Prometheus: Giftbearer

Now, this is an interesting one for me. I'll be right up front here. I genuinely think Scott's cut of Prometheus is excellent. Sure, it has a few problems, not least of which lies in the varying quality of the script, but visually I have fallen in love with this film more and more since I've seen it on blu ray a couple of times. Plus, the thing which seems to bug most people about the film - too many questions left unanswered and the like, I think add to the mix even more. So we as an audience have to do some work for once? Good, I say!

However, despite this, the prospect of a fanedit is still an enticing one and the fact that this is debut edit for new faneditor Severian makes it all the more intriguing. So, as I settled down into bed to watch this edit with the lights down and my headphones on, I was excited for a tweaked, more in-depth version of one of my favourite movies of last year.

Straight away Severian makes an impression by starting the film with a much younger Peter Weyland and his speech about taking the next step forward in human evolution. Sure, the breathtaking landscape shots which opened Scott's cut are missed, but it was great to see Guy Pearce without a ton of latex over his face and makes for a gripping, albeit wordy opening. Indeed, the extra character scenes scattered throughout this edit do lend the film a more stable base to build the story upon. More impressive than the inclusion of deleted scenes such as these though, is the way in which Severian trims some of the more awkward or ill-fitting dialogue. For example, Charlie does not come over quite so much of a smug arsehole, meaning you certainly care more for his fate here. Best of all, I must thank you for trimming the scene where Millburn meets and then gets attacked by the white alien worm. Expertly edited and no longer is he treating it as if it's a long lost pet. That was always one of the worst scenes in the original, so brilliant work there!

It was also cool to see the alternate CGI version of the Fifield creature. I'm kinda with Scott on that one, in that I slightly prefered the more human version, but the CGI was nowhere near as bad as I feared it might be, and the scene works perfectly well either way for me.

The only scene which I wasn't too sure upon, was the inclusion of a flashback just after Charlie has been torched. I understand the reasons to do it and I certainly felt more for his plight and certainly for Elizabeth's loss, but it felt a little off for me. Plus, during the initial fade into the flashback the audio editing could have been smoother, as it appears to be very quiet.

On the whole however, editing is very good - particularly for a first time faneditor. There are a couple of transitions which are not as clean as they might be - perhaps more audio work of the crossfade variety may have been needed - but there are certainly no hard cuts to speak of. It's just you do notice something is not quite right on a couple of transitions. But, as I say, it's not enough to worry about and I've seen a hell of a lot worse!

The 1080p MP4 version I watched looked gorgeous, and sonically my ears were very pleased for the most part. I too would very much look forward to a blu ray release of this one.

By the time the end comes around I was suitably impressed with Prometheus Giftbearer. It's a fascinating glimpse of a slightly easier to grasp version of the film, even if at the end of the day it still leaves lots of questions to be answered. Is it any better than Scott's theatrical cut? For me, not really. There's something about the ambiguity of the original Prometheus which makes me love it all the more - sorry, I can't help myself! But, this is to take nothing away from Severian's work on his first edit. It's an excellent debut and I for one look forward to see more of his edits in the future.

Oh, and great audio work on adding a bit more of an "Alien" feel to the last shot. Definitely a must see edit in my eyes.

Overview - One of the first released edits trying to “fix” narrative errors.

Video - 854 X 356 AVC. Higher resolution would have been preferred. Good editing nonetheless, shifting some scenes around. Dr. Shaw’s dream time after Holloway’s death is remarkable.

Audio - 128 kbps, AAC, 2 Channel stereo. No subs. Stereo, really? Dialogue is mostly clear, though garbled during excited moments. I listened through headphones.

Narrative - This new narrative works well enough, though I can’t see how it replaces the original. It holds together, and remains logical throughout, but the improvements seemed insufficient. Straight off, Holloway continues to be a dick, for reasons poorly explained. Fifield and Millburn persist in being stupid. As characterized, this pair would do better at a space station diner, asking, “Want fries with that?” Finally, the croissant abides.

Enjoyment - Hit and miss. Despite being a “favorite”, this does not surpass the A9 version that came out at nearly the same time. I enjoyed Severian’s effort, yet it is not the edit I will return to.

Subtitles: Yes, one of my bears. There actually are some subs available by Aorion. There are random timing problems, and they do not work for all dialogue. I repaired some issues, let others slide. Sorry.
Should you desire – https://subscene.com/subtitles/prometheus-giftbearer

The original Prometheus movie is an awful mess, besides being a huge disappointment for fans of the franchise expecting a real prequel to the Xenomorphs, in my opinion. Severian has taken what is a complete mess and made a really respectable vision of the movie, I really enjoyed this edit. The beginnig of it with the Ted Talk scene brings a whole different perspective. The narrative has been greatly developed to show you humans seeking for something and clashing with a huge mistake. Thanks for this edit, most definitely replaced the original for me.

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!

So I couldn't stand Prometheus,
I hated how they apparently had a very simple story but then covered their tracks, cut out information and acted as if it was much more than was actually in the screenplay (sadly reminding me of Lost all over again).

What Giftbearer does is making things more clear - and less dumb.
I can't say I now like Prometheus now as a movie and while it is a much improved version I still wouldn't have been excited seeing this in cinemas.
The storyline is a very simple one and coming from Lost I tend to eyeroll whenever Lindelof adds stuff to make it seem as if there is more going on in this story.
BUT this version is much more honest about its intention.
While I still hate the entire idea of the angry engineer because Weyland thought of himself as a god at least it now is in the movie and clearly is the message of the film. The movie no longer pretends to be ambitious. it is a clear story about human greed and aliens being angry at us because of it.

There was one awkward use of the flashback to the engineer after Rapace's husband was killed but aside from that most of the rearranging worked just fine.

I still hate the complete disregard for biology (DNA 100% match) and some over the top characters but mostly this edition fixes many problems and presents Prometheus as the straightforward simple story that it was.

Congrats to the editor for a fantastic editing job and superb quality!