Quote:
Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic
...Peter Parker can get bitten by a radioactive spider and suddenly climb up vertical surfaces and that's perfectly acceptable.
After all is said and done, Prometheus is just a movie, not real life. It's a mythological tale of horror set against the backdrop of science fiction and it replicates, in fact parallels, the Alien movie, in some cases using exactly the same cinematography and music score. It's up to the individual what they get out of the movie...
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We each carry a readiness to suspend disbelief to a given work of fiction. Not only does that level vary from person to person, it varies within the same person depending on what we’re watching. You’re absolutely right that Spiderman as a concept requires a generous portion of suspension of disbelief before you even walk into the theater. “The Avengers” requires viewers to accept a super soldier who survived being frozen for decades who possesses a shield of supermetal, an extradimensional humanoid with power over lightning, a man who turns into an ogre with virtually limitless strength and invulnerable skin (where does that extra mass come from?), the existence of powered battle armor (not so far off) that runs on a self-contained power source small enough to fit in a cavity inside the wearer’s chest (still a ways off), a helicopter-type aircraft carrier, and on and on. Let’s not even talk about the costs to New York City of repairing all these superhero duke-‘em-outs. I’m willing to cut the superhero movies slack that I don’t generally cut science fiction, which means I’m using at least a double standard.
Within a given film, though, there ought to be some internal logic that goes beyond advancing the plot and creating the types of scenes that define the genre. “AvP” is a perfect example of a film that revolved around creating a handful of fanboy-type scenes and shitcanned the integrity (if such a word is appropriate) of its source material by so doing. I’ve always disliked the “Superman v Batman” stories because they are more a reflection of idle discussion taken too seriously and punctuated by the occasional “Dude, don’t bogart that” than an attempt to tell a good story. Many of the characters of “Prometheus” behave as though they are in a very different context. I would be willing to entertain the idea that the underlying message is that human beings are basically fools. This, however, seems inconsistent with the underlying message of “Alien” and “Aliens” that human beings suffer as a result of decisions made by leaders who have serious flaws.
Still, one needs to get what one needs to get from a film. I love “The Wrath of Khan”, but in reality the whole Star Trek universe is silly. The best that can be said is that a) everything shown is a metaphor adapted to its audience and b) when it’s at its best, internal logic is pretty good. When it’s at its worst, internal logic can be pretty shoddy.