The Alien and Predator Discussion Thread

[JAGzilla]

The hell is this crotchety cynical-ass take?

Eh, I just calls 'em as I sees 'em. Everything else in the movie was intimate, small-scale, traditional Predator, and then there's this 'epic' extravaganza where he's mowing down dozens of dumb cannon fodder in over-the-top fashion. Tell me that scene would have felt out of place in a Star Wars or MCU movie.

[NSZ]

The hell is this crotchety cynical-ass take?

Eh, I just calls 'em as I sees 'em. Everything else in the movie was intimate, small-scale, traditional Predator, and then there's this 'epic' extravaganza where he's mowing down dozens of dumb cannon fodder in over-the-top fashion. Tell me that scene would have felt out of place in a Star Wars or MCU movie.

JAG, that sequence is in no way out of place. Feral goes the entire movie advancing from one level to the next.

From snake to wolf to bear to spear & bow-wielding Comanche to firearms-wielding Europeans and then finally to someone with the right brains to kill him.

[JAGzilla]

All right, that's fair. It was still too much for my liking, though.

[Omegamorph]

Alien and Predator are a big part of my sci-fi upbringing - done podcasts & retrospectives on the films with AvPG, on my website and the likes. Since I'm a 90s kid, my first exposure to both of them was a mag article on AvP - so I'm one of those people who really does like AvP for what it is, the comic book version of those creatures. The Queen in that one is absolutely rad. I'm pretty much fond of all the films of both series -- even Resurrection and Covenant -- with the exception of Prometheus (the absolute bottom line pit of narcissistic, pseudo-intellectual idiocy) and The Predator 2018 (the least said the better).

My go-to film? Easy one...

[JAGzilla]

I just finished Aliens . Effectively my first viewing; I'd only previously seen it once, circa 2007, and all I remembered was how much Sergeant Johnson ripped off Apone. Johnson even went so far as to reuse some of Apone's lines.

But yes, absolutely fantastic movie. If those weren't the greatest practical effects ever put to film, they have to be a damn close second place, and I don't know what first would even be. And they hold up perfectly against anything Hollywood is putting out today. It's so sad that this art form has been abandoned.

And the same goes for every other aspect of the movie. It's all top-tier stuff. Easily one of the best sci-fi movies ever made.

Interestingly, I seem to have mentally mixed this up with another movie. I distinctly remember a scene involving the Marines holed up in a building or tunnel with a large blast door. A swarm of aliens (or whatever type of monster they actually were) was approaching, and the Marines set up automated machine gun turrets outside the door to thin the swarm out, which ended up being at least partially successful. Was that Alien 3, maybe?

EDIT: Never mind, I found it. It's in the Aliens director's cut.

[Spirit Ghidorah 2010]

The only part that bogged Aliens down for me was the giant extravagant explosive battle(s) between the Xenos and the Marines. It was a good concept in theory, but Disney obviously stuck their greedy, condescending noses in at this point and decided that the drooling masses couldn't possibly get through the movie without being spoonfed their daily dose of Big and Dumb.

And then we had to have that MCU moment where our heroine takes on an entire Xeno hive with one gun and escapes a nuclear explosion, then proceeds to go toe-to-toe against the Xeno queen with just a glorified forklift, throwing her story arc out the window. *sigh* But the rest of the movie was good enough that I'll let that stuff go.

[Spuro]

^ How on earth does that destroy her character arc? Wasn't her character arc building up to that moment the whole movie?

[eabaker]

^ How on earth does that destroy her character arc? Wasn't her character arc building up to that moment the whole movie?

I think you may be taking Spirit Ghidorah's comment a bit more seriously than it was meant.

[JAGzilla]

It's possible I deserve some of that. Hey, that was my impression while watching, though.

And while the Predator vs. trappers battle is mostly a matter of taste, I'll go ahead and defend my take on Naru's knife fight. Her goal was to become and be taken seriously as a hunter and warrior, but she was unable to actually kill anything that mattered. She lost the deer, hesitated to shoot the hawk, fell out of the tree while fighting the cougar, was cornered by the bear, blundered into a trap while fleeing the Predator. Defeating the Predator should've been her first victory, her big, triumphant moment. How does pwning a bunch of French guys fit into that? And I'd be glad to be corrected here, if I missed something.

[Leviarex]

It seems Roland Emmerich almost made his own version of 'Alien vs. Predator' back in the 90s:

[LegendZilla]

If the Debont Godzilla film had actually got made, Emmerich would've made AVP instead.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

I really want to track down a copy of Predator: Concrete Jungle. Can't believe I lost my old copy. I miss that era of AVP, hell I still play AVP Extinction every now and then.

I put like over 100 hours into Predator Hunting Grounds, sure it should've been way more of a better game but honestly I made a lot of good memories playing that during quarantine. I encountered some real Predator fans on there, the kind that just wanted to have fun. Man, imagine a Predator single player experience with an online mode like Red Dead 2.....

[Maverick Centigrade]

I really want to track down a copy of Predator: Concrete Jungle. Can't believe I lost my old copy. I miss that era of AVP, hell I still play AVP Extinction every now and then.

I put like over 100 hours into Predator Hunting Grounds, sure it should've been way more of a better game but honestly I made a lot of good memories playing that during quarantine. I encountered some real Predator fans on there, the kind that just wanted to have fun. Man, imagine a Predator single player experience with an online mode like Red Dead 2.....

I still have mine AND code breaker to give myself infinite energy. I had a lot of good times playing back in 2005. It is a travesty that there isn't a AAA single player Predator game. In competent hands, it could truly be a fantastic game.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Some people's day may have been made, a samurai era Predator film is rumored to be in the works.

[Maverick Centigrade]

Some people's day may have been made, a samurai era Predator film is rumored to be in the works.

Great! Another opportunity to totally butcher the Predator design again!

[ShinGojira14]

Predator: Hunting Grounds should have a story mode where you play as a Young Blood (of your own design and gender) that goes around the world, hunting various people and animals, slowly gaining more weapons and experience all the while.

And then, in the final level of the game, your Predator goes to a biomechanical H.R. Giger planet where you undergo a rite-of-passage hunt and fight Aliens. (With the original 1979 design, of course; not the shitty Resurrection or Requiem looks.)

And the Aliens aren’t just dispatchable goons like in AVP (2010) or AVP 2; each Alien is a full-fledged boss that your Predator has to fight to win. And if you start the level by managing to kill an Alien with a ranged weapon (plasma caster, smart disc), the AI of every Alien you fight from there on will adapt Alien: Isolation-style to dodge and avoid your ranged attacks.

[The One and Only]

Would anyone else would like to see what an extended, director's cut of THE PREDATOR ?
On the subject of the story of a Predator flick set in another era. I can't help but think of the story behind of NECA'S 100th Predator figure, the Alpha Predator. I always thought that might an interesting tale to tell in a flick.

[_JNavs_]

Would anyone else would like to see what an extended, director's cut of THE PREDATOR ?

No, no I would not lol

[CyberZilla]

I’m not sure if The Predator warrants a longer cut. It’s a very flawed film from its core, even though it has some decent ideas and some… very questionable ones, to say the very least.

[The One and Only]

The Feral Predator from PREY as some inevitiabley expected will be getting an action figure from NECA this September.

https://toywiz.com/neca-prey-feral-pred ... e-version/