Great sci-fi thrillers of the past used to go out of their way to capture an element realism. Those film-makers, the ones that were visionary sci-fi directors, were not hamstrung by the effects technology... they planned the shots and adapted according to what worked for the story and tone of the movie. It's well documented how in the original predator the Fx people sent down a red "crab creature" to the shoot location, and the filmmaker basically said, this is not going to work, and got someone else to design the rastafari Predator we know and love.
In the modern era, however, we have directors who are better at comic book story-boarding than they are at filmmaking (think about it... when you pitch your film with an entire story board vs. a mere text screenplay, how much less vision and trust is required from the producer to open up their wallet!) And the dialogue / writing ends up sounding like it was lifted off the pages of a comic book as well.
I suggest watching "The Abyss" to see how story premise can be used to create tension. Even though that film flows into several sub-conflicts, there is constant demands put on the audience to anticipate what will happen next. What does the alien look like. Is it friendly or hostile. Who will survive.
Modern comic book style sci-fi films, none less than "The Predator", abandon that approach and instead try to entertain you with "Deadpool" like *shocker* dialogue, and as filler gouge out the audience's eyeballs to CGI effects that come so fast and frequent that suspension of the laws of physics becomes trope, as does the Sarah Conner gritty female who can fight better than the men. As others have mentioned, this film gives a female biology professor who goes from cowering in a heap to blasting away with an AR like she's John Rambo. OK PC Hollywood. But did you also have to go all "Mercury Rising" on us?
And BTW, the IMDB "filters" prevent using the kind of language that you will find in this film, as well as the kind of review it truly deserves. I would say this movie is not just a "pass", but one of those movies where Predator fans should be writing angry letters to the studio. That's how bad it is. So why 3 stars and not 1? Because there are a few places where they were creative in tying back to the original film: namely "Get to the Choppers"... a ridiculous scene, but one that was actually funny in a creative way. But then again, I'm someone who likes this franchise so much I would rate AVP at about a 7/10 and AVP2 a 6. In many ways, this film has a lot in common with AVP2... even to the point of having a "good" predator have to take on a bigger, tougher "hybrid". The difference is that AVP2 made no bones about being a B-movie slasher film where everybody is going to die... kids, dogs, they don't care. "The Predator", on the other hand, film tries to resurrect an epic-premise, the alien hunter vs. the elite soldier, and falls all over it's face trying to do it.
In the modern era, however, we have directors who are better at comic book story-boarding than they are at filmmaking (think about it... when you pitch your film with an entire story board vs. a mere text screenplay, how much less vision and trust is required from the producer to open up their wallet!) And the dialogue / writing ends up sounding like it was lifted off the pages of a comic book as well.
I suggest watching "The Abyss" to see how story premise can be used to create tension. Even though that film flows into several sub-conflicts, there is constant demands put on the audience to anticipate what will happen next. What does the alien look like. Is it friendly or hostile. Who will survive.
Modern comic book style sci-fi films, none less than "The Predator", abandon that approach and instead try to entertain you with "Deadpool" like *shocker* dialogue, and as filler gouge out the audience's eyeballs to CGI effects that come so fast and frequent that suspension of the laws of physics becomes trope, as does the Sarah Conner gritty female who can fight better than the men. As others have mentioned, this film gives a female biology professor who goes from cowering in a heap to blasting away with an AR like she's John Rambo. OK PC Hollywood. But did you also have to go all "Mercury Rising" on us?
And BTW, the IMDB "filters" prevent using the kind of language that you will find in this film, as well as the kind of review it truly deserves. I would say this movie is not just a "pass", but one of those movies where Predator fans should be writing angry letters to the studio. That's how bad it is. So why 3 stars and not 1? Because there are a few places where they were creative in tying back to the original film: namely "Get to the Choppers"... a ridiculous scene, but one that was actually funny in a creative way. But then again, I'm someone who likes this franchise so much I would rate AVP at about a 7/10 and AVP2 a 6. In many ways, this film has a lot in common with AVP2... even to the point of having a "good" predator have to take on a bigger, tougher "hybrid". The difference is that AVP2 made no bones about being a B-movie slasher film where everybody is going to die... kids, dogs, they don't care. "The Predator", on the other hand, film tries to resurrect an epic-premise, the alien hunter vs. the elite soldier, and falls all over it's face trying to do it.