With Summer coming to an end soon I feel like it’s a perfect time to discuss one of the last remaining big summer blockbusters to be released this season and that is the upcoming sci-fi/action film Prey, a prequel to the Predator franchise directed by Dan Tratchenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane). Aimed for an August release, distributed by 20th Century Studios through the streaming service Hulu. Set in 1700’s we follow a young fierce warrior part of the Comanche nation as she and her tribe are hunted by an unknown alien species with highly advanced technology while fiercely fending for their home and livelihood. After the first film was released back in 1987 every installment following after has had an endured response with fans and critics alike. Many may not even be anticipating this one at all because of the bumpy roads the series has had in the past and the fact it won’t be getting a theatrical release instead it is going straight to screaming. All of those are valid reasons but personally I see signs heading in the right direction for this one. The time period taking place in the 1700’s makes for the lack of guns and other weaponry all the more endangering for the tribe. Tratchenberg has even gone out and stated that they shot the film in both English and Comanche with the entire cast performing an all-comcache dub for the film since it would only make sense because these people would not be speaking English in this time period. Seems to me that the directions pointing towards this could probably become the most distinct film in the franchise as fans should expect a more of an original premise of its own rather than a retread of the first film that some of the sequels have tried to duplicate. Along with Tratchenberg stating it won’t be an origin story of the Predator even though it is a prequel setting, but rather focusing on the fight for survival of its characters. As for the rest of this review I feel like now would be the perfect time to go back and take a look at the following predecessors and give a ranking list of everything that came before it. Won’t be going over the Alien vs Predator movies since they are not set in canon and the majority of critics and fans alike can thoroughly agree that they are great concepts yet undercooked products. Just want to note that this list is completely subjective and many will probably disagree with the ranking, but this is just my personal outlook of the series and anyone reading this that has never seen the Predator films will now be entering SPOILER TERRITORY.
4. The Predator (2018)
The Predator or as it should be titled Shane Black’s The Predator. God almighty I remember seeing this opening day when it came out and being full of energy to see that we were getting a new film in the series after being MIA for so long and hearing that Shane Black was at the helm (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys) and who even had a supporting role in the original film as Hawkins, I could not be more anticipated. Even till this day it remains one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen and never have been in such disbelief of a film before until then. With any IP fans always have ones they like and dislike more than others, but when it comes down to Predator it seems that this installment is everybody's least favorite one and for me that’s the nice way to put it. There are just so many wrong turns in this one that I still can’t comprehend, maybe one suspenseful scene in the whole film, but we have yet another attempt of a film trying to revitalize a series with a soft-reboot of sorts with yet another ragtag team of soldiers set in another jungle with another high authority figure not telling them everything they want to know about the mission, sound familiar yet? While all of that is happening we’ve got a whole other sublot going on where the leader of the band of soldiers (Boyd Holbrook) son (Jacob Tremblay) comes across the Predator’s armor then triggers it unknowingly sending down another Predator to earth and continues wearing the equipment for Halloween in hopes of avoiding his school bullies throughout the remaining runtime. The thing about all of this is that it actually could be interesting just like any story, but the films biggest issues aren’t just lacking a cohesive narrative it’s that it’s trying so desperately hard to be a comedy on purpose, the characters are just obsessed with making quips and one liners in every life or death situation they are thrown into and never once does that film actually feel dangerous. Now the original Predator for sure has comedic aspects during the first act at least, I always viewed that first film as a classic not just because of the amazing action set pieces and chemistry between the team but because for the first 25-30 minutes of the runtime we’re introduced to these harded macho men who don’t seem to be afraid of anything, especially when they are guns blazing a compound during their rescue mission and making jokes during it all. That being said, once the Predator of that film first takes out one of their team members out of nowhere they are truly and utterly terrified throughout the remainder of the film, no more joking, just pure intensified paranoia and then it becomes a movie of survival of the fittest. That’s why in Shane Black’s version it is so difficult to care about their plight because they never seem afraid they are just constantly joking and come off as wacky goons rather than an operative team and for some reason seem super duper stoked to fight the Predator even though they’ve never encountered it before, I’m sure any rational person or trained soldier in real life would be petrified like how Arnold Schwarzenegger and his crew were portrayed as being. In the end this is not all of Shane Black’s fault on how this all turned out, jugging from his previous films and how audiences have responded more positively to those because this film does feel like it has studio interference written all of over it by fluctuating between comedy and action unevenly and setting up more films by the end of it by turning the Predator into basically Iron Man. Sad to say that with an unlimited budget the studio gave this film that this is what the final cut turned out to be and all of this setup only to wind up on the cutting room floor. Fingers crossed that Prey focuses on being an actual film rather than a filler for future installments.
3. Predators (2010)
Predators is nowhere near as undermining as the 2018 Predator and I am aware there are many fans who enjoy this film, however this one didn’t sell me on its presentation. The way I’ve always viewed this one is that it’s basically the Star Wars: The Force Awakens version of the Predator franchise, a passable film to pass the time but nothing truly original that stands out or is able to take the franchise in further directions. As stated in the beginning this is all completely subjective and if you like this one or any of the others that I don’t that’s more than okay just here to give a different point of view, but overall I feel someone has to be overly biased or blind that don’t see the comparisons from this film to the first. The one interesting concept the film briefly attempts to explore is that title Predators has double meaning to it by having all of its characters dropped in the middle of jungle on a different planet who all have shady or rough backstories with some of them not being proud of who they’ve come leading us the audience to ask ourselves should we view them as the Predators instead of the creatures themselves. Interesting in theory, but the problem here is that none of it is subtle at all not even remotely, the main leads such as Adrien Brody and Alice Braga state the intent of the theme out loud so there is very little caution that is felt for these characters on their journey because everything feels so inservice to the original classic that anything it does try new here sticks out like a sore thumb. The only thing this film seemingly tries to expand upon in its mythology is suggests that the Predator race likes to have a hunger games style like party once in a while on a different planet, that is pretty much it if you really boggle it down. The film really does not know how to stand on its own feet it only decides to make replicant shots or lines of dialogue that are call backs to the first film, examples being Billy’s sacrifice from the first film becomes the character Hanzo’s sacrifice with the same exact music score from Alan Silvestri playing in the background, the character of Stans also makes a sacrifice reminiscence of Billy and gets his spine ripped out in the same breath, and the lead Royce (Brody) covering himself in mud repeating the same lines to trap the Predator all said and done by Arnold Schwarzenegger and even by the end they have Long Tall Sally by Little Richard playing that was used in the first film, everything here only makes this version out to look like a pale imitation of what came before. It is extremely difficult to get attached to anybody in this film because there are a lot of talented actors in here Laurence Fishburne, Mahershala Ali, Walton Goggins and as said before Adrian Brody in the lead, but the film constantly shows us things that don’t really indere us to them, such as the character of Stans (Goggins) who is indeed a convict later on tries to help the group just to later then discuss about raping women to the group if they are ever make it out of this hell their trapped in so by the time of his sacrifice the whole thing feels dry. Even Royce wanting to use a dead body of one of the members as a booby trap just makes all these characters come off as general scumbags. Big fan of Adrian Brody and more than okay with unorthodox casting choices, he just doesn’t bring the charisma and charm that Arnold brought to in the original or even the energy of Danny Glover in Predator 2, none of the cast do here sadly. This did come out in a certain time period (woefully we’re still in it) where studios were trying to figure out what worked about movies in the 80’s and 90’s especially in the horror genre, there were so many remakes/soft-reboots (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw, and A Nightmare on Elm Street) that many fans never asked for because Hollywood thought we as fans just wanted copies of films we already liked instead of new or fresh stories. In recent years that doesn’t seem like the type of content that fans and moviegoers have been requesting for so hopefully more studios start to hear us out and it seems as if they are starting to take note with Prey. The main reason Predators ranks higher than The Predator is that it is shot decently, not a bad directed effort and there’s no plot holes or cliffhangers that try to set up 10 more movies as the 2018 version, overall though this one just never worked for me in the end, but I am optimistic about what the future has in state for Prey.
2. Predator 2 (1990)
My oh my Predator 2, well this was probably the most hated sequel of the 90’s when it first came. I remember for years and years people would always say how bad this film was compared to the first one and for many years I never even saw it until sometime before the 2018 one came about. First time my eyes ever witnessed this film I never had the fiery burn hatred for it like most did. I always viewed it as a guilty pleasure while acknowledging the fact it was nowhere near as good as the first and that is still mildly true after revisiting it recently. Yet there is quite a lot to love about this entry and after this revisit I even have come to genuinely liking it after all this time. The first 10 minutes straight were thrown into this hellish atmosphere of the future set in 1997 LA, blazing with gunfire, during an acute heat wave while reeking havoc with hard crime of drugs and gang wars. To me that’s a perfect combination for the Predator to go out and make this catastrophe his own personal playground. While all of this is occurring we follow Lt. Mike who is played by the excellent Danny Glover and is for some reason really great at playing angry policemen (Lethal Weapon, Saw), as he tries to solve the mystery of why so many of these gang members are getting their spines ripped out, skinned to death, and being strung up by their feet. Looking back on this film after all these years I have come to notice this film has gained a bit of a cult following, but it still has a bad reputation to it that I personally don’t feel that it deserves, it is for sure a step down from the first one in virtually every way and this is nowhere near as good as other sci-fi/action sequels such as Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, or The Empire Strikes Back. But as stated before while deconstructing 2010’s Predators that studios for the last couple decades have become obsessed of recreating films from the 80’s and the 90’s, whether it's an endless loop of horror remakes that nobody asked for or franchise restarters that try and recapture the magic of their former films while forgetting to tell a new story, gratefully Predator 2 doesn’t feel that way in the slightest. While I was munching on popcorn throughout the runtime the film almost felt refreshing in a lot of ways because it didn’t for once feel as if it was trying to make the same exact movie as before, sure the Predator is once again hunting people and collecting skulls but that’s kinda what happens throughout the whole series anyways because that’s just who they just are. This time it takes place in a shabby city, it’s in the midst of a violent gang war, set with entirely new characters that don’t resemble the original cast in any shape or form, sure it still may not be as good as the first but at least nothing in the film felt like it was shouting retread in my face. John McTeirnan’s first film is a sci-fi classic and essentially flawless in every way, but skimming through this entire franchise as of late I’ve gained an even higher appreciation for this film that I’ve never had before because it actually feels like a spiritual continuation rather than the studios attempting to make the same exact movie that came before it. As for flaws the film really struggles during the middle portion, a lot of the investigation sequences feel almost like side quests and drag the plot on, it really is trying to make us care for Glover losing a lot of his partners to the Predator and you just don’t because their not setup that strongly, there is a camaraderie amongst them that’s enjoyable it's just they don’t have the dynamic that the soldiers had in that first film. The script and directing of the film could definitely be a whole lot tighter than it is, but I still have to comendst the film for jumping back because the last 20 minutes of this film are completely riveting. Once Glover understands the Predators strengths and weaknesses from the government agencies tracking it down he’s finally able to go in locked and loaded to where they’ve trapped the Predator for the time being. Which in the end brings us to Glover facing off one on one with the Predator on his ship and this whole sequence is criminally underrated, the style of the ship and the fight choreography is completely underlooked. To showcase how Predator 2 was partially ahead of its time is by the end two things occurred for later installments. First being the biggest fanboy moment in all of science fiction was the reveal of the xenomorph skull from the Alien franchise in the Predators skull trophy room which would later give the possibility of crossovers between the two beloved characters even though they are officially not a part of either franchise's canon run. Second being after Glover kills the main Predator hunting the city throughout the films runtime he’s eventually greeted by other members of the race and one of them hands him a gun from 1700’s that the Predator took as a token and gave to Glover as a sign of respect, the key part of that scene was at the time an initial setup for a third installment that took place during that time period, but 20th Century Studios (Fox at the time) decided to run with the AVP crossover movies and then decided to makes 2010’s Predators instead at the time. Just knowing that fact is truly flabbergasting now because we finally get to see how that concept plays out in the upcoming Prey after all these years. It will be extremely fascinating to see how people of that time period deal with modern technology once they bear witnesses to it all. If anyone is really looking forward to Prey or is only a fan of the original still highly recommend giving this one a rewatch or first viewing if you never have, if you’re also a fan of 90’s sci-fi/action that depicts a stylish yet raw look of humanity in futuristic reality in the same viens of Total Recall and Demolition Man you’ll have a blast with this one.
1. Predator (1987)
This should come as no surprise to anyone reading for this long, I mean c’mon it’s Predator, easily one of the most talked about and beloved action films of the last few decades and still remains one of the simplest plot structures ever put to the big screen. A team of manly men soldiers led by the miraculous Arnold Schwarzenegger are sent to rescue hostages for the CIA in the Central American jungle, eventually things head south when an unidentified species with a cloaking device that hides in the trees starts to take them out for sport, it is from then on the film becomes a battle to the death. On paper Predator can be looked at as the cheesiest and most basic action film of it’s time, thanks to the wonderful Mr. John McTiernan he’s able to direct not just outstanding action sequences but he really knows how to use his locations and create such claustrophobia between the characters when they feel trapped in the swamps. His direction doesn’t get enough credit as it should it really gets overshadowed at times when discussing this film because most audiences attention are locked onto Arnie or the Predator himself, but the man really knew what he was doing in his prime with this and films like Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October, and Last Action Hero. Really wish he’d come back and make another film someday because Lord knows this series needed him the most. It would hurt me in the end if i didn’t at least mention Alan Silvestri’s exhilarating score, such a great 80’s testosterone that just boosts you full of adrenaline all combined with McTiernan’s direction and Arnold’s masculatne performance. For myself and I’m sure for many others as well one of the key elements that work so great about this first film is the pacing, never once is there a dual moment in here and it always keeps you in focus, hell even watching the trailer for the film on YouTube occasionally I feel spooked compared to most modern day action movie trailers. When first introduced to these hardened muscle men who at first seem to have no sign of fear whatsoever, but once they first encounter the Predator the rest of the film's runtime is a living nightmare for these men as they have to use the environment of the jungle around them in order to survive because their weapons are no match for this daunting creature. Just the close ups of their faces drenched in blood, mud, and terror really make this film out to be something more than it’s presented. This isn’t really so much a straight sci-fi story it’s definitely more of an action flick for sure, but it still is a great combination of both and with the on and off screen appeal to it all makes Predator out to be better than it ever had any business being. In closing I’ll be keeping this one short because there is probably a whole lot more that can be said about this spectacle, but for anyone who has never seen Predator I urge you with every love of Cinema in my gut to go watch this film. Some would probably get angry at an individual who’s never seen this because of its popularity, but I am simply jealous because I would like nothing more than to experience this film for the first time once again. That is the list, surprisingly my ranking is by the years they all initially came out. Hope you all enjoyed this and hopefully this helped enlighten your anticipation for Prey this August.
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By Danny Manna @Cinemanna24- Nerdthusiast Content Creator
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