Escape to the Movies: Predators

[MovieBob]

There's always been a part of me that kinda hoped that if we ever saw Predator Homeworld it'd be essentially just like here, and these "badasses" we'd been meeting on Earth were the equivalent of douchey yuppie guys who slap on weekend-warrior fatigues and go hunting/fishing with their work buddies. Or maybe it's one of those "outward bound" things were businessmen go hang out and chant in the woods and learn about their "spirit animals" so they can sell better or whatever.

Can't you just picture The Predator coming home and his wife is waiting like, "Oh, GEE! Another human spine? Wow, we don't already have five of those! How about you go hunt down a JOB! And take off that stupid battle-mask. What are you, twelve? NOBODY wears those now, you like a damn LARPer!"

 

[Siffit]

we don't see female predators

How do you know what a female predator looks like ?
Or even if there are female predators ? Maybe they dont "do" it like we do

 

[Herr Wozzeck]

Well, I've always been a sucker for Adrien Brody, I'm not gonna lie. That alone might make it worth the trip, but I won't be at the movies this weekend because I'll be busy getting ready to leave on Monday. Plus, I really want to see Inception when it comes out next week... I'll wait for it to come out on DVD to watch it.

But you've definitely piqued my interest, so I'll try to check it out.

 

[HarmanSmith]

When I actually started to think about the Predators' culture, I realized that they are essentially krogans, except with more subtlety. Maybe the Predator race is some kind of genetic cousin to the krogans, given spaceflight technology by another race to help fight a looming intergalactic threat.

There you go, producers, a suitable origin story for you to milk for all it's worth. I expect 10% of all profits for the use of my intellectual property (sort of).

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

I caught the midnight showing, and let me just say it was really, really enjoyable.

 

[Tolerant Fanboy]

When I actually started to think about the Predators' culture, I realized that they are essentially krogans, except with more subtlety. Maybe the Predator race is some kind of genetic cousin to the krogans, given spaceflight technology by another race to help fight a looming intergalactic threat.

There you go, producers, a suitable origin story for you to milk for all it's worth. I expect 10% of all profits for the use of my intellectual property (sort of).

So, how many testicles does a Predator have, then?

 

[tamerman]

Perhaps the predators advance so far into space travel because they were running out of interesting game to hunt on their own planet. i mean think about it, they have been hunting the same things for ten million years or so, and they are getting bored with it all. so they go out to look for new life and new civilizations, pick out the most ruthless ones, and send there boys in to kill them and make there mommies proud.

Tribes! God damn technologically retarded tribes.

tribes are awsome, so sush

You'd think cultures that still inextricably associate masculinity with the ability to kill something would've destroyed themselves by the time they had figured out nuclear fission.

its all about honor. killing someone with a nuke? not honorable. they had no chance to fight back. killing someone with your bare hands while they try despritly to kil lyou? THATS honorable.


havent you ever see nthe other preditor movies? they dont kill unarmed targets, or armed targets who are pregnent. its not honorable to kill an unarmed target.

 

[Canid117]

Ted Nugent hates PETA and rubs humans omnivore behavior in their faces. Therefore Ted Nugent is awesome.

 

[The Partisan]

I find it interesting how so much credit is given to Rober Rodriguez when he only produced the film, rather than directed it. That job went to Nimrod Antal (lol. Nimrod - gets me every time). I've noticed this happening alot with Spielburg films as well.

I'm still growing as a film geek and am the first to admit that I have ALOT to learn, but it's always been my impression that the director was supposed to get the most credit for a film.

Feel free to correct me.

 

[FastLogan2400]

I think part of me died when I saw that photo of who was going to be the new Spider-Man.

 

[Jay Cee]

A remake of a horror cult classic, and it's not terrible?

Wait how can this be it...

Oh, it's NOT produced by Platinum Dunes?

So I think we've established that without the design-by-commity aspect of Micheal Bay's pretensions to being auteur director, horror remakes can actually be good.

I was so glad this movie turned out alright, almost removes my pessimism when it comes to remakes.
ALMOST.

 

[Redem]

we don't see female predators

How do you know what a female predator looks like ?
Or even if there are female predators ? Maybe they dont "do" it like we do

Well its from source other than the movies

 

[Flamezdudes]

I saw this yesterday, it was very entertaining. It was hilarious though since my friend and I were just silenting whispering out "ITS A TRAP!" (General Ackbar) and i kept hoping for a "GET TO THE CHOPPA" moment so i randomly said it a couple of times.

Was good movie though, a good action flick for the summer.

 

[kain6th]

"Minus Lost's crappy ending."

I see what you did there bob.

 

[maxcubus]

The plot for this sounds a lot like that of the gantz anime (which is being made into a live action film), not a bad thing at all.
Im just glad this doesn't suck i was seeing this no matter what

 

[ArmorArmadillo]

Edit: And in relation to the seemingly-tribal yet technologically sophisticated predators, maybe the reason they hunt like they do is not for sport or to bring home a trophy (They don't eat the humans they kill, do they? That might be the reason), but because all of the predators we see are adolescent predators that are sent to kill whatever they can to prove their status as a "real man" back at the predators' home planet. Instead of trophy hunting because you need to prove to yourself that you're more manly than everyone else, you trophy hunt because of a traditional rite of passage all predators must go through.

And you know what kind of societies on Earth go through this whole "rites that make you a real man" and "rites of passage all male teenagers go through" kind of thing?

Tribes! God damn technologically retarded tribes.

Hmm...I have two potential explanations that could be interesting to develop.

1. Predators are sort of like the Zentraedi from Robotech/Macross: Engineered to be a perfect warrior race by some crystal spires advanced aliens, but they broke off from and turned on their masters and slaughtered them. They still have technology to travel the stars and wage war, but don't really understand it or the implications behind it, so they went back to business of just living out their genetic coding of liking to kill and seeking worthy opponents. You play it up as a satire of the military-industrial complex and the needless building of war machines to no goal but sustaining themselves and the stodgy traditional machismo that propels them.

2. Predators are space rednecks. They come from a culturally advanced society, but they are afraid of accepting advancement into their lives and so they travel the universe hunting things in a desperate effort to recapture some ideal of a noble savage past that exists only in the conservative imagination. The angle would be to play up the hypocrisy of men who rely on science but reject it's emasculating anti-traditional influence and the illogical idea that you can return to a past that didn't exist by forcefully adopting intentionally backward ideals.

 

[Reneux]

Movies and Politics and Current Events all fit together, all joined at the head of human experience, eh? A little free association is nice. What I don't understand very well, and please not bother explaining, is how all you macho red meaters get your panties in a soak every time someone takes a shot at your little lifestyle heros, are you so insecure within your convictions that you cannot handle an opposing view?

 

[Warnolo]

so... im the only one who liked the second movie more that the first one?

I mean, fuck, he is in the city.

 

[Canid117]

I thought I had heard somewhere that the Predators stole the technology and didn't really understand it that well. The Predator population is also probably very small due to their tactics and general attitude. (Tribal attitudes start dying out when there are thousands of you living in a city)

 

[Blind Sight]

Hi MovieBob, could you stop ragging on Twilight, its flawed yes... not every single piece of literature is The Divine Comedy, if you hate anything enough you will find flaws because your looking for them.

You said yourself in the Harry Potter critique you did that any flaws pointed out would not change peoples minds over it (please correct whatever you said) and whether or not they would see it.

Aren't you technically pointing out flaws in his review, and thus making the same mistake he is? And I'm pointing out how that's flawed so that means that...*head explodes from paradox* (see what I'm trying to get at? There's no point in reviewing or commenting on anything if you believe it's about changing people's minds. It's not, it's about stating your own opinion through your own medium in anyway you see fit. Of course, you're welcome to critique that as well, just thought I'd point out the broken logic haha).

At least MovieBob offers up intelligent arguments for why it's bad, rather then just attacking it mindlessly.

In relation to the review, I'm really looking forward to Predators. Although tribal societies had been known to advance slower then ones based on agriculture, it would be fully possible for the Predators to develop quickly through a hunter lifestyle if there were certain elements within their society. For example, stationary hunters (rare, but still possible) have the advantage of using less land and resources for food production. Hunting societies often have low birth rates as well, meaning that food isn't as major a problem. However, it's still difficult to catch food, and just like how farmers developed better technologies for food production, stationary hunters could develop better technologies in order to increase the population. As the population increases, expansion and colonization is needed in order to release some of the stress on the food supply. With the way the Predators advanced, it's pretty obvious that their tribal hunter nature stems from their history rather then their need. Predators don't seem to use humans for food, and thus it could be seen as a trial in order to prove that they are an effective member of society as well as a way to gain power and respect.