Prey aka Predator 5 (Dan Trachtenberg)

fran38

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119452242#Comment_119452242

Carry on Predator. The eponymous anti hero in a comedy for the ages. We look on in fits n giggles as ugly motherfucker tries to contend with sexual innuendo aboard his space cruiser as he meets his new crew consisting of trans-predator who thinks she/he missed her/he's vocation in life and should have been a balarina. We meet body dysphoria predator who identifies as a furry.

mcsean2163

Just reading some of the comments.

Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Schwarzenegger) was a mean motherfucker in predator and he went through hell fighting the predator. John McClain went through hell in die hard and Klaus would have killed him if not for the intervention of the cop.

In prey, Naru seems especially good when talking in Comanche but then sounds like an angst ridden teen when talking in English with some seriously awful dialogue. Her brother kills the lion and she doesn't congratulate him that he's still alive and saved her life too.

It just goes on and on, many of the Indians appear quite flabby and unfit. Naru herself does not look anything like a person who might endure long hunting sessions. She looks physically more like a regular teen living in US luxury. The kick in the morning? Just so many stupid affected rubbish.

Naru has a good half believable fight sequence with the trappers but then the fight at the end? The predator hurls her through the air, she lands badly and probably breaks a bunch of ribs but it doesn't slow her down. Schwarzenegger or Willis would be gasping with pain but not our lead.

I just think what a waste of a film, even if they had more traps at the end and Naru intelligently taking on the predator from a distance but no, the final fight was appalling. Naru was a likeable engaging lead and maybe could have been put in a mad Max 2 role, instead her brother and loads of her tribe dead do not seem to bother her at all as she strolls into the village with the predators head. Even if she'd collapsed on the way in, anything.

So much potential, great cinematography, good lead and **** film. Such a waste.

Edit Okay, just realized I've turned full on grumpy old man, back in my day. If you like it you like it. Was a tragedy for me but I guess that's the beauty of cinema, not everyone agrees.

jimbob93

The tribe must have been Billy from the first movies ancestors .

No wonder he was acting real strange 😂

WillmaDickfit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119453228#Comment_119453228

it's fiction, its not based on a true story, maybe the predator had bad dental hygiene and his teeth were in awful shape, how about that?

WillmaDickfit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455223#Comment_119455223

Lance Henriksens character was dyn from a terminal illness

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455529#Comment_119455529

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457308#Comment_119457308

Indeed, but just a legacy character as odyssey mentioned, there as a walking easter egg and thin excuse to get the big interchangeable Team O' Experts to the Arctic (or Antarctic?) in the first place.

But mostly the snark was a response to this idea that AvP had a female lead character therefore... something? The film didn't: it had a female actor as its Final Girl, but could have starred a half-broken credenza for all it mattered regarding actual "character". Naru was a character: she learned, grew, changed etc. across the film. Maybe the viewer didn't like her - and that's fine, doubt this film with be in peoples' Best of 2022 - but she had more depth than ... snort, the Aliens vs. Predator meat-bags.

For bonus points I'd challenge people, again without googling, to gimme summaries of the lead characters in AvP: Requiem, lol. Though that would require people remembering that nasty piece of shít film existed in the first place, for which I apologise. I think it had a female lead, an ex-marine maybe? Yeesh 🤷‍♂️

Both those films wanted the Ripley stand-in, without actually understanding, what it was that made Ripley memorable in the first place.

This to me was Hollywood B movie, almost kids arriving to the cabin for the weekend stuff. Propped up by cinematography that makes you forget for few seconds here and there. Ultimately its a film of the time - predictable, formulaic, nostalgic. At some point, they will stop hiring writers for movies and just have AI handle it.

WillmaDickfit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457387#Comment_119457387

an ex Marine, and a convict fresh out of jail

BruteStock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457387#Comment_119457387

I see what you're doing here. Poking holes in my posts without having the gonads to quote me directly. Yesterday you admitted to not knowing anything about AVP 1, now you're an authority on the film and all its characters? Even denying the existence and importance of its lead character so you can gatekeep your precious Prey. How utterly sad and juvenile 🤦‍♂️

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457546#Comment_119457546

So tell me the importance of the lead character from AvP1 instead of acting superior. Maybe you can start by telling me her name, cos yeah, I can't remember. Memory is funny like that.

"...gatekeep your precious Prey?" for someone calling me juvenile, maybe you should grow up yourself. Drop the cultural-war buzzwords for a second.

Shocker, I like the movie, you don't. But on more than one occasion you try to infer people like me don't have honest opinions. White Knight. Gatekeeping. blah blah blah. I see what you're doing and I'm not the only one either. How about you having the gonads to show people a modicum of courtesy their opinions are true. Starts with you dropping the insulting bullshít cos you wanna make it about more than just the movie. Fúck that TBH. Ignore list, don't waste your day replying.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457387#Comment_119457387

I couldn't even tell you where Requiem was set or it's plotline. completely forgettable.

BruteStock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457595#Comment_119457595

She slayed the Alien Queen at the end was was given a trophy spear by the Predators for a job well done. The character was very loosely based on the female lead character from the comics. Her name matters not as much as her achievement at the end of the film.

But people can like and dislike a film without the buzzwords , right? How about people can like and dislike a film without snarky passive aggressiveness. Take some of your own advice.

johnny_ultimate

Mod note: Enough of this nonsense - keep it civil and without personal attacks please.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457600#Comment_119457600

Like a lot of half-forgotten movies, my memory is fragmented with moments - or my reaction to something rather than the something itself. Sometimes my brain goes completely random with a "hey, remember 2009's Surrogates? Well now you do!".

Re. Requiem, it's snatches like half the film being so dark, I couldn't make out the action or simple geography of a location. Or a really horrible scene in a maternity hospital.

I'd say there's relatively good odds of another attempt at a AvP; Noah Hawley's Alien series is the only thing I believe is in gestation on the xenomorph side of things.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457643#Comment_119457643

i've read the storyline on IMDB and I still dont remember anything about it.

artvanderlay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455597#Comment_119455597

I'd be up for Carry On Matron. 3 red dots appearing on Hattie Jacques chest and Kenneth Williams going "oh, matron!", or the predator imitating Sid James' laugh. Bring it on.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457658#Comment_119457658

The next predator movie needs to be a comedy. Or maybe a musical?

artvanderlay

I enjoyed the first half but felt the wheels came off in the second. Also the CGI was a bit ropey, but I liked the performances by an unknown cast (it was better than watching B grade actors that previous sequels had), and the cinematography. It was all a bit linear though; no surprises, nothing that you thought "oh that's original". It was all a bit Apocalypto without the brutality. Also the lead actress is gorgeous!

Drumpot

I enjoyed it, beautiful scenery and some savage action.

Actually makes more sense that the overly physical (and fight orientated) males were outdone by a more reflective clever female counterpart. Had the potential to be silly (a 8 foot beast that Arnie barealy survived being killed by a 5 foot nothing skinny lady) but I think it worked. Particularly as it showed how this predator was getting maimed by pretty much anything it tried to take down.

BruteStock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457595#Comment_119457595

Good , put me on ignore. Let me say this before we never interact again. Those initial posts of mine where in response to a guy who got ganked for daring to mention the term May Sue. The pile on was so much he had to delete his post. That why I jumped to his defence , otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. So this courtesy you speak of only goes one way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aXIFFaWNjM&ab_channel=IgorFilipovi%C4%87

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457694#Comment_119457694

The score was really good as well. Very Last of the Mohicans in places.

flasher0030

I think there was a comment on here that someone thought that Predator 2 is better than Prey. I watched Predator 2 last night for the first time. Watch Prey a couple of nights ago.

I think someone must have got mixed up. Predator 2 is some pile of poo. The one with Danny Glover. Making a mockery of the original predator. It was almost trying to bring comedy into it, which felt so out of place. Predator coming out with words such as fu'ker, when finishing off Glovers sentence (i.e. Glover uttered "mother". The acting is a shambles. I don't know who the lady cop is, but presume she went into retirement after that. Shocking film in my opinion. Predator was bounding over buildings, was able to cut through the room of a train, killed 4 people who all had an abundance of machine guns - and then when he is hanging from a ledge, he cannot drag himself up to safety. And stereotyping the Jamaicans by giving them all big spliffs.

I enjoyed Glover in Lethal Weapon, but I think himself and Gibsons character bounced well of each other. But when he is the main character in a film, I think he stinks as an actor.

Anyway, I've had my fill of predator for the week. If the others are inferior to Predators 2, I'll be giving them a miss.

Ush1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457697#Comment_119457697

But she was overly physical without being believable. That's the difference between her and Ripley. Forget even the Predator, she manhandles I think 5 male colonists with relative ease. Ripley would never do that.

It's really dumb that they try force masculine attributes on to female leads in action films, particularly the physicality. I had the same problem with Gina Caranos character in The Mandalorian. Go with the wise native trope, and even wiser because she's a woman rather than she's 8 stone with little muscle but can batter anyone, human or alien. I liked the film anyway.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457393#Comment_119457393

All the movies will have Adam Sandler in them though.

head82

Isn't it great that a small throwaway B movie (albeit a very entertaining B movie!) can generate such debate? I'm inclined to go back and re-watch it. Not something I could say about a more expensive $200 million so called Blockbuster such as.. 'The Gray Man'.

WillmaDickfit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119458002#Comment_119458002

CIA got you pushing pencils

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119458002#Comment_119458002

I think the larger the budget, the more studio interference tends to wash out the colour & identity from blockbusters; I said it a page or two back but one of the biggest changes from (say) 80/90s mainstream cinema and today has been the extinction of the mid-budget, once-off crowd pleaser (ignoring the inconvenient fact this is technically a sequel).

Hollywood money-making has been obsessed with making ALL the money, or Netflix scooping up ALL the subscribers, through a smaller number of mega-budget blockbuster franchises; while missing the ancient art of making the same money with more movies, at smaller cost. I dunno, maybe I'm mising some vital cog in Hollywood financing that justifies these $200 million nothings.

But I'd certainly rather watch (sometimes) imperfect entertainment worth talking about - like this, The Northman, or Everywhere, Everything All At Once - than Content like The Gray Man as you mentioned.

Drumpot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119457853#Comment_119457853

Ripley is one of , if not , my favorite action (male and female) characters of all time. But she had advanced weaponry and a more advanced civilization knowledge on her side. But she has to battle bureaucracy and corporate shenanigans, not physically fight with people, thats just a different culture.

Our hero physically getting into fights with males makes sense for the character. Anybody who has watched a UFC fight can tell you that brute force does not always beat smaller , nimble intelligent fighters.

She is fighting to have a role that she has been told she cannot have and the presumption is she couldn't possibly be serious. As such, nobody takes her seriously so she has learned, a harder way, to adapt and make the role her own as they say. I think its kind of like Ripley in many ways who had to fight with more experienced warriors and experienced corporate people (who represent the culture) "have IQs just suddenly dropped while I was away?". Nobody takes Ripley seriously, which is a similar issue both woman have to overcome.

"Forcing male attributes on female characters" is not dumb. Look at female leaders of countries, they just become female versions of their male counterparts. But that aside, I felt the character in Prey wasn't just a physical version of a man, she was more closer to a Jet li to Arnie then a comparable action star male v female. I thought the Predator in Prey looked like a novice which would make a difference in terms of making mistakes and being caught out against a clever foe. A foe who had constantly spend her life looking for ways to be recognized as a warrior, unlike her male counterparts who just had to be male.

Meh, I get annoyed when there are agendas in movies to push a certain narrative, it does happen and yes some people over react when its pointed out. But in this case, I find "Prey" not overly "woke" or politically correct. It feels like a relatively original (if its even possible for a sequel to be that these days) movie that I was able to go along for the ride.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119458002#Comment_119458002

It generates the debate because the original concept was one of the greatest in film history as was the execution. Otherwise this is an equivalent of straight to VHS with a fancy cinematographer!

Ush1

MMA, like any combat sport has weight classes for a reason and men can't fight women for fairly obvious reasons. I'll leave it there.