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Prey

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I reckon it must be at least 20 years since I last watched Predator, but if it was supposed to subvert mainstream action movies this certainly went over my head or I have forgotten it, care to explain?

@anagallis_arvensis
I found the following that gives an overview of the commentary. Some interesting stuff there.

https://filmschoolrejects.com/36-things-we-learned-from-john-mctiernans-predator-commentary-bf9c5393d74/

Looking forward to watching Prey.

When I first watched the Matrix, I was in New Zealand at the time seeing my homeland. I had no idea what it was when my brother in law suggested going to watch it. I was blown away by it. I agree in that the amount of info about films and TV series that exists thanks to the internet does cause you to lose more of that wow feeling and total surprise but we can if we truly wanted to, stop ourselves from being spoiled (I doubt I can manage to though lol )


 
Posted : 04/08/2022 7:02 pm
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On the other hand, thanks to the Internet, Donnie Darko makes sense.

Also, Prometheus, uh, still doesn't.


 
Posted : 04/08/2022 7:37 pm
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Donnie Darko makes sense.

Something, something rabbit and Patrick Swayze?

Prometheus is just a really shit film but it looks lovely. Alien Covenant was even worse.


 
Posted : 04/08/2022 8:19 pm
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Prometheus had such a good concept, and such a poor execution, again there was limited character development, and what a cast they had, and how badly did they utilise most of them, Noomi Rapace did her best to be a new Ripley, then they did the usual killing her off badly between movies.

Still, at least with Prey we might see an end to any Alien vs Predator nonsense!


 
Posted : 04/08/2022 8:37 pm
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Still, at least with Prey we might see an end to any Alien vs Predator nonsense!

But that is both origin and canon!


 
Posted : 04/08/2022 8:40 pm
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Both the Alien and Predator movies have been spoiled by trying to explain them or expand on them. They’re monsters, giving them a background makes them less monstrous. Being alien and unknowable is what made them great in the first place.


 
Posted : 04/08/2022 9:06 pm
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I'm shocked to read that people on here haven't seen Predator for 20 years. I've probably watched 3 times this year alone, if its on TV (usually ITV4) I'll watch it, if my 15yo who loves it is watching it on AppleTV I'll watch it with her. Same with Aliens, Alien 3, RoboCop, First Blood, Chronicals Of Riddick, etc.

BTW my nephew watched Prey last month. He's 21 and a bit techy so can do pirate streaming on his devices, he said it was great.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 10:12 am
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Both the Alien and Predator movies have been spoiled by trying to explain them or expand on them

Yep, I agree, I even thought Aliens isn't a patch on the first one. But it is the Hollywood model. These day you just have to be picky about what you watch.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 10:36 am
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Well I've just finished watching Prey and I thought it was pretty good. Definitely not Disneyfied, plenty of blood and gore as you'd expect. One plot device that gives the heroine an advantage that was slightly disappointing, given how well they dealt with all of the old weapons vs alien tech, but overall quite enjoyable.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 11:50 am
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I found the following that gives an overview of the commentary. Some interesting stuff there.

I rea most of that (till I got bored) still no idea how predator is supposed to subvert anything


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 12:00 pm
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chakaping Free Member
How can you all get so het up about something you’ve not even seen?

Welcome to the Internet, are you new here?


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 2:10 pm
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Looking forward to going round a mate's with beer and pizza to watch this tonight.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 2:43 pm
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but if you listen to the director’s commentary he talks about how his intentions were also to subvert the mainstream action-movie culture of the time

John McTiernan is certainly an interesting guy.

Directed Predator, followed by Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October, enjoyed massive critical and commercial success followed by flop after flop after flop.

He ended up going to jail after a federal case was brought against him for an illegal wire-tap on the producer of Rollerball.

Might watch Prey tonight, but not before For All Mankind


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 5:36 pm
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John McTiernan is certainly an interesting guy.

Directed Predator, followed by Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October, enjoyed massive critical and commercial success followed by flop after flop after flop.

He ended up going to jail after a federal case was brought against him for an illegal wire-tap on the producer of Rollerball.

Didn't know that. Loved the Riddick films.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 5:40 pm
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Might watch Prey tonight, but not before For All Mankind

It's the last part of Black Bird too iirc. Prey might have to wait.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 5:45 pm
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Just watched it, loved it!


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 7:30 pm
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Trying to get the mini Funks to bed early so I can watch it. Another 45 minutes!


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 7:46 pm
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Ignoring most of this thread, trying to not spoil a new predator movie, as I do love the predator series.

But JCVD was no way the original pred, in the original and most of the sequels they’re all 7 foot plus. I don’t think Mr Damme is that tall.

Thought the original was superb when released, also I really like predator 2 - which is still excellent, I’ll even own up to enjoying the AvsP stuff and even the last few. You’re all wrong.

Aliens post ripley, yes that has been a mixed bag though. All the Prometheus stuff should have been awesome, not least because it has Noomi R in it, it was good, but not awesome. And it should have been.

Wasn’t there already a heroine / saviour of all mankind / female lead in AVP ?


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 8:02 pm
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Van Damme was the original Predator and I could be wrong, but I think some of the invisible footage is him. The extras on the DVD explain it all and the suit he had was shit on an epic scale.

I watched Predator 2 a couple of nights ago. It has aged very badly. Dire acting, badly shot and just a bit naff. It’s like a really crap Robocop. Danny Glover is basically your grandad with no concept of an indoor voice. Yet people are upset by the idea of a lady beating the Predator in Prey.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 8:09 pm
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Ok, now I’ve googled it, should have done that first.

Also cannot really verify the below and it’s probably more hysterical that JCVD was the predator.

He was cast as it and now I cannot Unsee the images of him in a ridiculous costume - but then he quit/got canned/something else etc and was not the first predator as seen in the movie.

Also I watched predator 2 the other night and I still quite enjoyed it.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 8:36 pm
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Imagine what could’ve been!

https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/hxl5_xj.8uu7W3KyulemiA--~B/aD03MjA7dz0xMjgwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/http://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/1b213d421fdb96abfde8241ea331259 5" alt="" />


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 8:52 pm
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This looks like a good one. I like.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 8:56 pm
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He was cast as it and now I cannot Unsee the images of him in a ridiculous costume – but then he quit/got canned/something else etc and was not the first predator as seen in the movie.

This is my understanding of it, not sure any of him made it into the movie


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 9:04 pm
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Just watched, really very good. I'm surprised and relieved.

Plot plays out well and is as predictable as is needed, it's short enough and we'll paced.

They've made the quite difficult talk of a monster movie where everyone knows how it works, hunts etc, entertaining.

Good job, that.


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 10:36 pm
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Well that was fantastic. Just a damn good, intense film. Up there with the first one for me


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 10:43 pm
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Just watched it. So boring. Did we even watch the same film?

Total waste of time. 🙁


 
Posted : 05/08/2022 11:29 pm
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Really enjoyed it

No worries about Disney removing all the gore!

Well paced and good fun too,


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 12:13 am
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Watched it earlier, started a tad slow but really liked it! Reminded me of the first film in many ways.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 12:16 am
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just watched it and really enjoyed the film.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 12:28 am
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Like the use of the 'if it bleeds...,' line and the pistol. Cheeky little nod to the OG and Pred 2.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 12:31 am
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Meh, not sure how it's being lauded as the best since the original, acting wasn't great, plot was pretty meagre and it went like i guessed in a lot of ways. The Comanche warriors seemed to be played by grumpy teenagers, the french trappers were just a bit useless, thankfully the young comanche girl who wants to be a warrior showed them how it should be done, taking the predator in a 1 vs 1 fight and coming out of it unscathed.

Honestly, the worst bit was how bad the predator was, he was getting tagged off everyone, the original movie the predator had gone through highly armed and trained militia, military and so on, had to have an entire rainforest destroyed by heavy gunfire to get a trickle of blood, this one bled every time someone, or some animal got near it, then doesn't appear to understand how its own weaponry works, but an 18th century native american does!


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 12:40 am
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Honestly, the worst bit was how bad the predator was...

I thought the general back-story of the predators is that they come to earth as a sort of big game/trophy hunt holiday. Humans do similar here, you'll have seen the occasional American dentist who goes viral for getting tooled up to the eyeballs and standing proudly over the carcass of a vicious giraffe etc. And probably shot it with a massively over-powered rifle from the safety of a vehicle, and with the help of trackers and so on.

Other hunters choose to do things like head into the bush alone on foot, and hunt with a bow.

Who's to say that the predator in Prey isn't just one of the latter types? Keeping it old-skool with minimal armour and just yer basic weapons.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 1:02 am
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Stayed out of the thread for a day or so until I'd watched it.

Just finished it. Decent. Well paced, doesn't outstay it's welcome. Nothing groundbreaking narratively but really nicely shot,framed and lit I thought (a bit Chloe Zhao?).

If I wanted to be really picky (I don't TBH - quite enjoyed it), there's a bit too much fan service (although I did

Spoiler
admittedly grin to myself at the first lost arm bit and knowingly smiled when she crawled out of the mud and collapsed against all the roots
) and the final kill was REALLY obviously telegraphed.

Regarding the weaponry, I assume there's some Predator chivalry rule about matching your kit to the prey's in some way?

Thankfully, really no more Mary Sue than the original (her tomahawk mod did grate a bit though).

Overall, would say it's deffo worth an hour and a half of your time. Joint second for me...

Predator
Prey / Predators (pretty even)
The rest can get in the sea


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 1:06 am
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Excellent. Perfect length and a good enough plot.
Predator does seem dumber that the ones a few thousand years earlier in AVP.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 4:27 am
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I thought it was fab....

I quite liked the fact predator was big and strong, but not the 'perfect' fighter....made it seem a bit more real amd balanced.... 🤷‍♂️

Top film...

DrP


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 8:39 am
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Enjoyed it, some of the CGI was slightly ropey but overall worth a watch.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 9:45 am
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I enjoyed it, but a missed opportunity IMO by playing to the formula.

There was an opportunity for more of the wonderful scenery, and I wondered if a longer deeper look into Comanche life by slowing the pace in a kind of Dances with Wolves style piece may have added more interest and mystique. The French hunters were too abruptly introduced IMO.

Perhaps a balance of Comanche life with the naturalist background with the hunters starting to impact their life, and then subtly people on both sides go missing leading to the intro to the predator have been better.

Worth pointing out to some people that by the time of he final scene (for the predator) he’d been wounded quite a few times, and exhausted a lot of his weaponary. Comanche were known to be fierce and brave warriors using stealth, guile and speed to overcome a larger enemy based on their need to defend/hunt lions and bears, and to capture horses for trade, which I thought the hunting scenes were trying to portray.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 11:02 am
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Watched last night, very good and I wasn't an enthusiastic fan of the original.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 11:54 am
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The Comanche were the biggest letdown, that warrior party reminded me more of stereotypical jocks from teen movies, they even had the accent, it was certainly no dances with wolves style realism!

The scenery was the best bit, again, it was an hour and a half of brain off action stuff, nothing more.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 11:57 am
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and I wondered if a longer deeper look into Comanche life by slowing the pace in a kind of Dances with Wolves style piece may have added more interest and mystique.

That’s would have been a truely terrible idea. It’s a predator movie, not a 4 hr Kevin Costner epic

Enjoyed it, however the bit where the girl starts fighting the predator one on one was just daft. It’s just ripped a bear in 2 ffs…


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 11:59 am
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The Comanche were the biggest letdown

So how should they have been portrayed? This was supposed to 1719 where very little evidence of their culture exists.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 12:50 pm
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So how should they have been portrayed? This was supposed to 1719 where very little evidence of their culture exists.

As i said previously, bit less US High School theme, probably less of the clean cut as well all round, i'd read stuff prior that said this movie was going to be using the language and so on, guess that was somebody that had watched Apocalypto instead 😂


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 1:29 pm
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i’d read stuff prior that said this movie was going to be using the language and so on,

It is, there's two versions & you can watch both.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 1:30 pm
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Watched it last night. Deffo a good watch and a new direction the franchise has gone. Away with the usual USA guns guns guns and cliche'd one liners


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 1:42 pm
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Enjoyed it, however the bit where the girl starts fighting the predator one on one was just daft. It’s just ripped a bear in 2 ffs…

It hadn’t been shot in the head, torso, arms, legs and had a spear chucked through it when it fought the bear. Poor predator took a bit of a beating in between and was probably knackered. I also think it massively underestimated her too.


 
Posted : 06/08/2022 2:14 pm
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