The Predator (reboot)

gmisk · 15-12-2018 5:13pm

What a disaster. It was a half decent premise, first 10 mins fine, but it was all just so shoddy, the cgi was genuinely brutal in parts, the acting and tone was all over the place (was Alfie Allen meant to be Irish?), Thomas Jane terrible, tone all over the place. What a train wreck of a film 2/10

Skerries · 20-12-2018 9:25pm

pixelburp · 10-01-2019 7:03pm

Wow. It's quite often the case when you consume some media after a deluge of hype or hate, it never quite lives up to those two extremes of other peoples' opinions - but The Predator managed to earn every snippet of bad press. A shocking, amateur, inebriated mess of a production, made all the more disappointing given it came from the pen (and lens) of Shane Black, someone I'd have a lot of time for based on previous material. I had read of studio interference sure, but that somebody OK'ed this final cut is an indictment on professionalism in Hollywood. Nobody should be proud of this work.

It was so bad, the only accurate way I can describe it is that it felt like the kind of film released to keep a copyright; some secret, hasty production never meant for release, made on a shoestring so the studio could cheaply maintain the rights to an IP. In other words, The Predator finds itself in the company of that infamous Roger Corman Fantastic Four film from 1994.

Suddenly the bang-average Predators from 2010 comes off a fresher, better film than it felt the first time around - better CGI too, inexplicably.

Sad Professor · 10-01-2019 8:13pm

The last act is a chaotic mess. I had no idea what was going on. But I didn't think the rest of the film was that bad. Biggest problem with the film as a whole is the editing. It's choppy and cut to the bone.

pixelburp · 10-01-2019 8:32pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

The last act is a chaotic mess. I had no idea what was going on. But I didn't think the rest of the film was that bad. Biggest problem with the film as a whole is the editing. It's choppy and cut to the bone.

I dunno, it felt like there were 3 or 4 separate films competing with each from the get go and it never felt cohesive at all. As you say the last act was chaotic, but the preceding sections were ramshackle.

It also looked really bad, particularly the scenes with the mother and son; bright, flat lighting and felt as if it was shot with TV cameras, the likes used for Hallmark movies.

I guess I was mostly surprised a major studio would release something that sloppy, that mismanaged on a fairly ... loved? franchise.

Venom · 11-01-2019 9:05pm

pixelburp wrote: »

I dunno, it felt like there were 3 or 4 separate films competing with each from the get go and it never felt cohesive at all. As you say the last act was chaotic, but the preceding sections were ramshackle.

It also looked really bad, particularly the scenes with the mother and son; bright, flat lighting and felt as if it was shot with TV cameras, the likes used for Hallmark movies.

I guess I was mostly surprised a major studio would release something that sloppy, that mismanaged on a fairly ... loved? franchise.

There were on set pictures showing Predators working with the US military in matching camo gear doing the rounds a while back which hints of major script changes, editing and re-shoots.

As for the final movie itself, saying its utter garbage is being kind. The plot was awful, the full on changing of the backstory of the Predators took retconning to an entirely new level and the characters were just so god damn bad.

sabat · 12-01-2019 6:40pm

mrcheez · 12-01-2019 6:44pm

Damn, I'm gonna have to see this now.. can't believe a film can be that bad

sabat · 12-01-2019 7:09pm

It isn't that bad as long as you just watch it as a film in its own right, and not as part of a franchise. I'd maybe rank it alongside things like Tango and Cash or Demolition Man as a decent mix of action and humour with a silly, purely incidental plot.

B.A._Baracus · 14-01-2019 12:13am

The movie is nothing compared to the original predator. How could it be.
But it's not as bad as people say. It's like a 6/10 not a 2/10 etc. However that said with an ending like that I can understand why people walk away totally disappointed.

Accordingly ...

If Arnie was to agree to a cameo in the movie he would have been in that stupid coffin at the end.

Slydice · 01-02-2019 2:04am

Gave it a watch. I think others mentioned it was in a similar feeling universe as AvP 2 and yeah, that sounds about right. Maybe a little softer.

I think I got where Black was trying to go with it but I'd guess there wasn't near enough budget, practical effects and script tuning time to sort it all out.

kerplun k · 01-02-2019 8:41am

Slydice wrote: »

Gave it a watch. I think others mentioned it was in a similar feeling universe as AvP 2 and yeah, that sounds about right. Maybe a little softer.

I think I got where Black was trying to go with it but I'd guess there wasn't near enough budget, practical effects and script tuning time to sort it all out.

To me it kinda looked like Black forgot he was making a predator movie. The whole thing was a holy mess. In fairness to Black, he nails the character interplay, but unfortunately it seems out of place in this film, which is just one of its many, many problems. I’m no film critic, but I’d imagine this is a popular film to sit through and analysis how bad it actually is. I watched this in the cinema and found myself laughing at how shoddy it all was.

Bacchus · 01-02-2019 12:16pm

kerplun k wrote: »

To me it kinda looked like Black forgot he was making a predator movie. The whole thing was a holy mess. In fairness to Black, he nails the character interplay, but unfortunately it seems out of place in this film, which is just one of its many, many problems. I’m no film critic, but I’d imagine this is a popular film to sit through and analysis how bad it actually is. I watched this in the cinema and found myself laughing at how shoddy it all was.

Agreed. The only thing that kinda worked was the cardboard cut-out characters. Everything else was a mess. The plot for a start is so convoluted and is a classic example of trying to expand on a simple premise with genetic engineered predators, ret-conning why they took the spines, aluding to a coming war with predators where there is also some sort of predator resistance group. FFS. At least Predators had the sense when they built on the lore to still keep it about a predator hunting a group of army types in a forest. As if all this universe building wasn't enough we're given the ultimate stereotypical boy with autism who can just understand this alien tech... and for what purpose was this in the plot? Was it so the predator can realize "you know what'd make us predators even better hunters, a dash of autism", therefore giving the main characters a rescue mission to carry out. All this is going on too while some secret government agency is trying to steal the predator tech. Oh, and there's a brain damaged predator dog who is for some reason on the humans side now and protects them. I'd love to know how they pitched this role to Olivia Munn too... "so you're a scientist... a hot scientist... who knows how to handle heavy weaponry... also we've written this decontamination room to the plot so when you're trying to escape the rampaging Predator, you have to get naked to open the door, but the predator starts stalking you and you think he's about to kill you but it's ok cause we've given you plot armour and the predator decides not to kill you".

Ugh, stupid stupid movie.

razorblunt · 01-02-2019 4:12pm

I watched this on a flight last week and I thought it was the jet lag as I sat there thinking "what the actual fock is going on". An absolute mess of a movie but a handy watch in a weird way ... once.
I will never watch it again though!

Slydice · 14-07-2019 4:38pm

So the film was written by Fred Dekker and Shane Black:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3829266/fullcredits

Recent Dekker interview contained:

in their version of The Predator, the Predators came to Earth armed with hybrids of their race and other aliens that they planned to unleash and take over the planet. In the third act though, those Predators decided to try and work with humans to solve the problem while an upgraded Predator (which is still in the final movie) battled them all. The upgraded Predator was going to release all the hybrids and turn them against everyone, resulting in a huge action scene.

but there were these misgivings that we were straying too far from what people expected the movie to be. And so we sat down and went, “I guess we need to do a hunt and it needs to be at night, so it’s scarier.”

Here's What The Predator Was Actually Supposed to Be About, Plus There Could Have Been a Monster Squad TV Show?
https://io9.gizmodo.com/heres-what-the-predator-was-actually-supposed-to-be-abo-1836318925

..

Hollywood does this all the time by, trying to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.

pixelburp · 14-07-2019 4:52pm

I had heard the film was chopped to pieces with reshoots and rewrites, this scarcely comes as a surprise to hear it confirmed. The quote at the end should be printed above the door of every executive boardroom across Hollywood. They never learn.

Sarri_ball · 18-07-2019 10:30am

Massive disappointment, but was kind of expected. I guess another reboot is on the way.

Also, just as an side, The Monster Squad's wolfman is still one of the best iterations of a werewolf. Seems to follow Oliver Reed's turn as the fabled beast.

Church on Tuesday · 18-07-2019 7:33pm

The best comedy I've seen in years.

Total trash.

The Predator (reboot)

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