- The original Predator movie had a powerful monster and memorable moments, but subsequent sequels diluted its success.
- The Predator franchise should strike a balance between horror and action, like the 2010 film Predators.
- Expanding the Predator mythos too much can ruin the mystery and intrigue surrounding the species.
Despite its fall from grace, there’s hardly an action/horror movie franchise as iconic as the Predator series. For some reason, filmmakers seem to have a hard time bringing the story of an intergalactic hunter to the big screen and doing it well: only a tiny fraction of the movies featuring the Predator can be considered “good,” and that’s a real shame.
20th Century Fox’s original Predator (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura and Carl Weathers) had everything it needed to succeed: it was a fun action flick that gave us some truly memorable moments and knew exactly when to be an 80s-style action movie and when to become a full-on horror film. However, it seemed like each new sequel diluted some of the aspects that turned the original film into such a classic. The latest entry in the series, The Predator, hardly resembles the 1987 original, delivering a weak plot and even weaker characters into what used to be a franchise that celebrated the better parts of 80s cheesiness.
With Prey, the fifth instalment in the main Predator continuity, released in the summer of 2022 to generally positive reviews, is it safe to say now that the franchise has been rescued? We want to believe so, and we’d like to go over some ideas that could help bring back the Predator in full force in future instalments of the series.
How To Fix The Predator Movie Franchise
One of the coolest things about the original Predator is how powerful the monster felt. For this to work, the movie spends a good chunk of its runtime showing you how badass the mercenary protagonists are.
Contrast this with 2018’s The Predator: the ragtag team of mercenaries in the latest movie spends most of the time cracking jokes and being “funny,” all while showing off their supposedly amazing fighting skills. When push comes to shove, however, our “heroes” amount to little more than disposable comic relief.
When the Predator kills a comic relief, that’s to be expected in a horror movie – but when it kills someone like Carl Weathers’ Dillon, you know you’re dealing with an unstoppable killing machine.
There’s some debate among fans about whether or not the next Predator should be a horror movie or an action one. The thing is that, in the right hands, the movie could very well work as a little bit of both. The problem comes when the action that the movie tries to conjure doesn’t fit with the overall aesthetic of the Predator franchise.
When Nimród E. Antal directed Predators in 2010, that’s when we got the first truly good Predator sequel. This is a movie that not only knew what the original film was about: it celebrated it. Sadly, the planned sequel to Predators never materialized, and we lost what could have been our only chance at getting a franchise that was up to the standards set by the original movie.
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The Predator Mythos: Less is More
Did you know that the Predator species is called Yautja? That’s the kind of expanded universe knowledge that can be either beneficial or damaging to a sci-fi franchise. It’s a similar situation to the midi-chlorians in Star Wars: the more we know about the mysteries behind a certain aspect, the less interesting they become.
In the case of the Predator franchise, a few films have tried to expand on the mythology of the Predator warrior clan. Things like their language, traditions, and the war with the Xenomorphs are central plot points in the Alien vs Predator series. Now, it would be a bit unfair to take some examples out of this spin-off series to criticise the mainline franchise, but the issue here is that certain aspects of that franchise are making it into the main continuity, ruining the mystery surrounding the Predator species.
A good example of this can be found in the first and second film’s depictions of the Predator. We know that it is an alien, but that’s as far as we get in terms of backstory or explanations – and, quite frankly, that might be all we need to know.
Predator 2 adds a bit to the mystery of the Predator’s origins by adding some seemingly out-of-place weapons and skulls to the creature’s ship. This contributes to the mystery in clever ways: “Why is there an old pistol in an alien ship? Is that the skull of the creature from Alien?”
The intrigue surrounding the Predator is also what made the creature so menacing in the first place. You never knew if the creature was exclusively a “hunter,” or if it was a mere killer that came straight out of an 80s slasher flick.
A Simple Action-Horror Science Fiction Story
This point has something to do with the last one we mentioned, and it’s that, for some reason, sequels always look to one-up their prequels in terms of grandiosity or stakes. That’s great and all for a series like the MCU, but it’s not something that the Predator franchise needs.
Compared to the claustrophobic setting of the first movie, The Predator might as well be an entirely different series altogether. That movie gave us three different Predator species, not to mention a working spaceship, a universal translator, and an awful sequel hook involving a terminally goofy-looking armour.
These elements made the movie feel like a satire of itself. Again, going back to the precedent set by Predators, you can pay homage to an undeniably cheesy film with the respect it deserves – at least do it for the fans of the series. There’s a certain cynicism in the overall tone of The Predator that just damages the whole production – and that’s precisely the kind of attitude that a sequel or a revival doesn’t need.
This is one of the areas in which Prey really looked like it learned from past mistakes. The idea of a Comanche warrior fighting against the first Predator that comes to Earth was interesting, and the production pulled that off quite well.
Horror icons are definitely losing their edge: just look at how unrecognizable the Alien films has gotten over the years. However, new and exciting horror productions, like the works of Ari Aster, are making horror films feel fresh again. The Predator might be getting old, but the creature’s spirit, and what it meant for an entire generation of horror fans, is undoubtedly alive and well.
Finding The Right Action Star For The Predator Movies
One of the biggest problems with the Predator sequels is finding a worthy action star to challenge the alien. Although 2018’s The Predator starred a long list of popular actors, including Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan Michael Key, Thomas Jane and Sterling K. Brown, none of them are huge action stars like Arnie. Not even 2010’s Predators, starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins and Laurence Fishburne, had a worthy successor. Heck, not even Danny Glover was fit to take on a Predator. The franchise needs someone to fill Arnold’s boots — a Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Will Smith or Keanu Reeves.
A few years ago, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor revealed that he approached to play the lead in one of the films, but turned it down due to other commitments:
“I’ll tell you there’s a lot of offers that I’ve turned down. I got offered The Predator movie. There’s a new Predator movie coming out and the guys came to me… Did you see that horse thing I’ve done, the horse racing? That was like three days’ solid work for a hell of a lot of money, for three days. During that three day course, the people from Predator who are having this new Predator movie, a blockbuster… They came in and tried to sell the whole s–t. ‘We want you to be the main guy and you’re gonna fight Predator’ and I’m like ‘This sounds brilliant! How much?’ Not enough. We went back and forth negotiating and the number climbed up but if I was to do it [it] would mean eight weeks in Canada, in Toronto or somewhere. It’s too long a time. You can’t do a million things at once. The Pegasus thing was one thing because it was like three days, in and out. But seven, eight weeks on a film set is heavy as f**k. Plus it would have crept in around when he’s due (McGregor’s unborn baby boy). I didn’t want to get tricky with that so I turned down that offer.”
While McGregor might not be everyone’s favourite choice, it seemed like the director was heading in the right direction there. However, considering how badly the sequels have faired, it’s going to take something special to attract a big Hollywood action star. If Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t seem that keen on returning to the franchise as Dutch again (although he did lend his voice to Major Alan “Dutch” Schafer in the Predator: Hunting Grounds video game).
“The sad story is that sometimes studios do a great job with creating sequels, and sometimes they really screw it up bad, and it all has to do with greed,” Schwarzenegger said in a 2015 Q&A hosted by Reddit. “So far, no Predator, no matter which one they did after the first one has come out, has been satisfactory to the audience.”
Writers have tried to pit the Predator up against just about everyone, including Archie, Superman, Judge Dredd, Batman, and even Alien’s xenomorph – in search of a worthy opponent for the alien. If the feature films are going to succeed, they need a strong and powerful actor to carry the movie.
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Let’s Talk About Prey
Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane, Skull) and Disney’s 20th Century Studios released the latest instalment in the Predator franchise on the 21st of July, 2022.
Starring Amber Midthunder (Only Mine, The Ice Road), Prey is a prequel film “set in the world of the Comanche Nation 300 years ago.” According to reports, Midthunder’s Naru will go head-to-head with the alien hunters during their first visit to Earth.
Naru, the main protagonist, is a “skilled warrior who fiercely protects her tribe against a highly evolved alien predator.” Unlike previous protagonists, she is only armed with her wit, resolve, a hand axe, and a bow and arrows.
Most fans still hold 1987’s Predator film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major “Dutch” as the best film to date. Over the years, many creators have tried to capture the magic of the first film (in comic books, video games, short films and books) without success. Personally, I’ve always felt that the sequels have failed in the horror department. They’re just not scary enough. The aliens are revealed too quickly, and the films play out like action blockbusters.
Prey is written by Patrick Aison (Jack Ryan, Treadstone), and produced by John Davis (Jungle Cruise, The Predator) and Jhane Myers (Monsters of God), with Lawrence Gordon (Watchmen), Marty Ewing (It: Chapter Two), James E. Thomas, John C. Thomas and Marc Toberoff (Fantasy Island) serving as executive producers.
“It goes back to what made the original Predator movie work,” Prey producer John Davis said in an interview. “It’s the ingenuity of a human being who won’t give up, who’s able to observe and interpret, basically being able to beat a stronger, more powerful, well-armed force. It’s going to be, I believe, the second best — or the first… or it may be equal to the first one. Right? I feel like the first one was a wonderful, interesting movie, and I know what worked about it,” he continued. “I feel like we kind of never got back there again. We ended up in different places. I think this is a worthy complement to the first one. It’s going to be as good.
Whether it was as good as the first-ever Predator film will forever remain a debate, thanks to the die-hard fan base that the 1987 classic movie has accumulated. One way that we can measure is by looking at the Rotten Tomatoes scores of each film, a great way to quantify the response that each movie had.
Predator, despite having been released at the end of the 1980s, managed to score a hefty 80% Tomatometer and an even heftier 87% Audience Score. With critics praising the movie for its action and muscle, the film was a roaring success.
Prey, on the other hand, having a massive advantage as far as CGI and film technology goes, managed to score a whopping 94% Tomatometer while lagging behind a little with audiences, nabbing a 74% Audience Score. Praised for the way that it gripped viewers with adrenaline, posing a protagonist with little to no fire-power against a predator, Prey was called “a Predator prequel done right.” Did it save the franchise? Maybe, maybe not, but it was a worthy addition to it nonetheless.
Do you think Prey saved the Predator franchise? Let us know.
Prey |
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A skilled Comanche warrior protects her tribe from a highly evolved alien predator that hunts humans for sport, fighting against wilderness, dangerous colonisers and this mysterious creature to keep her people safe. |
Studio: 20th Century Studios |
Running Time: 99 minutes |
Release Date: |
Cast: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, Bennett Taylor |
Director: Dan Trachtenberg |
Writers: Patrick Aison, Dan Trachtenberg |
Genre: Sci-fi, action, horror |
Box Office: N/A |
Explore our in-depth rankings of every Predator movie, from the weakest to the most exhilarating, to find out which one emerges as the ultimate hunter of the franchise.