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Post by ck100 on Feb 21, 2017 4:58:02 GMT
So the new "Predator" film is underway and from what I've heard/read, it's going to be some big, bombastic, event film. But I feel like this has been the wrong approach with some of the subsequent Predator films. Going with more Predators, more gadgets, bigger body count, bigger effects, etc. feels counterproductive to what made the first film so good. I think the first film worked so well because it was this small, tight, claustrophobic thriller in a jungle setting that just happened to have Arnold at the peak of his box office powers. I don't recall Predator being treated like some event film. It felt, at least to me, more like a smaller-scale film, that as I said, just happened to have a popular Arnold in it at the time. For the record, I think Predator 2 is pretty decent and, although it went bigger with the location, gadgets, body count, etc. still felt on the small-scale of things. But I'm sure this was lost once Alien vs. Predator came along and Predators rehashed/recreated the first film too much. I'm not entirely against the idea of adding more Predators, gadgets, body count, etc., but I think it should be done sparingly.
From "The Predator" writer/director Shane Black:
“Fox has been in the habit of making one of these Predator movies every couple years, and they put them out for a limited budget that kind of guaranteed return, but they’re not really something that’s an event,” he told this writer. “I want to try to get back to that. Because there was a freshness, I think, to the first one. … It was special then, and I want to get back to trying to reinvent it in the sort of way that it acquires that event feel that makes people want to treat it like a big movie.”
www.yahoo.com/celebrity/predator-first-look-cast-shane-180919466.html
So why do you feel the Predator films have not lived up to the first one? |
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yearspew
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Post by yearspew on Feb 21, 2017 5:05:33 GMT
The characters, man, the human characters in the first one cannot de duplicated. That's why so many of these remakes fail, because they try to make it hip for this generation with the 3D and the CGI, but the heart of the film is the characters in it.
You remember Mac and Billy and Blaine and Dillon, and of course Dutch. How many remakes put effort into the actual writing of the film and the characters?
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Post by twothousandonemark on Feb 21, 2017 5:51:05 GMT
Beyond the original being as flawless an 80's era action flick, it was also a perfect unveiling for the Predator alien.
P2 was silly. PS was meh.
Maybe we need Predator on Earth again, perhaps set 200yrs from now. Surprising another unsuspecting band of warriors.
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kaasa
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Post by kaasa on Feb 21, 2017 6:08:26 GMT
The characters, man, the human characters in the first one cannot de duplicated. That's why so many of these remakes fail, because they try to make it hip for this generation with the 3D and the CGI, but the heart of the film is the characters in it. You remember Mac and Billy and Blaine and Dillon, and of course Dutch. How many remakes put effort into the actual writing of the film and the characters? This is probably the biggest reason. Like with pro wrestling, you can't just duplicate the larger than life characters with that special IT factor. There's no replacing an Arnold, a Jesse, a Sonny, a Carl and especially not a Bill Duke. |
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Feb 21, 2017 12:48:50 GMT
Because it was a nearly perfect action film with an original concept. It's funny how Shane Black (and I'm a huge Shane Black fan) talks about how there was a 'freshness' to the original; yet he thinks he can recapture that on like the 12th iteration of the concept. That ship has sailed, Shane.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2017 12:50:39 GMT
Well, the first Predator wasn't so well-received either when it first came out.
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Post by itsthatguyme on Feb 23, 2017 14:39:57 GMT
I've said it once before , I'll say it again. Predator 2 is the best of the series. It's criminally overlooked. The first film is good , don't get me wrong. It doesn't have the rewatch appeal like the second though. It has better characters but it gets boring looking at the same jungle background. Plus there's not enough variety overall. It's the same scene over and over again pretty much. I also like PREDATORS. It was decent.
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Reynard
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Post by Reynard on Feb 23, 2017 15:23:14 GMT
I've said it once before , I'll say it again. Predator 2 is the best of the series. It's criminally overlooked. The first film is good , don't get me wrong. It doesn't have the rewatch appeal like the second though. It has better characters but it gets boring looking at the same jungle background. Plus there's not enough variety overall. It's the same scene over and over again pretty much. I also like PREDATORS. It was decent. Shorter time span and limited setting are what make Predator so dramatic and effective. A group of men has to go beyond their perceived limits or perish because someone or something has challenged them to do that. Nothing unessential in that. That the challenger is a hunter from outer space is in a way just a sci-fi gimmick. Predator is essentially a Jack London story set in a jungle. All later additions to the series more or less miss that point. |
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