Prometheus vs. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

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Hollywood: Endorsing the moron character since 1910. Prometheus is a fine film, with too much Noomi (her character needed to be beaten to death early in the film) and not enough Charlize (that woman is about a zillion kinds of awesome - loved her character).

Phantom Menace, all day. Prometheus promises to do some pretty interesting things but instead says, "Fuck it." At least TPM has Darth Maul and lightsaber duels.

I enjoyed both of these movies despite their terrible inconsistencies. I'll have to give the nod to Prometheus though. Fassbender really made the movie for me.

Prometheus asks a lot of questions, but doesn't answer 99% of those questions. On the other hand, The Phantom Menace answers a lot questions...with bullshit. For example: 'ooo, I wonder what the force is...is it magic?', and Phantom Menace gives us the answer: 'nope, just some sort of bacteria called midichlorians'. It's a question that doesn't NEED an answer...it completely ruins Obi-Wan's description in Star Wars and Yoda's description in Empire. So 'The force is strong with this one' actually means 'the midichlorian level is high on this one'? Another question: 'ooo, Darth Vader...I wonder how he was before he got into that suit'...and TPM answers it with 'he was an annoying boy screaming 'yippee' and 'oops' over and over again…oh and he created C-3PO'...yikes. Not as terrible as Episode 2 and 3's answer though ('he was an unlikeable and whining asshole'). I rather have no answers than bullshit answers I guess.

Prometheus is amazing, The Phantom Menace is disappointing

Prometheus has a great ending that left my friends I showed it too, breathless. The Phantom Menace is a good movie but as it ages on me, it starts to fall apart. Prometheus wins and yes, like what Reelz said, Fassbender is great in that movie.

I don't get all the hate for Prometheus. Yes, it's lacking the clean narrative lines of Alien, yes, it tries to do too much, but it's not a bad movie. It's certainly in a different league from The Phantom Menace. For one, the characters are actually interesting, with Michael Fassbender's David easily stealing the film, although I disagree with 1FTM in that I think Noomi Rapace made for an excellent protagonist as well. And the best part? No Jar-Jar.

I support Prometheus' narrative and I'm all for ambiguity and unanswered questions. It's situational of course, but things don't always need to be neat. As for Noomi Rapace, I'm sure her performance is true to what Scott/ the writers intended for Elizabeth Shaw. I just find the "Scientist" who searches for spiritual(?) answers because she has Mummy & Daddy issues and says things like "because I choose to believe" to be a little bit annoying. I think Vickers' story would've been a more interesting and altogether more badass path.

Even a Star Wars aholic as myself can't fully defend Episode I. I loved Prometheus...it wasn't Alien or Aliens...but a perfectly enjoyable experience in it's own right...

As it is, I’m a Prometheus fan. I think it’s a wonderful companion to Alien albeit with a different feel. I cannot fathom how anyone can defend Phantom Menace, the biggest disappointment in movie history. Everything about it shits all over the original trilogy. As a standalone, if I hadn’t seen the originals first, I would still swear it sucked a criminal amount of donkey balls. It doesn’t win against any Alien movie. Not even Resurrection.

I agree with Kraduate and TheEgant (although I prefer Prometheus to Aliens personally). My opinion of Prometheus has dropped slightly after several viewings, but unless I stumble upon loads of amazing films which I haven't watched so far, or The Hobbit turns out to be the greatest film ever made, I'm fairly certain it will remain firmly on my Top 5 of 2012. Loved Fassbender, loved Rapace, loved everything about it technically (if this film doesn't at least have a strong chance at winning Best Visual Effects at the oscars, nothing should) and found the mystery and ambiguity to be perfectly engaging. Yes it has problems and yes the characterisation and narrative can be ropey at times, but to compare it to The Phantom Menace is just insulting.

Prometheus is one of the most overrated films ever. Star Wars Episode 1 is an enjoyable film with great action scenes. Yeah sure the acting might be inferior compared to other films, but the fact that it is Star Wars is enough for me.

"the fact that it is Star Wars is enough for me" = typical mindless fanboy comment

As for the suggestion that Vickers should have been the protagonist of Prometheus, I too wish she had had a bigger role, BUT to center the movie on her character rather than Shaw's would have been a bit too much like just resurrecting Ellen Ripley. And, hello, she had daddy issues too.

I didn't say "daddy issues" were loathsome by default. I can occasionally vouchsafe that shit, just not when it manifests itself as some bullshit character that retardedly reconciles rationality and irrationality. I'm not sure that Shaw's back-story is given enough face time to constitute a message, or some shit, but I still found her a little abrading. From what little we're given, we can maybe infer that Vickers' daddy issues turned her into ruthless, pragmatic CEO type. I can run with a ruthless, cold, badass bitch, though it's likely that I'd have been a little vexed had they given any more time to her own back-story. I'd much prefer to see Vickers *as she is* and not *how she became*, so to speak. So yeah, Vickers in, Shaw out. I dig banksters, but not hopeful idiots. "...the fact that it is Star Wars is enough for me." Totally legit way to view a movie. If you got enough love for a franchise, why let the "mind"(???) ruin your enjoyment? Films don't need to fit into arbitrary little boxes and conventionally accepted paradigms to do what they're supposed to do. (I accept that the use of the word "supposed" almost makes my last sentence self-defeating, but we all know what I mean and we all know what films are supposed to do... entertain ME, mo'erfuckers.)

@nclysander "typical mindless fanboy"?. Who tries to provoke a fight on FlickChart? The fact remains that Prometheus tried to mix religion with sci fi and failed badly. The reason I said Star Wars is enough for me, is just a sign of respect to the saga and how influential it is. So next time think before you type.

Midichlorians or Space jockey "suit"... which was the more underwhelming slap to the previous films.

MysticSpoon just about sums it up for me. Prometheus wins.

Yep. And I honestly like Prometheus, even though it's flawed for sure.

Prometheus has some WTF moments, but The Phantom Menace is just a WTF movie.

I still have no idea why TPM was so hated. And I have no idea why Prometheus isn't hated by the same logic. TPM>Prometheus, any day.