Wonder if the franchise is running on fumes, or is this a legit excursion into the wacky side of extraterrestrial predating. Elle Fanning could pull the whole thing together. Getting pretty good reviews.
I did not care for Predator: Badlands. It was mostly about a ragtag group of outcasts that end up fighting an evil corporation on an alien planet. I was like, "Is this a Star Wars spinoff?" Then I remembered, "Oh yeah, Disney owns Predator now! I forgot!" No wonder.
I didn't grow up with this PG-13 four quadrant crap. The days of Arnold and Carl Weathers midair arm wrestling and Bill Duke mowing down a jungle with a handheld M134 Minigun are long gone. One thing I was really disappointed about is that in this movie, Elle Fanning ends up battling her corrupt twin sister android. I really wish they had cast Dakota Fanning as the sister instead, because that battle I would've loved to have seen the outcome of! "You're not my sister!"
Posts: 5673 | Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA | Registered: April 11, 2001
Its fun if you want to take your kids but if you dont like it I'd get that too.
Its definately not the first movie but I dont think that was the point. Interestingly, I also didnt find it much like Prey which was closer to on point for the franchise. If you make the predator the main character and have him team up with a band of scrappy sidekicks, this is kind of what you would expect.
If you need something to refresh you a bit I like the anime on hulu.
Posts: 3250 | Location: Pnw | Registered: March 21, 2009
I really liked Prey, but I will pass on this one unless I can catch it for free some day.
"But, as luck would have it, he stood up. He caught that chunk of lead." Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock "If there's one thing this last week has taught me, it's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it." Clarence Worley
Yep, truly sucked. Enless parade of numbing CGI, each one paced to supposedly outdo the last one. Unengaging characters, uninspiring plot. Elle Fanning was watchable, barely. You could tell she was making a valiant effort to infuse life into this smoking pile of space junk, but the whole thing was beyond salvage.
The Predator itself lacked that menacing quality, even taking into account that it was supposed to be a runty specimen trying to prove itself.
And the gratuitous insertion of a Disney moment at the end...yeah, could have lived without it.
Prey was much better, a different category even. This would be barely worth a free streaming if you've got nothing else to watch. No idea why it got some good reviews.
Thanks for this thread. I was thinking about buying the movie. I thought the trailer was funny and was worth it just for the laughs.
I'll pass.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
Posts: 21698 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011
My kids saw it. The response from my 11yo daughter was that it was "too predictable" and used "too much CGI". For context, we just watched John Carpenter's The Thing.
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-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --
Posts: 18646 | Location: New Mexico | Registered: October 14, 2005
I watched it on Hulu this past weekend. Meh. I had hoped the tie-in to the Alien universe would be a neat aspect to the story. It was not nearly as engaging as one might have hoped for. Somehow, I think it was still better than “The Predator.”
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Posts: 1883 | Location: TX | Registered: November 09, 2005
Originally posted by FP2000H: had hoped the tie-in to the Alien universe would be a neat aspect to the story.
Wow, you must have been the target demographic. To me it marked the absolute end / death of both the franchises. (and I hate to use that term, because that's the problem with them and the film industry in general)
Watched it yesterday on Hulu. Thought it was a bit Meh. Didn’t hate it, but not sure if I’ll watch it again. Wasn’t too impressed with the Predator Dex. A bit of a whiny teenager, and I think the Predator loses a lot of impact without the helmet, which is almost all of the movie. Elle Fanning as Thia was the thing that made the movie watchable, but as Tessa, she was just a generic evil W-Y synth. Almost all of the other synths we’ve seen previously are far more interesting. Did a big eye roll when Tessa came out for the big battle in the end. Really?
Posts: 3861 | Location: South FL | Registered: February 09, 2007
Someone needs to do a version of the original, Dark Horse Comics version of Aliens vs Predator in animation true to the comic. Similar to how 300 and Sin City were done, where it was almost identical to the pages of the comic books. I’m willing to bet that would be a major winner, even more so with a Director’s Cut depicting Issue 0.
"I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet raised to an alarming extent by Hollywood and Madison Avenue, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak!" - Calvin, "Calvin & Hobbes"
Posts: 18494 | Location: Sonoma County, CA | Registered: April 09, 2004
Originally posted by Orguss: Someone needs to do a version of the original, Dark Horse Comics version of Aliens vs Predator in animation true to the comic. Similar to how 300 and Sin City were done, where it was almost identical to the pages of the comic books. I’m willing to bet that would be a major winner, even more so with a Director’s Cut depicting Issue 0.
I would go see that.
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-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --
Posts: 18646 | Location: New Mexico | Registered: October 14, 2005
Originally posted by Orguss: Someone needs to do a version of the original, Dark Horse Comics version of Aliens vs Predator in animation true to the comic. Similar to how 300 and Sin City were done, where it was almost identical to the pages of the comic books. I’m willing to bet that would be a major winner, even more so with a Director’s Cut depicting Issue 0.
Dude, yes! I loved those dark horse stories, and it is what I was hoping for when they did the original AvP. It seems Hollywood likes to regurgitate, but does not like to go with great source material, sadly.
Posts: 3250 | Location: Pnw | Registered: March 21, 2009