Empire The Predator Subscriber Exclusive Cover

[OpenMaw]

I can tell you one thing. No matter what movie hits the screens, no matter what the story, the director, the anything. People will cry about it.

Different opinions and tastes, sir. Just look at the Resurrection thread.

They're not trying to turn Upgrade into the new face of the Predator franchise, that much is clear. If they were, we would be seeing a lot more of it. It's completely different from what they've done with the Super Predators and what they attempted to do with the Spinosaurus in JP3. We've seen 3 shots of Upgrade. Literally. In all of the marketing material, 3 shots is all we've got. That's not them trying to make him the "new face" of the franchise. Wait for the film, wait to see how it turns out. I'm certain it's not gonna go 100% the way y'all think.

No, they're not trying to make it the new "face" but it is intended to be, as they said "cooler" "bigger and badder" which is exactly why the Spino was plugged into JP3. It's "bigger and badder! Oh you thought the T-Rex was awesome? Well here's something even bigger and more awesome. Buy the toys!"

[Huggs]

"This summer the predator is up against a Ten-Year-Old Boy"

And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what it's come to.

[Danversity]

I can tell you one thing. No matter what movie hits the screens, no matter what the story, the director, the anything. People will cry about it.

Different opinions and tastes, sir. Just look at the Resurrection thread.

They're not trying to turn Upgrade into the new face of the Predator franchise, that much is clear. If they were, we would be seeing a lot more of it. It's completely different from what they've done with the Super Predators and what they attempted to do with the Spinosaurus in JP3. We've seen 3 shots of Upgrade. Literally. In all of the marketing material, 3 shots is all we've got. That's not them trying to make him the "new face" of the franchise. Wait for the film, wait to see how it turns out. I'm certain it's not gonna go 100% the way y'all think.

No, they're not trying to make it the new "face" but it is intended to be, as they said "cooler" "bigger and badder" which is exactly why the Spino was plugged into JP3. It's "bigger and badder! Oh you thought the T-Rex was awesome? Well here's something even bigger and more awesome. Buy the toys!"

Right. And back only there only was one Alien movie and that one known xenomorph, wasn't the Alien Queen the (a lot) bigger, badder, cooler monster as well?
There's nothing wrong with the "bigger" concept. Bigger doesn't mean better, sure, but neither does smaller. Bigger doesn't inherently mean "stupid and lazy" either. These are all concepts that reflect no level of quality whatsoever, quality comes from execution. And we just can't tell that before seeing the actual final movie. One thing we know is that the Upgrade is one Predator, he's this one character who got too jacked on hybridization and ended up like that. Nobody needs to worry about the Upgrade taking over this franchise, from now on being only 10 feet tall hybrid Predators, nah. That's not what's going on.

And as much as I dislike JP3 and the idea of replacing the T-Rex with the Spino as much as anyone else, JP3 was not bad because of that. It was bad because it was a poorly written and executed movie, with a lot of actually stupid ideas ~such as the 3D-printed flute that talks raptor~

[OpenMaw]

The queen was a progression, a drawing of the curtains to show more of the alien society. The Alien itself was left more or less as it was. A ruthless efficient killing machine with at the very least rudimentary intelligence. The queen did not seek to override the alien or become the main show of the series. Just something more to the series.

And as much as I dislike JP3 and the idea of replacing the T-Rex with the Spino as much as anyone else, JP3 was not bad because of that. It was bad because it was a poorly written and executed movie, with a lot of actually stupid ideas ~such as the 3D-printed flute that talks raptor~

No argument there. I think it's just the most overt symbol in the movie of how off the mark the film was as a whole and that it wasn't even contemplating it's audience.

[Dusk]

But the Alien Queen wasn't doing much of anything, until the very end of the Movie. It's not like she was out there, going after the Marines and making the regular Xenomorph obsolete. She was the Queen of a hive, and her job for the majority of the Movie was to lay eggs.

Spoiler

Here we get the main Predator put front of center in all the promotional material, only for it to get outright murdered halfway through the Movie, and then it's about trying to survive the big new threat for the latter half of the Movie.

[close]

[Danversity]

The queen was a progression, a drawing of the curtains to show more of the alien society. The Alien itself was left more or less as it was. A ruthless efficient killing machine with at the very least rudimentary intelligence. The queen did not seek to over ride the alien or become the main show of the series. Just something more to the series.

And as much as I dislike JP3 and the idea of replacing the T-Rex with the Spino as much as anyone else, JP3 was not bad because of that. It was bad because it was a poorly written and executed movie, with a lot of actually stupid ideas ~such as the 3D-printed flute that talks raptor~

No argument there. I think it's just the most overt symbol in the movie of how off the mark the film was as a whole and that it wasn't even contemplating it's audience.

But that's pretty much how I see the Upgrade. He's something more to the Predator mythos, a showcase of a different kind of Predator, an example of these Predators who dig hybridization (which Shane has already commented is something not the entire race has been doing) gone wrong. And he's gonna be on this movie and that's alright. Maybe, probably, a Predator like that is not gonna be on the next one. Maybe in a couple of others, in lesser roles. Maybe never again, who knows, but the point is the Upgrade is not something that's being brought to be made recurrently in the spotlight, contrary to what they wanted to do with the Super Predators, no. And if

Spoiler

he kills the Fugitive Predator in this movie

[close]

, than that's also not an inherently bad thing, it also depends on execution. I'm Team Fugitive all the way, but I'm letting go of my bias here. If the Upgrade is the major badass he's supposed to be, then I'm perfectly good with it even if he's not my favorite kind of Predator.

[OpenMaw]

For me, the way to do it would be... The Terminator 2 of Predator movies.

Nobody takes issue with the T-1000. Why? Because it's built into a natural progression of the story and although it is technologically superior to the T-800, the T-800 isn't made out to be a chump for the new guy. It's still the titular character.

Not that I would want to have a human Predator team up, again, per se, but the somewhat "understood" agreement in Predators was fine. We're not really friends, we're just in a momentary understanding long enough to get out of the deep doodoo we're in.

It's not that he'll just

Spoiler

kill captured

[close]

it's that he will

Spoiler

straight up murder his ass

[close]

.

[Danversity]

That would be ideal for me too. But I'm waiting to see what happens. Shane is too experienced and too good a screenwriter not to know what would be dissatisfactory, that much I'm sure of, so I really wanna see how the film will play out after all.

[YTL_Hunter_H2]

Huggs gets it!! let a liberal make a violent movie and it turns into bullshit. Guess Shane is intentionally killing a franchise he was the first on screen victim of. Hate to bring politricks into this but come on a 10 year old with autism is the best humanity has against space technology? Pathetic agenda writing

[Dannyboy]

For me, the way to do it would be... The Terminator 2 of Predator movies.

Nobody takes issue with the T-1000. Why? Because it's built into a natural progression of the story and although it is technologically superior to the T-800, the T-800 isn't made out to be a chump for the new guy. It's still the titular character.

Not that I would want to have a human Predator team up, again, per se, but the somewhat "understood" agreement in Predators was fine. We're not really friends, we're just in a momentary understanding long enough to get out of the deep doodoo we're in.

It's not that he'll just

Spoiler

kill captured

[close]

it's that he will

Spoiler

straight up murder his ass

[close]

.

It be like that sometimes 🤷‍♂️

[Huggs]

Huggs gets it!! let a liberal make a violent movie and it turns into bullshit. Guess Shane is intentionally killing a franchise he was the first on screen victim of. Hate to bring politricks into this but come on a 10 year old with autism is the best humanity has against space technology? Pathetic agenda writing

I didn't even know Shane was a liberal. Far out. My remark about politics in film on another thread was merely to highlight it as one of the various reasons certain members of the modern audience are becoming frustrated with franchise films, such as star wars. I'd assume that the Alien prequels are hitting certain nerves that deal with creationism. It's not necessarily a one side/this side thing. Merely that most discussions I have with people about modern cinema does not fail to include the social and political messages that apparently seem prevalent in the films of today.

I personally tend to avoid politics at all costs and I do wish the cinema would become a legitimate place to escape it. Would I say that's the problem with Shane's movie here? No. That would depend on my own personal politics (which I almost never discuss) and I would also need to see the film in its entirety first.

If anything is indeed going to derail this film, it's likely to be the giant predator, and the really, really cringe worthy humor. The kid is just icing on that particular cake.

Though I will say, that the idea of a child being considered the ultimate prey is a terrible idea. Regardless of being a roided out hybrid or not, unarmed females and children have historically been a no-no for predators in this franchise. I can only hope that whatever poor choices have been made, and for whatever reasons they were made, the overall film is strong enough to survive them.

[PredBabe]

the overall design looks nice. It gets better better minute.
but the lower part with the mandibles. Oh my..

Yeah put those things away.



Thanks for posting the articles, Gazz. I really liked Black's explanation of the Loonie characters in comparison the Dutch and his elite team.

[newagescamartist]

Huggs gets it!! let a liberal make a violent movie and it turns into bullshit. Guess Shane is intentionally killing a franchise he was the first on screen victim of. Hate to bring politricks into this but come on a 10 year old with autism is the best humanity has against space technology? Pathetic agenda writing

I didn't even know Shane was a liberal. Far out. My remark about politics in film on another thread was merely to highlight it as one of the various reasons certain members of the modern audience are becoming frustrated with franchise films, such as star wars. I'd assume that the Alien prequels are hitting certain nerves that deal with creationism. It's not necessarily a one side/this side thing. Merely that most discussions I have with people about modern cinema does not fail to include the social and political messages that apparently seem prevalent in the films of today.

I personally tend to avoid politics at all costs and I do wish the cinema would become a legitimate place to escape it. Would I say that's the problem with Shane's movie here? No. That would depend on my own personal politics (which I almost never discuss) and I would also need to see the film in its entirety first.

If anything is indeed going to derail this film, it's likely to be the giant predator, and the really, really cringe worthy humor. The kid is just icing on that particular cake.

Though I will say, that the idea of a child being considered the ultimate prey is a terrible idea. Regardless of being a roided out hybrid or not, unarmed females and children have historically been a no-no for predators in this franchise. I can only hope that whatever poor choices have been made, and for whatever reasons they were made, the overall film is strong enough to survive them.

Really the only reasonable explanation for a 10 year old being the ultimate prey is if he holds an aspect of Predator civilization in his hands and must be dealt with. Any other reason fails. I'm with you. Hoping the film is strong enough to withstand some of the obvious cheese coming with it.

[OpenMaw]

Yeah put those things away.

Is that what you really want?

Really the only reasonable explanation for a 10 year old being the ultimate prey is if he holds an aspect of Predator civilization in his hands and must be dealt with. Any other reason fails. I'm with you. Hoping the film is strong enough to withstand some of the obvious cheese coming with it.

The Predator may teach us the need to weaponize autism.

[Huggs]

The Predator may teach us the need to weaponize autism.

I thought "the accountant" did that?