Forum Member Reviews of Predators *Use Spoiler Tags!*

[Anto of the Sand]

I must say overall I'm quite happy with the movie. I like how the characters interacted with one another, I just wish there had of been a little more of it.
The issues I had with the movie:

The heat vision was a wash with CGI. Complete, hard blue, with burnt orange didn't look great IMO.

Also, the scene when Nicolai kills "Tusks" the fire looked inexplicable. Very dissapointing, almost like cartoon fire.

Brody was quite poor aswell. He kept doing that Christian Bale Batman voice. Very unnatural.

Still can't believe I saw Eric Forman ! What were they thinking ?

The three Preds looked quite poor IMO.

[PredBabe]

Saw it again tonight, don't judge me! 

Anyways I really enjoyed it the second time around and as suspected I saw/heard things that I had missed (little details, dialogue, etc.).  Maybe the midnight viewing wasn't the best idea, for me anyways, and not to mention trying to write a review at 3 in the morning (by that time you're either really bitchy or slap happy). 

I still have little gripes with the movie (my main one being the lack of screen time for the predators) but it's definitely a respectable sequel for the original and I would go as far as saying that I like it more than Predator 2 (it’s a better made movie because it is well thought out and does have a more intriguing story with great acting/characters).

I'm definitely hoping for another sequel from them.  7/10  8.5/10

 

[beckmen]

I am really hoping I will like it better when I see it again, but not holding out more hope and also that isn't likely to happen for a while.

You can't win them all.

[PredBabe]

No you can't.

I do agree with some of your thoughts in your review though. You had some good points and interesting suggestions.

[SiL]

Okay, I want all the people rating this highly to stand in a line so I can kick them in the fucking nuts for getting my hopes up.

Y'know what the bar was I set for this movie? Terminator Salvation. It's a terrible, stupid movie, but I can watch it a lot cos it's fun. The pacing's solid, the action scenes are competently handled. It's a great popcorn flick.

Swear to God this has as many fucking homages as AvPR, and done with about as much subtlety.

Half the movie is people talking. And not good talking - explaining everything in minute detail. "They've set a trap! Let me stand here and explain precisely what the point of this trap is, because even though we're all (bar one) ostensibly accomplished murderers, you may not know how this goes!"

What the fuck is this, CSI?

Y'know how you can tell this movie was inspired by Aliens besides the title? Second act fucking tea party and multiple villains resulting in no individual antagonist appearing as much as a threat. But whereas Cameron compensated for those with a forty-minute non-stop-action ending and making the mass of Aliens threatening, Predators compensates by ... well, it doesn't. The action starts ... and then everyone sits around and talks, and then the movie fucking ends.

And the bad guys? Were they really that bad? Not a single Predator felt threatening. Not a God-damned one, largely because they all had about two scenes.

Each.

Except Mr Black, but by the time he got any decent screentime the movie was ending.

I ... shitting Christ, I could write pages about this shit, but here's the tl;dr

It's not terrible. It's easy to see why people like it. But I don't find it fun. The Predators are lame. The good is far outweighed by the bad. I will stick to Predator 2, because as cheesy, lame and stupid as it is, it's a fucking fun ride.

[Anto of the Sand]

I thought the pacing was perfect myself, exactly what I was hoping for. None of the teen drama of AvP:R or the dramatic pauses of AvP. The script was kept simple, because the characters aren't a bunch of scientists like in Alien, and it wasn't made stupid either. I love how the characters begin to figure out what's happening to them bit by bit.
The Predators, I agree, do suck alot. Particularly, Dentures. He looked like an idiot with the mask on and much, much worse with it off.
Cgi was poor, as was Brody, but apart from all that, it was exactly what I wanted.

[SiL]

The script was kept simple, because the characters aren't a bunch of scientists like in Alien,

One character was a scientist.

and it wasn't made stupid either.

The ceaseless needless exposition would disagree.

[Anto of the Sand]

One character was a scientist.

Doctor is doctor.

The ceaseless needless exposition would disagree.

Ceaseless? No. Needless? Wouldn't say so either.
There wasn't that much of it at all. Also it's necessary, considering some people are new to all this. I also felt it added to the situation(s).

[Hunter]

The ceaseless needless exposition would disagree.

Needless for you, maybe.. Some people appreciate it though, my girlfriend for instance thought the first 45 minutes were ace before her interest really waned, bless her. Think Nimrod and the cast deserve great credit for creating an interesting and tense opening when essentially, we've seen it all before. 2nd half of the movie got a bit garbage, though. Around the time Fishbourne was introduced. Things started to drag.. Became too formulaic. The Hanzo fight and particularly the accompanying score for that bit were great though. Very competently made though, looked lush, well acted, and superb effects. Weak final act though. Done much better 23 years ago with a muddy Ahnuld.

Predator 4/5
Predators 3/5
Predator 2 2.5/5
Alien vs Predator 2/5
Alien vs Predator R 1/5

[Anto of the Sand]

That's what I thought. Exept the garbage bit, thought the Fishbourne scenes and onwars were quite good still.

[Hubbs]

Anyone think that Nikolai's death was kinda similar to Vasquez's death in 'Aliens'?
or am I just stretching too far here? lol

[Anto of the Sand]

I thought it was similar to Eric Formans. That's about it.

[SiL]

Needless for you, maybe..

They walk into a situation that looks suss.

Royce demonstrates it's a trap. We are shown that this set-up is a trap.

Mombassa then procedes to explain in detail this trap.

That's needless. We've just seen it. One of the rules of thumb for filmmaking is show, don't tell. If you show, there is no need to tell. But they did anyway.

It was needless.

They come across an odd totem with skulls at the bottom. Creepy. Mombassa then explains what this is about. Pretty irrelevant. The scene was there to add mood; explaining the significance of the skulls wasn't needed. Let it be creepy and move on.

It's like them seeing the skinned bodies in Predator, and Blaine starts talking about how he used to do that back home to make animal skin rugs and shit. It's a God-damned skinned body, we don't need a detailed analysis.

[Thedus]

Just got home from seeing it. ...still formulating my thoughts, but overall I liked it. 

[Anto of the Sand]

That's what real people do sometimes SiL.