The Harsh Light Of Day

The Lil’ Wil Wheaton Plushie Pre-Sale IS NOW HERE in the HE Store. The ONLY way to make sure you get one by the holidays is to order during the pre-sale. They’re $19.95 + shipping. Buy one for you, one for a friend and one to customize with a little fez or horrible spacesuit sweater!

Wil Wheaton Plushie from HijiNKS ENSUE, Wil Wheaton Plush toy doll

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I don’t even know what to believe any more. No one seems the like Prometheus. The warmest review I’ve heard from a trusted geek source is “I enjoyed it well enough, but there were some MAJOR problems.” I’ve so been looking forward to this movie for months, and now I don’t even know if I want to see it in theaters or wait for home video. It seemed like it had everything the perfect ME movie should have. Spaceships, robots, space, creepy robots, a lady, aliens, space murder, convulsing, space suits, cryo-sleep, a thing trying to kill everyone, space accents… quite literally EVERYTHING I look for in a movie. Now I’m hearing about character problems and a story that doesn’t quite come together. I really hope this is another Avatar situation, where I LOVE it and all the haters can go suck on a plasma exhaust port.

COMMENTERS: Feel free to give you TOTALLY SPOILER FREE thoughts on Prometheus in the comments. Rest assured that, despite my warning, I will probably read none of them until after I see the movie. I’m still holding out hope.

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94 Comments

    • That is my exact response to the Prometheus hate: "Oh no. Promotheus." I dunno. People tend to make too big a deal out of things these days. One person posts an overly negative thought on Reddit or Tumblr or whatever and everyone runs wild with it. I'm still looking forward to seeing it and I'll make my own judgements once I have, but I'm not going to let a bunch of bitter nerds tell me how to feel. Stick to your guns, man. If you loved Avatar despite all the grumblings, you clearly live above the negative-hype machine.

  3. It was my most anticipated movie of the summer (even moreso than Avengers and Bats 3), but hearing that it asks more questions than it answers I may just wait for home video.

    • It was? by who? I mean yes there was some build up for it but everyone I know never viewed it as more than filler between Avengers and The Dark Knight Gets Up Again.

    • Here's the Cliff's Notes: In the future humans are dicks, they program robots to be dicks, the things that created us are dicks, and they make weaponized goo that breeds aliens that are literally made of dicks to dick us over. Visually stricking and fun for the whole family.

  4. I just know that Red Letter Media did one of their "YOU MUST HATE THIS!!1!" screeds against Prometheus, which means it's probably not as bad as the haters say.

    • Actually if you watch their Half in the Bag review they say that they didn't understand the hate. The line they specifically use is "What's the F**king problem". They mention that there are questions and problems, and that perhaps disappointment is valid, but not the out and out hatred people are giving. Their takeaway was that it's a big high concept pretty sci fi movie with some plot issues.

  6. Prometheus had a few good action sequences, and it was very pretty. If you want some above-average scifi pseudo-horror action, it's a decent movie. They seemed to only ever be in one of three rooms, though. Not enough locational variety. Especially with how well-realized they proved those locations could be, visually. 🙁

    The plot started out painful and then just became nonsensical as we approached the end, to the point that I eventually just tried not listening to anything the characters said. There are several major plot holes that you'll probably catch after the movie's over… not plot stupidity, but legitimate *holes* where you end up going, "wait, why did this happen when they already knew that." "If this didn't happen, then why was that the way it was? What happened there?" The movie also spent way too much time trying to shove it's ridiculous "message" down your throat, long after you've lost interest in it.

    I personally found the characters to range anywhere from uninteresting to groan-inducing. Some people liked the characters, though, so take that for what you will. Movie spent *way* too much time focusing on a single character and trying to force you to have emotional responses towards him.

    Finally, on several occasions the movie seemed to want to insinuate that Charlize Theron was attractive, but I *swear* to you she is the only alien I saw in the whole damned movie.

    • I thought she was a fem bot.

      I saw the movie, and wondered to myself: "What was the point, other than the last 30 seconds of film?".

  8. How many more drunk comics before we get see something funny again? That's not to say that this comic isn't genius and it hasn't made me pee myself on occasion. I just think that using "blackout drunk" as the running plot line is getting lazy…

      • Cool – loving the drunk comics! I'll have to find a way to start using "endrunkening" in conversation now, preferably while drunk.

      • I apologize. My Comment was short and received an appropriate response. My intent was not to be a jerk. I wanted to convey that, in my opinion, Eli getting drunk all the time was becoming kind of stale. I admit I could have articulated this a hell of a lot better. Also, this opinion was formed before I realized the storyline might be going somewhere.

        That being said, I guess I hope that you are open to hearing the opinions of your fans even when its not praise. But, if I am wrong I will kindly shut up and not attempt to engage in this sort of dialogue again.

    • its been what only a few comics so far,..it was started in the theater awhile back,..picked back up for the EFE part,…interrupted by the Hockey Brain,..now back,….. its not that bad. Our esteemed artist does not rely on "one trick ponies" its a storyline,…. its weaves in and out,…..this is not Twin Peaks or Lost where certain plot points mean NOTHING,….lol

      • Exactly. I am building towards something. Not something HUGE but something nonetheless. I have to lay the groundwork first. This whole story thing is new to me and people should really be cutting me a bit more slack as I figure all of this new territory out.

        • Who needs to cut slack when the strip is outright hilarious?

          It's a big call considering how many startlingly loud outbursts of mirth you've forced me to inflict on friends and family, but I think "Bartender, two glasses of your saddest breakfast" is my new favourite line.

    • *BOOP* "There, I bought it." is the funniest joke I've seen in the comic for a while so I'm not sure where that's coming from.

  9. Let me know when "Bartender, two glasses of your saddest breakfast," finds its way onto a shirt so I can strongly consider buying it…

  10. Heeeeeey, i know what a beard of bad decisions smells like, i also know what a bar's saddest breakfast smells like, that said, forget anyone who didn't like prometheus, that shit was awesome, and i love how they connected it to the seldom spoken of books

  11. One of my biggest problems with the movie is the one that Penny Arcade pointed out. *SPOILERS*

    When running from a giant rolling spaceship, only a retard runs ALONG ITS FRIGGIN PATH!

  12. I saw Prometheus last night, and I hate to say it, but I'm kind of with the haters. The movie looks great, and if all you want is to see some people die in space, by all means, spend you $15 on it and enjoy. But the plot is full of too many holes to excuse it away, and the movie makes these grandios statements about the origin of life and the meaning of God that it never has the balls to explain or even explore in any meaningful way. It's not sci-fi, it's empty theology with aliens, and I don't want a movie telling me that I just need blind faith to understand it. That's moronic. There has to be some content to back all this crap up, but there just isn't.

    Plus the characters are all 2-dimensional (except Michael Fassbender, he's great!), and I really couldn't care less when they died. Their actions and motivations are unclear and nonsensical – and that includes the aliens! How do you screw up the Aliens!?? Stupid Ridley Scott….

    • But, don't you BELIEVE? Believe in laser space jeebus?
      He will touch you with his cosmic appendage, once he gets out of that weird, overly complicated looking spacesuit of his.

  13. I didn't hate it while I was watching it but…

    by the time the movie was over there was so much unresolved bullshit that I couldn't help but feel short changed. And because 75% of that bullshit was completely unnecessary in the first place, the fact that they let it drop only served to worsen the experience.

    The characters were insanely inconsistent. Like, from one scene to the next, characters have completely changed personalities. When they weren't being inconsistent, they were just flat. With the exception of Noomi Rapace and Fassbender, all of the actors were wasted talent. Guy Pearce plays a 100 year old man in 100 year old man make-up. I'm not really sure why they needed Guy Pearce for that role, or any actor that had to be put in prosthetic make-up. Like, any older actor would've served and been far less distracting.

    There are a lot of ridiculous plot holes, but the real problem is that the story doesn't offer anything (other than very pretty visuals. It does look great). All the ideas are half-baked, and most of the answers the movie hints at don't hold up after even a second of thoughtful analysis. It's just a Turkey.

  14. I think Avatar was much better than Prometheus. At least in Avatar the Nav'i were interesting and Jake Sully, at the very least, was someone to root for. The story was simple and seen-before, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of Avatar.

    In Prometheus, the characters are bland and do inexplicable things inconsistent with their background, and there are a few sci-fi concepts that would've been decent in 1979, but are just tired and awkward now. Great effects and sci-fi style, but those couldn't transcend the story-telling like Avatar did.

  16. I definitely enjoyed the movie. I can see where people might take issue with it. My desire now would be to see the directors cut to see what Scott wanted to run initially as opposed to what got shipped out for the theatres. I felt it managed to touch on fears untouched by the rest of the series. This is a great catalyst of a movie that will allow for more innovative takes on the Alien movie.

  17. My opinion is basically what you've heard. It was fun, it was enjoyable, but there were plot holes you could drive a… a spaceship through (and I don't normally even notice plot holes, so it was BAD). Fun, entertaining, sure. Am I glad I payed only 5 bucks for it instead of 10? Definitely.

    But hey, Noomi Rapace was in it being cool, and Sean Harris was in it being INTENSE (in SPACE!) and Idris Elba was in it being fucking PIMP and sexy as hell, per usual, and Fassy was fucking hilarious and super creepy, which was fun. So, yeah. There's my 2 cents.

    • ETA: Oh, and the scientists. You know: those scientists that do INCREDIBLY STUPID THINGS for SCIENCE and you're sitting there screaming WHY?! WHYYY?! YOU'RE *SCIENTISTS*! How can you possibly be this dumb?!

      That happened a lot. Which was unfortunate. It made the characters less relatable and likable because they were pulling the stupid horror movie cliche where they were totally not acting in any way that NORMAL people would act :/

      • I'm convinced none of those people were actual scientists.

        Oy! I'm a geologist, I am I am! But I can't find me way out of a cave. Blimey! If only I had a map. Oh, wait, I'm the guy MAKING THE MAP!!

        Hello, space-worm! U iz so pretties! Wants to hugz yooo!

        Dude, I'm, like, totally an anthropologist. So that means I know, like, science and stuff. You sayin' there's air in here? Well, I'm gonna breath in ALL that are like a HOSS! What, son! What! Screw you, robot! You ain't got nothin' on this Ph.D. havin' broski!

  18. To understand Prometheus you need to first see it's preguel: A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
    It's all about how David the android ended up with mother issues that complicate his relationships with female co-workers in Prometheus.

    • Its sort of a thing in comics that you leave out details like that until they are mentioned or featured in close ups. At this point all of the real people in the strip are married. I just dont want to draw all those rings, additional piercings, etc.

  23. I loved Prometheus. All the complaints I've heard were either pedantic (the ship thing that seems to have ruined it for PA) or just wrong. The story made sense, and was consistent and coherent. A lot of people say otherwise, but maybe they saw a different movie than I did? It worked for me. Some of the characters WERE a bit one dimensional, but they were essentially monster kibble. Nobody complained that Wierzbowski was not well developed. The characters that mattered were excellent.

    So, yeah, I highly recommend it.

  24. I don't get the big issue with the stupid characters. I mean, I've come to take that for granted across the entire horror genre. As a sci-fi horror movie, Promethius did excellent when it came to characters that actually affected the plot. And yes, the plot did take a back seat to the gore, but again, that's for granted.

    I thought the movie really came through when it needed to. I liked it.

  25. I enjoyed Prometheus. Was it a work of genius like Alien? Not quite. But it was tense and gross and pretty and I had a good time through the whole thing. (Except for that one junior mint that got stuck at the bottom of the box and wouldn't come out.

    It also had Fassbender who has very much become an element that makes a movie worth watching all on his own.

  27. Prometheus was very pretty – that's the main thing I can say for it really so I would recommend going to see it at the cinema as opposed to waiting for the DVD if you have the spare cash as the fact that it is visually quite splendid is best enjoyed on the big screen.

    I agree with most of the complaints regarding the plot, characters, and the over-all feeling of 'meh' it left with me though. I guess I was hoping for more of an Alien or Aliens than an Alien 3.

    • Agree. Definitely, defintiely, DEFINTELY see it in cinema – find the best cinema 3D system you can (preferably one who use the LCD glasses that you have to give back at the end of the session). This is one beautiful film to look at. The 3D is gorgeous as is the production the design.

      As for the rest … yes, well, quite.

  28. The first advertisements for Prometheus were perfect. Everyone knew it was an Aliens prequel, but they played it so mysteriously, that I wanted to go see it.

    Then they started running it, showing the alien chestbursting, and replaying that one scream *ad nauseum*, and I think I might give it a miss and like Netflix it or something. I say meh to their ad scheme.

  29. I saw prometehus in 3D, mostly because it was the one showing at the time I wanted to see a movie. I also did not know it was a prequel to Aliens. I eventually figured that out in the last 4 seconds. Because I'm a fail boat. I'm sorry I'm a bad geek.

    I enjoyed the movie over-all, though I found some of the characters confusing. Mostly two of the scientists. Their actions made no sense for rational scientists on a huge expedition like that. Particularly, I wondered why one of them would have been allowed to come when he was unbalanced and flipped the fuck out with no provocation.

    I had fun. It wasn't "That movie was AWESOME!!!!" Nor "THAT MOVIE WAS AWFUL!!". I'd watch it if it came on T.V.

  30. Prometheus was just in development for too long and had too many people work on it. It's really obvious that they tried to stitch all sorts of different ideas together. I think Ridley Scott was trying to make it a Blade Runner sequel but the execs wanted him to make an alien prequel so they kind of went with something in between.

    It's got the themes of searching for meaning from the creator, the desire to prolong one's existence, what makes us human, what is the difference between humans and AI's, etc. There's the whole "is Vickers a replicant/robot" question. They kind of mixed up characteristics from Eldon Tyrell and Roy Batty and split them into David and Peter Weyland.

    If Ridley Scott ever makes a Blade Runner sequel, I'd bet it'd be about a man named Weyland, who is secretly a replicant, taking over the Tyrell corporation. The ultimate irony would be that the replicants we created to be our slaves not only ended up creating their own slaves with androids like David and Bishop, but secretly made us into their slaves as the Weyland-Yutani corporation basically controls earth.

  31. Prometheus is definitely worth seeing in theaters once. I can't comment on whether I would see it again though. The visuals are incredible and the acting is superb, especially from Michael Fassbender and Charlize Theron. I'll leave you to your own judgements on the plot.

  32. Go see it in the theater. Go see it in 3D even. Just don't expect too much of the plot or most of the characters. Still though, go see it. It's VERY pretty.

  33. I enjoyed Prometheus, but got the distinct feeling after watching the film that a lot must have been cut out. If you look at how much was cut out of Alien/Aliens and how those films would both have been better uncut, I'm really looking forward to a director's cut/extended cut of Prometheus, which could hopefully tie together some of the slightly disjointed elements, and maybe flesh out some of the characters more.

  34. I enjoyed Prometheus very much. While in the theatre I was totally swept along with it and it was only on leaving and discussing the movie with my girlfriend that we picked a few nits.
    Yes there are some annoying things "That's what I choose to believe" made me grind my teeth. You're supposed to be a scientist ffs! And that guy was the worst biologist ever; But I continue my man-crush on Michael Fassbender and can only wonder how earth-crushingly pretty he and Charlize Theron's babies would be. Idris Elba was cool as always and it was all Alienesque enough without seeming like a retread.

  35. I personally like Prometheus. I think the main problem was that everyone was expecting it to be outstanding. Everyone built it up to much, getting a bit TOO over confident it was going to be great. Then they were all let down when they actually saw it. I didn't have any expectations when I saw it, so for me I really liked it. It was a more then decent movie – in fact it was GOOD. Not GREAT, but still pretty good. If you walk in in expecting the witness the second coming, then you'll be let down. If you walk in feeling open to whatever happens in front of your face, then you probably wont.
    Also, Michael Fassbender was just all out awesomeness.

    • I can honestly say I went into it with my expectations completely in check. In fact, this one kind of escaped my nerd radar, I didn't even know what it was until a couple of weeks ago. And considering how bad Aliens 3 & 4 were, my expectations were kind of low.

      It's really pretty, the quality of the CG can not be refuted, and Michael Fassbender was really good (if you overlook the badly written inconsistencies in his character). But the rest of the story is full of more holes than a colander, and I just don't get how so many people don't see it?!?

      Here's a brief list of some of the most glaring problems (and this writers attempts to justify them), but there are many more:
      http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Prometheus-Explain…

  36. Hijinks ensue.

    I know you need to eat, well, drink at least, but, there is a hot add window on your site that spontaneously starts screaming add gibbish at me.

    This takes seconds to shut down, but, even so my my webcomic bliss has been shattered. Its its its like TV, nooo arrr, the mind weasels!

    My vote is that it sucks.

    • Keep in mind that I have little to no control over what individual ads are placed on my site. If you see something offending you can email me and let me know and I can do my best to block it. Its not like I sit there and approve every single one saying, "Ah, an ad that screams at you. This will be a GREAT addition to my site." Even though I have auto-audio ads turned off, sometimes they sneak through.

      • I continously get a video ad for German soccer – like game highlights and stuff. I have absolutely NO idea how or what I googled to get that, but I've come to enjoy it in a weird masochistic way.

  38. The only question that Prometheus answers is that, in order to get a xenomorph, you have to tentacle-rape a Frankenstein. I'm sure there's a hentai for that.

  39. People are hating PROMETHEUS? Really? I've seen it and loved it and everyone else I personally know who has seen it have enjoyed it, too.

  40. I enjoyed Prometheus and would see it again, even paying full price. The 3D was well-used & did not give me a headache [and I have to wear the 3D glasses over my own glasses], The galactic map scene is worth the price of admission IMO.
    HOWEVER there are stupidity issues and plot holes a-plenty. I -think- some of the 1-dimensional character problems were there to make David's personality shine in comparison – even tho he alternated between YES, I love him to 'is he going to start eating the goo?' moments. I really liked that he HAD emotions, but was apparently told he did not all his existance and -believed- his [lying] creators. He is annoyed by the prejudice showed him, goes out of his way to save Elizabeth's life [she being the ONLY one who is nice to him], he shows absolute joy in the map room – and gives the barren scientist-girl a baby. Yes, that last bit is twisted & wrong, but considering he has been stalker-izing her dreams for 2 years and seen her memories of loss, IMO the effort was meant to help her. It just didn't work out that way. So I just lurve David.
    The pair of idiot scientists? Not so much. I was amazed they could remember to BREATHE, after Mr. 'I invented the mapping modules' gets them lost on the straight-shot back to the ship – and then Mr. 'Biologist' wants to PET the alien snake. What the absolute hell?
    I was intruiged that they did link Prometheus solidly to Alien vs Predator back-story. Weyland sponsored the AvP team – and it is mentioned that the scientific advances for Earth came from Weyland Corp. Since that was snagged from Predator tech, IMO the most logical group that hunted down & killed the Engineers were the Predators in their camo suits [so they would not have shown on the security hologram capture shots of fleeing Engineers].
    It is possible that the Engineers reworked their creation goo [which in the initial cup scene looked black and pearly iridescent colored] to a militarized black killer goo. The movie first scene has a saucer dropping off the Engineer who seeds himself into the ecosphere. Now the ships are giant curved horns [likely military vessels] on an isolated military base. Remember there were a half dozen worlds shown in the map room scene. David focuses on the Earth/Solar system because he recognizes it.
    The Engineer who is woken up may have thought that these humans are the Predator race, out of armor. Or he may have been a 'kill everyone but us' zealot. He may have heard David say the equivilent of 'sorry to wake you but my creator wants to know how to live forever' …. and just snapped. Especially when he sees the guy who wants to live forever ordering a beat-down on someone. It could've been a case of, Engineer wakes up, sees uncalled for violence & decides that whatever this species is, these examples of it must be eliminated – or he may have felt offended by humans having created David – or that humans were scavenging off his race.

  41. worth seeing in 3d IMAX. Big plot holes but I am hopping that the extend stuff will fill in the blanks better. My group felt David might have been hacked by a rival corp or Wayland corp itself. Just a thought

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