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The guy we sent to see how dangerous the place was never came back.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that Prey is flat out better than Predator 2, but it's definitely better than every other sequel.

The only big negatives to me were the following.
-Predator face CGI should have been prosthetics, it looked bad. I liked the "primitive" helmet however.
-Some of the dialogue/delivery in English was really bland or fell flat.

Everything else was acceptable to good. I wouldn't directly compare it to the first Predator. That was a horror/thriller masquerading as an action movie. Prey is more of a pure action film with thriller elements.

I am disappointed with the Comanche version. Its just the English version with dubs. I realize that they didn't want to invest a ton of money into this, but the tech does exist to replace actors mouth movements for different languages and it would have been cool if they looked like they were actually speaking Comanche.

I also doubt i would be able to tell what is happening without subs. I realize that is a very high bar for a movie about an alien big game hunter franchise that started in the 80s, but there it is. Movie is still awesome and the Comanche dub is still a nice move on their part.

Would like to see but its not on at the pictures. Maybe we'll see a Blu-Ray release later on.

IDK if anyone talked about this.
But, anyone notice how lanky the predator was?
And how the main characters where teens/YA?
Do you guys think this predator was a teen on his first hunt??

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
IDK if anyone talked about this.
But, anyone notice how lanky the predator was?
And how the main characters where teens/YA?
Do you guys think this predator was a teen on his first hunt??

It wouldn't have been his first hunt as he was already blooded (non blooded Predators are not allowed to hunt on their own) but, it was probably his first time hunting on Earth.

However, this was a Predator from the Southern hemisphere of their planet, which is a different species we haven't seen before.

Is…is this the best received movie on Dakka?

I mean, nobody is laying into it or picking it apart, and sure there are criticism here and there. But….it seems everyone so far has enjoyed it?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
IDK if anyone talked about this.
But, anyone notice how lanky the predator was?
And how the main characters where teens/YA?
Do you guys think this predator was a teen on his first hunt??

No. I mentioned a couple times that he seems to be a scout. Every time you see his vision there is a little target thing that pops up for every new animal and every weapon. He is cataloging stuff to see if this is a good planet for hunting on or not.

Based on at least one of the books the males are just smaller than the females so they could just be a smaller male Pred vs previous movies’ ladies. But yeah, it’s the first hunt on Earth so not a big game Hunter but a nerd scouting it out and taking notes.

Couple things.

1) Fantastic. Easily the best predator movie since the original and honestly....I might like it more than the original. Mostly because the Uber machismo doesn't age super well.

2) For everyone confused about the location this is set pre-breakaway from the Shoshone. Commanches were a sub tribe that broke away once they got horses. Before the breakaway they lived in at the northern end of the Platte River. This would also explain the French fur traders.

3) Love love loved the way they handled the lead and the tribe in general. It's been said but the lead never felt like a damsel. And her scene with the trapper leader was amazing.

 Hulksmash wrote:
Couple things.

1) Fantastic. Easily the best predator movie since the original and honestly....I might like it more than the original. Mostly because the Uber machismo doesn't age super well.

The biggest flaw relative to the original is specifically the lack of machismo and charisma. Naru was just competent, she didn't have much of a personality. All of the crew in Predator had character specific traits that deepened the film.

I would be VERY hesitant to say any of the characters in Predator besides Dutch had character that deepened anything.

One guy made jokes. Billy was a native american characiture muscle man. One had a big gun. One was friend of big gun guy. One was cia dill weed. And then there was "the girl". Oh yeah, and guy that died first.

And btw, Dutch's character was "we are a rescue team. My men are not expendable. We don't do this kind of work."

Naru has strained lived in relationships with her entire tribe. From her brother, the rest of the hunters, her mother, and even the look her mother gives the cheif when handing him the warchief stick at the end. There is a depth to her entire tribe and her place in it that is completely absent in Predator.

Which is fine. predator is a very different kind of movie being a horror hidden in a 80s action romp. Just is what it is.

I think if there was one thing Predator had that Prey doesn't, it's basically my two complaints.

I feel like the fights were over-choreographed in Prey when less really would have been more. They lacked the visceral nature of the Predator in the first film. Simplicity would have been better than all the spinning, throwing weapons in the air to grab them with the other hand, and such.

Secondly, in Predator characters tried to outthink the Predator repeatedly and the Predator thinks back. In Prey everyone and everything in sight has basically 1 mode (charge in and kill) until near the end of the movie. Everyone in Prey is a bit too nakedly aggressive to have the sort of calculation that helped string Predator along.

Except for Naru, and generally, I think Naru was helped that her cleverness was her core strength. She wasn't the best hunter. She wasn't the best survivalist. She wasn't the best fighter (ignoring how over-choreographed everything is) but she was quick-witted and thought on her feet constantly in the movie.

The Predator kind of lacked that this time around. The Predator this time was, like everything in the movie not named Naru, in constant brainless full aggro murder mode. Which is a minor gripe I have overall with the film. Too minor to really spoil anything. But if I had to say what Predator had that Prey lacked, that would be it.

I disagree on the fight choreography. I felt it captured a Warrior culture of WARRIORS. Naru's fights weren't, they were brutal and lacking in that fluidity which actually reflects that culture as well. The fight scenes with the trappers weren't choreographed crazy either.

I'd also point out that the predator wasn't really full aggro. He retreated when injured and when things went sideways. He doesn't charge into the marsh like he should chasing her, he has to essentially be thrown in, etc. Also, he one punched a bear. After that humans feel kinda meh.

They also didn’t just agro into the trapper’s trap, they snuck up and picked them off from behind while the trappers lied in wait. They did get caught by the second stage of their trap however from the guys hiding underground. The snipers just had no way to know they literally glow in their vision.

I actually like that Bonemask is basically a blood knight. They are far more aggressive and violent that the other Predators, although also somewhat dumber.

They a memorable character in their own right, which is something more recent Predators have been lacking.

 Lance845 wrote:
I would be VERY hesitant to say any of the characters in Predator besides Dutch had character that deepened anything.

One guy made jokes. Billy was a native american characiture muscle man. One had a big gun. One was friend of big gun guy. One was cia dill weed. And then there was "the girl". Oh yeah, and guy that died first.

And btw, Dutch's character was "we are a rescue team. My men are not expendable. We don't do this kind of work."

You're being intentionally reductionist. Predator is an excellent example of "show, don't tell" when it comes to characterizations.

This post is an incredible analysis of the film's characters: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/5jaegi/predator_1987_the_alien_tries_each_mans/

Predator works because it starts out exactly as Big Dumb 80’s Action Films should. Massive hunks of muscle slaughtering commies with ridiculous guns and cheesy one-liners…..then completely inverts it by making the baddie the invincible one.

And it is a classic.

Prey however feels a bit more personal. Where Dutch was just trying to get his team extracted? Naru is protecting her home from a threat.

Pretty much everyone else that tangoes with that Predator just tries to apply their usual hunting tactics, because they are all hunters first, warriors second. They’re just not used to something that can outthink and out hunt them.

Naru uses her wits. And you know what, my comment about “outthink and out hunt”? That can be applied to the Predator as well. None of the other humans it’s encountered on-screen showed Nauru’s level of adaptation. So it may have felt it had our species pegged. What kills it is a pretty simple trap (and of course a dose of narrativium)…and we’d seen it sort of fall for traps before. That’s not to say it’s therefore thick, just….overconfident. Arrogant rather than incompetent.

Best of all, we see it being worn down throughout the movie. No one character kills it to be honest. It gets shot, stabbed, stitched up, stabbed again, hacked at, shot in the bonce, loses an arm, nearly drowned, bitten and mauled by a bear. Yet it keeps going. Which in its own way adds to the tension, and I think it’s the most punishment we’ve seen a Predator take. And so when it’s finally slain, it feels earned.

I was initially skeptical about the kill, but have come round to respecting it. It feels earned. The Predator was hurt, possibly tired, likely angry.

The other thing I really, really like is that rather than new physical characteristics, it’s New Toys. Yes the toys feel comparatively low tech - until we see the dart gun used the second time. But overall, all the new toys could’ve been used in the original films to some degree of success, as each requires some level of skill to use.

And man…..that constriction net. What an excellent scene that is. We see it doing it’s thing…..and the pan down leaves it finishing it’s thing to our tender imaginations. We have of course seen it used before in Predator 2 and the excellent Dark Horse comics (where I think it was first invented?) but only really portrayed as a hurty net for restraining, rather than a killing device. Mmmm. Mulch!

trexmeyer wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
I would be VERY hesitant to say any of the characters in Predator besides Dutch had character that deepened anything.

One guy made jokes. Billy was a native american characiture muscle man. One had a big gun. One was friend of big gun guy. One was cia dill weed. And then there was "the girl". Oh yeah, and guy that died first.

And btw, Dutch's character was "we are a rescue team. My men are not expendable. We don't do this kind of work."

You're being intentionally reductionist. Predator is an excellent example of "show, don't tell" when it comes to characterizations.

This post is an incredible analysis of the film's characters: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/5jaegi/predator_1987_the_alien_tries_each_mans/

I really don't think I am being reductionist at all. This is a Arnold led movie from the 80s. I have watched every special feature there is on the film. The characters in the movie are exactly as flat as they appear to be. Yes, they do show don't tell. Mostly because there is nothing to tell and then we the audience fill in the blanks inherently. Linking to a fan theory on reddit of how each character is killed through (admitted by the author) very tenuous links doesn't give any of those characters any actual depth. It gives the predator a 4th wall breaking sense of irony.

My only issue with the kill is the way they stop and watch the arrow fly around the clearing. They didn’t bother to watch the rogue arrows in the previous scene, why did they stop to watch this one instead of firing more.

The first time it happened it knew it's mask was on the ground in the general area. This time it didn't know where it's mask was.

Which I think does beg the question, why not use the spear gun to try to track the mask by firing a spear/dart and following it?

 Lance845 wrote:
I really don't think I am being reductionist at all. This is a Arnold led movie from the 80s. I have watched every special feature there is on the film. The characters in the movie are exactly as flat as they appear to be.

If you want character I guess a fair test to apply to both old and new films would be how did each key individual at the start of the film compare their last scenes (if they weren't killed off early).

That's the story of the character. Doesn't have to be complex, just has to go somewhere - Macs gradual breakdown, Dillons heel-face turn, etc. If a characters gets to the end of a film no different from how they started save for their kill count that is what makes them flat IMHO.

If you don’t know where the mask is don’t live fire an arrow in the middle of combat. In the middle of combat don’t turn your back on the creature that’s actively trying to kill you to see where the mask ended up. When it fired the arrow and it flies off they shouldn’t gone oh right, this is probably a trap, and just Moved.

Like I like the Idea of it. It should have fired the arrow, then stayed facing and fighting her maybe firing off more, and then been shanked in the back of the head without even seeing it coming. Would be a good turn about to all the times a Pred shanks someone without them even realizing what just killed them.

A.T. wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
I really don't think I am being reductionist at all. This is a Arnold led movie from the 80s. I have watched every special feature there is on the film. The characters in the movie are exactly as flat as they appear to be.

If you want character I guess a fair test to apply to both old and new films would be how did each key individual at the start of the film compare their last scenes (if they weren't killed off early).

That's the story of the character. Doesn't have to be complex, just has to go somewhere - Macs gradual breakdown, Dillons heel-face turn, etc. If a characters gets to the end of a film no different from how they started save for their kill count that is what makes them flat IMHO.

Sure. So Dutch, exactly the same guy he started off as. Trying to protect his team and complete the mission.
Dillon, exactly the duplicitous jerk he was at the beginning. Both when he was first introduced and lied to Dutch about the mission, then got to the paperwork he wanted to collect, etc etc...His only change is a want for revenge.
Then you have Billy Blaine and Anna, who didn't change at all.
Mac, whos arc was going crazy after his friend died.

On the other hand, you see respect for Nalu grow in their acceptance of her skill from her brother, her mother, and her tribe from the beginning of the movie to the end. You also see her confidence turn into experience as she proves herself right. The character at the beginning who wishes she had a chance is different from the character at the end who isn't asking, she is telling, that they need to move to higher better protected ground.



And hey, again, I love Predator. It's a great movie. But it does not have depth from it's characters. That is not the kind of movie it is.

 AduroT wrote:
If you don’t know where the mask is don’t live fire an arrow in the middle of combat. In the middle of combat don’t turn your back on the creature that’s actively trying to kill you to see where the mask ended up. When it fired the arrow and it flies off they shouldn’t gone oh right, this is probably a trap, and just Moved.

Like I like the Idea of it. It should have fired the arrow, then stayed facing and fighting her maybe firing off more, and then been shanked in the back of the head without even seeing it coming. Would be a good turn about to all the times a Pred shanks someone without them even realizing what just killed them.

My assumption is the arrow things can be shot without the mask, and won’t track.

And to be honest, Mr Predator was at the end of a very long, very tiring day, with seemingly no chance for a nice bit sit down and whatever their equivalent of a cup of tea and a sandwich might be.

Oh, and they’d been shot in the head. I suspect both together, but mostly the being shot in the head thing, would effect judgement calls.

Shot in the head italicised as it’s something I myself forgot when I first saw the kill on the screen.

Also moving wasn't easy for him. He was still stuck in a sinkhole/quicksand. He might be big enough to stand on the bottom but that's doesn't mean he could suddenly jump out of it/dodge.

I thought it worked decently inverse. You see Naru all movie learning, assessing, adjusting. So the trap makes sense. Even her sprint to the trap is designed to tire out and exhaust the predator. Everything she does in that last scene is designed to sap at the creatures strength. And the arrow thing seemed to be a back up plan. Primary plan was probably for it to drown. How was she supposed to know the damn thing was to tall to drown.

Predator, 1987.

Dutch begins the film lighting up a cigar with all the confidence of a Lion, as his pride of fellow males disembark the helicopter ready for the "hunt". He greets the General and Dillion as former associates that he feels comfortable with( although he says he doesn't trust anybody... ). He is the leader of a unit of soliders that can hold their heads up high, and make it clear that they are a rescue team.

At the end of the film Dutch is aboard another helicopter( in the air ) having lost his entire team, with about as much confidence as a Zebra having outwitted its Lion. He rescued no hostages but instead took a prisoner. He was not only stitched up by the CIA into performing a dirty operation, but also by the two men he thought he knew and trusted. If he didn't believe in little green men before, then he sure as hell knows for a fact now that he faced a hunter not of this world and will never forget the stalking of a life time.

Anna and Dutch start off as operatives on two sides of a conflict. They clearly don't trust each other, but from the moment Hawkins is "taken by the jungle" Anna is traumatised and this gradually leads to a relationship of trust with Dutch, on a very human level. By the end of the film, she is waiting for a fellow survivor of a tragic but incredible event. She is now a prisoner but also now knows that the "demon" she spoke of earlier in the film is a very real monster...


Prey, 2022

Dunno. Ain't seen it. Could be a masterpiece of filmmaking or a steaming hot turd. No idea.

Watch it.

Prey is excellent.

Would do if it were on.

I like the idea of Prey because when I was a teenager - walking home from school, in the mid-90s - I day dreamed about an African tribe stalked by a Predator, and thought it would make a good film. We enjoyed a bit of Zulu and Predator back then!

Finally watched it just now. Absolutely fantastic. I don't quite see what people are complaining about in terms of a "slow start". It's not exactly slow in comparison to some movies I could name. I think they did a good job in terms of symbolism of the "Hunt", not just the Predator but in nature.

I loved the bear skull as a helmet for the Predator, like that's just straight up bad ass.


One thing I will say is this is clearly the winning formula and it's a surprise it has taken this long. You can stick a Predator in a random part of history and it will make a good film. Do one with a Roman centurion on the Rhine limes or do some Samurai or as SamusDrake says, some Zulu fighting the Predator.