Predator 3 / Predators (epic merge)

Shryke

I thought this was a great film. They kept true to the original and followed the structure of it closely enough too. I do wish

the Mexican had lived a bit longer. I was also looking forward to him going ape****

. The casting was great with Brody being the weakest. I just didn't buy some of his lines and I think he could have played the character from a more believable angle. The ending was ham fisted. If you have a kick ass concept the least you can do is follow it the whole way through, not taper off and wind things up however you can.
Over all though I thought it was brilliant fun, exactly the kind of film it should be. Oh and

Long Tall Sally was great at the end. I think it showed the guys making it really did care for the original as well. Or I hope anyway.

FrostyJack

First of all why is paying homage to the original a great thing.

Giving a nod here and there is ok but copy and pasting most of the same plot and certain scenes is a bad thing, it makes it almost a remake.

Predator 2 was much more enjoyable as was AVP:R, the pacing in this film was horrible in parts yet it had the same same cheesy lines and scenarios. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the film, as I do all things Predator but it could have been much better. My major gripes were :

The pacing. The mini gun used was like an airsoft gun, in the original (and in real life) it is next to impossible to miss at close range with this, but it seemed to register only 2 or 3 hits in the entire film, mainly the dogs. As previously stated, I felt at no time that I personally could have lost to the Predators as they were next to useless, look at the people they actually killed in it, not exactly hunted or killed honorably. The ending was revealed about halfway through the film, bar the "doctor" turning

I thought Walton Goggins was great in this (as he is in the Shield), he played the Bill Paxton style character well. And I didn't mind Brody in the role either unlike some. I don't know if there can be another sequel for this franchise after this, they will just be rehashing the same old stuff again. The only way forward imho is to go the way of Space marines, aliens and preds ala the game were all things are equal standing, oh and get decent actors, directors and make it 18's or not bother with it at all.

nyarlothothep

1. Brodys character is unredeemable, t

he u turn at the end is simply there to justify the requirements of the

plot that you have to have one good

guy

.

2. The woman was good, she should have taken on the role of central protagonist, you cant compete with arnold, theres no point, Brodys character was just no match nor does Brody have the physique. His nod to arnold lines, come on kill me, do it, do it now, were out of place, he just couldn't say it with the same conviction nevermind arnold made them his own. So the female character would have been an interesting alternative, in addition she was a better character and more easily identifiable with.

3. The ending was meh.

4. I liked the samurai fight. Kind of anime with the green fields and all that.

5. It was an interesting take on the franchise and a welcome return to its visceral side, but overall fairly meh due to brody, the ending and the fact that though they had a new concept to play with they didn't really take it far enough.

Mickeroo

DUDE! Spoiler tags!! I totally read the first line there not expecting spoilers. Now I know he

makes a u-turn

and I've not seen the movie yet

nyarlothothep

Mickeroo wrote: »

DUDE! Spoiler tags!! I totally read the first line there not expecting spoilers. Now I know he

makes a u-turn

and I've not seen the movie yet

Yeah he pretty much walks in a u turn thats it. Sorry Im very lazy.

FrostyJack

Mickeroo your quote now has a spoiler in it FYI :P

Mickeroo

FrostyJack wrote: »

Mickeroo your quote now has a spoiler in it FYI :P

balls!

klicha10

gubernator is best

daveyboy_1ie

Really liked it, at times was annoying how many scenes seemed a little too much homage being paid to the original but then I realised hell this is why I am here innit, as I lved the orginal so much.

The only bit that really made no sense to me is

the Laurence Fishburne charector, how did he manage to survive so long hiding on the biggest ship you could imagine and noone thought of looking in it? Some hunters they are. Also his death scene was terrible, he survives ten seasons and explodes the first time he meets one face to face, presumably the one he killed to get the mask from was an ambush of some sort

daveyboy_1ie

daveyboy_1ie wrote: »

The only bit that really made no sense to me is

the Laurence Fishburne charector, how did he manage to survive so long hiding on the biggest ship you could imagine and noone thought of looking in it? Some hunters they are. Also his death scene was terrible, he survives ten seasons and explodes the first time he meets one face to face, presumably the one he killed to get the mask from was an ambush of some sort

I thought about that as well, I just reasoned it away with the fact that

he got older, had become isolated and semi-delusional (talking to imaginery person) and had basically slowed down altogether. The predators are said to adapt and improve season on season, so they eventually found him out, albeit by chance, and finished him off. I do agree it was a bit of a ridiculous way to end up though. I cant rationalise the not-looking-in-the-massive-ship element either.

Dempsey

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought about that as well, I just reasoned it away with the fact that

he got older, had become isolated and semi-delusional (talking to imaginery person) and had basically slowed down altogether. The predators are said to adapt and improve season on season, so they eventually found him out, albeit by chance, and finished him off. I do agree it was a bit of a ridiculous way to end up though. I cant rationalise the not-looking-in-the-massive-ship element either.

In fairness,

the entire planet is a game reserve

Dempsey

Dempsey wrote: »

In fairness,

the entire planet is a game reserve

Yea, but

a monstrous derelict ship should at least attract some attention from the predators

helimachoptor

It wasnt

a ship, he said it was an old drilling platform

Overheal

Havent seen it yet and now im not sure I wanna:

http://consumerist.com/2010/07/predators-shrink-ray-zapped-my-movie.html

This might be completely ridiculous, but I thought it was kind of interesting. I saw the movie "Predators" today and there was a major difference between a scene from the trailer and the scene in the movie.

In the trailer, there's a scene where Adrian Brody is standing facing what what we believe to be many predators based on the the multiple targets that appear all over his face and torso. (The targets being those 3 red dots used by the predator's shoulder mounted weapon). Yet in the movie itself, in that exact same scene, there's only one target on Adrien Brody.

Now I can recall times where I've seen a scene in a movie trailer that wasn't in the movie. I realize that filmmakers are constantly editing up to the release. But in this case, that's not possible. The movie only had four total predators (three of which were hunting the humans). So basically, it was completely bogus and intentional to make it seem that there were perhaps a dozen or even more based on the scene from the trailer.

I don't know what you would call this. Is this false advertising? It's certainly deceptive.
”

Overheal

Overheal wrote: »

Havent seen it yet and now im not sure I wanna:

http://consumerist.com/2010/07/predators-shrink-ray-zapped-my-movie.html

That didnt bother me to be honest. It was entertaining; a 6.5/10

s8n

Overheal wrote: »

Havent seen it yet and now im not sure I wanna:

http://consumerist.com/2010/07/predators-shrink-ray-zapped-my-movie.html

why dould it matter ??

Galvasean

Watched it again yesterday. Still a solid 'guess who dies next' style action movie. Worth a look in a 6 or 7 out of 10 way.

Mickeroo

Finally got to see this tonight! It was pretty good I thought, it's biggest flaw was probably that there was too much nodnod wink wink to the first film, it was a little bit afraid to be it's own film. Still pretty damn good though.

My favourite bit was

the samurai style showdown and when Brody freed the captive predator.

Oh ya, Laurence Fishburne's character was completely pointless.

jaykhunter

Saw this film tonight. Overall I was happy and impressed and it was all I could ask for from a new Predator movie.

Points to make about the film :


POSITIVES

- It gives more exposition on the Predators (well, more than I knew before)
- The Original Predator was part of the 'lower' class tribe
- More types of Predators
- More predator gadgets
- New predator 'dogs'
- New human trap(s)
- They quickly rule out making "Schwarzanegger" type traps, since the Predators learn and improve.
- having the film set in the jungle, then in the interior of a ship, then different parts of the jungle, then back to the original haunt
- Killing Predators (plural) is really hard but not impossible
- Having a different type of human predator/killer from a different background (Yakuza, Black Ops, Death Row, Sierra Leone etc) was a great idea
- Music extremely similar to the first movie was excellent.
- Judicious use of gore, in all the right places.
- Death Row guy gets an awesome "fatality" straight from Sub-Zero :pac::pac:
- Samurai Showdown was BAD ASS. Would've liked more gore. But it was very pretty; the grass and colour palette was beautiful.
- Changing colour palette : greens, orange, industrial, yellow-green, grey......

MINOR NEGATIVES

- Unfortunately most of the characters aren't that endearing. Especially Adrian Beaky.
- The characters could've talked a little more, more exposition, more humanity; they took to their incredible situation very easily -- but they're soulless killers, so maybe they just immediately deal with it.
- Same setting (basically) as the first (although I'd count this as a plus) -- making it more of a remake with new characters than a sequel
- "ur man's" heel turn at the end was pretty pointless
- How did Adrian Beaky manage to not only steer a ship but set it to take off immediately/remotely??

All in all, the negatives are just plain nit-picking. Those grips don't detract much from the film. It's not a verbose, pretentious talkie with layers of social commentary, it's a brainless action film where man is hunted by aliens. What did you expect!! :pac::pac: I love Predator -a lot-, and this film is the best of the other Predator films (including AvP's).

I didn't agree with the casting, but for what it was, it was the best they could do. I was thoroughly satisfied with this great action film. I'd easily recommend it. Remember, you can't get better awesome 80s casting than from Predator 1; this film does exactly what you'd hope it'd to do. Predator fans, action fans, see this film.

Mickeroo

AS **** as the AvP movies were, a good adaptation of the first AvP book would have made one hell of a film and would have respected the timeline of the Alien movies too. It's a shame they hired monkeys to adapt it.

Just wanted to point that out. I'd be happy to see aliens in these movies again if it was done right.

helimachoptor

Can anyone recommend a couple of good AvP books?

Mickeroo

This is the original one, there's also a novelisation called Alien vs Predatr: Prey, it's the same story as this but you're beter off with the comic i think.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aliens-vs-Predator-Randy-Stradley/dp/1852864133/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279879719&sr=1-6

Mark Hamill

jaykhunter wrote: »

How did Adrian Beaky manage to not only steer a ship but set it to take off immediately/remotely??

What ship? The one that exploded at the end? The predator he released remotely activated it and programmed it to back to earth, but Beaky didn't get on, cause he needed to save the womans fine ass. (Seriously, the only explanation for Beaky not getting on the ship was that he didn't want to spend the whole ride home with nothing to, er, ride, so he decide to go and get the woman. The alternative is that he pulled a grinch and his heart grew three times that day.)

Mickeroo

Mark Hamill wrote: »

What ship? The one that exploded at the end? The predator he released remotely activated it and programmed it to back to earth, but Beaky didn't get on, cause he needed to save the womans fine ass. (Seriously, the only explanation for Beaky not getting on the ship was that he didn't want to spend the whole ride home with nothing to, er, ride, so he decide to go and get the woman. The alternative is that he pulled a grinch and his heart grew three times that day.)

Aye but that ass saved his life, the super pred blew the ship up when he saw it leaving.

jaykhunter

Mark Hamill wrote: »

What ship? The one that exploded at the end? The predator he released remotely activated it and programmed it to back to earth, but Beaky didn't get on, cause he needed to save the womans fine ass. (Seriously, the only explanation for Beaky not getting on the ship was that he didn't want to spend the whole ride home with nothing to, er, ride, so he decide to go and get the woman. The alternative is that he pulled a grinch and his heart grew three times that day.)

Thanks for the explanation!

I guess the 'outcast' Predator said, "ok, the door's open, get in because it's leaving in 5 minutes automatically" which is fair enough. It just didn't occur to me at all! It probably would've been better if Beaky (i love that word) showed little bits of empathy during the film, so his face turn at the end came off less hokey and not so much pulling a grinch! I'm stealing that phrase by the way

Did only revealing your name at the end of the film remind you of Zombieland? Eh, just thought i'd mention it

FlashD

Finally got round to seeing this a few days ago, to be honest I wasn't expecting much but still ended up quite disappointed.

Apart from a decent enough idea that's been floating around for a few years, what let the film down big time for me was just very poor casting.

The only inspiring member of the cast was the appearance of Laurance Fishbourne, the film just seemed to have that bit more life in it when he was on screen.

With only one decent film 'Predator' from the whole franchise, it's got me thinking that maybe this franchise relied more on Arnie then some lad in a monster costume.

pixelburp

So I caught this during the week - I always prefer catching movies after the 1st / 2nd week, it's more relaxed than being jammed into a crowded theatre - and I wanted to catch it before Inception at that (for the same reasons).

Overall, I enjoyed it and thought it a decent film, better than previous efforts featuring the aliens. Those idiots behind Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem should watch this and see how, even if the result was mediocre, you can make a mature, coherent action/sciFi/18s movie. The dispirate cast of characters were interesting, if underwritten.

Something that struck me though whilst watching this was that the original really was lightning in a bottle, very much of its time and perhaps it's time to put this franchise to bed. I'm certainly not interested in another sequel.

The first movie was a rag-tag film, that had scripting and production problems (which seems to accompany classic films), and never really needed a follow up. It was an 80s action movie, very much of its time, and was more about its cast of "elite" human characters, out of their depth, than the Predator itself (which we now know was a hasty backup alien after the first FX failed). In my view, the Predator was incidental and truthfully, very boring once we saw it uncloaked.

The attempts to crowbar in some mythology to the species just confirmed it in my eye: The Predators themselves are faceless, boring monsters. Just guys in rubber suits, with big prosthetic crab-faces. I didn't sense the writers even knew what to do with these aliens other than rehash what was done before. Even their unique quality - the silent, cloaking monsters killing from the shadows, seemed under used in this; they spent much of the time out in the open. The "ultimate hunter" is all very well, but there's only so much mileage you can get out of this concept.

Ridley

helimachoptor wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a couple of good AvP books?

The AvP: Eternal comic is the best in my opinion. Should have been the film with a few adjustments to make certain plot elements more... palatable would be the word I guess. Changing the

Predator blood having ability to give humans immortality for a cure for cancer or other healing properties

or something.

If anyone wants to know what happens:

A man finds a crashed Predator ship on Earth, discovers from the corpses that Predator blood has the ability to make him immortal.

He backwards engineers the ship and becomes a rich businessman off the back of the technology. In the hold, he finds eggs which he assumes are Predators and breeds them in his giant business complex.

Some years later a journalist investigating him sneaks into the complex when the eggs have become a xenomorph infestation and the Predators return hunting their missing tech.

Plus it's set in Japan.

s8n wrote: »

why dould it matter ??

It's false and an unnecessary manipulation of what people would assume from the title anyway lying somewhere between misleading and false advertising.

http://m.io9.com/5584437/why-did-predators-trailers-lie-to-us

Dempsey

I cannot understand the dislike for AVP:R, AVP is the weakest one imo

Galvasean

Dempsey wrote: »

I cannot understand the dislike for AVP:R,

The characters are woefully drawn. The dialogue is terrible. The action scenes feel forced. The Predalien is poorly executed

why does it facerape people?

. The Predator's actions contradict his motives. PLus

a military general calls in a nuclear strike on American soil FFS

There really isn't much to redeem it.