The Predator (2018)

Punko · Nov 23, 2020

Every 5 years or so I give one of these movies a rewatch, only to quickly understand why I didn't remember seeing it before.

This thread will prevent that from happening. Thanks FoH.

j00t · Nov 23, 2020

Araysar said:
If you look at Predators from a screenwriter's perspective, you realize its almost beat for beat copy of the Original, thats why people tend to rank it higher than others. Even some scenes are copied verbatim like jumping into a waterfall, because how can you otherwise plausibly escape the Predator who has zeroed in on you halfway through the movie?

TBH, the more I see what people come up with in subsequent movies, the more I think that Predator was a lightning in a bottle phenomena that can't be reproduced. Most of the appeal of the original was you had no idea who it was for half the movie, and you had no idea what was behind the mask for 99% of the movie. So unless you go in a completely different direction by going the comic book Yautja route, either you're making the same movie basically over and over again (Predator, Predators) but without the single most important factor that made original so good (the mystery of Predator) or you need to just go full ham into the mythos with shit like AvP, Yautja, Predator homeworld, Predator Wars, whatever, etc.

This is the exact reason why aliens was successful. It was a sequel, but it was a completely different style of movie. Alien was a horror film, aliens was an action film. And it's why all the other alien films have been more or less forgettable, they did nothing to add to the franchise.

Phazael · Nov 23, 2020

The first AvP had some interesting ideas, but just changed the in universe rules for a lot of the source material. Plus those of us old enough to have read Darkhorse comic AvP series were wanting Earthwar or better still the Broken Tusk Machico storyline. Instead we got a 2000s style horror movie with an AVP skin stretched over it. The Denver one was even worse. Promethius and Covenant were especially disappointing because there was some really good potential there that got completely squandered. The Predator was probably Shane just in over his head, as he has done excellent movies before (The Nice Guys being his magnum opus imo) and there was fucktons of on set drama he was not able to cope with.

Of the remaining movies, you have Predators which is good, but its basically a redo of the first movie with the Fishbourne twist tossed in. Alien 3 was a decent idea with some good acting, but it came on the heels of the Aliens masterpiece and shit all over that movie by killing several key fan favorites off screen. Alien 4 had some decent concepts, but it was basically Josh Whedon test piloting his Firefly universe with the AVP IP.

So yeah, Predators is the only one that has remotely worked or been entertaining, but it still had a weak ending.

Search

The Predator (2018)

Punko

Macho Ma'am

j00t

Silver Baronet of the Realm

Phazael

Confirmed Beta Shitlord, Fat Bastard