I enjoyed this movie. It fits in nicely with what was
established in the first two films (directly referencing the first one). While
no Predator movie will ever surpass the first movie, I felt that Producer,
Robert Rodriguez, and director, Nimrod Antal, did a good job giving us a film
from an established movie series and still managed to give it a sense of
mystery…well, kind of.
What I didn’t like:
The characters could have been explored considerably more. Clearly they all have a
mapped out back-story, but we are shown next to nothing about them, including
our leads. However, I do have to remind myself that this is a Sci-fi Action
flick, not a drama.
Also, we only have three “problem”
Predators. Aside from budget constraints, why not more? The trailer made it
seem like there would be more of the Extra Terrestrial Hunters when Adrian
Brody gets all those target locks showing up on him…all those red dots. In the
movie when that scene comes, its just one set. That is something of a let down.
It drives me nuts that we did not
get to see the faces of two of the Predators, and we only got a glimpse of the
lead Predator’s ugly mug, which is little more than a glimpse. I really wanted
to see Mister Tusk Face! Where those his tusks, or were they from an
elephant (or comparable animal) that he killed?
Finally, not one person used the
phrase, “Ugly Mother Smurfer,” in the whole movie. It
was in the first two movies and a variation of it was even squeezed into AVP.
Maybe the writers thought it overused, but I can guarantee that every fan was
waiting for someone to say that upon seeing one of the Predators. Its like watching
Star Trek TNG movie waiting for Captain Picard to say, “Make it so.” Or waiting
on Captain Janeway to say, “Do it,” during a Voyager episode. It is a line that
is expected, and they dropped the ball. One brownie point shall be taken away.
What I did like:
First of all, this movie introduces a whole new concept to the Action Movie
Industry—actors. Don’t get me wrong, Danny Glover did all right in Predator 2,
but his acting chops didn’t get any kind of work out. Lets face it: Arnold
Schwarzenegger has the acting credentials of a leaf of lettuce. Arnold was imposing and had a neat accent
(and rumor has it—a lot of fun to hang out with), but that is really all he
had. Here we have several people who are pretty good actors. Again, they don’t
have much to work with, but they do well. Laurence Fishburne did very well as a
USAF airman who had lost his marbles. It is too bad he played such a small
part, and (again) we learn virtually nothing about him. Adrian Brody does a
decent job as well. These are the well-known actors. I would like to have seen
more with the Japanese dude and the big Mexican Drug Cartel dude. I loved the
sword fight between the Jap and the Predator, which was cool. The Mexican
looked like he could have taken on a Predator by himself, by hand. Sadly, he
never got the chance to on film.
I loved the
return to form with this movie. Not that it has deviated much, but... The characters have to figure out what is going
on while on the run, being picked off by Predators. There are nods to the past
(the appearance of the “classic”
Predator) as well as new revelations (some ugly Predators are Bigger Uglier
Predators).
The fact that it was not on Earth is cool. There has been a lot of speculation on the
Internet that they were on the Predator’s home world. However, we have
established in the movie that it is a “game preserve.” The implication is that
this is a planet or moon used for the singular purpose of honing ones predatory
skills. In the past, reading stuff on the net, people have talked about seeing
the Predator home world. I have always thought that to be unoriginal. I have
always envisioned that the Predators control many star systems containing many
worlds. Instead of a single planet to see and then you are done, we would have
many possibilities to draw from and see. So here we have a Predator controlled
world.
The revelation scene when the all realize they are not in Kansas was cool. The
sky-scape was well done. It seemed vague enough that it could be anywhere in
the galaxy, but familiar enough that armature astronomers would debate were it
could be. The central planet looked like it may have been the (presumed)
Predator home world from AVPR. Also, the Planet on the left of the screen
looked like Jupiter. Granted there are many gas giants and some are bound to
look like Jupiter. However, it is fun to think that the Predators may have
established a colony on one of the moons around Jupiter, and they use a
neighboring moon (which may or may not be relative to the size of Earth) as a
game preserve. Oh…spooky.
What I am not sure if I like or not:
This movie has two open endings. That’s right, two of them. First, while the story is
resolved, we are left wondering obvious questions about the survivor(s) that
could be answered with another movie. I have a feeling that a direct sequel
(which has already failed before) would be a flop.
Second, the struggle between two very different types of Predators has not been resolved.
Nor have we learned anything about its history, just that a “blood feud”
exists. This is something that may also be answered in a movie to come.
However, such a movie would likely deviate from the “hunting” theme of the
series. This could be cool, and it could really backfire.
Lore:
In the original Alien Versus Predator comic, it is revealed that Predators refer to
themselves as Yutja.
It is probably the name of the species. However, in a later Predator comic, one
Predator thinks of itself as a Hissy. I have no idea if the writer made up the
name because he didn’t like Yutja, or if there is more at play. It could be the
words have similar meaning, like “human” and “man.” On the other hand these terms
may denote ethnicity or nationality.
In the most recent comic series, “AVP: Three World War,” it is reiterated that there are
different types of Predators. In this series one group are referred to as
“hunters,” while the others are called “killers.” We are familiar with the
hunters as they are the ones from the movies. Yes, they may kill you, but they
have an honor system in place. If you are unarmed, you are NOT game. If you are
armed, but are bearing children, they let you off the hook. Killers on the other
hand don’t give a rat’s red rear end. If you are in the way, they WILL kill you, armed
or not. However, no other differences are exposed.
I wonder if some of the Predators from this movie are inspired by the
“killer” Predators of the comics.
To answer your next question: No, I do not have a life.
Subject: Re: Predators 
Wed Jul 21, 2010 2:38 pm
