I love the idea - killers being hunted on an alien game preserve. Very high concept, in my opinion. You can really see the movie in your head. Maybe that's the problem. Too bad, but I'll probably catch it at the theater anyway.
I don't think its an awful movie.. and like previously stated, the concept is solid.. but I don't think they knew what to do with it. Now that I have thought about it, I definitely hate the ending.
It's one of those movies where I can't find the energy to praise it or to be critical. A decent execution of a thoroughly generic premise.
If you are going to see it, I'd advise the bargain matinee instead of the cut-price DVD eight months from now. I suspect that it works a lot better up a big screen than on a much smaller television set.
I saw it and it was fun to watch -- far from great -- but loved nods to the first one (even the end song.)
And even better -- it was $6 bucks in NYC. I didn't think they had matinee prices anymore in the city and I've been to many first showings, but somehow I got the price of the 1987 movie ticket to see original Predator in 2010. It was X-Mas.
Just got back. I thought it was fun but it was definitely a retread. Very predictable, and it stuck too close to the beats of the original PREDATOR. Which is a weird criticism for me to make because I always thought PREDATOR 2 strayed too far from the original (but I still like that one too). It's like they overcompensated by playing everything safe and familiar. But then SPOILER I really expected the ending to crib from PREDATOR 2 and have a bunch of Predators come down and pat Adrien Brody on the back for doing a good job, Danny Glover style. Respecting a badass hunter and whatnot. That was my favorite idea in PREDATOR 2, if they're going to acknowledge anything from that movie it seems like a worthy nod. But instead it's a total non-ending, they just walk off like "let's go get off this planet". Uhh.. there is no way to get off, at least no way established by the plot. The ship blew up. Get off with each other. And then have fun filling Larry Fishburne's role. END SPOILER.
What else? The predator dogs were stupid. Why the hell would the predators need them? Oh, right, for one action scene, then they're summarily dropped. The other species of Pumpkinheads that were dropped down in the cages had zero to do with anything. Why even bother? The planet/moon was a bit too Earth-like. Which wouldn't bug me, but when Topher Grace starts quoting the Latin names for plants and stuff it's kind of WTF from a hard sci-fi perspective. Unless the Predators made the planet/moon very Earth-like to make humans more comfortable. But comfort doesn't really seem like their top priority.
Regardless, it was a fun time at the movies and felt like a decent throwback to eighties action. Especially in the dregs of this summer. I think they were trying to a) make it feel like the original and b) expand the scope in the same way ALIENS blew up the groundwork laid by ALIEN. They did a decent job with a) but the story was a bit too rote to do a respectable job of b). I saw it with three other people and we all pretty much agreed with each other about everything I've typed up here.
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