Fred Dekker On The Predator Fan Reception and The Predator Killer Ending

[Huntsman]

The film was trash because it had trashy script. When your movie  tries to change who lore to something much dumber and simply subpair, dont be surprised poeple who care about it will be vocal.

Yep. I'm all for new things, but reinventing the wheel is unnecessary.

[Space_Dementia]

I'm all up for taking a fresh approach, to make something new and different and not just feel like the same old... which is what they were aiming for with The predator, and I was totally up for that! But what we got was a mess... it didn't feel like one consistent story/direction. I believe that there was a radically different version of this movie that MAY have been better, but *cough* Studio *cough* got involved...maybe. One of the biggest disappointments of the year for me and that ending... that ending... I cant find the words...

[Jekku]

The worst fans are the ones that harass the actors, directors, producers, etc. over a film.  It's okay to be critical of a film and hate it.  Just move on and don't dwell or hate on the film every chance you get.  It's exhausting.

The stand out scene in The Predator for me was the lab escape.  Everything else was forgettable or awful.  The ending was probably the worst though.  I think the Predator Killer ending scene should've been dropped completely but if they absolutely had to include it in the film then it should've been Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Dutch.  It wouldn't have been amazing but it wouldn't be silly or have to create alternate time lines and have fans expect Ripley to return in a future Predator film.

[XenoHunter99]

Quit griping.

I like griping

[Wysps]

Sounds like he's taking completely valid criticism of the film and trying to boil it down to people just being angry at the "different approach" that was taken.  First, the script wasn't that great.  I appreciate his hard work, but even the revised material wasn't that great.  Also, the original "formula" of the Predator was and continues to be the hunt.  He didn't change the formula, he changed the whole mythos, lore, etc. of decades of films, comics, and games.  That's more of an overhaul than a different approach, IMO. 

I do empathize with the three years of hard work and his having to defend himself against toxic fans, but a lot of the criticism is valid.  Like others have said, the difficulty of getting "anything on screen" is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

[PsyKore]

I actually find it a bit offensive that he thinks people don't understand the work it takes to bring a movie to the screen when for a long time most scifi films, and the people behind them, have been highly respected for their craft. It's the reason we love seeing BTS stuff.

[Huggs]

I actually find it a bit offensive that he thinks people don't understand the work it takes to bring a movie to the screen when for a long time most scifi films, and the people behind them, have been highly respected for their craft. It's the reason we love seeing BTS stuff.

Definitely. The workmanship and the ability of the people who create this stuff is beyond comprehension, no matter how bad the story.

Everything he writes, somebody else has to visualize and actually create for real. It ain't easy building better worlds. My sympathies lie with the guys and gals who worked their a**es off to make his vision a reality. I think they have alittle more blood sweat and tears invested in this thing. Notice, you don't see them flinging blame anywhere. They're probably too busy working on creating more amazing things to see.

[The Old One]

Yeah, I don't see Tom Woodruff or Alec Gillis blaming the fans.
Even when we don't like their work from time to time.
They address it head on, the "War Crimes" series' fantastic.

[matthewjn]

This comment section only further prove people have trouble understanding such simple things.

Where is he blaming the fans? What's there to blame fans for when we didn't work on the film? Think, people.

Also, he's not "attacking" every fan who criticized the movie. He called out TOXIC FANS. We all know what toxic fans say, and if you think there aren't any toxic comments, you're going to need to read around more.

[The Old One]

Yeah Toxic Fans exist we know this; we're not denying that.

SIL- hit the nail on the head pages ago.

I always find the "you don't know how hard it is to get a movie made!" defense incredibly bizarre. It's so irrelevant.

But his argument seemed to be people criticising the film in general not knowing how hard it is to get something to screen. How difficult it is to make isn't the least bit of a defense. Every film is hard to make -- we still get good movies. Whether there was studio interference or not, whether the sets burned down or people had to get edited out at the last second, doesn't excuse the fact the end result is lacklustre.

[proto leech]

can you link me to the toxic stuff

id like to know exactly where these guys are so i can laugh at these nasty boys

[SiL]

He called out TOXIC FANS. We all know what toxic fans say, and if you think there aren't any toxic comments, you're going to need to read around more.

Everyone knows there are toxic comments. But even if you read his comment, he's not referring to people going after individual filmmakers; he's talking about people trashing the movie itself:

but I spent three years on it and to have it trashed by toxic fans who don't have the first clue how hard it is to get anything on the screen, well...that hurts.

Nobody's arguing toxic comments don't exist, just that whether it's hard to make a film is hardly a reason for people to take it easy when they don't like it.

[AhabPredator]

Deploy the fans are toxic trope in

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Victimhood.exe initiated

[BigDaddyJohn]

Quinn asks the Assassin Predator "What are you?".  Then, as the Assassin Predator starts to answer Quinn, he shoots him in the face and says "Shut the f*ck up!".

Sure it makes no sense to ask something a question, only to kill it before you get an answer... but the audience will surely say "Ah ha! He got him there! See the giant Predator was about to speak and Quinn killed it before it could talk? That's so cool! Dutch asked his Predator 'what the hell are you' because he truly pondered the answer. But Quinn already knew the answer. He just did asked it because he's so badass! Even with his mates dead, he's badass!  So badass!"  Wait, the audience didn't like it??  But we were just trying something different. They obviously don't want anything different.

In the original script they had a short dialogue though, and i think it was a bit better.

[funk_master_chunk]

In Dekker's defence the planned original ending was much better than the Pred Killer. But to touch on what he also said, he had 3 years to remedy it and come up with something better once Arnie said no to that.

Now, I appreciate he's not entirely to blame, but the script was never the strongest to begin with, was it? I distinctly remember, whilst reading the leaked script, thinking to myself: "This might actually be good if it wasn't a Predator film" and that it felt like he/they happened upon a good idea and then reworked it to include the Pred.

As for calling out the fanbase, he needs to get a thicker skin. He's in a position if great privilege which I'd be willing to bet pays quite handsomely - in more ways than one! And he ought to know that, no matter how good or bad any material is, it's always going to have people who love it and people who loathe it.

Furthermore, there are ALWAYS going to be dickheads in every walk of life, and whilst I'm certainly not condoning any of the stick he's getting, it's not like it's just a couple of fanboys who're hating on this film, is it?

It's reception has been, unanimously, tepid at best. So I'd advise he/they take a look at where the movie falls flat first before addressing the idiot section of the fanbase and calling them out on their idiocy.