Thread: Prometheus
View Single Post
addabox
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: oaktown
 
2012-03-20, 14:20

I'm totally jazzed about this movie as well, but judging from the trailers (and this kind of thing is subtle so I might be wrong) this movie is going to lack any of Alien's lived in, just a bunch of space cowboys hanging out vibe.

To me that was one of the revelatory things about Alien-- it was one of the first space movies I can recall where the interiors looked worn and the cast acted like people. I think that alone accounted for a lot of the film's impact. For instance, the horror of the first chest burster scene was vastly enhanced by the easy, almost improvisatory style of the meal scene just preceding it. The contrast was such a gut punch, like something insanely grotesque going down at brunch with friends.

Now, obviously, this is a different movie, and arguably a scientific vessel isn't going to have the same space truck feel as the Nostromo. But I feel like the nature of big budget sci-fi has changed for the worse since Alien-- everything is glossier and more seamless and calculated. Maybe it has something to do with CG vs. sets and models, maybe it's just modern taste. It's the difference to listening to a recording that sounds like some people playing music together in a room and your current typical wall to wall production which sounds like a designed thing having no relationship to acoustics as we encounter them in the world.

Not to say this won't be a hugely entertaining or even great movie. But I suspect Ridley doesn't even remember how, much less cares about, creating the sense of space and pacing and verisimilitude that made Alien such a treat. Hope I'm wrong.

That which doesn't kill you weakens you slightly and makes you less able to cope until you're completely incapacitated
  quote