What Did Yall Think About The New Predator Movie?

[The BMFG]

new predator movie came out not too long ago called "prey"

personally i liked it but i wanna know what yall thought about this movie?

 

[7Mahonin]

I like that it tied in to Predator 2. It would’ve been a wasted opportunity to not do so given the time period this new film is set in. 

[Rudolph]

I talked about it in my "Actually Good Movies" thread. I thought it was pretty good, even if it lacks the cheesiness of the original Predator, as most characters feel too grounded, if not downright kind of bland, for that kind of movie. Well, with the exception of the French trappers, who show up mid-movie to chew the scenery in every scene they appear and as such feel a lot more appropriate tonally.

 

Still, the protagonist is quite badass and her dog companion is amazing, the action scenes are really good (especially those with the Predator) and the movie manages to offer plenty of new clever twists on the typical Predator formula.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rudolph

[Wyrmwood]

Haven't seen it yet but the trailer looked pretty awesome. I'd didn't realize this was even in production, when the trailer started I at first thought it was based on the old prey game, then worked out the clever title.

 

I love how it ties to the older films but got to admit I'm a little disappointed the previous film didn't have a follow on given the cliff-hanger ending. I really liked that movie despite the fact it was nothing like the others, felt a little like a Spielburg movie, and the crazy vets were brilliant characters.

 

Glad others are reporting good things about this one though, back in the day it felt like I was the only person who thought Predator 2 was a good sequel, then again I read the Dark Horse comics which I'm pretty sure influenced that movie. Lot of people at the time thought "how can you have a sequel to an Arnold movie without Arnold" and never got past that.

[Rudolph]

@Wyrmwood Oh, I liked Predator 2 too, even if it is not as good, but it is undeniable that Arnold carried the original movie with his charisma and his cheesy dialogue. The over-the-top flavor is unfortunately missing from PREY, as the Comanche characters all feel like they belong in a serious historical drama, which clashes heavily with the Predator and its superhuman strength and otherwordly gadgets. Then again, I suppose that kind of tonal shift is not unusual for the series, as Predator starts off as a straightforward Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle and Predator 2 as a Lethal Weapon knock-off until the titular character shows up and then it turns into some kind of sci-fi slasher movie.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rudolph

[Wyrmwood]

@RudolphYeah I agree the first movies the best one but as you said it was made as an Arnold vehicle, he ruled the cinema back then, if it had his name on the cover it was going to be a hit.

 

Predator 2 on the the other had not only the material of the first movie to work with but several years of lore established by both the Predator comics and AVP comics. It just felt more like the Predator was the star this time, and I think it was a brave move to use middle aged Danny Glover in place of Alpha male Arnold but it worked and Danny's more of an everyman so it felt more grounded somehow.

 

The first comics in the series actually had Dutch's brother as the main character, he was a cop, and the setting was in the urban jungle of LA. Predator 2 followed that story line a little like the similarities better Sam Raimi's Spiderman and the Death of Gwen Stacy graphic novel. So perhaps I just got more from it as a movie based on comics I love more than as a sequel.

 

Kinda felt the same way about Alien Resurrection, not a great sequel to either Ridley Scott's or James Cameron's movies but felt a lot like the spin off comics and so I just enjoyed for that (didn't need either Sigourney or the Alien baby thing though).

[Rudolph]

17 minutes ago, Wyrmwood said:

Predator 2 on the the other had not only the material of the first movie to work with but several years of lore established by both the Predator comics and AVP comics. It just felt more like the Predator was the star this time, and I think it was a brave move to use middle aged Danny Glover in place of Alpha male Arnold but it worked and Danny's more of an everyman so it felt more grounded somehow.

I read somewhere that Arnold was actually offered to return in the role that eventually went to Gary Busey, but he turned it down because he did not want to play a villain. Not sure if it is true, but while it would have made sense for Dutch to be in charge of a team tasked with capturing a Predator, I can see it not sitting right with Arnold, especially if his character was to share the same fate as Busey's character.

 

Then again, Arnold went on to play Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin, sooo... yeah.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rudolph

[CoolerDoomeR]

I think it sucks, i like the REAL predator, not a child acting as a predator...

[Thelokk]

The same thing I though of every movie I've been dragged to in the last 10-15 years.

 

I want my money back.

[7Mahonin]

1 hour ago, Rudolph said:

Then again, Arnold went on to play Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin, sooo... yeah.

There’s a pretty big difference between Mr. Freeze and Gary Busey’s character in Predator 2. Arnold only did Mr. Freeze by receiving top billing and he did it for his kids, plus, Mr. Freeze’s motives aren’t like the other villains Batman faces. 
 

1 hour ago, Thelokk said:

The same thing I though of every movie I've been dragged to in the last 10-15 years.

 

I want my money back.

You were dragged into this movie and had to pay to see it? I call bullshit since it’s only streaming via Hulu.

Edited August 7, 2022 by 7Mahonin

[Mr. Freeze]

5 minutes ago, 7Mahonin said:

There’s a pretty big difference between Mr. Freeze and Gary Busey’s character in Predator 2. Arnold only did Mr. Freeze by receiving top billing and he did it for his kids, plus, Mr. Freeze’s motives aren’t like the other villains Batman faces. 

 

This passage made me do a double take ngl

 

Is there any hope for a theatrical release? Not registering for more bloody streaming services no siree. 

[Wyrmwood]

Yeah hoping it at least gets picked up by Netflix or Amazon prime later on, at least I already pay for those. I live in a country me and my family moved to and have 2 young children and no babysitter so adult cinema's been out for me for a few years.

 

I actually thought Disney bought the rights for Predator or was that only Aliens. Seems odd they don't stream it on Starz or whatever the grown up section is called on disney+ if they do own the IP. Three streaming services is more than enough for me.

[Ofisil]

Disappointed.

 

It had its moments. I liked the gadgets and the new predator, even though the original remains the one with the best design; the emphasis in wild nature and the whole prey/predator aspect was neat; the choice of period was awesome, the choice of people even more so. Loved the photography; loved the violence.

But it had more flaws which eventually let me down...

 

Bad casting - The protagonist looked more like a tiktoker than a hardened Comanche woman.

The Predator was stupid

The pacing was all over the place

It was very weak as a thriller. The original created tension before showing anything - this showed way too much.

 

On the bright side, I'll definitely watch it again. It showed much greater respect to the franchise than THE PREDATOR, and as I've said it had its moments.

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by Ofisil

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

The Predator series is just too scatterbrained for me to follow.

 

Predator was a decent cheeseball film for its time, but I always thought Sylvester>Arnold.

 

Predator 2 is better than Lethal Weapon 4 by a long shot. Feels totally disconnected from Predator.

 

AvP kinda sucks, but look who it's directed by. Feels totally disconnected from Alien and Predator.

 

AvP:R is okay for a low-budget Sci-Fi channel original production. Feels totally disconnected from AvP.

 

Predators was okay, if uninspired. Tried too hard to connect with the original.

 

The Predator - haven't seen it.

 

To Catch a Predator already has two threads on Doomworld, so we don't need to discuss that here.

 

Even the titles are baffling.

"Hey man, what are you watching?"

"The Predator"

"Cool, I love watching that movie every now and then to fantasize about rubbing oil all over Arnold's big muscles"

"No, not that one, The Predator"

"What?

"Take it back, it's called Predators... wait, what the fuck"

"So this is Predator 2?"

"What?"

"I don't know, nevermind"

"What the fuck?"

Edited August 7, 2022 by TheMagicMushroomMan

[YoshizinGordin]

15 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

 

To Catch a Predator already has two threads on Doomworld, so we don't need to discuss that here.

"To Catch a Predator" Would Be Such A Sick Title For A Predator Movie, tho.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

1 minute ago, YoshizinGordin said:

"To Catch a Predator" Would Be Such A Sick Title For A Predator Movie, tho.

"It it bleeds, we can kill it"

"Nah man, if it bleeds, it's too old!"

[Tony_Danza_the_boss]

It was ok. I think the Predator franchise is in a much better state in the moment than the Terminator franchise has been in years. That being said, it still suffers from taking itself way too seriously. Movies/remakes really just fail to capture the 80s cheesiness of their original versions, everything has to be so gritty and realistic. Definitely a step up from The Predator, which was an absolute dumpster fire of a movie.

[Mr. Freeze]

3 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

"It it bleeds, we can kill it"

"Nah man, if it bleeds, it's too old!"

 

Having the hero be a Discord moderator is a bold choice. 

[Rudolph]

1 hour ago, Mr. Freeze said:

This passage made me do a double take ngl

What passage?

 

36 minutes ago, Ofisil said:

The protagonist looked more like a tiktoker than a hardened Comanche woman.

Then again, everybody is on TikTok nowadays, from anime fans to fitness influencers, survival experts and even soldiers.

 

Plus Naru's whole arc is that she is a trained healer who wants to prove herself as a warrior. It would have been odd to have everyone, including his fairly compassionate brother, to look down on her had she been portrayed as a hardened warrior right off the bat.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rudolph

[DSC]

I've heard some of your standard YT reviewers calling it too long or something like that... Its only 90 minutes long. Seriously, blockbuster movies are getting longer and longer each passing year, pretty big exception if you ask me.

[Wyrmwood]

2 minutes ago, Tony_Danza_the_boss said:

Movies/remakes really just fail to capture the 80s cheesiness of their original versions, everything has to be so gritty and realistic. Definitely a step up from The Predator, which was an absolute dumpster fire of a movie.

 

I actually enjoyed that movie because it felt like an 80's film, definitely different to the original to the point I would believe the director had never even watched it but it gave similar vibes to old Spielburg films or Stranger Things (hell the scenes with the vets remind me slightly of One flew over the cuckoo Nest).

[Wyrmwood]

13 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

What passage?

 

Just guessing but I think they though their character was being compared to Gary Busey's, lol.

[Thelokk]

1 hour ago, 7Mahonin said:

You were dragged into this movie and had to pay to see it? I call bullshit since it’s only streaming via Hulu

 

'Dragged' does not imply 'to a theater', and 'I want my money back' is a figure of speech.

 

Think before you call bullshit, kid.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Thelokk

[Rudolph]

16 minutes ago, Wyrmwood said:

Just guessing but I think they though their character was being compared to Gary Busey's, lol.

Ah. Well, Gary Busey's character is an asshole because he is played by Gary Busey, but he is not really a villain, just a foil to the protagonist; in fact, he even sacrifices himself to save Danny Glover's character even if the two did not get along at all. As such, Arnold could have easily portrayed him as a more sympathetic Captain Ahab-figure whose obsession with getting revenge on the Predators leads to his doom.

 

So no, I do not think there is a big difference between that and Mr. Freeze, other than Arnold getting top billing for Batman & Robin, I guess.

 

23 minutes ago, DSC said:

I've heard some of your standard YT reviewers calling it too long or something like that... Its only 90 minutes long. Seriously, blockbuster movies are getting longer and longer each passing year, pretty big exception if you ask me.

Yeah, if anything, the movie could have used a few more scenes to flesh out the supporting Comanche characters. Part of the fun of the original Predator was how much personality was given to Dutch's squadmates despite them being all expendable.

 

Heck, there is one scene in PREY where a minor character is dragged away midway through a speech by a mountain lion, yet his fate remains unknown. I had to rewind the movie a bit to make sure, because it is really jarring. Like, does noboby care about what happened to the guy, especially after all the trouble the party went through to save another victim of the same mountain lion just moments ago? I would not be surprised if there were more scenes dedicated to the character that got cut in editing.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rudolph

[7Mahonin]

12 minutes ago, Thelokk said:

 

'Dragged' does not imply 'to a theater', and 'I want my money back' is a figure of speech.

 

Think before you call bullshit, kid.

Yeah, whatever lol.

[Wyrmwood]

@Rudolph I think you didn't notice their name, the post was by Mr Freeze they were joking about that. Personally Gary Busey's human antagonist was probably the worst part of the movie and I'm really glad Arnold turned it down, didn't know about that.

[Rudolph]

@Wyrmwood Oh, LOL! I get it now. Sorry about that, @Mr. Freeze! XD

 

Anyway, I liked Gary Busey's character. He essentially serves the same purpose as Carl Weathers' character in the first movie, but like I said, the character is given a surprising amount of depth; not much, mind you, but I would not have expected him to die a hero.

 

Personally, the worst characters in Predator 2 for me would be Harrigan's partners: they do not do much and they are kind of cringeworthy. Also, it never really made much sense to me that the Predator would even bother targeting them. At least, Bill Paxton gets a climactic death.

[Lippeth]

I decided to watch Prey because of this thread even though now it looks like it could derail at any moment. I liked the first two Predator movies, and like one scene from Predators. The only other one I saw parts of was the one with Keegan-Michael Key and it was so out of touch that it was almost funny.

 

After watching Prey with the last film in mind, I really enjoyed how simple the story was, even if it was predictable and beat you over the head with it. Not once did anyone try to explain what anything was, or do any sort of exposition dump, and that was refreshing, nice visual storytelling. The cgi at the beginning had me rolling my eyes and at one point got a laugh out of me, but it is what it is I guess. I wanted to dislike how hyped the sound design for everything was, but I think I really liked the boomy footsteps and squishy sounds of violence. Overall, even though every story beat felt calculated and borderline manipulative, I allowed myself to just go with it because of the premise alone, and really ended up enjoying the catharsis of it all. Thanks for the recommendation, thread!

[Rudolph]

One of my favorite scenes is when the Predator decides that he is done sneaking around and takes on the French trappers head-on.

 

It helps that the latters have been portrayed as assholes prior to that moment and thus in a way they fill the same role as the guerrilleros that Dutch and crew mow down at the beginning of the original movie, but I could not help but loudly cheer as the Predator goes on an amazingly-choreographed and, dare I say, Doomslayer-esque killing spree.

 

I mean, technically, Predator came up with the wristblades long before Doom Eternal, but it is impossible not to think of the latter while watching that scene. Maybe 20th Century Studios should consider producing a Predator-themed Doom Eternal clone! :P

Edited August 7, 2022 by Rudolph

[Wyrmwood]

First thing I thought when I saw the Doom Eternal Armour was that the flame belch thing on his shoulder looked a lot like a the Predators plasma caster.

 

Can't wait wait till they they make Doom vs Aliens vs Predator (vs Evil Dead!).