Shane Black got hung out to dry??- This movie stinks of a FOX f-up

[BigDaddyJohn]

Let's face it. This movie is a nail in the coffin. Franchise is dead. Both AvP and now this. No more humiliation. Enough is enough. Studio and Shane, thank you very much. You achieved unattainable. I salute you

Let's face it, you and i will still go see the future movie, whatever when or what that may be 

I'd normally be on the same fanwagon, and say hell yes! But with that ending....I honestly don't think I could watch a follow up to that movie, as much as it pains me to say.

Come on ! Iron Pred flying through the screen with the Black Sabbath song ! 

[Wysps]

Oh god  Careful, a studio exec might see that and take you seriously! Lol

[Mr.Turok]

Seeing we had Long Tall Sally in that chopper scene, wouldn't feel out of place to be honest.

[D88M]

This is probably true, and the amount of butchering in this movie reeks of studio meddling, like has happenned with Justice League, Suicide Squad, Rogue One, Solo, etc.
But maybe they were trying to "save" the movie or make it shorter to gain more viewings and money because they knew it was bad, because on the other hand, this is from the director of Iron Man 3, a movie that has the exact same problem as The Predator: It had nothing to do with the universe it was set in.
Both movies have characters named after the Iron Man and Predator worlds, but there is nothing that resembles those characters or tone or anything.
So i take that Shane had no idea what he was doing and was just doing his own thing with disregard for all the previous movies.
A lot of people, and i dont mean just here but everywhere, defend the movie only becaue Shane made it and has a filmmaking style that they love.
I dont know who he is, i only saw Iron Man 3 from him, and is also an awful movie, so i am gonna put the blame on him.
Also, did Shane not made the leaked script along with Dekker or whatever is his name? The script that was even more stupid than the movie we got? If so, there you have your answer, they just made a bad script.

I agree with most of this.  Shane is/was being billed as the next great thing.   And had yet to do a "great" movie (He's done "good" movies) But nothing that would/will go down in movie lore.

I'm trying to give him the benefit of doubt here.  Cause in this case I can't believe a movie on this scale could turn out so bad.  We are talking about scenes barely put together, cuts and edits that were just plain bad (no other word to describe it). For all the talk up Black was getting I gotta believe this wasn't on him.  The studio had to have undercut most of his sh-t.

I didn't see Iron Man 3 (not a Marvel guy) but again, the things introduced new to this Pred Universe I'd like to believe Shane had some backstory to "connect" his audience to.  I'm now curious to watch Iron Man 3 to see if there are the same issues that are CLEAR and PRESENT in this film as there are in that film. 

I'm just baffled.  Like still even after a few days of this soaking in....all I can do is just be baffled. 

Well, the mutilated footage says "studio", but the awful dialogues, "comedy", characters, action scenes and pretty much everything about each scene except the "Iron Predator" says "Shane Black", i think both the studio and director have blame in this. And btw i found funny that Silvestri theme came at random throught the movie, that might be the studio too, but we will never know.

And that takes me to Iron Man 3, and this are the two main problems that movie has, which are shared with The Predator: Totally unrelated story, characters and tone that does not feel like it belongs to the brand is named after, and pathetic self aware, childish, forced, totally out of place, not funny and tension killing jokes.

That is why i feel that is Black, but all studios want to copy the mcu formula, so...

Anyway, i am appalled too, i saw the movie some days ago and i totally wiped it off my mind, there is nothing memorable except how bad it is. Really sad this is the (probable) way the franchise ends.

[funk_master_chunk]

The reception the film is getting absolutely stinks of interference - be it Fox pre-sale or Disney higher-ups late in the day.

The overriding positives all seem to be quintessential Shane Black elements - great character interplay, snappy dialogue etc. So it stands to reason that if he got his way fully, we may have seen something different.

We know there were extensive reshoots and we know the final film is somewhat different from the leaked script.  What would be interesting to know is if the film pre-reshoot was in any way different from the original script - though from the leaked set photos it doesn't look like.

And therein lies the problem for me: the original script isn't a solid enough entry to the franchise to begin with.

When I was reading the script, there were a couple of things which stood out. The first was how it didn't feel like a Predator film at all. I remember feeling like it wouldn't work. But I also distinctly remember thinking:

"If this wasn't a Pred film, I think I'd really f**king enjoy this!!"

One other thing which stood out was, for all the initial faults, the script was well paced. And that's the tell tale sign that there was some (big) interference. Be it Fox or Disney or due to screening feedback there was huge interference in this film and it's sugfered as a result.

[Rudiger]

Black has too much experience to deliver such shoddy work. Something went very, very wrong.

[skull-splitter]

Black has too much experience to deliver such shoddy work. Something went very, very wrong.

-Dekker plot (Maybe helping his friend out by letting him write)
-reshoots of the third act
-triple recutting till the final week almost, likely on studio orders

I'd like to see the first cut.

[AVP-CAPCOM]

Studio interference and re-shoots aside.................why the hell did this film take 3, almost 4 years to make?

AVP started production in late 2003 and was released August 2004.
AVP-R was shot in 52 days September 2006 and effects finished by Hydraulx for a December 2007 release (purposefully delayed to get released during the cinema graveyard shift season).

Say what you want about the Strauss Brother's and Paul W S Anderson they get shit done, and both are technically competent film makers. I think a Paul W S Anderson for Directing, Walter Hill/David Giler Producing and Hydraulx doing an AVP3 is the only way to reboot the franchises.

As others have said the alternative is known Directors (David Fincher, even Ridley Scott and now Shane Black) getting clouted by 20th Century Fox studios. At least Paul W S Anderson and Strauss brothers had an admittently scholcky concepts but at least they were concepts they stuck to and very specific concepts before shooting began which is why there was little variance between the storyboards/concept art and the final films.

Ridley Scott, Shane Black on the other hand did not. Hence why on-set budget constraints and studio interefence caused more problems than ALIEN/PREDATOR purists would like to admit. Paul W S Anderson and Strauss Borthers had this tangible aspect well in hand and long before the cameras starting rolling.

May have to change the site name to Aliengalaxy.....

LOL....

After the mess that was Prometheus and Covenant?

[skull-splitter]

You're asking Anderson back for being able to run an efficient time table?

That's usually why his films are shit. He justs cranks them out.

Denis Villeneuve cranked out Blade Runner in two meager years and it was awesome. Though not a tale that interests most.

Black was attached and then the film was anounced without a thing in place. Even then four years is a hell of a long time.

[AVP-CAPCOM]

You're asking Anderson back for being able to run an efficient time table?

That's usually why his films are shit. He justs cranks them out.

I see potential in Paul W S Anderson yes, but its frustrating as there are 5 star moments in quite a lot of his movies up there with (Ridley Scott/James Cameron/George Miller), but throughout the run-time there is also either faceplaming, cringe or unintentional laugh out loud moments.

Michael Bay also cranks out movies with the same template he's had since the late 80s. While TRANSFORMERS- THE LAST KNIGHT was a relative commercial and critical failure, damn it was a technically brilliant film.

[SM]

I'm struggling to think of anything Anderson has done that would be on a par with the other directors you mentioned.

[skull-splitter]

He manages to make it visually interesting at a modest budget, but to compare him to better directors to be on par...

Don't get me wrong, I still think AvP is entertaining and incredibly well paced. It even has some shots that visually are really interesting. But his characters are more 2D than any of Cameron's Marines. The story's plot new but also a kick in the shins. The bad outweighs the good.

[Nathsp]

As bas as many people consider, i think avp is a fun movie, i prefer avp than the predator, at least it feels like a movie, not amateur film, the plot is way more interesting and the cgi is 100 times beter

[Huntsman]

As bas as many people consider, i think avp is a fun movie, i prefer avp than the predator, at least it feels like a movie, not amateur film, the plot is way more interesting and the cgi is 100 times beter

Time has been kind to AvP in my mind. Seriously, it's not that bad.

[AVP-CAPCOM]

I'm struggling to think of anything Anderson has done that would be on a par with the other directors you mentioned.

Paul W S Anderson movies that had flashes of brilliance but ultimately sub-par, but could be up there with the Director's mentioned.

Event Horizon. A love letter to Ridley Scott's ALIEN (1979) and James Cameron ALIENS (1986) in terms of set design, effects and costume. I'd rate EH a 4/5 movie for technical ability alone. Which is why I was frusrtated with Anderson's own AVP not following the same scope and futuristic design.

Resident Evil (first movie). Again a love letter to James Cameron's blue colour scheme, military squad tactics and sci-fi vehicle porn. Heck people said Paul W S Anderson was an inferior choice for R:E considering George A. Romero was due to helm........That's until we got Land of the Dead (2005) which was Directed by George A. Romero and a remake of Resident Evil- proof that was CAPCOM's creative doing and not Andersons.

Resident Evil (as producer) Apocalypse Retribution (as Director). The 3rd movie was a love letter to George Miller's MAD MAX and Retribution (5th movie) had more dropship porn and action than AVP ever could- along with fight choreography and squad action.

Again this is a fan-made recommendation but Paul W S Anderson is tied to CAPCOM, who has more creative say in its movie intellectual property than people realise. Remember Street Fighter (1994) making it a generic James Bond action movie rather than tournament fighter? (CAPCOM-Japan's orders). Remember the garbage live-action Legend of Chun Li (2009) being rooted in "reality" but with mystical elements and casting of Bison/Chun Li (all CAPCOM's brilliant ideas). Who has assigned Paul W S Anderson to its Monster Hunter videogame? (CAPCOM).

Sadly CAPCOM has not be attached to ALIENS VS PREDATOR since its arcade videogame of the same name and lost the copyright years ago.