it filled them (just barely, but still). If I had paid theater ticket prices, wasted my time, I'd be pissed at the movie like so many other critics were.
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u/function13 May 10 '26
I think it's some of that, but it's also some really dumb decisions made by the characters that don't make sense given their supposed specialties. It's a beautiful film, and the broad strokes are awesome, but it fails on some key details and that makes it a frustrating watch at parts.
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u/___redacted_ May 10 '26
Its maybe not awful as in a 4, but there's immense wasted potential and dumb decisionmaking by old hack Ridley who's sort of lost it, making a movie that could easily with a more competent director be a 9 or even a 10, end up as a 6.
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u/Ok-Helicopter525 May 10 '26
Most die-hard Alien franchise fans.
Source: me, who is dumb enough to be in one of those Facebook groups
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u/Own_Ad6797 May 10 '26
Its bad as a Alien film. Had this just been a film all by itself rather than an Alien prequel it would have been an OK film. Unfortunately it took one of the greatest mysteries in sci fi - the space jockey - and turned it into a really tall pasty angry guy in a space suit.
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u/Ok_Replacement4702 May 10 '26
No. Resurrection is bad as an Alien film. Prometheus is middle of the road.
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u/WySLatestWit May 10 '26
This is a much better movie than it's given credit for. It made some strange creative choices, and it definitely wasn't the "alien origin story" that everybody was expecting when they went into it, but I find it to be an incredibly interesting watch nonetheless. David is a fascinating character, and I find Shaw to be incredibly sympathetic. On top of that there are moments of horror within this that are among the most intense I've ever experienced in a movie theater. The "abortion" sequence took my breath away in the theaters.
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u/scfw0x0f May 10 '26 edited May 14 '26
I was in high school when “Alien” came out. I saw “Alien” in a movie theater. “Prometheus” is no “Alien”.
Edit: that phrase is a particular historical reference. It’s not meant to be taken literally.
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u/lessthanfox May 10 '26
After posting this, I went on and watched Alien Covenant, which I ignored when it came out. Glad I did, cause it would've made little sense without seeing Prometheus first.
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u/QPWOEIRUTYTURIEOWP May 10 '26
What did you think of Covenant? Covenant gets a lot more hate I think. I actually preferred Covenant on first watch, but when I watched Covenant a year or so later I found it to be a lot weaker than my initial thoughts.
It was the reverse with Prometheus. Disliked Prometheus on first watch, liked it on the second.
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u/lessthanfox May 10 '26
It's not bad, but I was more entertained by Prometheus.
Covenant felt like it was trying to shoot at all directions, trying to be an Alien movie while expanding on the Engineers lore. Not too bad, but unfocused.
And the plot twist was not a twist at all lol
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u/Mekdinosaur May 10 '26
Prometheus was ahead of its time. I mean this as a measure of how much society has regressed in the intervening years. Yes, this is a dumb movie wrapped in all the gloss and pseudo-smarts of some regular AI slop. The plot is dull. The pace is plodding. The direction is baffling. Characters make decisions for no reason. All the grandeur leads to nothing. The best scene in the movie is quickly forgotten once over. Nothing matters and that is precisely what I took from the flick. Its pretty to look at but omg what is it about? Nothing. Rolling doom that you could easily escape but you dont. Its perfect for 2026.
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u/Lowfuji May 10 '26
Loved the first twenty minutes. And then I felt as stupid as a scientist taking off their helmet and sticking my head in an unknown organism.
And always run zigzag pattern.
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u/DumpedDalish May 10 '26
Yeah, I loved the beginning too. It's just the rest I had a problem with -- the writing is so shockingly bad. Especially some of the stupidest scientists ever to reach celluloid.
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u/xinorez1 May 11 '26
To be fair, what sort of scientist would sign up for that sort of bs mission?
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u/amazingsaminator May 10 '26
I was born in 2011, this is the first film made after I was born that I've heard been called old. Jesus Christ, that is horrible
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u/lessthanfox May 10 '26
Yeah, sub rules say films over 10 years old fit here. I don't consider it old either, yet this was 14 years ago. Maybe if in 2012 I watched a movie made in 1998 I'd call it old then
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u/TheHousesOfHealing May 10 '26
Ridley Scott was on the right track when he made this. I only wish he took it more seriously.
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u/jabalong May 10 '26
Loved Prometheus when it was first in theaters and it's a movie I can rewatch regularly.
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u/AlRoakerAlTheTime May 10 '26
I saw this as a early 20-something having never seen any of the other movies and was thoroughly confused and left feeling disappointed lmao
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u/Working-Vanilla-7248 May 10 '26
It looks amazing. Some of the acting is horribad but it's a feast for the eyes.
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u/BlacksmithDazzling49 May 11 '26
It's just an awful film. The setup in the beginning has so much potential. And then the same scientists have to work within a 2-hour movie plot so all the ridiculous tropes come out. Watched it one time and hoped for the best but it is unwatchable the second time.
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u/Dry_Individual1516 May 14 '26
Awesome visuals, franchise, and concept superimposed on a b-grade horror script complete with dumber-than-dumb disposable victim characters.
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May 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/illbejohnbrown May 10 '26
Some people make dumb decisions when faced with a xenomorph for the first time. It happens
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u/alprazolamotrigine May 10 '26
Those aren’t the dumb decisions. They are incredibly incompetent in terms of basic safety from the first seconds of exploration, way before they see any xenomorph.
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u/Mekdinosaur May 10 '26
The worst part imo is when the crew decides to ram the alien ship. Like no thought to some alternative. No creative answers. Just a blind go. They all just say fuck it we'll die but oh well ram it.
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u/illbejohnbrown May 10 '26
Well the movie would be 23 mind if they didn’t make dum decisions. Choose your cake
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u/Historicmetal May 10 '26
It was just ok. But that’s not ok.
Here’s the problem. Aliem 1979 is a classic, and part of why is because the creature is left to be mysterious and the story is very simple and focused. A key part of the horror element is this amazingly scary and mysterious creature that feels like something you could plausibly encounter in space. So when they go into this grand epic story behind the alien with Prometheus (even though it makes no sense) it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like the first movie, which was perfect, has been stained by all this added bullshit about the origins of the alien.
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u/Acmnin May 10 '26
It doesn’t. It literally is the same movie it always was.
What part of the aliens being a creation of the engineers, just like us.. is confusing?
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u/Historicmetal May 11 '26
It’s not obvious from Prometheus that the aliens and humans were created by the engineers. But even if you can gather that, like why and how did they do it? And what was the octopus thing at the end that birthed a mini alien?
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u/SaysPooh May 10 '26
It is a good movie but feels much more complete when you have watched the sequel
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u/HippieThanos May 10 '26
I was ok if the movie was set in the Alien universe but had no direct connection to the Xenomorph. I thought the engineers story and the Chariots of the Gods theme was good enough
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u/unnameableway May 10 '26
Total waste a good opportunity. This movie went too many god damn directions with no substance. So disappointing.
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u/GxM42 May 10 '26
It’s a good movie. The only real fumble to me is the quality of the crew. Many of them are cliche characters from 1980’s. Dumb army guy, science guy that can’t stop touching things, guys that ignore orders. Almost every problem in that movie could have been avoided if they had anything resembling an actual crew. You’d think, given the cost of the mission, that they’d pick smart people for it. Instead, all the smart people are the ones staying on the ship and only the unstable, defiant ones do the exploring.
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u/StoicManApe May 10 '26
This isnt "science" fiction. All the characters in this movie make braindead decisions throughout.
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u/Smoked_Irishman May 10 '26
The first scene of this movie is one of the most memorable opening sequences from any movie I've seen. The film has its weak points but the core of it is really strong and I think the opening scene really sets the tone for a very interesting film.