Alien, Predator, AvP (news)

Well, that was fine. I wasn't as taken with it as a lot of people, but it was decent. Probably #3 for me, the OG, Predators, and then this. I liked that the brother wasn't an asshole, genuinely tried to help & train her. They could have easily went with him being the "asshole jock" trope, like they did with the other hunters.

I thought it was too much of an action movie and not enough of a horror movie. This predator was more about barging in and killing large swaths of people than silently stalking them.

Spoiler: Spoiler

I get the complaints about a 5 foot 5 120 lb super model beating up a half dozen big burly armed Frenchmen at once, but it's a movie. The leads are always hot and fights are never representative of reality. The tomahawk as a rope dart bothered me more than that, and the magic herb that lowered your body heat to the point you're invisible to IR but in no way incapacitated or, well, killed you, but, again, it's a movie series about intergalactic hunters, so

I had to google the significance of the gun, so this is obviously the start of another rebooted prequel series. We'll have to see another predator get the gun back.

I kinda think they'd be better off, instead of continuing the series here, with cheap one offs throughout history. Predators hunting Roman soldiers and Gallic warriors during Caesars invasion of Gaul, each group thinking the other is responsible for the kills. A predator facing off against Mongol warriors. A predator facing Bedouin tribesmen in the desert. Predator vs Vikings. Make a predator responsible for famous disappearances throughout history. I'm sure it would be repetitive but let's face it, all of these movies have been repetitive. The fun is seeing different situations and characters.

 

I never saw Predator as horror, just gory action movies. But that's on me.

As for your notion of going further..... A lot of the comics are about that. Or atleast, ones that I read. Predators against known mighty opponents. Most of them more contemporary, but yeah. There's a whole comic about a Yautja going against brutal convicts. Kinda explains the convict from Predators.

So sure, throw them in there! Gladiators, Mongol warriors. They could be oni facing samurai. Hell, you want to go historical AND continue the Native American theme? Have a Yautja show up during heated combat during the purge of Native Americans. There's your sequel right there.

 

I watched this last night and really liked it. I thought Amber Midthunder turned in a good performance and hope to see her get more work (also enjoyed her in Legion).

I was a bit worried the 1700s setting would be boring as it didn't feature commandos or LAPD taking on the Predator, but it kept my attention throughout.

My only complaint is the Predator was oddly shaped. I was disappointed he didn't have a conventional helmet like in the other movies, but I can accept maybe 300 years earlier, their technology would be different. I know it's hard to replace Kevin Peter Hall as the Predator, but this one seemed a little lanky and the mandibles and eyes were weird. Oh, well, no biggy.

My rankings for the Predator movies are now:

1. Predator
2. Predator 2
3. Prey
4. Predators
5. The Predator





6. AvP: Alien vs. Predator












7. AvP: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

 

Heh, I rarely see someone ranking these pretty much as I would. High five.

For my money, the Predator suit work in Prey was the best since Predator 2. (With an honorable mention to the otherwise crummy movie, The Predator. I thought the "Fugitive" Predator in that looked and moved well.)

I also agree on the eyes. That was my only real gripe...but it's a minor one.

 

I’m sorry but the The Predator was the worst out of all of them. At least the AvP movies delivered on their premise.

 

For my money, The Predator was garbage for a solid third of the film. (And that's being kind.)
Whereas the AvP movies were garbage for over 50%. Even more for AvPR. The only thing AvPR did right was to improve on the Predator suit work. But those bouncy rubber Aliens? Oy.

 

Co-starring Amber Midthunder's eyes. Watched it with family, even mom enjoyed it.

 

I was thinking, they should do a movie where the main predator is a spoiled rich man child who hired a bunch of professional predators to take him on Safari. He soends the hunts getting wasted, lets the other guys find and incapacitate the targets, then stumbles out in his cosplay to get a photo taken with "his kill" for his predictor equivalent Facebook & Raya profiles, before fucking up the decapitations and then bragging about how awesome he is.

Then maybe the other predators have an accident or something and he's hunted by special forces, bumbling around, not able to use any of his gear, crying and yelling "Don't you know who my father is!" In Predator-ese to the team that captures him and the doctors who then experiment and vivisect him.

 

Watched it, enjoyed it.

As others have said, it's hard for me to get past a skinny girl being the action hero badass, but they did two things to make it at least semi-plausible: 1) She came from a Neolithic culture where she would have been naturally strong, hardy, and fast for a human woman by contemporary standards, and 2) In the end, she won more with her wits than straight brawn.

I do question the ability of a Neolithic tribesman to so quickly learn and adapt to pred-tech like that, especially how to exploit it. She found the bear-trap made of forged iron puzzling enough. The pred-tech would have been magic to her, and the Predator some sort of vengeful spirit-god.

I also liked how that by the end, the Pred had been worn down considerably. She didn't take it on with 'full HP', or even close. By the time she beat it, the damn thing was nearly on its last legs. Killing it was a process, not a stand-up fight.

Other points: Loved the dog, and wish they would have used the original Predator music score.

Solid B+. Would have been an A except for the painfully glaring 'Disney Princess' element of it. I do think they could have let this one loose in theaters- I would have gone. Think of how awesome this could have been with Wes Studi in his prime as the main protagonist!

 

Yep. Looks good to me. It just annoys me that there is an incomplete story between Covenant and Alien.

 

Pretty much my thoughts - it was a good Predator movie with some gorgeous landscape shots. The story is getting a bit stale though - Predator lands, works his way up the food chain and then gets taken out by a witty and resourceful human. It's ok but i wish they'd come up with a more original story. If that happens we might get a truly great Predator movie.

 

Personally, for the next Predator movie they need to go all in and

Spoiler

make something surrounding the mythology around that pistol and explain how it go to be with a Yautja Elder

Or do a full Predator vs Marine Corps from the Aliens movie like they did in the comics and possibly lead into a full AvPvMC movie which every Predator and Alien movie fan has been asking for over a decade now.

 

And add some Terminators while we are at it.

 

I genuinely enjoyed the movie. It had a kind of minimalist sensibility in that it focused more on characters and small-scale action, and less on VFX and spectacle. I thought the lead was particularly well-done, with a decent character arc and performance. And I really appreciated how it essentially came down to brains over brawn.

ETA:
I quite liked the score, too. Listening to it on its own at the moment.

 

in line with what others have said: It's time to quit dicking around and do a movie that pits the Aliens, Predators, and some absolutely badass Colonial Marines in an orgiastic, violent three-way on some distant, interesting planet.

 

The Predator is definitely my least favorite out of the main line movies, but it still has some decent action set pieces.

AvP and Requiem.... jeez. The only reason I tolerate both of them are because I really like the species. The Predator teaming up with the doctor to fight the xenomorphs was cool, but the movie was boring as hell leading up to that and the watered down violence kinda sucked.

I would've liked Requiem if maybe the cinematographer had turned some damn lights on when they filmed the thing. The Wolf Predator was cool, cleaning up the xenomorph mess and getting progressively more pissed off as the movies goes on. The Predalien was kinda cool and the scene in the hospital of xenomorphs popping out of pregnant women in the maternity ward was creepy as fuck. But, the dumb ass characters bog it down. I don't want to see teenage melodrama in a frigging Predator movie

 

I always thought that the original AvP comic would make a very decent movie - Predators seed a planet with Xenomorphs that they intend to hunt as a coming of age ritual for young Predators. The planet however has already been colonized by humans who get into the crossfire of Predators and Xenomorphs, as the Predator's ship gets destroyed by accident and the elder Predator leading the hunt is captured by humans and the young Predators lose all control and honor code by wanting to wipe out everything (usually Predators don't attack anything that isn't a threat to them such as unarmed humans, not in this case).

It had some really cool set pieces and action scenes some character elements made it into the first AvP movie.

 

Yes. Review all my previous posts on this topic where I said almost EXACLTY the same thing.

Like x 1000

 

Well put, as I said I wish the Braves hadn't been idiots, monster movies are always better when smart people get taken out, but that still doesn't take away from her defeating the Predator.

She was fast and manoeuvrable, and when she takes on the Braves, well, it's entirely possible that guy was pulling his punches, initially at least, he was an idiot but suspect even he wasn't stupid enough to start slapping around the War Chief's sister!

I liked that there was a distinct learning curve for her, even her encounter with the Mountain Lion. She was smart and she learned from each encounter she had with the Predator, which is the best (only) way to beat it.

 

With both the Alien and Predator (and let's face it Terminator) franchises one thing is crystal clear, when they make a straightforward films and keep things simple. People vs Predator(s) or Xenomorph(s), those films tend to be good, when they complicate the plot those films tend to be shite.