Prey & Predator: Badlands - 20th Century Studios

[sh9000]

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/predator-5-sequel-director-10-cloverfield-lane-franchise

Not connected to The Predator.

Please post about toys and other topics in their own threads.

Edited October 23 by sh9000

[TangledThorns]

The last movie was dumb AF. Predators was decent. I'd like to see something more inline with the original but set in a modern war zone setting. Is it that hard to make a PREDATOR movie that takes place in Afghanistan, Iraq or Portland?

[Dynaman]

All the Predator movies were dumb, even the first one, but the first one was awesome dumb while all the rest were terrible dumb.  Predators was at least watchable I have to admit but the star in that one was not convincing.  

[Thom]

The only good one was the first one! Although, Predators from 2010 was a real good movie, esp in comparison to the other sequels.

[TangledThorns]

Can't we just get a good AVP movie with Colonial Marines? Was it that hard for the Hollywood morons to break out the armor and pulse rifles from the 1986 movie for the last two AVP films?

[Seto Kaiba]

Well, at least it's ignoring The Predator... that's an automatic point in its favor.

Still, I have a hard time imagining they'll be able to put a new and interesting spin on the idea that more clicky bois are coming to Earth to hunt The Most Dangerous Game.  The Predators suffered too much villain decay in previous sequels to ever be properly scary or intimidating again, now they're just fishnet-wearing serial killers with bad teeth and no compelling motive.

Like Alien Isolation, they need to go back to Predator's roots to have any hope of making this one worth a damn.

[kajnrig]

Looking back, I've enjoyed every standalone Predator movie except 2. So there's more, huh? Okay. Deal me in.

[sqidd]

Make it rated R.

Increase the scale. Predators vs Aliens and far enough in the future where Colonial Marines are in the mix. Maybe it all happens on earth. Maybe it all happens on another planet. Something with a much larger scope than three Predators go after five people and a couple Aliens mixed in. I'm thinking the scale needs to be more along the lines of Battle For Los Angles, smaller than Independence day, about the same scale as Edge of Tomorrow/Live Die Repeat. etc.

At the end of the day I will watch whatever they release though. I'm a sucker for Alien/Predator stuff.

[Tking22]

I think the last Predator movie I liked was the one with Adrien Brody and Eric Foreman. The latest one was really terrible. Why do we need Super Predators? And enhanced Predators? And Predators imbued with the genes of autistic kids? The Predator is a damn fine and terrifying movie monster, the monster doesn't need an upgrade, the writing does, stop it. 

21 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

Can't we just get a good AVP movie with Colonial Marines? Was it that hard for the Hollywood morons to break out the armor and pulse rifles from the 1986 movie for the last two AVP films?

This. Holy crap, it seems so simple, STOP DOING AVP IN THE PRESENT DAY! It's not hard, most of the AVP comics took place in the future, in the time of the Colonial Marines, why do we keep getting these cheap modern monster movies that just happen to have a Predator in them? 

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Tking22 said:

This. Holy crap, it seems so simple, STOP DOING AVP IN THE PRESENT DAY! It's not hard, most of the AVP comics took place in the future, in the time of the Colonial Marines, why do we keep getting these cheap modern monster movies that just happen to have a Predator in them? 

Oh, that's an easy one... blame the villain decay caused by Aliens and Predator 2.

Both the Predator and the Xenomorph derived most of their ability to frighten and intimidate from being unseen and unstoppable killers that were clearly in no hurry to finish off their prey.  There was nothing the crew of the Nostromo could do to prevent the xenomorph from killing them all with impunity.  Likewise, the Predator was able to slaughter a team of elite commandos with impunity and show off how tough it was by beating up a character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger without breaking a sweat.  The threat level for both of them dropped significantly when sequels revealed they weren't actually all that tough.  The Predator in Predator 2 was killed off by an ordinary cop in the Los Angeles of 1997, and the xenomorphs in Aliens were killed in droves by inept and overconfident colonial marines in 2179.

The scary monster is much less scary when it's revealed that you can just shoot it dead.

That's why they have to keep setting these movies in the present day... because that keeps the protagonists from having the kind of technology and firepower that levels the playing field too much for the monsters to be a credible threat.

[Tking22]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

That's why they have to keep setting these movies in the present day... because that keeps the protagonists from having the kind of technology and firepower that levels the playing field too much for the monsters to be a credible threat.

Yeah but then they find a way to kill the beasty in the present day anyway, which becomes even more luck based, and circumstantial. At least with the colonial marines it's usually an earned win or kill, they've got it easier, but it's more believable then the Scooby-Doo like antics of the second AVP.

Honestly, the best Alien story since the first film was the game Alien Isolation, which was absolutely amazing, a true love letter to fans of the first film. It caught flack from critics for being too hard, and the antagonist was unkillable, which was the entire point, it was just such a good game and had atmosphere out the wazoo. 

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The scary monster is much less scary when it's revealed that you can just shoot it dead.

Reminds me of this:

 

Edited November 24, 2020 by pengbuzz

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Oh, that's an easy one... blame the villain decay caused by Aliens and Predator 2.

Both the Predator and the Xenomorph derived most of their ability to frighten and intimidate from being unseen and unstoppable killers that were clearly in no hurry to finish off their prey.  There was nothing the crew of the Nostromo could do to prevent the xenomorph from killing them all with impunity.  Likewise, the Predator was able to slaughter a team of elite commandos with impunity and show off how tough it was by beating up a character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger without breaking a sweat.  The threat level for both of them dropped significantly when sequels revealed they weren't actually all that tough.  The Predator in Predator 2 was killed off by an ordinary cop in the Los Angeles of 1997, and the xenomorphs in Aliens were killed in droves by inept and overconfident colonial marines in 2179.

The scary monster is much less scary when it's revealed that you can just shoot it dead.

That's why they have to keep setting these movies in the present day... because that keeps the protagonists from having the kind of technology and firepower that levels the playing field too much for the monsters to be a credible threat.

Well argued and QFT. The first movie was fun b/c it was something new, and the premise, while simple, made for an entertaining sci-fi film with memorable lines and characters, as well as a memorable and interesting antagonist. But predator, and Aliens as well, have been done to death and there's nothing really new or surprising about them. And as Seto says, their level of menace has been reduced to near zero. I'm tired of the constant recycling of 30+ year old ideas ad nauseum. Why can't anyone in Hollywood come up with something new?  It's sad that millennials and their progeny aren't really going to have their own classics like Predator, or Terminator, or Aliens, to carry forward and develop over time, as Hollywood has apparently had writer's block since the 90's and can't think of anything new. Fifty years from now, they're still going to be recycling these same IPs for lack of anything else to work from. Sad.

3 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

Honestly, the best Alien story since the first film was the game Alien Isolation, which was absolutely amazing, a true love letter to fans of the first film. It caught flack from critics for being too hard, and the antagonist was unkillable, which was the entire point, it was just such a good game and had atmosphere out the wazoo. 

I started playing that game, but I kept on getting sniffed out and killed by the Alien, so I agree with the tough part. At least early in the game, you can't defend yourself against the Alien at all. I got tired of dying and quit playing, but you're not wrong about the atmosphere and feel- it's like being in an Alien film. The sound effects are lifted right rom the films. 

[Seto Kaiba]

7 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

Yeah but then they find a way to kill the beasty in the present day anyway, which becomes even more luck based, and circumstantial. At least with the colonial marines it's usually an earned win or kill, they've got it easier, but it's more believable then the Scooby-Doo like antics of the second AVP.

Yup... but it preserves more dramatic tension to have humanity be unable to kill the monster without having to resort to extreme measures like teaming up with the other monster (as in AVP) or just flat-out nuking the entire area (as in AVP:R).  There's no tension left if Johnny Testosterone-Tits and nine of his best mates can just roll up with pulse rifles and convert swarms of the nasty buggers into piles of picante salsa verde with chitin chips in barely enough time to boil an egg.

There's even less tension when the eminently bullet-absorbent monster feels compelled to stop and pose for the camera in all its mutilated glory every five minutes.  "Where is it?  Oh, it's over there posing impressively."

 

Quote

Honestly, the best Alien story since the first film was the game Alien Isolation, which was absolutely amazing, a true love letter to fans of the first film. It caught flack from critics for being too hard, and the antagonist was unkillable, which was the entire point, it was just such a good game and had atmosphere out the wazoo. 

I regret that I do not have an adequately strong way to express my approval of this statement.

"QFT" will have to do, for now.  

Alien: Isolation understood what made the alien scary.  That it is something unseen and unstoppable, hunting you with profoundly lethal intent but in no hurry to actually finish the job.

If this new Predator movie can get back to Predator's roots by making the titular Predator into an unseen and decidedly malicious hunter that's messing with a crew of certifiable bad*sses for funsies with every expectation and ability to kill them without breaking a sweat, then it might be worthwhile.

[Tking22]

I really just want to see a single Predator again, no team, no Predator civil war, just one single nearly unstoppable beast doing it's thing, hunting. Also, just make it an OG Predator, not another hybrid or Super Predator. 

22 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I started playing that game, but I kept on getting sniffed out and killed by the Alien, so I agree with the tough part. At least early in the game, you can't defend yourself against the Alien at all. I got tired of dying and quit playing, but you're not wrong about the atmosphere and feel- it's like being in an Alien film. The sound effects are lifted right rom the films. 

It's definitely tough in the beginning, but I loved that, that feeling of no hope, just despair, you know you can't fight, just run. It gets better eventually, you definitely can't outright fight or kill the Xeno, but you can drive it away, which kept the feeling of an unkillable stalker, you know the best you can do is buy time. Also, from a game design standpoint, the Alien AI in Isolation was award-worthy, it was such a brilliantly designed monster, it nailed everything that made the Xeno such an icon in the first film, and the tech and AI behind the creature itself was amazing. 

[pengbuzz]

2 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Alien: Isolation understood what made the alien scary.  That it is something unseen and unstoppable, hunting you with profoundly lethal intent but in no hurry to actually finish the job.

If this new Predator movie can get back to Predator's roots by making the titular Predator into an unseen and decidedly malicious hunter that's messing with a crew of certifiable bad*sses for funsies with every expectation and ability to kill them without breaking a sweat, then it might be worthwhile.

Agreed.  I liken what the movie makers need to do for the Predator series to what was done for Darth Vader in Rogue One: remind the audience just why he creates dread in all that encounter him.  I think while Vader didn't exactly suffer "villain decay" per se, seeing Anakin in the prequels lessened the threat Vader had become in many folks minds, and watching Vader demolish a Rebel squad on his own reestablished the "oh crap" quotient.

One thought I had was: if humanity has advanced in their ability to defend themselves, then wouldn't the Yautja also adapt to hunt them? A possible example would be that mud no longer works to mask humans' heat signature, as the Yautja have refined their sensors to use a different wavelength in addition to IR. Another would maybe be a further refinement on the stealth camo that would minimize the distortion effect that was visible.

Just some ideas.

2 hours ago, Tking22 said:

I really just want to see a single Predator again, no team, no Predator civil war, just one single nearly unstoppable beast doing it's thing, hunting. Also, just make it an OG Predator, not another hybrid or Super Predator. 

It's definitely tough in the beginning, but I loved that, that feeling of no hope, just despair, you know you can't fight, just run. It gets better eventually, you definitely can't outright fight or kill the Xeno, but you can drive it away, which kept the feeling of an unkillable stalker, you know the best you can do is buy time. Also, from a game design standpoint, the Alien AI in Isolation was award-worthy, it was such a brilliantly designed monster, it nailed everything that made the Xeno such an icon in the first film, and the tech and AI behind the creature itself was amazing. 

"Buy time" is definitely the keyword here; and one more thing I would throw in is the possibility of the Predator succeeding in killing the entire human cast. Make it out as if the last one or two characters would survive...

...but time runs out.

[Dynaman]

I said it before and I'll say it again (and again).  Just because the prop department re-used a piece of a prop from another film is NO reason to mash two separate universes together.  Aliens and Predators together is comic book level lame.

[Thom]

You can see why they did it though. Two of the biggest blockbusters of the 80s and people getting giddy about seeing an Alien skull on a Predator (movie 2) ship. Unfortunately, the hype is usually always more interesting than the end result. It probably should have been left as a simple tease. But on the other hand, there was always the possibility that they could have done it well...

[Bolt]

Predator and AVP are all awesome ideas. A few movies , i even liked. Dark Horse comics, back in the day, had some cool ideas. I don't understand why it's been so difficult for Hollyweird  to make something really awesome with these properties. I must be missing something..

BTW. Not holding my breath for anything mouse ears owns..

Edited November 25, 2020 by Bolt

[renegadeleader1]

I said this before and I'll say it again louder.

 

Predator.

Pacific Island.

WWII.

 

[TangledThorns]

4 hours ago, renegadeleader1 said:

I said this before and I'll say it again louder.

 

Predator.

Pacific Island.

WWII.

 

I like that. Have some Japan v USA action going on similar to the first movie too. 

[technoblue]

10 hours ago, Bolt said:

Predator and AVP are all awesome ideas. A few movies , i even liked. Dark Horse comics, back in the day, had some cool ideas. I don't understand why it's been so difficult for Hollyweird  to make something really awesome with these properties. I must be missing something..

BTW. Not holding my breath for anything mouse ears owns..

+1

Alien Theory over on Youtube has been doing creative readings of the old Dark Horse Predator comics that featured Machiko Noguchi as the main heroine. In a world where so many comics and graphic novels are now hitting the screen, I gotta wonder why this AvP chapter is overlooked. I mean, if they’re going to insist on twisting the franchises together...this is one of the better attempts.

[sh9000]

https://screenrant.com/predator-5-reboot-plot-details-past-setting-timeline/

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, sh9000 said:

https://screenrant.com/predator-5-reboot-plot-details-past-setting-timeline/

... well, let's hope that's not true.  

Otherwise, it seems like they're about to Terminator: Dark Fate themselves out of a job.

[Thom]

I just want more Colonial Marines!

[pengbuzz]

1 minute ago, Thom said:

I just want more Colonial Marines!

I think  a "Colonial Marines" series would do well on cable TV; doesn't have to be about the Xenomorphs specifically, as I'm sure they had other issues to deal with.

[Thom]

4 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

I think  a "Colonial Marines" series would do well on cable TV; doesn't have to be about the Xenomorphs specifically, as I'm sure they had other issues to deal with.

Arcturians...

But a series with humanity at 'odds' with the Predator species would be pretty cool to see. Dive into their culture using honor as a common ground, but still having troubles enough to flirt with open war near the end of every season.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Thom

[Dynaman]

3 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

I think  a "Colonial Marines" series would do well on cable TV; doesn't have to be about the Xenomorphs specifically, as I'm sure they had other issues to deal with.

The mere fact that a had the term "bug hunt" to describe their mission shows they had similar things happen before.

[Thom]

19 minutes ago, Dynaman said:

The mere fact that a had the term "bug hunt" to describe their mission shows they had similar things happen before.

True, but it was referred to in the same way one talks about cleaning the latrine...

Edited November 25, 2020 by Thom

[Dynaman]

3 minutes ago, Thom said:

True, but it was referred to in the same way one talks about cleaning the latrine...

Perfect for a TV show.  Private newbie and LT doofus can get bumped off each week while the main cast goes happily on.  Aliens level carnage would be a problem for a TV show.

[pengbuzz]

5 minutes ago, Dynaman said:

Perfect for a TV show.  Private newbie and LT doofus can get bumped off each week while the main cast goes happily on.  Aliens level carnage would be a problem for a TV show.

Hence Cable TV; GoT got away with some serious carnage.

[Dynaman]

14 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

Hence Cable TV; GoT got away with some serious carnage.

They still never killed off (permanently) what amounted to the main caste - Sansa, Aria, the younger brother, and Snow.

[Seto Kaiba]

21 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

I think  a "Colonial Marines" series would do well on cable TV; doesn't have to be about the Xenomorphs specifically, as I'm sure they had other issues to deal with.

Eh... personally, I doubt it.

We've seen - via Prometheus - that material from the Alien setting doesn't go over nearly as well with fans or with general audiences when it's divorced from the xenomorphs who are the franchise's iconic namesake.  The Colonial Marines don't really have any story to offer that doesn't involve ending up as Weyland-Yutani brand Xenomorph chow.  Similarly, we've seen how Predator fared poorly when its story tried to be something more than just "clicky bois on safari hunt the most dangerous game" and made an ill-advised effort to try to tie their activities into a less malicious motive.

It'd also be facing competition from the aesthetically and thematically-similar, but more action and cast-survival-friendly TV series adaptation of Halo: Combat Evolved that is set to air on Showtime starting in Q1 2021.

[pengbuzz]

9 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Eh... personally, I doubt it.

We've seen - via Prometheus - that material from the Alien setting doesn't go over nearly as well with fans or with general audiences when it's divorced from the xenomorphs who are the franchise's iconic namesake.  The Colonial Marines don't really have any story to offer that doesn't involve ending up as Weyland-Yutani brand Xenomorph chow.  Similarly, we've seen how Predator fared poorly when its story tried to be something more than just "clicky bois on safari hunt the most dangerous game" and made an ill-advised effort to try to tie their activities into a less malicious motive.

It'd also be facing competition from the aesthetically and thematically-similar, but more action and cast-survival-friendly TV series adaptation of Halo: Combat Evolved that is set to air on Showtime starting in Q1 2021.

Kinda tempted to do up a can of "Xenomorph Chow" cartoon.

[Dobber]

Color me intrigued, hope it is a return to some good for the franchise. 
 

Chris