@frimmel:
Well think about all the reasons it was a mess to you before you watched it so many times you figured out a way to do the writer’s work for them. Start with the black goo that is whatever the plot needs it to be.
I found it mostly a mess because I didn’t understand it. Initially I chalked that up to me being very new to the Alien franchise at the time. (I had watched Alien once before.) But clearly that isn’t the only reason. There is also significant lack of exposition on events, which made it hard to watch the first time, but, after re-viewing, the film is fully understandable. Though I will say watching Alien and absorbing the Mother-Ridley-Ash relationship is key to fully understanding Prometheus. The heart of each film, from Alien to Prometheus to Covenant is the ominous Weyland Corp. - Xenomorph dynamic.
I do think there were convenient plot devices, like the black goo, which (as expected) serves the same function in Covenant. Other information is never clearly defined, like Charlize Theron’s character Meredith Vickers and her motivations. She has a subtle arc, but is a high profile person of little consequence.
However after watching multiple times, I appreciated the subtlety of the story and the elements that are present but not said out loud. Rather they are whispered, implied at or left completely unsaid. This feels very natural and adds to some of the mystery of the plot by not outright telling the audience. Certainly that is a hindrance for people who will only watch the film once. To me it feels like a very intelligent movie because it doesn’t pander with simple explanations. It even attempts to explore religion and philosophy with varying degrees of success. I thought that was refreshing, since most science fiction films today are more concerned with apocalyptic events and lasers than intellectual concepts.
For the record, Prometheus seemed to be a riff on a concept that (far as I know) Star Trek pioneered back in 1993 on The Next Generation episode “The Chase”. I am not sure how familiar Scott or Damon Lindelof were with it, but the premise is almost identical. Interesting that they went with such a grand plot only to serve as backstory for a particular sci-fi movie monster.
@frimmel:
I will grant though that Ridley Scott may on some level be one of the greatest directors ever. While he has to bear some responsibility for that complete and utter turd of a script it is the most polished execution of a horrible script I’ve ever seen. The dude knows how to shoot and edit a movie.
This may be true.
