PREDATORS Post-Release - Page 2

I'lll go with the being beaten down by terrible sequels defense but I enjoyed this movie. Not the sequel I'd been waiting years for but good enough to entertain me. I still find the basic premise weak but something in the execution saves it. It definitely wasn't an overwhelmingly excellent film but after AVP and Terminator: Salvation, this one will do.

I definitely liked that they brought back Silvestri's score. The script was such a mash-up of old genre film moments. Lots of the first Predator, a little bit of Aliens, and some Pitch Black for good measure. They appeared to want to distance themselves from all Predator films but the first. They reference the original 1987 incident but zero mention of two and I don't think any of the newer weapons introduced there show up. I wouldn't mind more Predator films but please not the direct follow-up hinted at in the ending of this one.

Still wished they would have got Arnold to do the cameo written for him.

incase anyone doesn't know, it ends with the two main characters seeing a giant predator ship land infront of them. out comes a predator, but when he takes his helmet off, it's Dutch... says something of "not a bad job". END..

I'm pulling in the other direction. The ending worked because it beat having some cheesy escape scene where they either comandeer a Predator ship or convince one of them to take them home but as a lead-in to a sequel, I can only pray that they don't realize that one.

I like both but Predator 2 ranked way higher for me personally.

yes, that's interesting. I didn't realize anyone liked Predator 2, beyond that catchy tagline.

Im leaning towards Slaters position. It's not AVP shit, but this movie does not stand strong next to the first two. Too many problems. Too many references.

It's a Holy Fuck it's Arnie! moment, but it makes no sense. Does it seem reasonable that Dutch would go off with the same group of guys that massacred his friends?

It might not be the same exact one, but these guys hunt humans, who may not be evil. Why would Dutch, with his moral code, run with these guys? Unless there are somehow "good" predators.

Boy does that sound stupid.

Movie is just not very good. The characters being randomly thrown together really works against it. The fact that the characters in the original and, to a lesser extent but still warranted, part 2 know each other and have an interest in each other surviving helps raise the tension in those movies. In PREDATORS it's basically "That guy's dead, fuck him, let's go." In turn that's pretty much how I felt about the characters.

The kills were pretty dull as well.

Don't really have any big problems with Brody's performance, but I never had a rooting interest in him saving the day. Goggins was terrific but that's just what he does.

For those who said none of the second movies stuff shows up in this movie, that's not true. The Combi Stick, or spear is a Predator 2 weapon, as is the different vision modes to search for your prey. Both of which were pulled off SIGNIFICANTLY better in that movie.

Find the most recent Predator 2 thread in the forum. As a rough estimate, I'd say that at least 75% of the posters there are supportive of Predator 2.

Well, I'll have to find some "time to kill" and watch the film again. It's been a few years, and I always have an open mind towards reassessing movies I've previously dismissed...so, we'll see.

I think Predator 2 is just as iconic and entertaining as the first film.

Wa..n.t.. So..m-e.. Can-d...eee? What the fuck are you? Okay mother fucker... LETS DANCE!

You can't see the eyes of the demon... Till he come callin.

It's too late to go home now!

I could quote Predator 2 as much as the first. Predators doesn't have the fun iconic scenes of the first films, probably because it's trying too hard to be the first movie. Not to mention the Predators aren't a threat.

I think the Yakuza/Predator sword fight is the perfect litmus test for this movie. Roll your eyes, this film's probably not for you. Secret fist pump, buy a ticket. I can understand the fan film sentiment (there are a lot of callbacks), but personally I sort of like the half-sequel/half-remix vibe this had going on. It's like a second scoop of ice-cream; not as satisfying the first, but still pretty good. The A-Team comparison is apt, with the characters coming up a little shorter (though decent for what they are), and the action a little stronger. Not going to insta-vault it, but I got my money's worth of guts and guns.

Also, I don't know why, but I laughed like a lunatic when Goggins was yelling "Die you alien faggot!" and shanking the predator. Just a fucking surreal moment.

EDIT: Just a quick note about the predators themselves not being a threat. As others mentioned, I got the impression that these were basically "evil" versions, who relied on a bunch of gimmicks and rigging the hunt. Obviously the other predators aren't good guys, but they at least had a code of conduct. These guys were straight-up bullies who got sloppy.

My theater LOVED that. They also loved just about every joke or funny beat from Edwin or Goggins. They also loved the credits.

"Fuck... OF ALL YOU!"

I really liked Brody in this and never thought he could have pulled off "bad ass" as well as he did. I didn't mind Topher either, though the monologuing was groan worthy. I didn't know the serial killer twist going in, but I called it the moment he took out the scalpel and started talking about toxins. I had an immediate Dexter flashback.

I honestly didn't notice the bad CGI fire, so either my attention to detail is FUBAR or the movie managed to suck me in just enough to overlook such things. When it hits Netflix I'll have to check it out again to see what all the fuss is about.

In all, I didn't love or hate this movie. It felt like a step in the right direction after Predator 2 and the awful AvP flicks, but never really achieves anything special or does anything particularly interesting.

If this is the end of the Predator franchise, I'd call this movie a fun little failure. If it helps to kick start another round of (hopefully better) films, then I'd consider it a somewhat disappointing success. On it's own, it just falls flat.

Predator 2 has nothing on the first film.

I honestly don't know how you can compare whoever wrote the crap in part 2 versus the Shane Black-inspired awesomeness from the first.

One more movie for me to love. Your loss.

Pretty weak stuff. A lot of the shit at the end was too dark (though perhaps it was just my theater's projector).

A lot of what worked in the first two movies was establishing our main characters as bad-asses with an awesome opening action sequence showcasing their killer skills. Nothing of the sort here. I can be expected to believe Adrian Brody is a bad-ass just because he says "fuck" now and carries a camouflaged gun.

Very much glad we didn't get any Dutch cameo on the Predator planet. They were trying to pull something similar with AVP as well. I like the idea that Dutch's whereabouts after the first flick never get a legit explanation more than the idea of a "Hey, look it's Arnold!" cameo in a sequel.

RE: CHARACTERS

Here's the thing about the characters from PREDATORS and the original. From the latest one, these actors didn't come from action movies. The original had the ''macho muscle'' sell already built in eg. Arnie w/ TERMINATOR, COMMANDO, Carl Weathers boxing w/ Rocky, Jesse Ventura as a wrestler. The new batch didn't come from ''action movies'' and whomever cast them fucked that up. Brody may have trained to get the part - but ultimately Fox didn't understand this part of the game. Had Statham, Diesel and/or The Rock auditioned, we may have had characters we could give a damn about. Given that the story was tweaked and *Neil Marshall came on board as director and this could have romp we'd be high-fiving one another about.

*Go watch DOG SOLDIERS, if you haven't seen it. Damn good movie.

NOTE: I would've settled for Ray Stevenson.

In a deleted scene from the 2nd one, or at least part of the script, they say that Dutch was being treated in a hospital for radiation sickness following the end of Predator but that he got up and left....true fate unknown.

Well, you had Danny Trejo. Of course, he got taken out real fast.

I think you're right to a point, but the way they carried themselves and acted, the guys in Predator made you believe they were the baddest motherfuckers ever. They sold it, even if you had never heard of them before. Sonny Landham wasn't the hugest before Predator, well or necessarily after .

Just got back. You know, this movie sort of taught me to go into it knowing much less prior. There was way too much material about the movie, and I feel like I didn't get to enjoy some of the scenes as much.

This was a well-intentioned movie with problems. There were certain scenes when I was totally hooked, and others where I was so disengaged all I could think about was the annoying dork who kept laughing out loud at everything.

Some of the homage stuff was cool. The end with Brody seemed like drunk charades. The whole I'm here, kill me, look, I'm covered in mud, was bad.

The cold opening was awesome. Goggins stole the show. His attack on a predator was the shit.

Agreed on how these predators got sort of castrated, but good point on the dark predators being less ethical than the "OP's".

Braga's dialog connecting to the first flick was forced.

If this movie was 15 minutes longer, they should have done the following:
- show mombassa's body being dragged away and despined and made into a trophy
- Make Furious Styles actually put up a fight in the hallway instead of sitting there waiting to be blown to pieces.
- Replace the dogs with some 'lesser predators' and have them take off wounded instead of those awful dogs. Good idea bad look.
- Some sort of other super predator vs original predator buildup to make that whole thread make a little more sense.
- separate Brody from Braga for a spell while she is out and give him some time like arnold did in the first to prepare for battle

Overall, unike the AVPs, which made me want to never watch a movie ever again, Predators made me want to go home and pop the original in. I just think that Predator II pulled out all the stops with the final scene and made it tough for future movies to have any surprises. Edwin being a spooky murderer just doen't throw me like danny glover finding out there are tons of predators who are actually not going to kill him for taking out one of their own.

Machete trailer looked great, BTW.

I don't know. I'll give Nimrod his due. A lesser director could have handed us a much worse film. There's a lot of very, very stupid ideas in this movie but he manages to make most of them work. The idea that these Predators are researching mankind and abducting people to bring to this hunting reserve is one I still have trouble committing to but they wisely don't dwell on it for too long. And maybe it's because AVP did a much more laughable job with a similar idea but Brody communicating with the Predator before setting it free didn't take me right out of the movie like it should have. Had the movie ended with the survivors leaving the planet, I probably would have liked it a lot less but I can deal with this one, given that it's not just an obvious set-up for another sequel, which I fear it is.

My only real complaint with this one is there isn't much suspense. It seems like the characters I actually care about are killed without much tension. We know Goggins is a goner when he starts jumping around like a maniac after the grenade explodes and other fates are similarly predicatble in themselves. The Topher Grace scene inside the hideout where he's tossing flares seems pointless. It's not as visuallly exciting as it could be and from a story POV, I know too much for it to make me nervous for the character. They've established two pretty major question marks that need resolution before the character can buy it. There's a twist in who he really is that needs to be revealed in addition to the poison scappel deal. I was kind of expecting for him to do the Russian with it after he saved him as it was the Ruskie he explained it to in the first place. It was just one of those details that so stuck out that it had to be written in for a callback later. Had it been me, I'd have switched Grace out with Goggins for the flare hallway sequence. From a story perspective, Walt's character can easily be killed here so the audience might pull for him more. Topher is too established.

As obvious a nod as the Yakuza sword battle was, I liked it but it was definitely missing the kind of punch that Billy's last stand (and even the King Willie death in 2) had. The movie falls back quite a bit on some of the more classic stuff from the original Predator but we never get a scene that captivates like that five or six minute block that involves Mac and Dillion failing to flush out the Predator. Had some of the characters been given a little more depth, we could have had that but as is, once Fishburne is thrown in the mix, the whole thing kind of goes on auto-pilot.

Not sure "depth" is really the right word. They seemed to think talking about having two kids equals "depth." I wanted some more bad-assery and since we got neither established bad-asses nor scenes showing just exactly how bad-ass these guys are supposed to be, I simply didn't care about them.

Walt Goggins may be fun to watch, but I certainly don't get the impression he could take down a Predator. The only person I thought had a chance was Oleg Taktarov, and they did what they could to make him a pussy.

Liked it well enough, but it's a one-timer. Light years ahead of both AvP movies to be sure, but can't remotely touch the first two Preds. The main drawback for me is how the movie basically runs out of steam in the third act. I didn't buy Brody's return to rescue Braga at all. Seemed very arbitrary.

I actually liked Fishburne and wished there was more of him. He gave good crazy.

Not so much of personal character depth. More like a better established dynamic. There's something in the interaction between Dillion and Mac in the first movie that makes their final scene together that more interesting. We sort of get that with Goggins and Ali early on but the latter is sacrificed early on so we can build on Brody and Braga's clash of philosiphies and I think that's a waste. I'm most definitetly not suggesting by "depth" that we needed more backstory. Most flicks rely too heavily on back story as opposed to characterization. Giving any of these characters kids or a wife doesn't drive anything home in a movie like this. We're looking for small little character moments, not an overexplanation of their personal lives. So perhaps, "depth" was the wrong word.

shit was pretty damn boring. Amazing how a movie named Predators can feature so little of them. The sword fight with the Yakuza dude was so fucking stupid. I was laughing to myself and face-palming through most of it. Soon as the camera pulled back to reveal the Ninja Gaiden arcade game introl setting, I was like....ok, this is where the Asian guy dies. Couldn't have been more subtle had they taken a baseball bat across my face.

horrible summer for movies. Of what I've seen, Iron Man 2 and Toy Story 3 are the only tentpole flicks worth a shit.

and Predator 2 definitely pisses all over this, not even close.

I think they should've had more scenes with characters staring up at trees.

No, really. There's like one.

EDIT: And why didn't Braga include Predator 2 in her exposition? She could've easily slipped a "and there was another, back in '97, a cop who was reportedly too old for this shit fought the same thing..." in there.

3 words:

LITTLE FUCKING RICHARD

8/10

I got the impression that the movie was distancing itself from the second film.

This. I had a 14 year next to me who sounded like he was having a nerd orgasm. The Yakuza pulling off the shirt and getting the sword ready was pretty cool and iconic, but once the fight scene started I couldn't believe how stupid the idea was. It baffles me that people over the age of 14 could dig that.

I guess Billy just REALLY fucked up in the first movie, fighting a puny non super Predator, huh?

Actually I just thought of another thing. That great scene in Predator 2 where Chief Willy faces off against the creature. It's conceptually very similar to Billy's show down, something I never considered. That sequence was done about 1000 times more effective in that film than it is here.

Got back a little while ago from a packed showing, and I as well as my girlfriend liked it, but like others, I some problems with it.

Brody kicked ass. I bought him as a hardened warrior. Everyone actually did a good job. Trejo was the only one I wish could have had more to do.

I would have liked to have seen Mombosa attempt to kill one of the Predators. He said he was prepared to die. They could have used that instead of just killing him quickly.

Goggins and Topher stole the show, and the definite badass moment of the movie was Goggins using his shank on the Predator. Especially since earlier he had that moment that made everyone laugh in the theater about wanting a gun.

Laurence Fishburne felt completely unnecessary to the film other than just to explain to them what's going on. He did have a great death scene.

I'm one who didn't groan or roll his eyes at the Predator vs. Yakuza fight. I liked it, and it also made me wonder if that Samurai sword was made out of the same material as the double blades on the Predator.

I had a lot of fun with it despite my few qualms, and I'm going to see it again with my friend who I saw the first 2 Predator flicks with earlier this week.

I give it a solid 8 out of 10 for recapturing some of the magic of the other 2, as well as John Debney's solid score that was not just a few plucks from Silvestri's score, but pretty much an actual Silvestri score not done by Alan Silvestri. Awesome.

I loved that. It immediately cut to his decapitated head being brandished as a trophy. I was kind of hoping the predator would pull an Indy and just gib the Yakuza with his shoulder cannon.

Yup, I brought something up in one of my earlier posts about this. Both those scenes come off more interesting because they build themselves up epically and show us just enough to have us wanting more. I enjoyed the early part of the Yakuza scene with its nod to the first film but to show the actual swordfight and then have the Yakuza kill the Predator sort of showed a glaring inability on the director's part to understand why the other scenes worked so well.

Anybody else see the squib break before the quickcut off Danny Trejo's sitting profile? It looked like it went off twice, once before the shot just a second in front of the sound effect. No worries though. Still a great reveal of a death mask.

The showdown between Billy and the Predator in the first one is great because of the dark loud horns on the soundtrack, and Billy giving up all of his weapons save for his machete to battle the Predator, and the last look on his face is one both fear and determination. He knows he's going to die.

The second one has the Predator walking up to King Willie with the water splashes slowly revealing it.

There was none of that, save for just the Yakuza quickly preparing himself for the fight. True it doesn't hold the emotional impact of the first 2 movies, but I still dug it. I would have actually been really surprised if they would have been able to match the impact in this one with the first 2.

I guess what we learn from that is that leaving the Predators ultimate victory to the imagination and cutting directly to a scream, or a decapitated head makes it seem that much more dangerous. It's kind of a "You ain't shit" moment. So much of the Predator is probably best left to the imagination most of the time.

The Yakuza fight would have been a little more interesting if it hadn't been so obviously filmed in someone's fucking backyard. And if the Predator had been able to, you know, move around. And if something cool had happened.

Fuck that dude. He was a pussy w/ a gatlin gun.

Hardly, ahead of AVP. Seriously. When it came to the set design. You have to credit AVP. The snow town and the pyramid looked great and felt it had scope and felt dangerous. PREDATORS looked like Hawaii and an Austin, TX backlot. When they met Toper Grace in the tree, it wasn't all that high and when they meet the Yakuza staring at the object; it wasn't even fucking epic. The same w/ the crucified Predator. All piss poor.

One word: FAIL!

There was never a fucking showdown whatsoever. Billy just screamed bitch: ''Aaaaaaaaaaaah." He deserved to die because he was such a negative nancy. King Willy all talk then the Predator show up - it's the same deal.

I suppose you creamed yourself during the sword fight.

This movie really is like a kid playing 'predator' with a bunch of GI Joe figures, and I love it for that. Its essentially a total rehash of the first movie, and while it never really comes close to the greatness of the original, it hits just enough of the right beats (the music, the gradual reveal of the predators, the gadgets, the kills). I actually thought, aside from some questionable CG, this flick felt like an 80s actioner, something we dont get a lot of these days.

I don't get all the problems people seem to be having with Brody - I thought he was great. Between this and Splice, I'm really digging his work lately. The whole cast was just the right kind of goofy, straight out of the pages of a comic book. Fishburne caught me off guard with his over-the-top wackiness and Goggins was great.

So yeah, far from perfect, but a fun flick. For my money, this was on par with Predator 2. And I like Predator 2.

Also, the first act kind of reminded me of Lost.

Can I nitpick something for a second? The dude with the minigun was fucking useless with that thing. Yes, the gun is good for spraying an area, but if you just point the goddamn thing at the target for a second instead of swinging it back and forth like an idiot you'll decimate whatever is in front of you. There's a point where the predidogs are stalking him and he only managed to hit one of them like once while firing thousands of rounds at the things. Blaine never felt so ineffectual with Ol' Painless.

It's a small complaint but it's just one example of how these characters don't feel like credible badasses compared to the cast of the first, even if they managed to kill more Predators. I think Brody acquitted himself alright but none of the others really managed it.

And it's not because everyone in the first was juiced to the gills. You still had normal sized dudes like Shane Black and Richard Chaves in there and they were more convincing as worthy of being hunted than Danny Trejo or the RUF guy or the Russian.

Yeah, the predator sword fight sounds like a cool idea but the execution of it was pretty piss poor. Sure, I loved the flowing grass and some of the camera angles but at the end of the day it's some dude facing a Predator with a samurai sword. This is the same creature that kicked the shit out of Arnold and Glover, and they had some big ass guns. Did not buy it for a second and the rather no frills way it was shot didn't exactly get my blood pumping.

And don't get me started on how shit the final predator fight with Brody was. Boring, completely unbelievable and predictable. What a combo. It would have helped if the predator wasn't a total imbecile, but I still couldn't believe low carb diet Adrien brody would kick the shit out of that Predator, even if said predator failed predator hunting class 101.

This film blew.

Didn't Blain keep it on target most of the time? It was only swung around when Mac was mowing down the jungle, and that was because he didn't know where the predator was. They all just filled the area with lead in hopes of hitting the damn thing.

Here's the thing, you can have a serial killer with a high body count, but that doesn't make him a badass killer. Is Jack the Ripper vs. a predator going to be a big challenge?

I think the beginning raid in Predator really added to giving weight to just how badass the characters are.

QFT. I'm watching it now as we speak. Really great action to be had and it moves fast. The whole 25 mins is a great intro for what's in store.

NOTE: I was thinking to myself during the raid had the gang found a ''Green Beret out of Fort Bragg hostage'' and he became part of the unit. That would've been so badass.

I think it is so unfair to compare Predators to Predator. I know this sounds ridiculous but Predator is one of the greatest action/genre films of all time and very few films can hold a candle to it, whether a predator alien is in it or not.

It's not unfair to compare the sequel to the original. That's the burden of being a sequel.

Predator 2 didn't try to retread the original, not completely at least. If you decide to crib from the original, you're setting yourself up for comparisons.

Well it is fair to compare Predators to Predator, you know since they are both movies with Predators, in fact I can't think of better movies to compare.

I wish I could say I was surprised people were satisfied with Brody's performance. Not much is expected from a leading action man, but Brody trying to act hard, by delivering whispery lines in a painfully manufactured manner, is just laughably bad. Some of his line delivery was just absolutely horrendous. And then when he has his shirt off, he looks like he is trying to flex every muscle in his body making him look stiff and rigid, again wrong move.

If this was our first experience of Brody I doubt anyone would rate his performance, but he carries baggage from his other movies thus ppl are willing to let it slide. Again not much is expected from such a role, so I suppose ppl just don't care.