tylerdurden
Super Freak
oh.
wait.
i just realized the "spoilers" thread has been locked.
again.
brilliant.
anyway, since this the no spoilers thread, i'll keep my comments relatively generic.
the good:
- the concept. pitting earth's deadliest hunters against the galaxy's best, on an alien game preserve along with other alien species.
- the first time all 3 preds decloaked. that was a pretty cool scene, and made me smile. more importantly, it made the predators look truly bada$$. unfortunately, this was pretty much the ONLY time they came across as bada$$.
- the score. john debney may have done little more than re-packaging alan silvestri's work, but it was GREAT to hear the original pred themes. really added to the atmosphere of the film.
- the make-up effects were generally good. nice and gory, the way it should be.
the bad:
- now, while the concept of the movie was solid and held lots of mouth-watering potential, the EXECUTION of it was dismal. what's the point of gathering the earth's so-called deadliest hunters when barely ANY of them got to demonstrate why they were supposedly so deadly? i never felt for a single moment that any of the characters in this entire group were dangerous or threatening. the majority of them just came across as heavily-armed, averagely-skilled humans. the "hidden" killers, when revealed, were just laughable, monologuing goons.
- an even bigger missed opportunity with regards to the concept was the alien planet. now, i understand this was not a huge-budgeted film. so they had to make do with terrestrial forestry as a location. but there wasn't even the slightest attempt to make the alien jungle look or feel alien! it just looked exactly like your regular earth jungle. that is simply ridiculous. come on. just minor touches were all that was needed. maybe a few native plants that just looked weird, either in shape, size or colour. but nothing. to me, why even bother setting it on an alien world then? if the idea was to bamboozle the audience into believing they were all still on earth, then the makers sure screwed up there too. cos practically every single trailer was selling the concept of this being an alien planet. it's an unforgiveable oversight.
- the new preds just do not have the grace and athleticism as the kevin peter hall pred. that guy moved like a hunter. he was bada$$. these new fellas seem almost awkward in some scenes. nowhere near as bad as the lumbering jocks in avp, but still unimpressive.
- the visual effects are inconsistent, to put it charitably. some, like the pred decloaking effects are great. the pred dogs aren't as bad as some make it out to be. but certain other effects like fire, are simply godawful. a modest budget is no excuse, in the era of district 9.
- far too many scenes and dialogue exchanges are lifted verbatim from p1. it may be fan service, but it's just unnecessary. and worse, feels more like a desperate attempt to score brownie points with familiarity rather than with originality.
- the swordfight showdown is a dud. i won't say more cos this is non-spoiler territory, except to sum up that it could've been the fight scene of the year if only the choreography was better planned.
- the way royce defeats the big bad predator is pretty blah. it's not terrible, just not very imaginative or rousing.
- the new pred designs aren't very good. i tried giving them the benefit of the doubt, saying it could look better on camera. it doesn't.
overall, this is by no means a disaster, in case my comments above appear to indicate that. it's mildly entertaining and has a few kick-ass scenes. but as a worthy successor to p1, it falls short of the mark. i put this down to a lack of ambition to really push things. they seem content to run a "greatest hits" compilation of fan-favourite predator ideas and moments, but reluctant to take those in a truly fresh or challenging direction. shoulda, woulda, coulda.
there's my 2 cents'. feel free to disagree.
wait.
i just realized the "spoilers" thread has been locked.
again.
brilliant.
anyway, since this the no spoilers thread, i'll keep my comments relatively generic.
the good:
- the concept. pitting earth's deadliest hunters against the galaxy's best, on an alien game preserve along with other alien species.
- the first time all 3 preds decloaked. that was a pretty cool scene, and made me smile. more importantly, it made the predators look truly bada$$. unfortunately, this was pretty much the ONLY time they came across as bada$$.
- the score. john debney may have done little more than re-packaging alan silvestri's work, but it was GREAT to hear the original pred themes. really added to the atmosphere of the film.
- the make-up effects were generally good. nice and gory, the way it should be.
the bad:
- now, while the concept of the movie was solid and held lots of mouth-watering potential, the EXECUTION of it was dismal. what's the point of gathering the earth's so-called deadliest hunters when barely ANY of them got to demonstrate why they were supposedly so deadly? i never felt for a single moment that any of the characters in this entire group were dangerous or threatening. the majority of them just came across as heavily-armed, averagely-skilled humans. the "hidden" killers, when revealed, were just laughable, monologuing goons.
- an even bigger missed opportunity with regards to the concept was the alien planet. now, i understand this was not a huge-budgeted film. so they had to make do with terrestrial forestry as a location. but there wasn't even the slightest attempt to make the alien jungle look or feel alien! it just looked exactly like your regular earth jungle. that is simply ridiculous. come on. just minor touches were all that was needed. maybe a few native plants that just looked weird, either in shape, size or colour. but nothing. to me, why even bother setting it on an alien world then? if the idea was to bamboozle the audience into believing they were all still on earth, then the makers sure screwed up there too. cos practically every single trailer was selling the concept of this being an alien planet. it's an unforgiveable oversight.
- the new preds just do not have the grace and athleticism as the kevin peter hall pred. that guy moved like a hunter. he was bada$$. these new fellas seem almost awkward in some scenes. nowhere near as bad as the lumbering jocks in avp, but still unimpressive.
- the visual effects are inconsistent, to put it charitably. some, like the pred decloaking effects are great. the pred dogs aren't as bad as some make it out to be. but certain other effects like fire, are simply godawful. a modest budget is no excuse, in the era of district 9.
- far too many scenes and dialogue exchanges are lifted verbatim from p1. it may be fan service, but it's just unnecessary. and worse, feels more like a desperate attempt to score brownie points with familiarity rather than with originality.
- the swordfight showdown is a dud. i won't say more cos this is non-spoiler territory, except to sum up that it could've been the fight scene of the year if only the choreography was better planned.
- the way royce defeats the big bad predator is pretty blah. it's not terrible, just not very imaginative or rousing.
- the new pred designs aren't very good. i tried giving them the benefit of the doubt, saying it could look better on camera. it doesn't.
overall, this is by no means a disaster, in case my comments above appear to indicate that. it's mildly entertaining and has a few kick-ass scenes. but as a worthy successor to p1, it falls short of the mark. i put this down to a lack of ambition to really push things. they seem content to run a "greatest hits" compilation of fan-favourite predator ideas and moments, but reluctant to take those in a truly fresh or challenging direction. shoulda, woulda, coulda.
there's my 2 cents'. feel free to disagree.
