"The Predator" by Shane Black (2018)

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Both design and execution.

AQP is like Black Panther, over rated.

Have you watched BP again? I gave it a second spin and enjoyed much more. Its overrated don't get me wrong.. But I enjoyed it more with my second viewing.

I would say AQP is overrated in that it was such a huge success. But as monster movies its one of the better ones of recent years.
 
I hear ya. Wolf was cool but I really got a kick out of the giant Pred :lol kinda like a little kid seeing a giant life Size adult teddy bear, his presence was overwhelming.

I hear ya about love for suits and latex masks... it it just wasn't possible With the big boy. I've always said, monsters in films...I'd always rather see the MUCH larger than a little small.

One criticism I had of the movie is, there was no civilian interaction with the Predators. I would've liked to see random peooe ******** their pants seeing the Predators.

If the CGI was well executed I would have been fine with the look.

I personally did not need a Mighty Joe Young sized Predator. Its not what I go to those films for.

Like I said your overall enjoyment of this film will be how much you can accept the new Predator..

I just couldn't.
 
Have you watched BP again? I gave it a second spin and enjoyed much more. Its overrated don't get me wrong.. But I enjoyed it more with my second viewing.

I would say AQP is overrated in that it was such a huge success. But as monster movies its one of the better ones of recent years.

I did and it was indeed better on 2nd viewing lol

Regarding AQP my wife wants me to rent it. :gah:


You little punk sob lol

Freaking.. Crazy.... Talk. ;)

Chakor turns me into Sanford and Son grabbing my chest.
 
Khev enjoyed AQP more with his 2nd viewing... But he did watch it with one of his kids which enhanced his enjoyment.

Yep loved AQP the second time. BP also played better when giving it a second viewing on Netflix. Still not "great" but all the actors did so well with what they were given that I couldn't help but enjoy it. Residual goodwill from IW didn't hurt either. :)

You appreciated and disliked much of the same things that I did in The Predator. But I didn't have such an extreme reaction to the poor choice to make the super predator CGI. It was a bad call because it kind of stopped being a "true" Predator movie at that point and became more like a Hulk, or Ultron, or like you said Underworld type film. Your example is better due to Underworld being rated R. The scene where the super predator dispatches the first predator just reminded me of "Ultron Prime" ripping the previous Ultron to shreds to show how badass the new version was. That plays a lot better in an MCU flick than a Predator film.

So I was let down by the second half too but not so much that I came away disgusted or angry or anything. Just disappointed that they didn't keep the same vibe as the first half of the film. As a gory "Underworld from space" movie though I still found the second half entertaining enough. Again just a departure that I wish they hadn't taken.
 
Dude, AVP-R...The PredAlien!!! the PredAlien!!! .that thing is the stupidest monster in the history of cinema.

The Dogs were absolutely unnecessary! I agree.

I'm The toughest Predator critic I know...all things considered this film was a good Predator film.

Agreed that the dogs were pointless and that I do feel that it "counts" as a Predator film despite the CG super pred. The use of the original score definitely helped greatly in that regard. I think that this movie easily could have been titled "Predator 3." That doesn't mean the quality was up there with the first one obviously but I did feel like I was back in the world of P1/P2 and had fun for the most part. We'll see if that holds true on repeat viewings.
 
There's this moment where the Stargazer people show Olivia Munn the Predators from '87 and '97 on a tablet and it's literally screen captures from the first 2 movies... one of which being the Predator when Dutch was covered in mud, when it comes out of the water and it can't see him. Like... someone was there and took that photo. :slap

This movie had no pacing and it was edited so badly that you can tell there was no thought-out complete story while they were filming it. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about. In the teaser trailer, McKenna says, "We're assassins. Isn't posing a threat kind of the point?" In the redband trailer, McKenna says, "We're rangers [as it shows the guys from the bus]. Isn't posing a threat kind of the ****ing point?" In the movie, McKenna says, "I'm a sniper. Isn't posing a threat kind of the ****ing point?" Why were there 3 alternate takes of the same scene that completely change what he's saying? In the redband trailer, when Olivia Munn is handcuffed to the chair, Sterling K. Brown is introducing himself and talks about how Predators conquered space. In the movie, it was well past the point they'd already met at the Stargazer lab. Multiple instances like that where things are in the trailers that aren't in the movie at all, such as McKenna looking up at the sky and saying, "come and get us mother ****ers." In the scene where the looney crew is getting on the RV to escape the middle school while the big Predator kills the fugitive Predator, it shows a pitbull from the football field running toward them and it cuts away. They don't take the dog with them and the dog is never seen again. You can't tell me Shane Black is a smart writer and had a vision of what he wanted when he made this when the whole thing was cut and paste scenes from alternate stories.

Jake Busey's cameo as Keyes' son leads to nothing or any exposition dialogue about Peter Keyes from P2. At no point does anyone in the movie talk about hiding their body heat from the Predators. For some reason Olivia Munn is able to sneak up on the big Predator at the end by using the invisibility orb... which shouldn't mean a damn to a creature with heat vision. For some reason the Stargazer base has the mask from P1 but not the mask from P2 that was left behind at the slaughterhouse. Just a lot of WTF things that could have been easily fixed with a script doctor.
 
Just watched. Have mixed feelings. I liked the team and the Predator action was great.

But the story about the kid and the Preds true intentions suck. Trying to be a Marvel film with too many jokes does not fit with Predator.

And yes, Predogs were useless and again, used more for comedy that anything else

And then the ending...it just feels stupid and dumb considering the plot
 
First scene where they were in the jungle tracking the drug cartel kidnapper people and witnessing the ship crashing was okay. The physical costume Predator sparing that lady because she was completely defenseless and not a real challenge was also good.

Literally everything from that point on is bad. :lol I cringed at "you're one beautiful mother*****er" and the "Predator Killer". I thought the "Be sensitive. His son is ********" joke had a good delivery.
 
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There's this moment where the Stargazer people show Olivia Munn the Predators from '87 and '97 on a tablet and it's literally screen captures from the first 2 movies... one of which being the Predator when Dutch was covered in mud, when it comes out of the water and it can't see him. Like... someone was there and took that photo. :slap

This movie had no pacing and it was edited so badly that you can tell there was no thought-out complete story while they were filming it. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about. In the teaser trailer, McKenna says, "We're assassins. Isn't posing a threat kind of the point?" In the redband trailer, McKenna says, "We're rangers [as it shows the guys from the bus]. Isn't posing a threat kind of the ****ing point?" In the movie, McKenna says, "I'm a sniper. Isn't posing a threat kind of the ****ing point?" Why were there 3 alternate takes of the same scene that completely change what he's saying? In the redband trailer, when Olivia Munn is handcuffed to the chair, Sterling K. Brown is introducing himself and talks about how Predators conquered space. In the movie, it was well past the point they'd already met at the Stargazer lab. Multiple instances like that where things are in the trailers that aren't in the movie at all, such as McKenna looking up at the sky and saying, "come and get us mother ****ers." In the scene where the looney crew is getting on the RV to escape the middle school while the big Predator kills the fugitive Predator, it shows a pitbull from the football field running toward them and it cuts away. They don't take the dog with them and the dog is never seen again. You can't tell me Shane Black is a smart writer and had a vision of what he wanted when he made this when the whole thing was cut and paste scenes from alternate stories.

Jake Busey's cameo as Keyes' son leads to nothing or any exposition dialogue about Peter Keyes from P2. At no point does anyone in the movie talk about hiding their body heat from the Predators. For some reason Olivia Munn is able to sneak up on the big Predator at the end by using the invisibility orb... which shouldn't mean a damn to a creature with heat vision. For some reason the Stargazer base has the mask from P1 but not the mask from P2 that was left behind at the slaughterhouse. Just a lot of WTF things that could have been easily fixed with a script doctor.
Agreed completely. I'd forgotten about the pitbull. Unless I'm mistaken the kid even looks panicked watching the dog run towards them implying that they might be about to save it, Independence day style, only for it to amount to nothing. It's clear that this was all thrown together last minute and it shows.

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How hard is it to not put really stupid things in these movies? Things that make you bury your face in your palms with embarrassment at what your favourite series has become. Is there no one working on these films that has an instinct about what shouldn't be done? Things that take people out of the movie/ create a completely inconsistent tone to what went before thereby ensuring that it doesn't even feel like it's set in the same fictional universe anymore.

I still haven't seen it, just going on what you guys are saying. I've read all spoilers.
 
There were MANY good Predator things about this film. The best since P2. but people just like to ***** about the stupid parts...It's human nature.
 
How hard is it to not put really stupid things in these movies? Things that make you bury your face in your palms with embarrassment at what your favourite series has become. Is there no one working on these films that has an instinct about what shouldn't be done? Things that take people out of the movie/ create a completely inconsistent tone to what went before thereby ensuring that it doesn't even feel like it's set in the same fictional universe anymore.

I still haven't seen it, just going on what you guys are saying. I've read all spoilers.

Some of the lists people are making of all the "stupid" things in the movie without any context are pretty overblown and some of those "negatives" were actually quite cool when you see them play out on screen (the weaponless Fugitive Pred temporarily using a soldier's assault rifle against his fellows was pretty clever.) The worst of course was the "thumbs up" gag but only because there was no setup for such a maneuver. If the Pred had actually *seen* someone give someone else the thumbs up gesture then it would have at least made a little bit of sense but the way it played out was a definite Deadpool-esque moment.

Then they had a totally pointless sequence of a predator dog getting lobotomized by a gun shot to the dead and becoming domesticated. Made no damn sense and what's worse is that they went absolutely nowhere with it. Very strange. But the thumbs up and the silly dog were really the main elements that I'd say were outright stupid. A couple other cringe moments here and there but really the rest of the film's issues just came down to the disjointedness of the second half of the film due to the reshoots and then the design and CGI of the super predator.

The subtitles and translator stuff actually played out pretty cool IMO. Predators have talked on screen before ("what the hell are YOU," "take it," etc.) so I fail to see why it's a big deal.

You might still hate it for your own reasons but I find that isolated laundry lists of things that only sound bad out of context is rarely an accurate way to characterize a film.
 
The crazy part is that Black lived thru the first one, he wrote parts of it, he knows what makes sense and what is garbage.

Was the cocaine different in the 80’s, what?
 
Well remember that George Lucas wrote and directed the original Star Wars too, lol. Age does funny things to people.

I think if you can accept this film as a gory Shane Black Halloween sci-fi/horror/comedy then there's a lot to enjoy. The first act is a straight Predator flick, the second act transitions almost into a Return of the Living Dead/Trick-or-Treat type flick, and the final act is like an Underworld movie with spaceships. The through-line to the shifting genres is the gore and quips, which remain consistent from beginning to end. A somewhat unique experience that stumbles as much as it soars but that is pretty entertaining in quite a few parts (particularly the first half as I keep saying.)

The lab breakout sequence is actually one of the coolest straight "Predator" moments out of *all* the films. There are a few other gems sprinkled throughout as well (opening scene in the jungle, pred ship vs. the F-18's, etc.) to make it worthwhile enough to catch as a matinee on the big screen IMO.
 
Yeah I know that my overt criticism is being done in a vacuum I won’t really know how I feel until I actually see it.

Cinema is fun because one mans trash is another mans fortune.

I’ll just come out and say it, AvP and AvPR are on my shelf.

Why?

Great question everyone!

Answer: Just because lol
 
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