What's your favourite Predator film?

[saturn5]

SPOILERS for Predators

Just been to watch Predators, likeable enough way to spend a couple of hours. Adrien Brody was pretty weird casting, he kept reminding me of David Schwimmer/Alister McGowan. Is it just me or does every film nowadays have it's hero strip off to reveal his rippling six-pack just as the heroine used to have to strip off to reveal their breasts? Not that this is a bad thing...

Of course, the black guy has to get it first. Also Larry Fishburn in the Ben Gunn role seems awfully heavy for a guy who's been living off the land for months? I must say I never recognised Topher Grace until he said the immortal line 'Got it, 5 o'clock, bitchraping time' and I thought, "Hey, Eric Forman!" I kept expecting one of the other characters to call him a dumbass.
Couple of things puzzle me, firstly was Grace's character working for the Predators all along? He seemed able to identify a poisonous plant on an alien planet? Unless the Predators brought other species to the planet to improve the game?
Also what was the deal with the conflicting factions of Predators? Was the idea that one faction (the plain masks)are the technologically advanced ones and the gnarly masks are more primitive? How did the gnarly mask at the end blow up the ship?
So presumably Royce and Isobel (who you'd tagged as survivors pretty much from the start) team up with the new arrivals to defeat the predators and steal their ship?

So for me I'd rank them;

1. Predator-the ultimate dumb guns&muscles film, Alien&Aliens/The Thing's slightly less cereberal sister and a film I loved when I was 14

2. Predator 2-much underrated sequal. Wouldn't it have been great if some of Gary Busey's/Adam Baldwin's men-in-black had shown up in the other sequals?

3. Predators- good movie, would like to see what happens next

4. Alien vs Predator- about as good as a film with 'vs' in the title can be (actually that's not true, Frost vs Nixon was wonderful).

5. Alien vs Predator; Requiem- How the Alien series has fallen since the brilliant 1st two? It will always be remembered for the Predalien and the infamous maternity ward scene where the sexual subtext of the Alien films officially became text (although Lance Henriksen's blonde assistant's chestburster scene in AvP came close)

 

[TV's Frank]

SPOILERS for Predators

Just been to watch Predators, likeable enough way to spend a couple of hours. Adrien Brody was pretty weird casting, he kept reminding me of David Schwimmer/Alister McGowan. Is it just me or does every film nowadays have it's hero strip off to reveal his rippling six-pack just as the heroine used to have to strip off to reveal their breasts? Not that this is a bad thing...

Are you kidding? Have you seen any action film from the 80's starring Arnold, Sly or Van Damme? Yes, while action films from this decade would often feature female nudity, the sheer amount of screen time granted to these guys being shirtless and showing off their muscles far outweighs the time granted the topless ladies... It seems to happen less now, since action heroes are less muscle-bound and more average in build.

 

[Captain Craig]

Hands down the original '87 Predator. I imagine it'll be a landslide win in the poll. Watching a movie like Predator will make you a 'goddamn sexual tyranasarous'.

I haven't seen Predator 2 in a good 10yrs. Although I've gone to Amazon and placed it in my cart. When it goes on sale I'm going to pick it up. The best trivia moments from that film I can recall are the Pred handing Glover's cop the flint lock pistol and seeing the Alien skull in the trophy case. Not sure where I'd rank it now.

Predators, the recent third entry, is fresh on my mind and I did enjoy it. Topher Grace's character was a serial killer. I doubt he was a pawn of the Predators. He likely just made the logical leap that the goo in that plant didn't have positive properties to it.

I'm watching Alien vs Predator now at home. I actually like it and think its a good movie. It pushes back the timeline on how long Predators might have been visiting Earth. Also if they had some influence on devloping humanity and their deity concepts. I think some more extrapolation would've been good there but I digress.

Alien vs Preator: Requiem is the most "assembly line" of all the films to date. Its not that its gawdawful bad it just isn't great either. They actually do try to develop the characters so that when the 2-3 principles are left fighting it out in the hospital you do care, a little anyway, if they live or die. The worst part of the movie is how the gestation period in an Alien has gone from about 24hrs, give or take, in Alien to just a few hours in AvP:R.


My rank, as of now:

1. Predator
2. Predators
3. Alien vs Predator
4. Predator 2
5. Alien vs Predator: Requiem

 

[Harvey]

My favorite is Predator 2, closely followed by the more recent Predators. The original Predator is probably my least favorite of the three (it really only works in the final act), but at least it's an actual movie, which is more than I can say for the logic-defying assembly line AVP pictures.

 

[Mike Farley]

Of course, the black guy has to get it first.

Actually the Mexican got it first.

1. Predator
2. Predators
3. Alien vs Predator
4. Predator 2
5. Alien vs Predator: Requiem

The first one is the only essential part of a video collection. I've watched it twice in the last month and had a great time both times. One of the best man's man movies ever.

 

[marillion]

Predator 2 for me.. More likeable cast than the original and an interesting direction to take with "everyday cop" (albeit damn good cop) Danny Glover rather than some muscle bound Arnie rip off.

The AvP movies were just "there" for me.. What made the Alien movies (even #4) work for me was the human element but in the AvP movies, they were little more than fodder to get in the way of the fight.

I liked a lot of things about the new movie. Adrian Brody was a nice choice for the lead but I will agree that Larry Fishburne was way to heavy to have been living on the lam for what seemed to be quite a while.. Seemed to me like he'd been there years rather than months, but I may have missed what was said.

There just seemed to be some elements missing.. The movie was the right length, but the pacing was off.. Fishburne's character would have been better served as an ally rather than just some guy looking to score.

On Edit... Would have been HILARIOUS if Trejo's character was actually Machete and he was one of the survivors.. That would have been awesome. Afterall, if the trailers are anything to go by, Machete is the ultimate killing machine.

By putting the prisoner/rapist into the mix, it threw me off of Grace's scent.. I thought maybe the Predators threw a doctor into the mix to keep the others patched up to prolong the hunt.

Speaking personally, I'd love to see what would happen if the Predators dropped into an earth populated by terminators (and of course the obligatory plucky group of freedom fighters, with or without John Conner).

 

[Ethros]

I've only seen Predator a couple of times, and though its a great action movie, I dunno, it just never stuck in my mind as a big classic favourite or anything.

But I had a lot of fun watching the recent Predators, so although it may be sacrilegious, I may have to go with that.


I would love to see Predator on the big screen though, they should rerelease a lot more old movies IMO, seen as most these days seem to be pretty guff

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I've never seen a Predator film. What, if anything, have I been missing?

Might go see the new one. Curious how anyone can make a "bad-ass" out of Adrien Brody.

 

[Harvey]

Brody is surprisingly good as an action hero. On the other hand, if you enjoy a big dumb Arnold movie from the 1980s, then Predator might be your hot ticket. Predator 2 is worth it if you have any interest in either the original or the latest sequel.

Don't bother with the crossover movies. They're a waste of celluloid.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

1) Predator
2) Predator 2
3) Predators
4) Aliens vs. Predator





















10) Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

 

[The Wormhole]

The original Predator. Strangely enough, I actually found the first half with Arnold and his team attacking that terrorist base more interesting than the Predator hunting them. But hey, the Predator doesn't disappoint either.

I never saw Predator 2 so I won't comment on that.

Predators is actually a pretty decent film, it just lacks the charm of the first. Still, I'm glad it lacked many conventions of modern day movies (no product placement, no forced romance).

As for the Alien vs Predator movies, the first one got by because of the novelty of seeing the Alien and the Predator fight each other on teh big screen. However, that novelty quickly wore off in Requiem, and really that movie was just awful. I've blocked most of it from memory.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I've never seen a Predator film. What, if anything, have I been missing?

If you are at all a Schwarzenegger or 80's action fan, you should check out the first film.

As for what you are missing....mostly blood and some cool Jesse Ventura lines.

I don't care much for the sequels. The Alien Franchise is much better.

 

[Aragorn]

I've never seen a Predator film. What, if anything, have I been missing?

If you watch the first Predator, you can see a lot of people before they became politicians.

 

[TV's Frank]

The original is still tops, but after seeing PREDATORS at Manns Chinese tonight, it might just take the 2nd spot... yes, I liked it that much, which surprised me. True, I'm a fan, so that meant I would be predisposed to enjoy it, but I was pretty riveted the whole time, liked the action, liked Brody and the new Predator designs, so certainly a win for me...

 

[Jack Bauer]

I've never seen a Predator film. What, if anything, have I been missing?

If you watch the first Predator, you can see a lot of people before they became politicians.

I still get a perverse feeling seeing what happens to Jesse Ventura in Predators. I think he's got the best line with "I ain't got time to bleed" or it's one of the best.

The original Predator is the best. Predator 2 was pretty good but nowhere close to the original. Requiem sucked as and the first AvP was not bad but not great either.

 

[DarKush]

My rankings:

1. Predator
2. Predator 2
3. AVP-R
4. Predators
5. AVP

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
AvP:R over Predators, interesting.
I think you are the first to give AvP:R a higher ranking than last in the series.

I just watched AvP last night and I think that film is underestimated, its not bad. What in AvP:R do you think is underestimated?

 

[The Evil Dead]

Predator is a great movie. Predators is quite good. Predator 2 is okay. Alien vs. Predator is pretty trashy.

I've never been able to sit through Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.

 

[saturn5]

Interesting, the original by a mile although Pred 2 with a sizeable following.

In the commentary for AvP;R they state that the bugs gestate faster in the AvP movies because the Predators genetically engineer them that way

I like the idea of Terminators vs Predators. Remember a great fanfic where the Aliens are overunning the Earth and they capture a human family having a picnic. But when they take them back to the Queen to try to impregnate them the 'humans' break free, begin slaughtering them and rescuing all the other captives in the hive. As the acid burns the famillies flesh away it reveals grinning metal endoskeletons....