Amph In Town With a Few Days to Kill: The Prey-dator Discussion Thread

Predator 2. It had two good moments. 1. The voodoo man kill. 2. The ending. Otherwise this movie was an insult to even bad taste. I mean really, the predator could not do a pull up and so decided to quickly end it all with a nuclear blast? Who the hell wrote that and thought it was a good idea?

 

I wonder if this scene will be included on the home video release.

As far as the film, I might see it during its theatrical run despite reading a couple of negative reactions to the film. I mean, after seeing the initial trailer I didn't think the film looked good.

I prefer the original Predator over the sequel

 

The Predator Uncut

 

He couldn't pull himself up without pulling Harrigan off the roof and thus they'd both fall. The point was that if there was no possible victory, they'd use the bomb. Even in a situation like that. As to who wrote it, it was the same two guys that wrote the first film and established the rules.

 

Then they fouled up. A Predator. Can't do a pull up and grab dude? Looked like he could to me.

 

The armed factor isn't entirely accurate since the Predator went after Dutch who was unarmed, once his machine gun was destroyed. The Predator will hunt those who are armed, but also those who can be a threat without a weapon. The Predator in the first film realized that with Dutch. This also carries over to the crossovers with Batman, who doesn't use guns. Same with Robin. As well as the boxers that the Predator killed in the first story, none of whom had guns. They like those who can fight back. Often time it is with a gun, but not always.

In the case of Leona, the pregnancy factor isn't about the fetus being unarmed as it is about breeding. They won't attack a pregnant lifeform, regardless.

The Predator had his left hand on Harrigan's arm and he weighs more than a human. The gravity is on him, not Harrigan. He's strong, but he's not super strong. He also cannot get a good hand hold, much less foot hold, to help pull himself up. Also, if you've ever watched a movie or show involving similar scenarios, the person on the edge often has to pull the other person up. You think Harrigan wants to pull him up? Much less that he can? There's no way that he could without killing himself. That's why he uses the bomb. Also, the Predator is in a weakened state due to the shotgun blasts and the fact that he needs his re-breather because Earth's atmosphere is not doing him any favors.

 

It's even worse than I thought. He didn't need to do a pull up. All he had to do was pull Harrigan off the ledge. It's a poor scene.

 

Yah I think it's a tad odd the Predator in Predator 2 goes to the bomb real quick but, to be fair, having watched the film this one seems kind of nastier than the one that Dutch and Co. faced off against. The P2 one does quite a lot of slice and dice up close with people screaming for mercy while the P1 one does a lot of it's canon to take potshots from afar. The P1 one was utterly defeated and crushed so it went for the bomb when all it would kill is Dutch and itself. There's an odd sense of honour to it. Like the P2 one says "**** happens" and immediately goes to it's bomb in a densely populated area. It feels like it's cheating, at least to me. Big jerk, this one is!

The unmasked P2 one actually looks pretty freaky, it seems a bit more articulate but I think it's the molted pattern on it's skin that freaks me out the most. Or maybe it's head is more spiky.

Anyway, yah, it is decent sequel as I remembered the highlight action scenes but mostly the connective tissue stuff I glossed over. That subway fight is a nigh masterpiece in the series, I'd put it up there with some of the best stuff in the original Predator. This also does add quite a lot to the mythos which would be a big part of at least the AvP films and comics. And a hellova cast in Predator 2 as well which really helps it be entertaining. Ruben Blades is in it for 30 minutes but it's freakin' Ruben Blades. And y'know who is gold? Morton Downey Jr as this guy



Seriously, hilarious. There's a line he has in here "More victims! More mutilation!" which has been batting around my head for years which I could have sworn was from Batman '89 but it's actually from this movie.



Yah and every bit Bill Paxton has it great too and his subway exit is oddly very similar to his Aliens exit. But you can't go wrong with any and all Bill Paxton, really. Glover has some fun stuff in here too even if the movie leans way corny in the "emotional" parts he sells it. I do kind of wonder how when Hartigan says "you're one ugly" the P2 knew to say "m*******er" but maybe the sick burn Dutch had was so total it imprinted on the Predator collective consciousness. And Alan Silvestri returns to score this one and it's as fantastic as the original, even if he leans on the main theme a lot it's still great.

Oh and "Want some candy" may be the creepiest thing a Predator has ever said.

 

Predator 2 is fun. I always enjoyed it.

But this shot always seemed stupid and more like a comic hero.

 

So it seems the new film is getting mixed reviews. Personally I’m hoping this actor issue isn’t going to over shadow the film. With the house of mouse getting it’s hands on Fox the Predator needs to look appealing se we get more films.

 

That would be foolish because it doesn't give the Predator an honorable win. The whole point in using the bomb is if the Predator cannot kill his prey or be killed by the prey, then he must use the bomb as a final solution to cover his tracks and retain his honor. Simply pulling Harrigan down and dying alongside him does nothing except dishonor his name and legacy. Honor and honorable deaths to the Yautja is as important as it is to the Japanese.

 

Go down with him? He was hanging there and would have been able to simply pull him off to plummet to his death while he hung there. But of course the writing is so bad they have him hanging there and just say screw it go for a nuke. Poor and pathetic.

 

The only futuristic things in the film are the way the guns look and even then, it's mostly just to add laser sights to the handguns. Anything else you can just chalk up to the bad drug war between the Colombians and the Jamaicans taking a toll on the city. With Ramon Vega and King Willie dead, much of the war was finished.

He doesn't have the leverage to pull him down. The Predator is only holding on because of the smart disc and Harrigan, the former of which cannot hold his weight alone, which is why he's holding on to Harrigan. Every time we a Predator lift up someone, it is when they have the ability to do so.

 

As for Alien Versus Predator, it's a bit of a comedown in the bloodletting aspect after the sometimes grindhouse gore that affects Predator and definitely Predator 2. Also some of the editing makes it seem like it was PG-13-ized after the fact for the human violence. The Alien and Predator violence is nicely messy, though cuz the are aliens and can rip each other apart. And even though multiple people have said that AvP has been stricken from canon for both franchises, I find it actually works quite well. (the similarities between Alien Versus Predator and Promthesus in the plot structure is really quite close but, hey, the Engineers were making alien monster goo and temples for 1000s of years as established so this can slot in there)

For Paul W.S. Anderson being called a hack constantly, I do find he makes movies that are at least visually competent with some flourishes here and there. Like I love the visual of the Predator ship going "silent mode" right above someone's head, the scene of the Alien Queen's "resurrection" is actually really great. although the movie is very much, way too much, in love with why the underground temple history. All we wanna see is Alien Versus Predators, dammit. I know I did, I read the original Dark Horse comics way back in the 90s and then it just imprinted on my brain that I needed to see Alien versus Predator. So I did get it, although there is a lot of waste at the front of the movie. Both Alien and Aliens take their time setting up the world and mood but it's creepy and effective. The pre Alien / Predator throwdown stuff here is a drag.

But I would say this is probably more of a Predator movie than an Alien movie, as the Predators are the closest ones to having a motivation / characterization. Also it turns out Predators won't kill someone who is sick, kind of like how they wouldn't kill the pregnant woman. Probably because Weyland was so sickly the Predator thought he couldn't properly fight back or, as Dutch put it, "No sport in it!" I do like the various castmembers, Noel Clarke who would one day be Zod is always fun to see, and Henrickson at least adds some pathos. the main actress actually gets her best stuff in when she's acting opposite a Predator. Her scene where she kills her alien impregnated buddy is actually great and, shockingly effective, is the stark cutting back to a close up of the Predator's mask whens he does it, like he's thinking / a grim spectre of death overhanging the proceedings.

Anderson does come up with a unique way to make the Alien stand out from the others, there's one with a grid on it's head that makes it a "hero" Alien. And they changed the unmasked predator design again where when it opens it's mouth it's jaw is huggggeee. And while this movie takes too damn long to get to the good stuff, I quite dig it when it's just two alien monsters wailing on each other. the first face to face reveal is great! This isn't the movie I wanted years for but it does provide what I kind of really wanted to see in enough doses.

 

Where does it say that disc made of super material can't hold his weight? It doesn't. A slight pull and down goes Harrigan and then easily reaches up to the ledge. Just a dumb scene.

 

Embargo lifted yesterday. They didn't talk spoilers on Collider, but the movie broke Kristian Harloff's heart.

 

Yeah, I saw that Harloff's tweet yesterday saying Shane Black broke his heart and other reviews saying it was a mess. I saw Jeremy Johns' review this morning and he said the film had alot of action and had a Marvel style of humor and the ending wasn't great, IIRC.

 

We need a better word for "a smattering of botched sequels" than "franchise."

 

I always took the Predator in Predator 2 as inexperienced and on a training hunt...

 

Aliens versus Predator: Requiem at least ups the splatter and gore which is pretty needed after AvP's oddly neutered lack of bloodbath. But even though I complained about the drag in AvP to get to the good stuff, AvPR is even worse when you don't care about a single damn human, aside from Reiko Aylesworth only because she was Michelle on 24 and John Ortiz just cuz he is sort of in a lot of stuff so you recognize him (and I actually find his final "go to the centre of town" choice oddly sympathetic). There is a decent cast in the previous 3 films but here not so much. So basically you're just rooting for The Predator almost entirely this time, which it is kind of fun to imagine that he's just irritated that he has to go to Earth and clean up the mess. But the first shot when Predator gets the signal he's roaring in anger seemingly so that is not the worst notion. Also he's kind of nasty to where he pops a random cop who happens to stumble upon him but I guess he's taking the "no witnesses" thing pretty far.

As for the Aliens of it all, the Pred-Alien is a neat/nasty design and the way it impregnates and makes some baby aliens is actually really gross which is saying something for the aliens aspect of the series. and this is the only Alien movie that went back to James Cameron's Aliens design which is the covering of the aliens head is removed which I always liked but none of the other movies really went back to that. this one feels the most directly like aliens but mostly in a cheap knock-off way, heck there's even Aylseworth driving a APC with her kid rapidly like Ripley and Newt.

Still, the messiness of the kills mostly by the Predator is kind of great, like he head-shots a few fools which comes flying off. The random blonde chick gets killed realllly nasty which is kind of fun that the movie/script seems to have as much disdain for the humans as the audience does. The kid's dad gets jumped by an Alien right when saying "there's no such thing as monsters!" which is oh so great. But a lot of the movie is too damn dark, like once in awhile you get a striking silhouette of an Alien or a Predator but most of the time you can't see what's happening, which is just bizarre.

Did you know this movie was released on Christmas 2007? Didn't Christmas Day used to be a dumping ground and only got big presitege and blockbusters in the last 10 years? But I sure as heck saw this in theatres that week. It's Aliens versus Predator dammit. It's not great but, hey, I can't hate it.