I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
I hate to see stuff like this. What EXACTLY would be wrong with tons of them? Do we all just want to keep watching the same movie over and over? (edit: at least you voted against one predator )
I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
I hate to see stuff like this. What EXACTLY would be wrong with tons of them? Do we all just want to keep watching the same movie over and over? (edit: at least you voted against one predator )
The Predators have always had more character than Xenomorphs or other monster movie creatures, so it makes sense to keep them limited. It'd be like having several Godzillas roaming around in a movie. Might look cool for the better part of five minutes, but would probably ruin the movie. I imagine in this, there will be
three main ones
with several others cameoing, just like Predator 2.
The Predators have always had more character than Xenomorphs or other monster movie creatures, so it makes sense to keep them limited. It'd be like having several Godzillas roaming around in a movie. Might look cool for the better part of five minutes, but would probably ruin the movie. I imagine in this, there will be
three main ones
with several others cameoing, just like Predator 2.
I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
I hate to see stuff like this. What EXACTLY would be wrong with tons of them? Do we all just want to keep watching the same movie over and over? (edit: at least you voted against one predator )
Because tons of them would likely just be a huge mess of CGI whereas with a limited number of them, they can hunt and use teamwork tactics and they'd be far more recognizable and be more like "characters" than a bunch of them running around everywhere.
Because tons of them would likely just be a huge mess of CGI whereas with a limited number of them, they can hunt and use teamwork tactics and they'd be far more recognizable and be more like "characters" than a bunch of them running around everywhere.
To an extent, but even in the extended fiction (god, why do I know this?), the predators usually hunt alone, or at the very most, in very small packs. The hunts are usually to prove themselves as glorious members of their species. I think the most I've ever read about one group in a comic or book was three or four. The canon changes constantly, but I think they have enough character where there doesn't need to be a bunch of them.
Because tons of them would likely just be a huge mess of CGI whereas with a limited number of them, they can hunt and use teamwork tactics and they'd be far more recognizable and be more like "characters" than a bunch of them running around everywhere.
To an extent, but even in the extended fiction (god, why do I know this?), the predators usually hunt alone, or at the very most, in very small packs. The hunts are usually to prove themselves as glorious members of their species. I think the most I've ever read about one group in a comic or book was three or four. The canon changes constantly, but I think they have enough character where there doesn't need to be a bunch of them.
I dunno man, in the first Aliens vs Predator comic you can see 5 of them having a bonefire, and that wasn't even all of them. Page 10, #3. There was at least 3 or 4 more running around by the looks of it.
On RottenTomatoes, the Bloody Disgusting review snippet says it's "loaded with action, gore, and freakin' cool Predators" but the Trepass review snippet says gore, shocks, and the Predator themselves are sadly awol.
The Predators have always had more character than Xenomorphs or other monster movie creatures, so it makes sense to keep them limited. It'd be like having several Godzillas roaming around in a movie. Might look cool for the better part of five minutes, but would probably ruin the movie. I imagine in this, there will be
three main ones
with several others cameoing, just like Predator 2.
On RottenTomatoes, the Bloody Disgusting review snippet says it's "loaded with action, gore, and freakin' cool Predators" but the Trepass review snippet says gore, shocks, and the Predator themselves are sadly awol.
On RottenTomatoes, the Bloody Disgusting review snippet says it's "loaded with action, gore, and freakin' cool Predators" but the Trepass review snippet says gore, shocks, and the Predator themselves are sadly awol.
I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
Actually that is fine by me. I think the intention of that scene in the trailer is to lead into the Predators title screen. In the context of the film itself, that scene would be very silly. So he has ten different Predators spotting him and then somehow he is going to get out of that situation? The only way that scene could play out in an interesting way is if directly afterwords the laser sites all went away, and it was just the Predators fucking with them and telling them how much they were fucked. That would have been kind of cool, but in the end I prefer trailers lying to me about key scenes instead of showing me those scenes in the trailer.
I don't really like the idea of a ton of predators running around. Even one was damn near invincible in the first movie. If there were dozens of Predators they should all be dead in 0.1 seconds.
Also, I never liked the whole "every member of an alien race is exactly the same" thing. The original Predator seemed more like a lone wolf anyway.
On RottenTomatoes, the Bloody Disgusting review snippet says it's "loaded with action, gore, and freakin' cool Predators" but the Trepass review snippet says gore, shocks, and the Predator themselves are sadly awol.
Yeah, I didn't get that either. No, the movie is not gory for gore's sake like AvP 2. Was the first Predator gory? Yes, but you don't see intestines hanging out or anything like that. In Predators,
someone explodes, Predator decapitation, Predator's arm is cut off, scalpel jammed into someone's jaw, and a lot of corpses
.
Okay, my in-depth impressions: as I said, this movie is a solid 7/10--which is NOT bad. In fact, it's above my and most expectations and I think in the right mindset, maybe you can see it as an 8/10.
Characters: These is where I thought they did well. The premise of the story is not much, and a lesser director, like Paul Anderson, would (and did) screw this up. I actually cared about a number of the characters. It wasn't that they were written particularly well (the bulk of "character development" is via Royce (Adrien Brody) and Isabelle (Alice Braga)), but the actors, for the most part, played the roles well and brought a little something to each of them. I was very impressed with Alice Braga: she portrays a very sympathetic character and there is an exchange between her and Royce
when he leaves her behind to get to the Predator ship
that I felt had some emotional weight behind it. Topher Grace has a role as
a serial killer
and he has fun with it, and Lawrence Fishburne hams it up as
an insane survivor who talks to himself
. I was actually happy with Hanzo's character. At first I thought, "Oh great, silent Yakuza dude who can kick ass." But
at least he has a reason for being quiet: when asked why he does't talk more often, he holds up a hand with a few fingers missing and says, "Because I talked too much."
. In addition, he has a great scene that in some ways is what we wanted
Billy's death in Predator to be: one man deciding to stand back and fight, and you actually get to see it
(yes, a GREAT katana vs. "armblade" fight between him and a Predator). Even the asshole of the group that no one likes ends up redeeming himself/becomes a little more "human" through his reactions/actions. Also, I actually felt bad
when the classic/good Predator dies
Story: Move along, nothing to see here. Cool initial concept, but the movie is quickly about one thing: getting off the planet. I did like the parallels and setup of the story ("We were brought here because we're all predators") and some of the stuff they bring to the Predators lore (different clans of Predators, the way they use prey not just to hunt but learn new methods of killing). There are some plotholes, like
Royce knowing that the Predator ship would explode if he got in it, what the hell is the alien thing that Noland killed, how did the Predator see the heat signature of a shotgun blast that was inside of several metal walls
but really, it's easy to forgive. For me, there was no cringe-worthy dialogue or delivery. Some cheese, usually by Adrien Brody doing what he can with the lines, but again, it didn't kill the movie for me. I feel like they wanted to do more with Adrien Brody's character in terms of
redemption for past sins
, but I didn't feel that had a place in the movie, at least when they introduced the idea. BTW, the Predator dogs really weren't that bad--in fact, on closer inspection, they're pretty terrifying, and it's kind of cool how they used them
as hunting dogs, to flush out the prey
. I thought the
cloaked metal "bird"
was kind of lame and unnecessary, though. I also didn't like the
"universal remote control" to the Predator ship...the "good" Predator activates the "bad" Predator's ship using his own gauntlet/controls. Didn't really make sense to me. In fact, they never really explain why the classic/good Predator is there in the first place, other than saying that clans fight each other
. Our audience cheered every time there was a great death or anytime
one of the Predators was killed or hurt, which were all great scenes
. The elaborate traps set up
by the dead soldier
were a bit unbelievable, though. There are a few moments where they introduce a device or something in the script and you just know it's going to be used later, though.
Fan Service: Eh, take it or leave it.
There is mention of the original "incident" from one of the characters, the chain gun is cool but the Russian, Nikolai, is a completely different character than The Body, Fishburne says, "Over here.", Brody's final "trap", while actually pretty cool, involves him covering himself in mud and yelling, "Kill me, do it now!", Hanzo's scene paralleling Billy's. Some of it was fun, some of it was unnecessary.
Editing/Cinematography/Effects: For the most part, well done. Some of the night fight scenes are hard to see and the
Predator vs. Predator
is a little hard to follow at first. I don't know if they didn't film it, but there are some leaps of logic/bad instances of editing
like Isabel saying, "Something is wrong, look at this" and then we see a leaf in a pool of water spinning round and round...I can only assume she made a compass and it was going bonkers, but they never actually say/explain that.
Some shots are great, like the tall grass scene, and for the most part, the movie is solidly shot and very easy to follow. Nimrod did a good job of emulating the grit of the first movie--none of that AvP set piece BS. The effects were mostly good--the only Predator CG were some of the cloaking effects, the dogs looked decent to good depending on the shot. There is one AWFUL looking explosion and I'm sure anyone else who sees it will notice, but the scene right after is pretty awesome. I still don't think anyone has matched the original's predator vision, but this is at least better than the AvP interpretation, and you do get to see some of the other "modes" of vision, including
heart beat monitor and a mode that "sees" footprints
. The sets looked great and ALL of it was filmed right here in Austin, Texas (some of the landscape/establishing shots were in Hawaii).
Soundtrack: Quick note on this, but the soundtrack is inspired heavily by Sylvestri, so much that it's kind of disappointing, because they couldn't just use the original soundtrack, so it's a little diluted I would say. But it never took away from the movie and I don't know if it was because they were played the OST for Predator while we waited for it to start, but I liked it. Wouldn't buy it, though.
And the most important aspect: the Predators. First things first: all of the scenes with the Predators were done using practical effects. The Predators are not the AvP bodybuilders either, and I ended up liking their masks, a lot actually. The AvP masks were kind of chintzy and plastic looking, but the three here (one with tusks, one that is sort of a solid plate, and the animal jaw) looked great and I feel didn't try to one-up the original mask, but really just showed how unique each Predator is/can be. I also felt that there was enough of the Predators shown. Not only do you get the hunt scenes, but the finale is basically a Predator wet dream because of the
Predator fight
. I liked their growls/sound FX (not just one growl used over and over like AvP) and if you didn't like how the new clan of Predators look, don't worry because you really don't see much of them. There were no "Batman and Robin"-esque shots of the Predators gearing up and, thankfully, the script didn't try to add too many new and "exciting" weapons: it's pretty much all blade and shoulder caster, aside from a few traps that have been set. The Predators are intimidating and you believe they're fucking deadly--when they
died, I didn't feel like they were cheap deaths. The only time a TRUE one on one battle was "won" by a human was w/Hanzo, but it was done so well that you don't think it's impossible
. The classic Predator looks great, BTW
As I said, overall, 7/10. If you think of it this way, when I went to go see Terminator: Salvation, I was hoping it would be more like this: enjoyable and a welcome addition to the lore, with a solid if mediocre story that is elevated by the cast, the action, and the Predators. I might even see it again.
Afterwards, Adrien Brody, Robert Rodriguez, and Nimrod Antal hosted a 20 minute Q&A. Rodriguez talked about his original concept he wrote for this shortly after El Mariachi was done, and he was actually talking to Arnold and Arnold was the one who said the story should go back to the jungle--in fact, Rodriguez sort of shat on Predator 2 :lol The script originally was intended FOR Arnold and when that couldn't happen, they broke his character up into a lot of what you see in the movie.
Danny Trejo was actually written into the script...sort of. One of the writers added a character whose description in the script was "looks like Danny Trejo". Once Trejo eventually read the script, he called the writer and said, "Hey, I want a part in the movie. There's a character here, and it says, 'looks like Danny Trejo'...Well...I look like Danny Trejo!" :lol
Nimrod said they were initially going to
kill Isabel at the end
but when they saw her performance and how it brought a lot to her character and the dynamic w/Royce, they knew they couldn't, and I completely agree. They filmed both, though. Nimrod, btw, is a VERY cool dude. Not only did he seem a little dorky but cool, my friend did some set work on the movie and said at the end of the day, Nimrod would come around to the crew and try to shake everyone's hand and thank them.
Adrien Brody is damned cool, too--I saw him at one of our favorite bars here over the winter, so actually hearing him talk/interact just confirms my thought that this dude is badass. He's a funny guy, extremely dedicated to his work no matter what the movie. He spent time shaking fan's hands, casually and happily signing anything that was brought up to him. He talked about how he had to bulk up for the movie: evidently Rodriguez sent him the script, and his role was someone who was actually cut out of the movie. Adrien emailed him back and said, "I like the script...but I want to be Royce" and sent him a picture of himself with his shirt off and said he could get bigger. Rodriguez said he told Nimrod and the consensus was sort of like, "Well, an Oscar winning actor wants to be in our Predators movie. Can we really say no?" :lol There was about a month worth of talks and Brody immediately started trying to get bigger, even before he got the part, but he literally was "confirmed" for the part just a WEEK before shooting started. Adrien said to get big you have to eat a chicken a day, some yams, and hit the gym...which I was very happy with. Sound advice! He's not HUGE and he's not trying to be Arnold--it works. Although after shooting wrapped up he went to India and got dysentery and lost ALL the weight :lol
As you can tell, there are a number of flaws with the movie, but I think it overcomes most and provides a fun, entertaining film. This is not the "Aliens" of the Predator universe, but IMO, if you were rating it on an "Alien" scale (mine is chronological: Alien>Aliens>Alien 3>Alien:R), it would be somewhere between Aliens and Alien 3.
It's 76% that's still the best predator movie since Predator 1.
Dead said:
I just read something about one of the scenes they have used in almost every trailer
Apparently in the actual film, the scene with
Adrien Brody Getting covered in dozens of Predator laser sights...was just a fake out for trailers. There is apparently only one aimed on him in the actual movie
)
