Right, some more expansive thoughts.
I'll get the few minor quibbles I had out of the way first:
Spoiler
- Some of the CGI was less than stellar.
- The Predator looked amazing... until he took his mask off. I didn't hate it, but the face design was a long way removed from what we've seen before.
- (Admittedly this one might be on me because I was watching it on a sunny summer's morning with the curtains open, but -) the final fight seemed a little too dark and I struggled to see what was going on at times.
- I could've done without the Predator's "d'oh" moment of realisation before it dies. It felt corny, and would've worked better for me if it simply bought the farm without ever seeing it coming.
But altogether those things were pretty inconsequential in light of what is an awesome Predator movie and comfortably the best film in this franchise since the first (even if I personally still like
Predator 2 a bit more). Above all, it seems to understand that one of the things that made the first two films work is they essentially took a genre movie and then dropped the Predator into it; this starts out as a Native American drama - and quite a slow-burner at that - before the Predator steps in partway through and things escalate rapidly. And the film's all the better for this approach.
As plenty of other people have mentioned, the cinematography is superb; the plentiful panoramas of the American wilderness are particularly stunning. (This really needs a cinema release!) Amber Midthunder was excellent, especially considering she doesn't get a whole lot of backup from a supporting cast and has to carry the bulk of the movie on her own. (Although even she struggled to compete with her adorable canine co-star
) Schachner's score was great; while it would've been nice to hear Silvestri's motifs make a comeback, I don't honestly think they would've fit with the tone of this movie and it'd be a disservice to criticise Schachner's work because of it.
The Predator itself is a boss with tons of cool new weapons. In particular, the sequence where it takes on the European trappers - glimpsed in the trailers - is an amazingly violent brawl. Suffice to say, all talk of this perhaps being toned-down violence-wise are completely misguided - there's some proper brutal slayings in this. There was talk in the marketing of this being the species' first visit to Earth and I can't say I was keen on that angle - so I'm happy to report it's literally never mentioned or inferred in the film itself.
A couple of final spoilery points:
Spoiler
- I appreciated the misdirection in setting up the bog mud as the way Naru would conceal herself from the Predator, only for her to use a totally different means before the bog made a return as the means to the Predator's downfall.
- Also as soon as I saw that flintlock I wondered if it would serve as a tie-in to Predator 2, so I was happy when that proved to be the case
RIP Raphael Andolini.
Quote from: DotheKaliYuga on Aug 05, 2022, 02:26:11 PMThe ending was dumb, requiring Naru to have an understanding of the technology she couldn't possibly have acquired over the course of the movie.
Spoiler
We obviously watched different movies because I distinctly remember a scene showing us exactly how she learns about the mask and guided spears. As for the hand-held spear she uses, she doesn't know how it works - hence why she's shocked when it collapses in her hand instead of striking the Predator. It doesn't mean she can't still bludgeon him with it.
