Predator 2/5
I find that this is more of a novelty artifact and worth reading for the pure interest of its quirkiness than it ever will be a decent book. While the writing displays an appreciation for language early on, I think it begins to get lazy as we go. Constantly referring to characters like Dillon, Billy, Hawkins, and Ramirez as "the black man," "the Indian," "the Irishman," and "the Chicano" respectively just got boring, beyond the fact that the racial stereotyping became notably problematic when these constant repetitions are coming from the objective third-person narrator. I'm not sure if this comes from Paul Monette, Jim & John Thomas's original script, or the editors of the book. I thought it got a little old that Dillon was constantly referred to in the context of his race, in just about every instance he is attributed interior thoughts or described by someone else. Particular instances include something along the lines of "...for all intents and purposes, he was the whitest man in the room..." or "...he'd be as welcome as he would at a KKK rally..." and he's straight up referred to as a "nig-nog" by Blain or Mac (I can't remember which, both characters are more profane in the novelization) and directly as "n***er" shockingly by Schaefer. "Spic" or "spick" ends up being used by Mac (who by absence of constantly being referred to as 'the black man' can be assumed to be white here) several times to refer to Ramirez, but in this instance we're meant to take it as an expression of apolitical military camaraderie. And I still find that unearned, considering this is coming from a white author, based on a screenplay by white authors, none of any of whom served in the military either to my knowledge.
Some interesting deviations here include a very abstract characterization of the Predator itself, and some odd motivations for it to hunt and study humans. There's actually a bizarre inner conflict happening with the character, or at least that's how I take it. Something not explored in the movie, because here I believe the Predator to be an embodiment of the earlier concept for the creature, and not what eventually ended up on screen. It's able to take the shape of other animals, and its skin directly changes color I believe. Its blood is orange, and its ship features significantly near the end of the book.
One bat-shit-crazy difference in the novelization included an alteration to the scene where Billy senses the Predator ahead of the team after they leave the destroyed guerrilla camp. In the film, Dutch confronts Billy who admits that it's probably nothing. In the novelization, HE READS THE PREDATOR'S MIND AND THEN FAINTS. This scene was insane! There are other deviations from the film's plot that make the novel worth at least one read.
Overall though, the novelization of Predator does an even poorer job than the film of concealing the fact that there's really no plot. Considering the visual emphasis of the film medium, the final act of Predator goes over just fine. The special effects are impressive as hell, the musical score is dramatic, etc. Unfortunately, there's none of that to redeem the fact that, in the novel, Major Schaefer is the most boring, flat character present. By the time all the stereotyped characters disappear, we're left with nothing but a blank slate and no dialogue. Thankfully, this portion of the story lasts a mere ten pages or less, and then we're done. The problem is, we don't really have any idea what Schaefer desires. For a novel, that's what we need. And for an effective narrative that does its job, we need some kind of change. Does Schaefer become a pacifist for having seen what he's seen? That's just an example of a possibility. The answer is, who knows? Nothing really comes to fruition here. I don't really know if Shaefer gets what he wants or not. As a film, it works as entertainment because of the spectacle. As a novel, it's written with a skilled hand a times, but at other times it feels lazy, and notably problematic even beyond the fact that there's not really a plot with regards to the protagonist.
Alien Resurrection 4/5
This is a delayed reaction, considering I finished this in the fall but never returned to post my update here. I've enjoyed logging my reviews of these novels by the way. In drawing this out over a few years, it's been interesting to come back and read my reactions. In some cases, I don't remember the books very well. With Resurrection, I would actually argue that the novelization is the definitive version of Joss Whedon's screenplay. Bluntly, it's better and more complete than the film and gives the audience a more worthy narrative. I was really impressed by this book, most specifically the separate narrators focalizing the story, and just generally the expansion on every character in the film. I felt like I knew just about everyone in the movie better after reading this book. In particular, I found DiStephano of note as his character appears throughout the novelization and he's built up until he finally joins the group of characters on their quest. I also really enjoyed the sequences focalized through Christie and any expansion of his character, considering he feels a bit absent in the film for my taste. I do think this suffers from some of the same problems as the movie in the way that most of the interesting characters buy the farm early on. Perez, Christie, Elgyn, and Gediman plays a more significant role in this but again spends most of the narrative out of sight, out of mind. The italicized sections that kind of dove into Ripley's interior and the Aliens were handled pretty well. I was pleasantly surprised by this book overall and will label it my favorite of the original four films' novelizations.
I find that my 'active' engagement in my fandom with the Alien and Predator franchises seems to come in what I'd describe as waves. Maybe lasts a few months and then I kind of transition away. Last year I read six or seven books or so around spring and I think I might be gearing up to go through another wave of reading through these. I also just ordered Predator 2, and for Christmas received the If It Bleeds anthology. To be honest, whether I find these books good or bad, I always am enjoying the experience of reading them, even the boring ones like Steel Egg or River of Pain.
I'm still on the fence about making the financial commitment to track down the Dark Horse Predator series.
