The next Predator movie - Prey (2022 on Hulu)

[ianh]

The next Predator movie is going to be called "Prey" and is due out in Summer 2022 on the streaming service Hulu. As a brief synopsis, it's set 300 years ago around Naru, a skilled native American warrior who fiercely protects her tribe as an alien Predator hunts them. It stars Amber Midthunder as Naru and is directed by Dan Trachtenberg, director of 10 Cloverfield Lane.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...or-prequel-prey-hulu-release-date-1235046949/



Just due to the clear size/strength difference between a human female and a Predator I'd suggest Naru would probably be using traps and guile rather than outright 1v1 slugging match, almost like the OG Arnie setting traps everywhere, which would be a nice call-back to the Original film.

Regarding having a woman face the Predator, I loved Noguchi in the AvP novels (a strong female character) so I'd usually not be worried about having another "strong female warrior" in this franchise as Noguchi's character was well written, believable and she took no poop from people who treated her poorly due to her gender. However in today's Hollywood climate where seemingly "women must be shown to be flawlessly stunning and brave" rather than as real, believable characters with their own strengths and weaknesses, I'm a little concerned that this story will fall into this same "get woke, go broke" trap of many current year story-telling in films which would be a massive shame for a franchise struggling after so many flops (AVP1-2 & The Predator).

I really just want a well written story so I can disappear into the Predator world for a few hours without obvious "modern day politics" story-writting dragging me back out of the film.

 

[ianh]

If they do it right it should make for a good story, particularly as they had Noguchi from the original AVP story defeat a number of xenomorphs while some predators got themselves killed.

Plus she held her own in Predator "society" once she joined them to further hunt Aliens where, even if she wasn't liked by a great deal of them for being a small female human, they respected her "blooded mark" left by Broken Tusk and the fact that she'd helped take down an Alien Queen, a feat very rarely accomplished even when combining large numbers of blooded Predators for the task.

The writing in the Novel/Comic/Graphic Novel of the OG AvP story "Prey" had her start as a humourless corporate drone who practices martial arts as a stress relief who ends up on a backwater planet in a community of hardened ranchers giving an immediate "corporate vs ranch hands" situation where her failings and weaknesses as a character were worked through by sheer determination and grit until she was a respected leader of the community without ever feeling that the reason she became so respected was due to her gender but instead due to her personal growth and character strength. Then she has to go through a similar adjustment period where she gains the respect of the Predator called Broken Tusk during her fight against both the Aliens and also some rebelling Predators. By the end she's a far different person than the humourless corporate drone who started the novel and she had a completely believable character arc, something rare to see nowadays.

Aside from the AvP action, which dominates most of the story, her character arc is really well written and far better than the awful film attempt at AvP which tried (badly) to copy a few of her character traits across to Alexa Woods, the woman leading the Ice expedition.

 

[ianh]

Maybe I'm getting on a bit , but the female hero / survivor wasnt unusual in genre films and no one used to get their panties in a twist about it.

I agree, which is why some of us were praising the way that a strong female character in the Predator universe was written over 20 years ago (Noguchi). The general complaint nowadays (certainly from myself at least) isn't based on there being a "strong female character" but instead its mainly based on the way strong female characters are written today, which tends to be the same cookie-cutter "to be strong I must never fail at anything whilst talking down to stupid men" type writing which just isn't seen as "good writing" by a large portion of the target audience.

 

[ianh]

I maybe mis-remembering but I'm sure there were Aliens v Predator v Terminator v RoboCop at one point. I know that there was separate "v Terminator" and "v RoboCop" comics, alongside "v Batman" at one point

 

[ianh]

How has it changed exactly?

Generally speaking the popular "strong female characters" from the past were written as really believable, fully fleshed out characters who just happened to be female, whereas now it seems to be that "strong female characters" are written as just those 3 words with little else added, making them seem 2 dimensional cut-outs in comparison.

Obvious it's different for different, specific characters but that seems to be the general gist of why so many recent "strong female characters" seem to flop.

I'd say its a mix of the general lack of screenwriting talent we're current seeing, mixed with a fear of writing a "SFC" who has internal flaws as studio direction seems to be that "SFC's" must be flawless to appease the very vocal online hate-mobs.

 

[ianh]

These movies flop because they are trash to start with, would be equally trash if they had a male lead, nowt to do with the woke obsession.

Yeap I agree 100% but the issue would be that they're not being written with male leads as much nowadays, in which case they'd flop with little said, but that instead they're being made with female leads (no issue) who are still equally poorly written yet are raved about by critics, artificially raising the films supposed quality so when people do eventually see it, they're quite disappointed.

Trash films are trash regardless of the gender of the leads, but that isn't the way it gets reported as its "better" for the media (who get clicks from it) to report it as more Sexism in the fanbase etc.

 

[ianh]

What is the weakness shown by Dutch in Predator?

That for all his immense strength as a peak human, the Predator was still stronger, hence Dutch having to change tactics from pure Strength to using Guile to beat the stronger opponent mentally instead.

 

[ianh]

The first half of the trailer (the acting/script) felt very weak to me but the last half (the action) looked quite good. I'm just hoping there's enough of the "action" to nullify any complaints I might have about the story/script. So far the action stuff looks to be going the way I thought, unable to use her (limited) strength so resorting to traps etc just like the original.

 

[ianh]

Thinking back to the trailer - The predator killing the bear from behind whilst it's busy doing something else is a very "non-predator" thing to do, there's no "honour" for the Yautja in that kill - very odd compared to the pre-existing lore.

 

[ianh]

Just read this...

I've read in a few places that there is a minor push-back from some Native Americans about this film disrespecting Comanche culture, where traditionally the Men are the Warriors, so to show them having to be saved by a woman (even a Comanche one) is being called a sign of disrespect to the Comanche Tribe so I wonder if things like this Language choice will placate the angry voices.

I mean TBF it's not much of a protest by any means, just a few dozen comments against the various teaser/trailers but I wonder it might get more vocal toward the release date.

 

[ianh]

The first movie is ridiculous but we give it a pass because its Arnie.

We "give it a pass" because it's good, not just because its "Arnie". If this new movie is "good" people will like it too, but based most current Hollywood writing being crap (irrespective of what/who stars in it) I'm not holding out much hope for a "this is so bad it's good" film nevermind a "Good" film, which will be a massive shame if it tanks as the Franchise really needs a fresh injection something to get it going again, or just leaving alone to die peacefully of old age

 

[ianh]

I like Predator 2, I think it gets unfairly treated because, whilst it's Good, it's not as Good as the original. It also expanded on the Lore/Canon rather than rewriting it to match the story you want to tell.

 

[ianh]

The latest Teaser is out,not a huge amount more shown, but a potential new Predator wrist weapon (dart?) -

Out on the 5th Aug so the lack of PR hype is a bit surprising, maybe they're waiting until the week before but I haven't seen any Press Interviews with the cast as part of the media junket tour etc yet, which is odd.

 

[ianh]

It was just shown at San Diego Comic Con and the Social Media remarks/reviews from the actual fans who saw it are "out" and so far it's been given some really positive remarks - The news story and some of the reviews can be found below, I haven't read them juuuuust in case there's any spoilers so read at your own risk but, seen as these are Predator fans, it can be taken as "fans will like anything" or "fans liked it because it was good" and I'm 100% hoping for the latter rather than former.

Prey Early Reactions Are Here! And They’re Positive! - Alien vs. Predator Galaxy

With Prey's world premiere at Dan Diego Comic Con having recently finished, the reactions are starting to hit social media (and our own forums from AvP Galaxy members in attendance) and they're very positive! Many are calling it best film next to the original. Our own podcast co-host and website...

www.avpgalaxy.net

 

[ianh]

Well, Mr H rates it pretty highly and he'd have no problem with going off on one if it was woke garbage - or just garbage.
Whether you like him or not (or have never heard of him) the guy lives and breathes predator/alien stuff and does not do wokery.

This matches what the "fan reviews" who saw it at Comic Con have said too so I'm starting to think/hope that we might have a winner here!

 

[ianh]

Only to people who think critics are paid shills.

Ironically the same people tend to trust YouTubers, who really do make money from playing to their audience rather than giving an honest opinion.

They trust people whose views match their own, if the views of "paid shills" don't match their own but those of a random youtuber do then who cares? In the end everyone involved gets paid to provide their reviews so why do you continually crap on youtubers for being "dishonest" when they're just doing the same job as a "professional" who also gets paid?

 

[ianh]

That was not bad, not bad at all, a very respectable 6/10 with the lead female being written really well, making rational decisions, being shown to fail, overcome and triumph, using brains when brawn doesn't work etc, I'm very impressed with the most of the screenwriting. Yes there's always going to be a few "mary sue" moments (her "magical" returning axe etc) but virtually all the "strong independent woman" conflicts seem to arise naturally and get dealt with in a way that also feels organic and real, although having so many of the male "hunting party" being <25 kids with no elders (father figures) anywhere to be seen outside of the camp feels deliberate as a way to get a "young man whose macho gets hurt by woman" scene thrown in but, again, thats dealt with in a "realistic" way.

The story, split into three fairly distinct parts, never feels rushed or drawn out but the (trying not to spoil things) "Firearms" middle section felt a little thrown-in just to have the Predator go through a "John Wick-esqe" moment with all it's new weapons and plenty of un-important and disposable meat sacks to use them on.

The only genuinely "bad" bit for me is the practical effects/CGI of this "new but actually older than the OG one" Predator which looks absolutely terrible to me, the practical skin/costume of the Predator looks almost like comic-con cosplay levels with spray-painted foam body (very unrealistic looking compared to the skin in Pred 1-2) and the new CGI face is very tall and thin making the proportions look all wrong and it's a very definite misstep in an otherwise Good film.

There's some new lore thats been added and I like the idea of the older design wrist computer and helmet (very organic rather than obvious metal) but I wonder how the "artefact" at end of this film ends up in Predator 2, so I'm guessing there will be another film set around this the outcome of this one to explain that, maybe. If there is I'll definitely watch it.

Because Professionals don't get paid to pander to a specific audience.

Of course they do, they get paid to "pander" to the people who buy whatever magazine the review is in or who watch whatever TV show that the review is broadcast on. For example if the professional reviewer for the Guardian or MSNBC suddenly started rating "pro-Right Wing" or "anti-woke" media as "great viewing 9/10" they'd be sacked within moments, don't be so naive!

 

[ianh]

Spoiler

The tech was also a bit odd i thought, they have starships, cloaking devices, laser aiming systems, yet the shoulder cannon in this only fired small arrows? Didn't like the look of the helmet either for that matter.

Spoiler

As a few others mentioned, I've taken this line of thinking - this is the Predator 300 years before the OG Arnie one so the tech is older and, in that 300 year gap, they've improved the lethality of weapons, tech etc. The Bone helmet is an interesting choice but we see it bounce an old musket/pistol ball so it's effective, if a little odd looking.

Hearing stuff like the trailers really did a disservice to the film and the main Character

I'd agree with that, I'd made several complaints about what was seen in the trailers not making sense to Predator Lore etc and yet in the film these scenes had lots more context added so they made actual sense. I can't imagine the director would have been overly happy with those trailers.

 

[ianh]

That.... Is.... Awesome!

I posted this earlier....................

I wonder how the "artefact" at end of this film ends up in Predator 2, I'm guessing there will be another film set around the outcome of this one to explain that, maybe. If there is I'll definitely watch it.

 

[ianh]

Yes, I am wondering that, though would be coll to have another film set in say 70 years later in another part of the world, but yea needs to be explained how they get it back.

What I'm hoping for is a re-imagining of the "AVP: War" novel which is a follow-up novel to original "AVP: Prey" novel (something I mentioned in the opening post) where instead of "Machiko" from the AVP novel, we use Naru from the film to perform the same basic story of "human joins Yautja clan to hunt" which would help explain how the ending of Predator 2 would be possible.

Obviously it'd need a whole heap of massaging the original story to allow it work but the basic idea of "Yautja come back to see how the hunter in Prey did (as shown in the post-credits animation), find that Naru killed him, Naru passes some form of trial by combat/try-out and so the Yautja offer her a chance to leave her tribe and join them as a hunter" at this point there's two ways to go, either she refuses and a fight ensues in which she kills some but dies and, as a trophy the Predator who kills her takes the pistol...........or she accepts the offer and hands over the pistol as a mark of respect. There's some other ways I suppose it could go as those are just quickly hashed out thoughts.