When I recommended this movie to my brother, I told him it was not that great, except for where it mattered. What I meant by that was that, at the end of the day, I came into this looking to watch some crazy Predator fights, and in that area, the movie delivers. Yes, it takes a little too long to get to the good stuff, and the human drama that gets in the way is chock-full of clichés and not particularly compelling or revolutionary, but from the mid-point on, our favorite mandibled alien takes the center stage and starts wrecking people's day. The action is well shot, creative, and suitably gruesome. There are plenty of fun moments, and they do a good job making each action sequence feel unique. Realism aside, I particularly enjoyed that they didn't make things too one sided. Even in one of earliest Predator sequences they have him take some damage, which makes for more interesting fights. As far as critiques of the action, I did think the finale fell a bit flat and had some less than compelling elements (the mechanics of the homing bolts and targeting lasers don't make a whole lot of sense, i.e. why would the Predator even shoot them if they only fly toward a laser target that he knows is not on his target? Also, it's a small thing, but I really don't like the "strap sharp sticks to a tree because maybe the Predator will jump on it later". Felt out of place and even more unrealistic than everything else).
A couple other miscellaneous thoughts in no particular order.
First, I saw that they released a version of the film dubbed in Comanche, which I thought was a cool idea, but after watching the film (in English) I can't help but think they should have gone the Apocalypto route and actually filmed in Comanche. I just think the dialogue was not one of the film's strong suits, feeling a touch too modern and not quite capturing the gravitas that I feel like they were going for. When films use English as a proxy for a foreign language, sometimes they'll stylize it, either with accents or Shakespearean writing in order to still give it a foreign feel (e.g. Chernobyl or most swords and sandals epics). This film didn't go that route, and so the English dialogue just felt flat and out of place.
Regarding music, I strongly suspect that the composer(s) of this film were at least partially inspired by and trying to capture the epic feel of The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack. Unfortunately, inviting comparisons to that masterpiece of orchestration puts you in a tough spot, and despite the music here being totally serviceable, during many of the sweeping nature shots I couldn't help but wish I was listening to Promentory.
Review by SkinnyFilmBuffVIP 8BlockedParent2022-08-13T17:23:04Z
When I recommended this movie to my brother, I told him it was not that great, except for where it mattered. What I meant by that was that, at the end of the day, I came into this looking to watch some crazy Predator fights, and in that area, the movie delivers. Yes, it takes a little too long to get to the good stuff, and the human drama that gets in the way is chock-full of clichés and not particularly compelling or revolutionary, but from the mid-point on, our favorite mandibled alien takes the center stage and starts wrecking people's day. The action is well shot, creative, and suitably gruesome. There are plenty of fun moments, and they do a good job making each action sequence feel unique. Realism aside, I particularly enjoyed that they didn't make things too one sided. Even in one of earliest Predator sequences they have him take some damage, which makes for more interesting fights. As far as critiques of the action, I did think the finale fell a bit flat and had some less than compelling elements (the mechanics of the homing bolts and targeting lasers don't make a whole lot of sense, i.e. why would the Predator even shoot them if they only fly toward a laser target that he knows is not on his target? Also, it's a small thing, but I really don't like the "strap sharp sticks to a tree because maybe the Predator will jump on it later". Felt out of place and even more unrealistic than everything else).
A couple other miscellaneous thoughts in no particular order.
First, I saw that they released a version of the film dubbed in Comanche, which I thought was a cool idea, but after watching the film (in English) I can't help but think they should have gone the Apocalypto route and actually filmed in Comanche. I just think the dialogue was not one of the film's strong suits, feeling a touch too modern and not quite capturing the gravitas that I feel like they were going for. When films use English as a proxy for a foreign language, sometimes they'll stylize it, either with accents or Shakespearean writing in order to still give it a foreign feel (e.g. Chernobyl or most swords and sandals epics). This film didn't go that route, and so the English dialogue just felt flat and out of place.
Regarding music, I strongly suspect that the composer(s) of this film were at least partially inspired by and trying to capture the epic feel of The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack. Unfortunately, inviting comparisons to that masterpiece of orchestration puts you in a tough spot, and despite the music here being totally serviceable, during many of the sweeping nature shots I couldn't help but wish I was listening to Promentory.