Prometheus: Giftbearer

I am not a good reviewer. I just know what I like and what I dont like. For me, this fanedit replaces the theatrical release. Permanently. I got the theatrical for Christmas and watched it once prior to watching this fanedit. I will never watch it again for pleasure. Thank you for the vast improvement. There are a few very small cuts I would still like to see, but they are a matter of personal taste. This fanedit is one of my favorite fanedits of all time. Thank you for rescuing this film for me.

This was a pretty cool take on what I originally thought was a great movie and later a confusing one and finally a movie that leveled out somewhere in the middle of my "favorites" scale. The best thing it had going for it was its connection to Alien. I went into Giftbearer with great hope that some things might be cleared up and some of the extras would be used the right way. While I'm not sure anything was really cleared up, the extras were definitely used the right way.

THINGS THAT STOOD OUT:

1. The TED talk scene- I really like this set up scene. It is a great explanation of who Weyland is and what his aspirations are. I thought about it's placement and where I would put it instead. Not sure if there is a better spot. Perhaps I would put it after the discovery of the ruins, but to each his own. Maybe what I would do is show the scientists finding the ruins, do the TED talk, and then bring them back to the crew getting ready to leave. Anyway, no big deal.

2. Moving the opening alien scene- Probably not a bad idea. I think it is important, but not necessarily where it was. I like how it was used later.

3. The extra dialogue scenes- beautifully woven back into the movie. All cool. All needed. Great job.

4. Audio between Noomi's dream sequence and the next sequence- You'll know it when you hear it. It goes from no sound to abrupt music. I'm no pro, so I don't know what I'd do there, but it is the one time I think I was aware something had changed.

Perhaps what I liked best is that you didn't really change the movie and what it is about, but rather added to the story. I never thought it was bad before. Now I just think it is better.

First, thanks Severian. I'm glad I have this version of Prometheus to watch now.

I'm one of those people who really liked the theatrical Prometheus. But I knew it wasn't perfect. And I knew that an edit, especially one that added deleted scenes, could be something great. This is that. Is it the best possible Prometheus? I don't know. My gut says it's not, but who knows.

I love the added scenes. I've had the movie for a number of months now, but I made a conscious decision to hold off on the scenes until I saw them in a fan edit. I think they all work here. Everything that people are saying these scenes add - they do. I especially love the final scene with Shaw and David. Great line in there.

Editing's good, nothing too noticeable. Some minor annoying stuff was taken out, and I think that's good. Putting the TED Talk at the start was, I think, a good idea, but it definitely gave the movie a different vibe. This is a more straightforward science fiction film I think. And that's okay. But the movie, as a whole, is a lot less mysterious. This is a byproduct of practically every single change. And that's okay. This is a different beast. This fact has actually made me appreciate the original more. The mystery of the original is one of the things I loved about it, and now I'm finally understanding why the film was cut the way it was. Putting the engineer scene at the start of the original was one biggest ways that it solidified it's mysterious tone. Interestingly, the engineer scene here seems to almost answer questions, instead of raise them. Due to its placement, we know what the engineer is, what Shaw thinks it did, and now the scene is almost an endorsement of Shaw's belief that the engineers created the humans. By actually seeing what she's, possibly, imagining, we have no choice but to assume that we're seeing the truth. Thinking on it more this placement is rather brilliant. Whilst imagining this engineer conceiving the human race, Shaw is pregnant, with what could be the beginning of a new race.

Anyway, yeah, I love this edit. I love this new version of Prometheus. And I love the old version of Prometheus. I love the additions (I just wish you could have included "David 8"). I like the cuts. Great work, great edit.

I was one of those people that absolutely despised Prometheus. This version, however, is much more palatable and mysterious, and overall I found I enjoyed it much more.

The new opening using the TED talk is absolutely genius and really ties everything together, along with Shaw's message to Weyland. Not seeing the Engineer until much later really helps in us caring about the characters and their mission. The alternate version of Fifield's attack on the ship was much more effective and ties it in better with the Alien series. The editing is seamless across the board and very well done.

There are still a few things that probably could've been cut. Though moving the Scotland scene and the Engineer on Earth scene works much better than the original cut, I really believe both of those scenes could've been cut entirely. The pacing could've been improved by removing them. There's also a shot of Shaw getting thrown against a wall where she clearly has a wire attached to her, as well as a shot with a few green screen monitors before the effects were added. I assume this is from the deleted scenes, so I can't blame you for not adding the effects, but I personally would've preferred not having these shots at all as they were quite noticeable.

This is probably the best version you'll get of this movie. It's still not perfect and at times rather infuriating, but it is a huge improvement. Kudos to the editor on a job well done!

Before I say anything else, I want to clarify the scores I've given: I've assigned Severian's edit a score of 8/10 for both Narrative and Enjoyment. These should be taken in the context of the scores I would assign the theatrical release (5/10 for Narrative and 6/10 for Enjoyment). Severian has done an excellent job in using the available material to make the best presentation possible of a promising but substantially flawed film, and I want to stress that while I think flaws remain in the film, they remain despite his efforts rather than as a result of them.

I'm very impressed at the new opening sequence; while it doesn't have the breathtaking visuals of the theatrical release, it introduces the film's narrative in a much more cohesive fashion and crucially gives us an introduction to Peter Weyland's character. Given that we're talking about a home viewing, the visual impact of the theatrical opening sequence is limited (at least in contrast with the experience of seeing it at eg an IMAX screen in 3D), so I applaud the decision to focus on the narrative.

I haven't watched the theatrical release since it was at the cinema, but I still recall its numerous distressing faults. Severian has done as good a job as I believe is possible, given the material, to address these issues - the somewhat clunky pacing is improved, the number of instances of Idiot Ball Behaviour is substantially reduced (though sadly the phenomenon is not eliminated entirely), and some of the action sequences are improved through the use of additional material.

I would be lying if I didn't say that there are a couple of moments where the editing leads to abrupt transitions, but these are abrupt in narrative terms and cannot be helped given the available footage.

All in all, there's only one thing I'd change about Severian's edit - personally, I would have removed the epilogue scene with the proto-xenomorph. That tiny issue aside, this is now my preferred cut of the film and I highly doubt I'll ever watch the theatrical release again.

I thought I should also note that I watched this with my OH who generally pays no attention to the fanedit scene outside of what I explicitly bring to her attention; her opinion was that the edit was substantially better than the theatrical release.