So, i finally have time to comment again and i have read all 84 pages, is always interesting and entertainning to see the exchange of opinions here and i can get lost for hours just reading, and as someone who has been part of a lot of discussion boards i can assure this one is one the best forums for fans of X thing.
I saw the movie twice and thought it was fine, is a decent entertainment, i voted "it was okay" but i would give it a 7 out of 10 but i am thinking lately it might be more of a 6 xP didnt felt much like a Predator movie and the titular character either, however i was entertainned the whole way through and that is more of what i can say of a lot of movies nowadays, without being great is better than 99% of the garbage hollywood released this year and some of the previous years too, which is sad when you think about it.
For sure is better than The Predator which was practically impossible not to be, i watched Predators on tv once a long time ago and never again and thought it was some crappy half remake half dumb ideas bad movie but this one is not much if any better, i dont think is better than Predator 2 at all, the first two movies with all the flaws they might have are untouchable.
However i think they had the right idea and i think this is what the franchise should be: an anthology, standalone movies set in random periods and places of human history where a story is developing and all of the sudden the Predator shows up.
Like the first two movies, only with more polish and zero forced cringe eye rolling references, it reminds of the same crap they do in the Terminator franchise.
I think they could even make a movie where is like a 2 hour anthology with 3 or 4 short stories, one with pirates, the mob, samurais, world war, they have a lot of options.
Random thoughts about it because i forgot the structure of what i was gonna say:
-If something as atrocious and embarrasing, insulting, in every level like Jurassic World Dominion or Thor: Love and Thunder which are a waste of money and even worse, time, get a worldwide theatrical release, there is no logical reason a much better movie like Prey goes straight to streaming, i wanted to see this in theaters.
And like i read in other forum, the worst part is that if it did well, like it did, the suit people are probably gonna think that then the place of the franchise is streaming services.
-I read (not just here but several places) that the movie was very slow paces in the first act, very gory, and had very little dialogue.
I dont find this to be true at all, the movie is fast paced, is not very violent and most of the stuff happens off screen and there is plenty of dialogue, before watching the movie i thought it was gonna be almost like an artsy independent/not from hollywood film but nah.
-It has some pacing issues, i didnt noticed it as much on the second viewing but it has several times when it starts to pick up and then it just stops.
A good example of this is the battle with the (cartoonish but not in a good way) French people, the first time i saw it i thought it was like this big sequence right before the third act and i was confused when all of the sudden the Predator makes the bomb explode and the scene ends and then the pacing slows down and we have like half an hour of more movie? I thought it was weird.
-I thought Naru and her brother were fine both as characters and in acting, not that they had much to do, i get the idea of the movie but maybe the script was too barebones.
I liked Amber in the first season of Legion (didnt watched the others yet) and was optimistic about her casting.
-Despite the flaws, i am happy that the interest in the franchise has been renewed for audiences and fans, on a technical level the movie is good and the crew put effort and that is always nice to see recognized and rewarded.
-I liked seeing the Predator going up in the food chain, that was cool, maybe they should have kept him more in the background but whatever.
-The design of the Predator face was garbage, no way around it, the single worst design in every cinematic appearance of the character so far and i cannot believe that aspect gets worse with every movie.
A shame because otherwise i liked the design, specially the mask.
-Action scenes were fun specially the one with the French.
-Some baaad dialogues.
-Forced and stupid references. They were forced. And stupid. I would bet that kind of crap always comes from the producers.
-Some confusing stuff, is not very clear that the (i think they are but not sure i will check it out) buffalos were not killed by the Predator.
I get that was the point, you are supposed to be confused at first glance and then when you see the cigar you get it but if i have to watch a movie more than once to understand something simple then maybe the people making it should be more clear in how they communicate information to the audience, hollywood always break the golden rule of cinema of show dont tell and it was nice to see a bit of that here in that scene but it wss not well done.
Is also confusing how Naru cuts off the Predator arm, between the quick cuts the darkness and the not very clear communication/choreography of the action happening on screen you get taken out of the movie, because instead of just being show by the movie what is happening you have to stop being involved in the story to think about what you are seeing, and i think but cant remember that happens in at least one more moment.
-Speaking of which, the final battle felt rushed and anticlimatic. The way the Predator dies was stupid, i was expecting something more elaborated.
And i remember right in the first two movies the final battle was practically the whole third act and it was filled with setup and suspense and stakes, here is like 5 minutes and done.
-I liked the music, it was good even if it wasnt memorable and some moments could have used more silence.
-All of the sudden Naru becomes a killer and kills three men. We never see any emotional repercusion of that, is just a "cool action scene".
-Typical "science fiction prequel" problem where the technology is more advanced despite happening before in the timeline of previous movies, we saw this in the Star Wars prequels, Prometheus, etc.
I am specifically talking about water not affecting the cloaking but it applies to thermal vision i guess. Dumb oversight.
-The visual effect of the cloaking was cooler before, if i remember right AVP wad the last one that got the look right, maybe just the original two Predator movies.
-The Predator 2 pistol easter egg was dumb. It reminds me of stuff like the Han Solo movie or crap prequels like that were they think we want to know every detail and background story or everything. I dont. On the contrary actually, a mistery is interesting because of what we dont know. And if you make something i dont like i dont count it as canon, that is why there are only two Predator movies.
-The CGI was fine, i watch things on my cellphone now so is more noticeable, i dont know the budget for this but the only thing i care in a movie is that is good, i thought the wolf was the best one.
-I liked the dog lol
I think that is all i have to say about the movie, i cant imagine the wall of text i just made and i am even almost embarrased to look, i dont even expect anyone to read all of this it must be exhausting, i just wanted to share my thoughts, overall i enjoyed the movie for what it was, as a final comment i hope the new Alien movie being made is good enough and succesfull as this one more than anything so the interest in the franchises goes back a little bit to not being a joke for a lot of people, and so we can finally get a good AVP movie.
