Prometheus: Giftbearer

i enjoyed Prometheus sure it was flawed but i didn't find any part of the film boring and having seen it many times over the last year it's an entertaining film. my major criticism of the film that it follows the first in a trilogy route. for me i would rather have seen a more direct prequel to alien and have any sequels based off the idea of shaw and david going to the engineers home planet. as it is i feel we have half a story and as it stands right now no definite conformation that a follow up will ever be made.

severian fanedit plays out as more of an extended version of prometheus, most people that have seen the deleted footage would agree that it helps the film given that many of the scenes add to the characters motives / development. for a first time fanedit there is some great work to be seen here, the deleted scenes are inserted perfectly the scene between vickers and wayland with the added music is perfect. the line re-edit when vickers is talking to the crew for the first time is again done perfectly, without ever seeing the original film you wouldn't know it had been done. looking at the cut list after seeing the edit there are many things that had been cut that i didn't notice had been removed.

however i feel opening the edit with two viral shorts was a mistake, for me it felt the edit had two introductions and would have been better with just using one. the scott free and dune logos seemed a little out of place and a better font could have been used for the title. a longer film doesn't mean a better film and for me i would have liked the edit to have been a bit more bolder with it's cuts. i'm also not a fan of when editors include unfinished deleted scenes into there edits. though the unfinished scenes that have been included in severians fanedit would have improved the original film having them within this fanedit gives it a more work-print feel.

i also didn't understand the editors intent with the inclusion of the cave scene / sacrifice scene. as we go into the films final act we have what i presume to be a flahback scene. while is nicely done it grinds the story to halt and doesn't show us the viewer anything that we already know. a better sequence would have maybe to move the sex scene between shaw and holloway to this part given that it would have been shaws last good memory of them being together plus it ties in with whats about to happen to her.

i never subscribe to the idea that a fanedit replaces the original for me a good fanedit should offer those wanting to re-watch a film there familer with a solid alternative. and this fanedit doe's just that, severian has shown that he's a faneditor with whom you'd watch out for in the future with any edits he maybe working on.

I do not agree w/ 100% of the editing choices made. However, I found the overall edit much more enjoyable than the theatrical cut.

According to what I've heard . . . Blade Runner has enjoyed (at least) THREE official edits. Perhaps, there is still hope for a studio-sanctioned re-edit for Prometheus.

Honorable mention: Charlize Theron (the actress) = Extreme Daddy Issues

P.S. I watch an SD copy . . . so I've not TRUE way of judging the audio/video quality. NON-Blu-ray video -- makes for a frustrating watch.

Prometheus always had one problem. It wasn't goofy biologists trying to pet Geiger-esque phallic symbols, nor was it running straight away from a gigantic wheel. It wasn't even Charlize Theron being, well, Charlize Theron.

The problem was the lack of character development that permeated the whole movie. Brilliant lines and revealing moments were dashed aside in lieu of ship captains accentuating their bitchiness or unnecessarily exploding heads and it ultimately turned every character that wasn't Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace (and to a lesser degree Idris Elba, who can't not be awesome even if he tried) into a barebones tool to push the plot on to the next special effect.

I am very pleased to say that Prometheus: Giftbearer solves this problem with gusto. So, let's tackle this one at a time, shall we?

Audio/Video Quality: 10

As Futurama's interpretation of God once said, "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." This absolutely applies here. What recoloring was done to the deleted scenes fit flawlessly and had me questioning whether or not I'd actually viewed certain scenes in the initial cut.

Visual Editing: 9

This is one of the better visual editing jobs I've seen. The cut scenes were both welcome and necessary to the overall plot. The shortening of drawn-out moments and the removal of the sillier scenes were mostly spot-on. Also I can't stress enough how happy I was to see less Charlize Theron in this cut. I actually liked her character better as a result.

One complaint I've been reading in the earlier reviews was over the "In the Beginning" prologue turning into a dream sequence just after Noomi's character witnesses a horrible trauma. This is up to the viewer, of course, but I didn't find a single thing wrong with this decision. If anything it only spiced up the scene and ended up giving me a chill I didn't feel when I watched the theatrical cut (then I only felt confused), so no points removed there.

That said there was an occasional odd cut (I can count two welcome, albeit a tad clumsy, changes), but nothing that hindered my enjoyment of the film.

Audio Editing: 9

Changed and removed lines abound and for the better, though I did notice that it occasionally got very loud. I'm kind of stretching for a complaint on this regard, however. I did like how the creature at the end was muted, though. Nice touch there; added to the creepy factor a bit.

Narrative: 10

This is where I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this recut was absolutely necessary. As I said before the character development was completely removed from the theatrical cut of the film despite the fact that the very scenes that made one care about those characters were actually shot. Severian restored the hell out of the best of those scenes. Now you can see Guy Pierce sans old-guy prosthetics making a powerful speech about the importance of to going too far with science. Suddenly Idris Elba's stand against the alien menace is more powerful thanks to a beautifully spoken monologue that details a similar dark chapter of his past. I found myself actually emotionally engaged in the characters presented. They were people, not plot devices, and the whole movie was far far better for it.

Enjoyment: 10

Recuts like this are the reason I love fanedits. When someone takes his or her own personal time to turn a bad movie good or a decent movie great, and then brings it to the world, I have this odd feeling of being rescued. While I would sit around complaining about a bad movie someone out there would rather bite the bullet and actually do something about it. It's a beautiful thing.

As for this particular recut, I'll say that it was very aptly titled. This is a gift, and its bearer is Severian. Thank you.

This is a shining example of why I love this community. I cannot say much that hasn't been covered before. You have saved this film and I have recommended it to so many that did not care for the original. Thank you for your work.

Watched this last weekend, and it was pretty amazing. There was a scene in the exploration of the caves that felt off (my memory is hazy as to how the original sequence went, but it seems like something was cut), and I'm not completely sold on the dream sequence, but all in all it worked really well, and opening with the TED talk was really cool. A big improvement in some areas, slight improvement in other areas, and some slightly wonky additions - but all in all a great edit, and it deserves all the praise. Well done!