Quote from: Docta Jekyll on Jul 23, 2007, 08:04:40 PM
but yeah, I dont get why people are saying things like 'the predator had better not take out a lot of aliens, or I'll be dissapointed' because they are setting themselves up for dissapointment, they know that there is only one predator throughout the main part of the film, and they know that there are a lot more then 3 aliens, and they know there is some sort of battle in a parking lot, a big battle of a rooftop, and 'battles' where the predator uses no weapons, so unless every fight has the alien or predator retreating(that would get old) you have got to expect the predator to be taking out a fair number of aliens.
There's a problem with it doing such a thing.
Logically, we know that in all their experience, they have discovered the Alien to be the biggest challenge in existence (hence, why the legends point to the rite of passage always revolving around the same creature and their still coming to our world to undertake it, even many thousands of years after they began).
If a single Predator can just go through Aliens without a problem, then it just immediately contradicts all of that. Why do they consider them a challenge if they're not... A challenge?
Just because it might have killed one or several once, does not mean to say it would be easier to do so another time.
Now, if it's using ranged weapons, that's fine. Aliens don't have those. But if he's just holding them at bay with a hand, acting like he's yawning, then it only ends up devalueing the Predators. If it's doing something like purely using wrist blades and killing off dozens of them without a care, it's going to make a mockery of the whole point of that initial challenge they have to pass through.
I could probably kill a lion, if I'm lucky. That doesn't mean to say I'll stand a good chance of doing so a second time. It'll be just as risky a proposition for me to take up.
Remember, Aliens have genetic memories. They're born combat veterans. They aren't inexperienced idiots. They're fallable, yes, but Predators are just as guilty of that, if not potentially more so (Ash's speech drives the point home about Aliens not suffering from ego).
Heck, a lot of the Predator's advantage is in remaining invisible. Against Aliens, it doesn't have that. But this sort of thing, I would think, is why we have had the allusions to it having "new tools" and we'll probably see more than a few of these on screen.
So long as the Predator is shown to
treat Aliens with the respect such a threat should be treated with, it'll be fine. If you're going up against a real challenge (especially several of them), then you need to be efficient, calculating and
extremely professional.
Think of the '
Splinter Cell' games.
Sam Fisher's damn good, because he realises the value of picking targets of opportunity. That's precisely what Predators are shown as doing. Go in a room, with all guns blazing and Fisher tends to be torn apart. Silently neutralise each successive target at the right moment, without even being seen... That's what it's about.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the Predator just narrowly avoiding being sliced apart on this rooftop, taking injuries, but precisely spearing through exposed kneecaps and so on: Knowing exactly when and where to hit the opponent, weakening them so they can't give chase too easily, then decapitating them. More than likely, it's going to use ranged weapons, wherever possible. If it's experienced, then it will realise the value of that.
This is meant to be a skilled, professional hunter, not a strutting Hulkamaniac.
Once two or three of them gang up on it, it'll know the value of getting out of there. Why? Because it's not stupid. Just like when Mac used the minigun, they know when to make a retreat and dispatch that same prey at a later time.
In the original comic, there was even a scene which illustrated this. The female character saw one unintentionally rescuing her, diving into the fray and using absolute and complete skill and control, virtually matching the Aliens, move for move. But it just to make a single mistake, then they took control. It faced them at close range, thinking it would be heroic, but did so against five or so. One mistake is fatal when going up against Aliens. It paid the price and was hauled away to the hive.
In my view, we'll be seeing the Predator killing mostly humans. It might even use the Aliens to herd humans into somewhere, using humans as a distraction, then taking whatever trophies it can and killing them, too.
There are weaknesses in Aliens which only a creature such as a Predator is capable of exploiting,
but... They are few and far between and it
won't be easy.
If we see it finding them easy, then the entire point of matching these creatures up is null and void. Both need to find the event a real and genuine challenge.
