R Rating Ep7 - Prey (2022)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Mongoolie's movie madness. It's a sight to behold. Mongoolie's passion for films never close up. From classics to new releases. He's in the no Mongoolies movies. Let's start the show. [00:00:27] Speaker B: Foreign. [00:00:34] Speaker C: Hello, everybody, and welcome back to our rating the show, where me and two of my friends take a look at a franchise, break it down by a movie, go over it piece by piece, give it an overall score, and then throw it up on the board to see how it ranks against other franchises. For the last month, we've been talking about the Predator franchise, and we're wrapping it all up today with the movie Prey. This is a really exciting movie. I can't wait to talk about it with these guys. I'm going to bring them in now. How are you doing, Will and Brian Woo. [00:01:00] Speaker B: Excited. Last one. [00:01:02] Speaker A: Very thrilled for this one. I'm looking forward to it. [00:01:04] Speaker C: Excellent. Will, do you want to give us the synopsis of what this movie is? [00:01:07] Speaker B: Yeah, let's jump right into it. 2022 brought the release of Prey, the latest addition to the Predator franchise that is set in a simpler time, the year 1719. It follows the young Naru, who is in desperate want to prove herself to her Comanche tribe through Katamiya. But soon Naru realizes what she has chosen to hunt is far more dangerous than any wildlife and far more terrifying than the tales of the Paiu Mupitsi. [00:01:44] Speaker C: Very nice. I'm gonna say that was good words. [00:01:47] Speaker A: Wow. [00:01:48] Speaker C: Gonna say that's good pronunciation. But honestly, I wouldn't know if it was bad. [00:01:50] Speaker B: So my apologies to anyone who knows that that was horrible pronunciation. But I, I, I, I would be remiss if I didn't even try. [00:01:59] Speaker C: That's fair. That's totally fair. Now, Will, you were the only one who had not seen this movie going into it. Correct? [00:02:06] Speaker B: Correct. [00:02:07] Speaker C: So you've now seen it. You're saying off air, but you saw it on Monday, and then you were like, I'm not sure how I feel about this. You watched it again. So you've seen this one twice in one week. You went from zero times to twice. [00:02:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:18] Speaker C: I'm so curious thoughts on this one. [00:02:21] Speaker B: There's a lot in this movie for me to talk about. Yeah. And, and I had trouble after the first viewing if I actually really enjoyed this movie. If I thought this movie was terrible, it was all over the place for me. So I, I first, I just want to say right out the gate, though, I'm super proud to be Canadian. I was super proud that this was filmed in Calgary area, Alberta. Beautiful, beautiful scenic areas. And that this movie had multiple Canadian actors representing our country and I believe, doing our country proud. Let's see. I. I don't think I can even name them all, but there is Michelle Thrush, Stephanie Matthias, Mike Patterson, Harlan Blaine, Kitawattat, Samuel Marty, and there's more. So I. I would be again, remiss if I didn't mention that right out the gate. It makes me so happy to see Canada represented on the big screen, even though this never got a theatrical release. [00:03:28] Speaker C: Now, I know you're on the east coast at the moment, but you actually grew up in Alberta, did you not? [00:03:33] Speaker B: That is correct, yes. [00:03:34] Speaker C: Okay. [00:03:34] Speaker B: So I actually could recognize some of the areas where they were filming. So it just. Really cool. [00:03:41] Speaker C: Very nice. Brian is the only American here. Can you confirm that for future releases, you're going to do that exact thing for every movie filmed in America with American actors? [00:03:51] Speaker A: No, Couldn't care less. I don't care about geography or culture. [00:03:57] Speaker C: We got all of them. Why would I bother? [00:03:59] Speaker A: Yeah, we're the melting pot over here. Yeah. You guys overseas there in Canadia. I just don't. I don't get the. The draw there. For me, this, this movie, this is gonna be like the fifth time I've watched this movie. And there's. There's a lot to this. This was a big movie for me in the franchise. I had been waiting because there have been so many movies that missed the point or failed hard or. Like the last movie that we talked about, the Predator insulted me in their. Their. Their rendition of this. And so I was very nervous about Prey when it came out, and I went to see it. And my. Overall, I very much enjoyed what they did with this movie. Very, very much enjoyed what they did with this movie. And in fact, I think I can summer up, summarize everything that I didn't like about this movie. With Hatchet on a Rope. That pretty much was the thing that bothered me about this movie. And I think everything else, I just found enjoyment in the way that it was done. I think this movie, I think it took on a bit of a life of its own from the franchise and was done differently, but what they did worked nice. [00:05:20] Speaker C: Now, out of curiosity, I'm sure it was just an interesting choice of wording. You said you went to see this one. You didn't see this in a theater, though, right? Like, as far as I know, this had no theatrical release. [00:05:30] Speaker B: Yeah, it was only stream released. [00:05:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:32] Speaker C: Okay, that's what I assumed. I Just wanted to clarify Just. Just the wording. Yeah. So for me, I saw this one when it first came out. There was a lot of buzz around it because it was during COVID so they couldn't release it. And a lot of people were saying, like, maybe this is the best way for the Predator franchise. Like, they haven't exactly been doing well recently, so maybe this is the best way to think for it. But everything I've been hearing about it was very, very positive. So I went into this one with relatively high hopes, despite the fact that I. I'm. I'm a big fan of The Predator in 1987 with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and not much of the rest of the franchise does it for me. But I went and saw this one, and I really enjoyed it, told my family about it, and my kids ended up wanting to watch it. So I watched it again probably within about two weeks or so with my family. Everybody seemed to have a good time with it, and then I watched it again for this show. So this is my third time going through this one, and I. I just. I really like this movie. Like, even devoid of being a Predator movie, per se, I just. There's so many things this movie does right for me that I. I just. I like it, man. I don't know. I don't know what you want to say. I really, really enjoy this one. So I'm super curious. I'm gonna let Will go first and kind of go over some of his thoughts on this one, because it sounds like you're the most conflicted on this one. I'm really curious to hear what you got to say. [00:06:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fine. That's fair. That's totally fair. You. You both enjoyed the movie, and that's great. There's a lot of things in this movie going on, and here's some of the highlighted things. For me, this was the first movie that had a release with Commanche full language in it, so they released the English version, and they also released, at the same time, a Commanche dub version of this movie. And I thought that was spectacular that they would take the time and effort to go through with all of the actual actors who played the parts, and they dubbed through the entire film in Comanche, and I thought that was really cool. Can I ask a quick question? Yeah. [00:07:36] Speaker C: Did they dub it in Comanche? I thought they reshot scenes. No native language. [00:07:41] Speaker B: No, they dubbed. They dubbed. [00:07:42] Speaker C: Oh. Because I thought they were talking. I thought I'd heard something about. They really didn't want it to Feel like a kung fu movie. [00:07:48] Speaker B: Right. I think they. Because they were working with the footage, with the actors, they utilized that to change the script as needed to fit the mouthing as much as possible. So it didn't feel like an old kung fu movie. But they didn't. They didn't reshoot. I don't think anything. [00:08:05] Speaker C: Okay, fair enough. [00:08:07] Speaker B: Or if they did, it was very little. Yeah. So that said, I mean, I love that the director was a, you know, white dude, but he hired on indigenous people to oversee the project, to do rewrites to the script and the story. So I. I thought it was a really great tribute to bringing forth this tribe's, you know, their. Their aspects of life, their traditions, and I thought that was really commendable. And so when I first saw this movie, I was like, is this a Predator movie, or is this a Comanche tribe movie that happens to be hunting a Predator? And I'm still conflicted a little bit. And I believe originally, when they first had the script writing, they weren't going to mention the Predator at all. They were going to release it without it being known to the public that there was a Predator in the movie. And people would just find out as they watched the movie. And at the beginning of the movie, where you see the Predator get dropped off in the ship that wasn't going to be in the movie, like, there was a whole lot. [00:09:23] Speaker A: And. [00:09:23] Speaker B: Which reminded me more of the first Predator because. Because it takes a long time before you actually figure out what this thing is. And so I felt that I. I would have loved that. I would have loved to see that a little bit more, but I still feel they did a great job on focusing on the tribe and the people and their ways of life. And I feel like the Predator story fits in really well with what they. What they were telling. So I. I think that was. That was really well done. [00:09:57] Speaker C: I agree. I feel like this movie has the most DNA shared with the first one, with the 1987 Arnold movie, and I think that's definitely to its benefit. You mentioned not really knowing if it's a Comanche movie with a Predator versus a Predator movie. And I feel like that's kind of accurate for most of the Predator franchise, where it is much more of a human tale and how they deal with the monsters specifically. I guess, again, 1987's Predator and this one, I. I don't see that as a negative. I realize you didn't say it was a negative, but I. I don't. I think that that actually works. The movie's benefit that it ties so closely with humans, but you actually care about the humans. [00:10:34] Speaker B: 100 agree. Like, it's. It wasn't all about, hey, we have to have this many fight scenes with Predator and a bigger predator and this, you know, Predator's dog and. And it just has to be action, action, action all the time. There was plenty of that in the movie, like, action, action, action. But I didn't feel like that was the driving force, which was breath of fresh air coming from the last couple. [00:10:59] Speaker C: Yeah. And kind of going along with what you were saying. Green Tuckian says he actually watched this movie not realizing it was a Predator movie. Like, he just turned this one on, saying, oh, that looks interesting. [00:11:07] Speaker A: I've heard that from a lot of people not. Not making the connection until they were deep into it, which is really cool. [00:11:15] Speaker C: For a streaming movie, but probably would have been the death of this movie had it gone to theaters. You know what I mean? Just calling it Prey. Probably not. A lot of people would be like, oh, a Predator movie. I'm gonna go see that. It's just like, I don't. [00:11:24] Speaker B: I don't know. [00:11:25] Speaker A: I think the secret would have got out, and it would have been exciting. I. I think it would have been worth the risk to take it. I mean, look what Blair Witch tried to do and was wildly successful, and that was. No one had done anything like that before. To release this as a sneak Predator movie, I think would have been probably huge. I think it would have done credit for this, for the reasons will explain. [00:11:50] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:11:50] Speaker A: That you're like, oh, my God, it's a predator, and you don't get it. So it's halfway into the movie, you. [00:11:57] Speaker B: Know, and it would have played into, like, the lore of the tribe more, you know, being like this. This creature that. [00:12:05] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:12:06] Speaker B: You know, is only. Only about, you know, a story that you tell children to keep them, you know, in line, but it's actually happening. And so, like, I think that would have played into the mystery ele bit more. Whereas now everybody knows what Predator is, so you know exactly what you're going to get. So I think, like, maybe it. It could have benefited from that a little bit. But what they ended with, I think, still was heads and tails above some of the other entries into this franchise. [00:12:33] Speaker C: Very fair. [00:12:36] Speaker A: So we. We have this movie, and it is drastically, in my opinion, drastically different from any of its predecessors. Has a character that they build. They build a character. A character that you get to know intimately, that you care about, you can connect with, you can relate to Even though it's a completely different culture from my own, I recognize this woman and what she's trying to do. There's subtlety in lots of things. There's messaging that's going on in this movie. [00:13:12] Speaker B: There's. [00:13:12] Speaker A: There is depth to the characters and the, and the things that they're trying to overcome. You know, she's. She wants her cat, catamate, whatever the thing they call is, right. She wants to prove herself, that she's, she's worth it. And it's not necessarily a feminist thing where it's like men can do or women can do what men can do. Because you could probably interchange her character with a younger brother and it would have been a similar story. But they did do a few scenes that highlighted that. Like when she wakes up and all the women are getting up with the children and they're headed to the river, and there's that beautiful aerial shot of her walking against the flow of all these women to go hunt. And then there was another real quick, subtle scene where she comes in after the big hunt and there's a little girl who sees her in awe of what she accomplished. You know, little subtle things like that that make those kind of the feministic. Feministic? Is that a word? I don't know. Those kind of tales. Yeah, they make it interesting. I mean, she was a powerful female lead and she's like what, 5 foot 4, 100, nothing. And she was a powerful female lead. I, I was really impressed with what they were able to do with the character building in this movie. And we've never seen character building like that before in all of them. They were all kind of these one dimensional characters that we talked about. Very easy to grasp. Sometimes the actors were able to capture that, like Bill Paxton or Arnold Schwarzenegger with his charm. Other times they fell really flat like the entire rest of the cast in Predator 2. But they were all one dimensional characters. There was no real story building, no background to them. And in this movie, they completely did it different and it was a whole different movie. And then it. You find out it's a Predator movie. It was cool. It was really cool that they did that. I really enjoyed it. They went completely different with this. The way that, like, Aliens win. Different from Alien. It was a complete, you know, it was a war drama. Not a, single, you know, monster movie. [00:15:09] Speaker B: Right. [00:15:09] Speaker A: And it worked, right? This one worked. They did something completely new and they made it work. [00:15:14] Speaker C: I think I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I'm not entirely sure I'm on board with the. It's a completely different take. Like, I feel like Alien to Aliens is like horror movie to action movie. I feel like this stays a little bit closer to, let's say, to 87. I think this is definitely the closest to 1987's version, so that's what I'm going to compare to this. There's no comparison to this in Predators or the Predator whatsoever. [00:15:34] Speaker A: None whatsoever. [00:15:35] Speaker C: One of the things that I really liked about this when you kind of touched on a little bit, is not only is it a fully fledged character, but unlike all of the other movies, this one doesn't rely on you having a past experience with the actor. Like, you can put Arnold in almost anything, and I'm already gonna like him before I even walk into the movie theater, let alone watch the movie. I didn't recognize a single person in this movie going into it anything. To me, they're all unknown, but I liked every single one of them. There was not a bad actor in this group. Everybody did their part expertly. There was no over the top. I liked Bill Paxton in Predator 2, but there's no over the top characters. Everybody felt real. Everybody felt lived in. I really liked. I mean, you're not supposed to like some of the people. I get it. But, like, everybody is doing a phenomenal job. Everybody's in the same movie, which, you know, sometimes they weren't in in some of the previous Predator movies. I like the cast on this one just knocked it out of the park. Everybody looks. I mean, I'm gonna say everybody looks authentic. I don't know my native American lore that well, but, like, talking about looking. [00:16:34] Speaker A: Authentic, the trappers, their. Their wardrobes, the. The tribe, their. Their. Their teepees, like, the sets were incredible. They drew me in. I was like, this. This doesn't look cheap. This looks real. This. I mean, I'm no, you know, expert on history by any means, but I was, like, very impressed with the look of this movie. All. The entire look of this movie. There might have been one or two, like, CGI moments that weren't amazing but were necessary. And I was. Okay. [00:17:07] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say, like, the lion and the bear both look a little uncanny valley to me. I don't know if that's something you can. [00:17:14] Speaker B: Even the wolf. Even the wolf, to a degree, wasn't as bad. [00:17:17] Speaker C: But, like, the lion, specifically the bear a little bit. The wolf a little bit. They all looked a little off. But this movie can get away with it because the rest of it is so good. That it didn't really take me out all that much. And they tried to keep the budget down a little bit. I mean, obviously if it's going to theaters, we can see how much it actually made. We have no idea because it went straight to Disney plus or Hulu in the States. But keeping the budget low on this one means that it's that much easier for it to be successful. And they put all of the money in the important places. They didn't need to hire big name actors, they didn't hire great cgi, but they made the predator look good because that's what you care about. They made the scenery look good. They made it feel authentic. I feel like I completely forgive the lion and the bear because everything else is so damn good looking in this movie. [00:18:01] Speaker A: Honestly. [00:18:01] Speaker C: There were some scenes. [00:18:04] Speaker A: It was just noticeable to guys like us who are really paying attention to it. [00:18:08] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. I, I would love to touch a little bit what Brian was talking about with this. What were you talking about? The story of this. I think you're talking about the story of this and the characters and things like that. The development. Yeah, I, I, I was hit and miss on the story, on this. I love that it's story driven 100 and the feminism. I, I love the feminine in this because it's a strong female character with great, a great story overall. And yeah, you could replace it with a dude, but you don't have to. So why, what's the point? And that's, that's what makes a good feminist forward storytelling, is that you care about this woman and you feel like this woman is in her element because it's backed by a great story. It's not just, oh, we're putting a woman in this because we need to push the agenda. Right. It was, it was, it was backed by good storytelling so that you could enjoy the story and that's what's important. And if it inspires other young ladies to be badass, then I'm all for it. But that said, I do have some issues because it's very evident in a lot of Comanche tribes that women were hunters and women did lead war, war parties in their lives. Like, it's not super uncommon. And this story kind of pushed on that, that this is like hearsay. You're never going to be able to do this lady. And so that was a little weird to me that they, they forced that so hard and I don't think they needed to. And I also feel that Naru's character, who by far had the greatest character arc in all of the Predator franchise, I feel at the end of the movie still didn't feel changed to me. Like, she knew from the beginning of the movie she was going to be a great hunter and she was going to succeed. And at the end of the movie when they're all celebrating her, she was. She knew she was going to be a good hunter, and she knew she was going to succeed. Whereas even as simple as Arnie's story is, in the first one, he's this badass special forces dude going into the jungle, and he can conquer all. At the end of the movie, he's changed. He is destroyed physically, and he doesn't know what just happened to him. Like, he's on that chopper and he's just like a wreck. And I just didn't feel like there was a. A change in her character enough for me to. To pay off such a great setup for it. You know what I'm saying? Does that make sense? [00:20:57] Speaker A: I guess I feel like she didn't have a big enough character flaw that she needed to overcome or anything. And at the end, she was just to prove herself, and that's what she did. And there was a look from that little girl at the end that looked up to her and of course, her whole war tribe, which was celebrating her. And. But at the end, she's. She says there's danger nearby. We need to go to a place more defensible. And she was like a leader of her tribe. Now she. She moved on. I don't need to prove myself. I just dropped this dude's head in the middle of everybody. I'm proven. I'm covered in his blood. Let's get to business. And that. That was enough for me. I didn't feel like she needed to change too much. But I get what you're saying. A lot of times in movies, I do like to see a character arc and character development and see them change, see them overcoming something. That's something we get in a lot of good storytelling. And there it was a subtlety to it in this with a lot of other things that I think were very subtle in the movie. So I was okay with that. [00:22:01] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and the other thing is. [00:22:02] Speaker C: Character was strong enough that it didn't really matter what her gender was. You know what I mean? Like, it wasn't a strong enough character who's a male or a female, so it's kind of irrelevant. It was just, you know, she just did a great job with it. And the other thing I'll say is, to the. The credit of the movie. Yes, you're right. They all kind of seemed at the beginning of the movie like, well, you can't do this. I don't. I'd have to go back and check. Specifically, I wasn't looking for the language. I don't know if they say anything like, a woman can't do this so much as you. You can't do this. And at the very end, when she comes back, she comes back and they're just like, cool, you're the war captain now. Like, there was no gawking at it. Or like, oh, my God, this has never happened. It's just like, yep. [00:22:41] Speaker A: And then you go as. As an ignorant American, I didn't know anything about the. The actual culture in those tribes, so I didn't know that there were, you know, if that was how it was supposed to be. I'll take them with their word for it. So I didn't know if it was an accurate depiction of males and females roles in that. I just liked that it wasn't like, oh, what's the Marvel character with the shooty fists and she flies around. Captain Marvel and her feminist character story just frustrated me how he was so on the nose in your face, just rammed down your throat left and right. I hate that. Some of the best movies where there are strong female leads going out there and being a badass, as you like to say. [00:23:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:30] Speaker A: Are subtle about it. And that's why, you know, Sigourney Weaver is always the one I like to go to. She's just badass. And she doesn't need to talk about, doesn't need to be in your face. She's just there. You could replace her character with the dude, it doesn't matter. She's just there to kick ass. This girl, this little girl who I went in and I was aware this was going to be a Predator movie, I went in going, how is this little girl going to beat a predator? And she does it by being agile, by being smart, by planning ahead and all these things. And it doesn't really have anything to do with her gender. She just gets the job done. That's what I like about that. [00:24:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. They did a great job in setting up throughout the movie all the mental notes she's taking to further her plan, foreshadowing how the end comes to a win. Right. And that was. That was great. That said, was the end battle a little chaotic? Absolutely. And did we need an ax on a rope? Not really. For as much as they played up the ax on a rope, how much did it really come in handy? [00:24:44] Speaker C: Saved your life in the swamp? [00:24:45] Speaker B: I. I think that's it, though. [00:24:46] Speaker A: There's a couple things of the axe on a rope. [00:24:49] Speaker C: No. She kills a lot of Huntsman with that thing. [00:24:51] Speaker A: She does use it a lot. And that's the thing. It's like, how do you get her to throw a knife that many times? How do you get her to throw a spear that many times? How do you get to shoot a bow that many times? I kind of felt like they're just like, we need her to be able to throw her axe repeatedly. [00:25:09] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:25:09] Speaker A: And I think it's more. It was more. It was weak. [00:25:12] Speaker C: Like, I. I actually kind of disagree with you that it's not realistic at all. [00:25:17] Speaker A: At all. [00:25:18] Speaker C: But it kind of goes rule A cool with me, where I'm just like, you know what? That's a Mortal Kombat character. I'm okay with it. [00:25:23] Speaker A: They made it look good. I was happy. It was fun. It was very fun to watch her do it. They made it look good. The choreography in those fight scenes was incredible. [00:25:31] Speaker C: And funk is very satisfying. [00:25:33] Speaker B: That. [00:25:33] Speaker A: Yeah. The sound effect, it was great. Unrealistic, but. [00:25:37] Speaker C: Oh, for sure shows the Predator. I'm sorry. I'm sorry this Alien movie wasn't more realistic for you. [00:25:43] Speaker A: Even with that one dude, he's like. He's like, even your weapon needs a leash. [00:25:47] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:25:47] Speaker A: This movie. It does, apparently. [00:25:50] Speaker C: Yeah. I. I was noticing that more so this time around because I. Like, the first time you're just kind of blindly watching it. The second time you're watching with kids, you're just like, did I forget anything? Is there anything we need to fast forward? This time I was able to just kind of enjoy it and, like, kind of tear it apart a little bit. And that was one of the things I'm like, that's really stupid. And I actually. I watched a YouTube video where they, like, took that apart and they're like, how does this work? Can you make this work? You couldn't make it work whatsoever. It did literally nothing. It even, like, really impacts. [00:26:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:17] Speaker C: Like, it just. It doesn't work in any capacity. [00:26:18] Speaker A: Well, even throwing that ax, Like, I've done some competitive ax throwing, and it's nothing like in the movies. It's definitely nothing like in this movie. You just don't throw axes like that and hit targets like that at all. Rope or no rope. It's not. It's not gonna. But it looked cool. It was still fun. [00:26:35] Speaker C: Right. Like, when you're going to a Predator movie. I'M looking for fun. That's a fun weapon. It's a fun little gimmick. It gives her something unique. I was totally okay with it. [00:26:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Also, I think the main purpose, aside from, you know, this is a cool weapon that she can utilize over and over again, is that it shows her ingenuity that she can, yeah. You know, think and. And create and come up with new and better ideas than maybe somebody else. [00:27:01] Speaker C: And she's adaptable. [00:27:03] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Right. [00:27:04] Speaker C: Like, she's gonna use the French pistol. She learns how to use the Aliens. [00:27:07] Speaker A: Helmet, like, bring down her body temperature with the medicine, which she's already aware of. She's, you know, she's using multiple things. She's very skilled individual, very smart. She's always outsmarting her brother. You know, like, her brother shoots the bird out of the sky and you think, oh, he's a badass shot. And she's like, now you gotta go over there and fetch it. I was waiting for it to fly to me, you know, whether I believe her or not, I. I did believe her, but, you know, some people. [00:27:32] Speaker C: That was her plan from the beginning or not. That does make sense. [00:27:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:35] Speaker B: Yeah. I think at the beginning of the movie, you probably question, oh, is that what she was doing? But by the end of the movie. Yeah, it would have. It would have circled around. Absolutely. [00:27:44] Speaker A: That's what she was. Yeah. She's planning out how to kill it the best way, and that's what she did with the Predator. Speaking of fun weapons, we talk about Predator weapons, and we always want to see Predator weapons. What did you guys think of the Predator's weaponry in this movie? [00:27:59] Speaker C: I'm going to tie this one into the Predator himself. I think the Predator looked really cool. There's more, like, feral version of him. Like, you're going back, what, 300 years or something. They look a little different. They look. I. I could understand if somebody hit upon this, like, oh, he doesn't look like a Predator, but I'm kind of totally okay with it because I think the director was saying, like, we're so used to the actual, like, the 1987 look of the Predator now that it's not really that scary or otherworldly to us. We're just kind of like, oh, that's what they look like. He wanted to bring the horror back to it, so he gave, like, the mandibles and the mouth, like, way more of an open look. The bone helmet, like, this guy just looked badass. Everything about it. [00:28:41] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah. I think it was also almost a production like, hey, you have to do this kind of thing. Like, I think the. They were told that the Predator needed to look more monster. [00:28:55] Speaker A: They darkened his skin color of his face so he like all of his skin color. He didn't have any of that pale skin on him at all. He was very much the, the, the bone mask was still a technological mask, but the bone covering made it look super cool. That also iron look of the shield that he had. Real cool. [00:29:17] Speaker B: Yeah, cool, cool. Little standout moment there of the. The mask is based on the skull of the running alien in the predators. The running one with all the bugs. Yeah. On that, on that head. Yeah. Which is kind of a cool throw in or tie into that movie. [00:29:36] Speaker C: I am totally fine with them changing. Look, the Predator, I think everything about it looks really cool. It fits the tone of the movie really, really well. Until my brain gets to the. Oh, right. He arrived in a spaceship. Like they've still got intergalactic travel. So like him having less technologically advanced weapons. Like he doesn't use the plasma cannon at all. Instead of shooting red lasers, he's shooting like bolts. I mean, they're lasers guided. [00:30:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:02] Speaker C: But like it's kind of like, well, so why is he so much more feral if they're still showing up in spaceships and it's one of those, like, I don't care enough to really like. That doesn't knock the movie down at all. He fits this movie perfectly. He looks exactly like he should for this movie. [00:30:15] Speaker A: I didn't have a problem with him. It wasn't too far of a stretch for me to go, why is he so different from previous versions? This is 300 years earlier in their time or our time, whatever. He's a different breed, you know, and, and from what we've seen in the others, they're supposed to be making themselves into better hunters. [00:30:33] Speaker B: Right. [00:30:34] Speaker A: So they've changed over the years and this is a more feral version of him. They still have technology, but they don't have plasma bolt technology. They have guided missiles, which I think we as humans are just now getting onto. Guided missile. Right, but we don't have plasma bolts yet. Not anything that's. That's really functioning that fits. To me, that shield that he used looked kind of ancient and I liked that. I digged that he still had the gauntlet with light up buttons on it, but it looked a little bit older. I just. Everything with his weaponry and stuff, it fit. He had cool little toys that he worked with. Even his bomb, you know, he threw the bomb on the Ground. He's not gonna blow himself up. He's gonna toss that out there and hightail it. And the little things float up, detonate everywhere. Visuals were great. [00:31:23] Speaker C: I love that you just saw that from the distance, and it's her walking away from it like a badass, and she doesn't even turn around to see what's going on. She's just. She's just moving on. She's got her task. She's doing her thing. I thought that was a really cool, like, switch, as opposed to, like, the, you know, usually get the hero walk. Well, I guess it was the hero, but you usually get, like, the person doing the explosion, walking away from it all cool. Instead it's just her, like, no, I got my thing. Gotta go do my job. [00:31:44] Speaker A: To me. [00:31:45] Speaker B: With this predator, I. What I found kind of one of the coolest things is that I really felt the honor of the hunter back in this predator more than in the last, almost all of the movies. [00:31:59] Speaker A: 100 back to the roots. [00:32:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it's back to the roots. This predator went mano a mano with their prey with weapons similar to that animal throughout the movie. So, like, right off the top with the snake, he spikes the snake. And before the snake can bite him with the fangs, the wolf, he. He runs at it. And then, you know, they go toe to toe that way. The bear, he goes. Brute strength, like picking them up, just pulling them, just brawling it. Right. Like, really just brute strengthening it. And use the bow and arrow. He starts using bow and arrows. Did I freeze out a little bit. [00:32:39] Speaker C: For a second, but you're back. [00:32:40] Speaker B: But, yeah, like, I. I just love that the predator really didn't use weapons until the humans use weapons. You didn't see his javelin until they use their spears. Didn't see his arrows until they used their arrows. And so I thought that was really a cool, like, yes, the predator is an honorable hunter again. And I really did that about this predator. [00:33:00] Speaker A: He even. We're using those traps to, like, catch people's feet and stuff, and he ended up hacking off a lot of legs on them. Like, there was a lot of equal retaliation in what he did. It was. It was pretty cool. [00:33:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:13] Speaker C: I've always, through all these movies, I've been confused because I always thought the predators were very honorable. And if I think about it, I've seen prey recently. I've never seen two of them. I've only seen the second movie once. That's probably what's guiding me to think, oh, the predators are very honorable. And then I'M watching like two predators, the predator. It's like they're not honorable at all. They're jerks. Like they're just bullies almost. And in this one it's like, oh no, this one does have some amount of like honor to them. It's kind of like I, I just, I like their rendition in this so much more than what we've seen from other recent previous movies. I also, Sorry, going along what you're talking about how you see a lot of him using the same weaponry as what you what the other, what his enemies are using. Another really cool like kind of a show, don't tell. Maybe you won't even pick up on it. Except for subtly is at one point you see a rabbit and then the wolf is chasing the rabbit. And the next scene the predator is hunting the wolf and then she's hunting the rabbit. So like the prey is hunting the prey, the predator's hunting the predator. Like that's where you kind of start off with these characters. And then it builds to the point where like the predator is almost getting cocky with what he's attacking and how he's 100 defending things. And then she's getting like more and more not cocky but just like conference herself willing to like try bigger prey, willing to do more, willing to like learn new weaponry, stuff like that to, to figure out what she can do against her prey. You see a lot of her learning and getting smarter in this movie. Not that she starts from a. She's smart at the beginning of the movie too, but like she's adapting to her world faster than pretty much everybody else around her is. Whereas the predator is ready for everything, is using his camouflage a lot at the beginning. And by the end he's kind of just brute striking brute strengthen his way through things. Just like, oh, I can kill anything here, so whatever, why wouldn't I? And that's kind of his downfall. And I thought that was really cool. [00:35:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. I, I was gonna mention that exact thing that they, they start at polar opposites and then they, they, they turn on their story arcs, which is really, really cool to me. And, and also helps set up why the hundred pound nothing, five foot nothing could take on this beast. Because it's just like it's clumsily just brute strengthening its way through and, and has come through so many injuries that it's just like to the point where you know, at the end it's cutting off its own arm and it's just a mess. Right. So it's like I really like, that. That. Yeah, that storytelling, again, is. Is really nice in this movie. [00:35:43] Speaker C: I don't know how much that healing gel works for him, but once that spear goes through his chest, I'm like, ah, he's got to be slow after that one. That's. That's gonna take your toll. Then he cuts off his own hand. You're just like, all right, this guy's done. [00:35:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I thought her figuring out ways to beat his weaponry, watching him and seeing what he does and coming up with ideas for everything he's got. You know, he. He brings that shield out that he can just cut through trees and people and stuff with. And she dives into the rocks, and it stops before it cuts her head off, right? And just. She uses it against him and ends up, you know, he's cutting his own hand off. And, you know, then she uses his. His guided spears against him, walking him into a trap that he didn't see. Like, a lot of cool stuff. She ends up using one of his weapons to, like, cut the other guy's foot off. She even says she. She's like, you think you're killing me, but I'm actually killing you, and you just don't know it yet. And she's. And she holds still, and the predator walks right by her and kills him because he was trying to load the gun, and the predator waited, and this. This guy was unarmed. But then the guy's loading the gun, and he's looking at her, and the predator thinks he's looking at. At the predator. And so he walks over and kills the guy so she could test out if her little noctui flower thing was going to work. And it was. [00:37:04] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very good. It was very good. And of course, you know, just as unbelievable as the mud, you know? [00:37:12] Speaker A: Right. [00:37:13] Speaker B: Holding off the. The heat. The flower is never. She'd be dead. She'd be dead long before it cooled out her body. Yeah. But, you know, at that point, it's like, if you're not buying in to a Predator movie, you know, you. You're not gonna buy into the. Any of it, right? So. [00:37:29] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. All the things that are. Are a little bit off on this movie. Just rule A. Cool. It just makes the movie a little bit better. Just go with it. [00:37:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Enjoy the story. Enjoy the story. [00:37:38] Speaker C: Now, this movie had a couple of. Some subtle. Some less subtle callbacks to the rest of the franchise, which is hard to do in a prequel without it feeling like solo, where you're like, oh, this is where he got his jacket. Oh, this is where he got his dice. This one did it really nicely with just a couple of dialogue lines. And then, of course, the pistol at the end. Having seen these movies back to back over the last month, I picked up on a lot of them that I didn't realize from earlier on. Like, if it bleeds, we can kill. It is a pretty famous line. I knew that when the first time I watched it. [00:38:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:07] Speaker C: But, like, I didn't realize when she's sitting against the. The tree at the very end, she's like, come on. Come on, do it, Arnold. I remember that. That just happened. [00:38:17] Speaker B: 100. [00:38:18] Speaker C: The pistol. When I watched this the first few times, I had no idea what that was. I'd completely forgotten Predator 2, that whole interaction. See it this time, obviously you recognize it right away and you're like, that's really cool that they brought this in. It kind of makes sense now. But does that. Like, how did it get to the predators after this? [00:38:35] Speaker B: You didn't. [00:38:36] Speaker C: That's the problem. I did. I did. I was gonna see if you did. I don't like the end credits. I think the gun kind of ruins it a little bit because you were talking about having honor, and the end credits kind of imply that they're sore losers. They lose one of their tribes and they come back en masse, probably wipe out that tribe and take the gun back. [00:38:55] Speaker B: I don't know if it's quite to that scale. I think it might be more. Yeah, I would feel like when I saw. I saw the end credits and all the ships coming, it's. It's super fun. But I felt more like, oh, predators are like, we found a worthy opponent, so we're gonna send ships here to test our hunting and. And make ourselves better. And that's what I felt. And they knew where to go. And so, unfortunately, whoever's holding that gun is probably gonna get it. Obviously, that's. [00:39:25] Speaker C: That's. Well, for the tribe. [00:39:27] Speaker B: It is. [00:39:28] Speaker A: It. [00:39:28] Speaker B: It felt weird that they had the gun in it because, you know, whoever has that gun is gonna get crushed. But it was a cool homage to the second movie, obviously. [00:39:40] Speaker C: Yeah, It's a nice way of tying the franchise together, but didn't feel cheap. But also, it's kind of like, oh, they die. All right. [00:39:50] Speaker B: Yeah. It just kind of felt weird at the end to have that. But you're like, oh, this is super cool. It's the gun. And then you're like, wait, wait a minute. [00:39:56] Speaker C: What? [00:39:57] Speaker B: What the. [00:39:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I wish they would have shown in the little. In the Little tapestry where you just see the ships come in and they're all pointing at it in the sky. I wish they would have shown like the ship land. Their predators come out and they like exchange gifts or something, right? So they. So that there's a way that the piss congratulations without them being annihilated. Because you're right, it left a sentiment that they're. Oh man, they're just gonna get the crap kicked out of them until the predators finally win is what it kind of felt like. [00:40:24] Speaker C: And well, and according to that scenery. Because it was like her getting the. The spear or whatever from the tribesman. Like it was her becoming the tribes captain or tribe the chieftain. Whatever, whatever. I'm sorry, I'm awful with this stuff. [00:40:36] Speaker B: No, it's all good. [00:40:38] Speaker C: And then the ship comes in right away. So it's like, oh, she dies like in the next 10 minutes. You know what I mean? It's not like, oh, 20 years later. It's like, no, no, this is. [00:40:47] Speaker B: It's all like wall painting storytelling, right? Like they Summarize the hour 40 movie in like 10 minutes or less. So you don't know how much time has passed. I think it's just like a fun. Like, oh, yeah, this means more predators are coming. Because we know the future movies are there. Future. [00:41:02] Speaker A: I think this time like them showing a scene after the credits. Like we have after credit scenes now. Really popular movies. Would have been cool at the end of the movie to see her as like an elder in her tribe. And they see in the distance the Thunderbird, right? The. The spaceship coming through the clouds. And she hands to like her son or her daughter, the pistol and says, go hunt your prey or whatever. And they send a war party out to the ship. Something like that would have been way cool to me where I just felt like, man, she just won. Let him have the W for a minute. [00:41:38] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:41:40] Speaker C: It was funny on the predators, it's like, oh, like I in the second one, they're like, oh, you beat our warrior. Congratulations. Here's a pistol. Have a great day. [00:41:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:48] Speaker C: And it felt like that's. That should have been what this one was. Instead they're like, oh, you beat our warrior. F you. We're gonna kill you and take the pistol. That's the only part. Not the only part. That's one of the parts that kind of left a weird taste in my mouth. And it's like it's the end credits. How much did I really care? But like they did that very much on purpose. So like clearly he was trying to say something with it. [00:42:08] Speaker B: Throwing back to other Predator throwbacks. Did you notice any others? [00:42:17] Speaker C: There was the. If it bleeds. There was a pistol. [00:42:20] Speaker B: There was no. Come on, do it, do it, do it. Yeah. I felt the cutting of chest. [00:42:28] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:28] Speaker B: Was like a. Was a tribute to the Billy scene, which was actually kind of the inspiration for this movie from the director and. And writers that the. The Billy scene, they grew up being like, what happened in this awesome scene? And so they made this movie to like, that's. This is. [00:42:45] Speaker A: And I. I noticed the native story, but I. I kind of just thought maybe the trappers were just trying to put the scent of blood on him because they thought 100. [00:42:55] Speaker B: Like that's the reason. But I've feel like because it was a diagonal chest cut. Just like Billy. [00:43:01] Speaker A: Big Bowie knife. [00:43:02] Speaker B: Yeah. It's like double duty. And that's why I liked it so. [00:43:04] Speaker A: Much because it wasn't like, what are you? He said a line like, what are you? Not what the hell are you? But what are you? And it felt like a subtle. Like there was a. Everything about this movie was done in subtlety. And it worked for me. So whether that's what they were trying for or not, it got me on that page thinking about it and relating it stuff. So we have talked previously in all of these movies we have mentioned. I would love to see the predator in Feudal Japanese scene or this or that scene. You got it. Is exactly what we got with this movie. They took the predator, they gave you a story, a great story involving the predator in a completely different scene. And I loved it. It was exactly what we have been talking about. And it's exactly what I wanted. And. And for that reason, this. This movie was every bit as enjoyable as I think it could have been. There were a few flaws in it as far as some unrealistic things, but those didn't really take me out of the movie. They were just fun and I was okay with it. [00:44:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. 100. Like, pretty much since the first one, we've been saying like, just like make it a little bit smaller. Doesn't need to be a huge budget. You don't need 58 humans. Just like make a compelling character, put them against something, put in the Predator in a different location every movie. That's really all I need. [00:44:33] Speaker A: And although I think we had about 50 humans in the trapper scene, when he's walking through that. [00:44:37] Speaker C: Sure. Foggy fodder. [00:44:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And he's just off in people with some trick toys and stuff. That was that was just really quick kills. [00:44:45] Speaker C: I don't need a team. Set out to hunt the predator. [00:44:48] Speaker B: Right? [00:44:48] Speaker C: Right. Like, it. It was totally fine the way that it was. She had some tribes people, she had some natural enemies. Like, there was some wildlife. Like, you got to see how deadly the predator is without it being like, oh, no, my brother, oh, no, my cousin. Oh, no, my friend from high school. Like, it. [00:45:04] Speaker B: Which it didn't mean, ended up happening that way. But not. Yeah, yeah, not in the same way. It. It was well, well laid out instead of just a mass killing spree. Right? [00:45:16] Speaker C: Yeah. At no point, everybody that was in the movie made sense in the movie. There was never the, like, oh, this is just the fodder. So you can see how deadly it is. Like, everybody was there is like, oh, yeah, this tribesman makes sense. Oh, yeah, French coming in, trappers. Makes sense. Like it all. It all really worked for me. [00:45:31] Speaker B: The closest thing would be the Frenchman trappers. But, you know, they, again, they built that story up to allow it to make sense and not just feel like cannon fodder death scenes. Right. [00:45:43] Speaker C: It's. It's a different kind of predator. Right. Like you've got her as kind of like the. The natural hunter. You got him as kind of like the big overbearing hunter. Then you got them as like the trappers. [00:45:54] Speaker A: Right. [00:45:55] Speaker C: Like, it's all just different. [00:45:56] Speaker B: Different levels. [00:45:56] Speaker A: Honorable. [00:45:58] Speaker B: Dirty, dirty hunters. [00:46:00] Speaker A: You know what? There were. There were no subtitles in the movie for me. The. The version that I watched, I loved when they were talking in French and you didn't know what they were talking about because you knew what they were talking about. You didn't need subtitles for it. [00:46:15] Speaker C: I was just about to say you don't know, but you know. [00:46:17] Speaker A: Yeah, you. You knew I was treated with respect as a viewer of this film that I'm smart enough to figure it out without the story being overtold to me. And that's one thing that I absolutely hated. In the Predator, there were subtitles and extra dialogue just constantly thrown in my face, wasting my time. This movie just let you experience it and it was. And it. And it lets you be. It treated you with respect as a viewer to. To just take it for what it is and take away from it what you wanted. [00:46:47] Speaker C: Yeah, I. One of the scenes where the Frenchmen are talking to each other in like the burnt out part of the forest where there's just ash in the air and you see just a Frenchman fall off his horse in the background, it's like, it's. It's in the background. It's not well lit. It's. It's blurry. I loved that so much because you're right. Like, they just treated you with respect where you're just like. You saw that, right? Yeah, I. It's so well made, so well done. [00:47:17] Speaker B: All right, I gotta, I gotta talk about what I didn't like about some of the things you just said. I. I could have done with less dialogue in this movie. And by dialogue, I mean English. I think they should have done the whole thing in native tongue and just let us watch the story unfold. Would it have made for some tweaks to the script? Yes, but I think this movie of a lot of movies out there could have pulled that off. And, and it could have still been a very enjoyable experience. [00:47:50] Speaker A: Do you think they would. [00:47:51] Speaker C: I'm going to argue with all that. [00:47:52] Speaker A: Just a little bit. [00:47:52] Speaker B: Subtitles, no subtitles, nothing. [00:47:56] Speaker A: And. [00:47:56] Speaker B: And to the point, like, reduce. Reduce the script substantially. Still call outs and things, but in the native tongues. Because I think you can with this story. It's a, It's a simple story that you, you know what's going on, you know the character arcs, you know where they're going. And because they kind of painted it so simply, you could follow it, I think. [00:48:20] Speaker C: So I'm gonna fight back on that just the tiniest little bit now. Not the less dialogue. Because, yes, they could have changed the script in that regard, but there is a version of this movie that exists that is in commercial. That's exactly what you're looking for. [00:48:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:31] Speaker C: And it's kind of on you if you don't watch that version in the same way that, like, I watched yes and no versus Kong. No Godzilla, Godzilla minus one in English for the first half. And I was like, I'm not enjoying this. Switched it to Japanese. I was like, ah, that's way better. Now the option is there. It's kind of on you to choose which one you want to watch. [00:48:49] Speaker B: Yes and no. Yes and no. Because the option to watch in full native tongue is only in the special feature or like extras. You have to actually search for it. You can't. You can't pull it up. You have to look for it and select it. And I said, I watched this movie twice. I. I watched both versions and I liked. I liked it. [00:49:12] Speaker A: I. I want to go back and watch the other version. I do. I don't know if that's the way to lead in the film industry, because I know that there are. There are people who need scripts that are Written in crayon. I'm not one of those people. I'm, I'm here for that other version and I think I'm gonna go back and look for it because I'd like to see, I'd like to experience that and Godzilla minus one actually, Dan is one that I, I. You told me that story before. I've been meaning to go back and watch it in the original language. I like doing that sort of thing because especially if they film it in that original language, not just dub it over right then, even then, then you really experience the emotion accurately for, for whatever. And you can just visually get those cues. So I don't know, I'd have to watch it in the dubbed over version to see if there was too much dialogue for, for that sort of thing to take place. But I would definitely be interested. [00:50:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, and that said, I, I loved how much they did to bring forward the, the Comanche traditions, their, their tribe, their people. I loved it. I just, I, I just always want to push it further. And I guess the other port is like, I felt the, the language they used was a little bit modern at points, which was like, weird to me that this is 1719. And some of the, some of the dialogue choices were a little bit modernesque for my liking. And that's why I was like, oh, maybe we better pare this down and go all in on. [00:50:52] Speaker A: Yeah. When the, when the guy in the Hunt in the, in the Comanche tribe looks over at the war leader and he's like, you capping, bro? [00:51:04] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:51:04] Speaker A: What language they did use in English? It was pure English. Right. Like we've seen, you know, you see like the, the Hunt for Red October, the movie starts out, they're talking in Russian and it slowly molds into English and they start and it's then in English for the rest of it. But they have that thick Russian accent that goes with it. And it really kind of keeps you in touch with what they're saying. And then every once in a while, they'll switch back and forth when. Depending on. With your, if you're with Americans or when you're with Russians or whatever, they could have put like some strong accent on it or something. They could have touched up a little bit. [00:51:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:43] Speaker C: I don't know what a command she accent would sound like. [00:51:45] Speaker B: Yeah, no. The idea behind it obviously is that they are speaking in their native tongue. It's just English because. [00:51:51] Speaker C: Right. I don't know if they do that at the beginning, but definitely when they're talking to The French, they make that very clear. Like, oh, I can speak to you in, in Comanche. That's why you can understand me white like that. But you have to point across the audience like, oh, cool, you're not both speaking English right now. Now. [00:52:06] Speaker A: Right. [00:52:06] Speaker C: Which I did appreciate. All right. So, Will, you were saying you're the most conflicted about this one. Do you want to give us your overall score on Prey and then we'll talk about the franchise as a whole and, and go over that? [00:52:17] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this, it's a good score. I think I just, I was conflicted because of, like, whenever movies are made, Hollywood specifically, and they just show native indigenous cultures as savages. And I, I was just like, fearful for what I was going to watch. And so when I watched it and I looked into some of, like, what they did and who was consulted on the movie, it made me feel a lot better. And so overall, the story driven elements of this really moved this movie up a lot compared to some of the other entries in this franchise. Yeah. So overall, I, I think as an action movie, I think it did really well. Some of the action, it's a little quick and a little cgi, but, you know, you forgive that in a lot of action movies today, especially if it's a sci fi, because you can only do so much. And you know what? They built a whole new Predator suit. And the Predator was different and like, interesting and cool. So kudos to that. Right. Acting. I thought everybody did a fine job for the most part. I think, you know, obviously the French trappers were a little one dimensional, but, you know, they were, they were there for a very specific reason. You have a great acting dog in this movie, so how can you give it poor marks? Right? Yeah. But aside from that, the writing and the story and the direction I think really bumped this up. And I think because it's really well written and well directed, I think it will hold up for a long time as well. And it really brought my enjoyment level up. Does it trump the original Predator? I don't think so, because I still feel like holding off to see that Predator longer makes for a better Predator movie. Even though it's played and, you know, it's a predator movie, I still think you have to build up that for the characters and. And so maybe that's the only thing that really dropped marks. So overall, I brought this to a 78 out of 100. [00:54:36] Speaker C: Okay, Brian, where do you land? [00:54:40] Speaker A: So I, I agree. Direction. The script for this was. [00:54:45] Speaker B: I forgot to mention, it's A beautiful picture. [00:54:48] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Looks amazing. From, from scenery to sets to clothing, the CGI effects, everything looked, looked great. The special effects were amazing. There was, there was no special effects that, that took it down for me. There was stuff that maybe could have been better. We talk about the bear, we talk about the lion. Some of like the. Her throwing the hatchet around and stuff was just, it was unrealistic, but it was cool. The bear fight was cool. [00:55:23] Speaker B: Right. [00:55:24] Speaker A: The lion in the tree was exciting. Even though it was obviously, you know, faked, still just looked great. The plot, the direction, the story itself was, had a lot of very small things in it. A lot of subtlety to it. I've said that word a lot today. A lot of subtlety in this movie. It was done very well. Nothing was heavy handed. And it was a movie that every time I watch it, I find a little bit more. I find a little bit deeper level in it. I find some connections and some things going on that I didn't before because there's so much subtlety and I love that in movie. So this got a big jump in my, in my plot score. This got a big jump even though the plot wasn't deep. Right. It was just I need to prove myself kind of thing and the, the noble hunter kind of thing going on there. Not, not really a deep plot, but it worked so well in this movie. Acting was a vast improvement over anything in any of these movies in the entire franchise. I'm sorry. The acting was miles better to pull these characters off. Are they going to win awards for their acting? No, but these were, these were actors and actresses that I've never seen before and they did a damn good job. You know, these are all unknowns to me. They all did a damn good job. Nobody took me out of the movie. There was no cheesy lines or anything that were ruined by it. And we talked a little bit about the sound effects of this movie. We had just hints of the Predator song throughout it. And it was again, another subtle touch. It worked, sounded great. The sound of the ax really sold that. Even though it was a cheesy maneuver, it sounded good. The gunfire sounded good. The explosions, this technical effects, the darts going through the air, it all sounded really good. I think this movie is definitely going to hold up for me over time. Will pointed out a little bit of culture in the Comanche tribes that I didn't know about and I'm like, oh, okay. So that was a little bit of maybe an inaccurate portrayal over the females in the, in the tribe things like, that are maybe bound to pop up a little bit. Maybe somebody's going to be like, oh, French trappers in that era didn't wear fur skins of this color. I don't know. It looked good. It works. I think it's going to hold up. And it was really fun. I can forgive the hatchet on a string because it was so much fun to watch. That was probably just the unbelievability of some of the things that happen were the only drawbacks to this. But overall, this was almost every bit as fun as the original Predator. And when I totaled up my seven little things and everything, I actually came to an 87 for this film, which is the exact same score I gave for the original Predator. And I feel really good about that. I feel that this movie was different and. And it's its own movie. But I. I loved it every bit as much as Predator, but it was kind of an apples to oranges comparison for me with these two films. But I. I really liked it. I. I thought it was every bit as good as the original. [00:58:34] Speaker B: Go ahead, dad. What did you rate? Prey the final up to until this date. [00:58:40] Speaker C: So I'm gonna go a little Fury Road on this one. Oh, what is that? Where unlike. Well, we'll get there. So unlike the last couple of Predator movies, where I had to try a little hard to find anything worthwhile about them, something that I actually enjoyed, I liked them more than you did, but they weren't good by any stretch of the imagination. I found I was coming at this one from the exact opposite perspective, where I had to try and find anything I didn't like in this movie. I thought the acting in this movie was phenomenal. I mean, for. Okay, let's. Let's start. We always say this, but just in case anybody's here for the first time, I'm not comparing this to the Godfather. I'm comparing this to other action movies. When I say things like this genre, this movie is really solid. It's. It's perfect for what it had to be. It's a lot of unknown actors, and they make you like them despite the fact you don't recognize any of them. They start from a. A neutral position and get you to a place where you like these actors. They like the characters pretty, pretty quickly, and that says quite a bit. The cinematography in this movie is absolutely gorgeous. Shot on location, a lot of these scenes look phenomenal. Most of the CG looks incredible. The lion and the bear, not as much. I didn't hit up against the wolf, but the lion specifically is. Is pretty awful, but not so bad that it takes you out. And, like, honestly, I'm not expecting them to put a lion in a tree in this movie to make it practical. I'm fine with doing what they had to do. It's in the scene movie for, like, 28 seconds. Like, you don't blow a lot of your budget on that. You keep the budget where it's supposed to be. And they did. They made the Predator look incredible and they made him look scary as hell. I think if they'd gone with the exact same suit from 1987, as much as we like that practical suit, it wouldn't have had the same horrific feeling. Giving this thing, like, mandibles, like legit mandibles. Giving it the bone helmet, making it look more like a feral warrior. Didn't have, like, the armor, stuff like that. Didn't have. Have as much sci fi tech going on and a little bit, but not as much. I thought he fit this movie perfectly. I thought he looked incredible. I thought his stealth effect looked really, really cool. With that little bit of a red tinge to it when he's, like, coming through the water, coming through the ash. Like, anytime it's being interacted with, it had that little bit of a red tinge to it, which I thought was a really nice touch. Kind of gives it a bit of like a anger overtone or something like that, or undertone. [01:00:51] Speaker A: No more blue electricity, right? [01:00:53] Speaker C: You still have electricity, but it's not blue anymore. [01:00:55] Speaker B: Go to hell, Highlander. Got it in there. [01:00:59] Speaker C: The. The music. I didn't notice any of the original Highlander, the original Predator music in there. I know that it was. People have told me that it was, but I didn't notice it and I didn't miss it. The music sounded really good. It just kept you in the film. At no point did it take me out, but at no point did it like, oh, yeah, there's that song again. Cool. Like, they. They could have done the same thing. They did from, like, the. The previous movies. I had, like, the helicopter music at the end. It just would have been so out of place. Everything about the sound design of this would really, really worked. The gun sounded cool. The ax, as silly as it was, sounded badass. Like, everything sounded really good. The plot is exactly what I needed from a Predator movie. Give me a character, make them likable, Tell me why they want to hunt the predator. Give me a Predator. He's just out there doing Predator things. Give me a new location, new weaponry, like, everything there Was what I needed it to. To be the enjoyment level. I love this movie. The first time I watched it, as I said, I watched it really quickly afterwards with my family. Like, I just was like, you guys have to see this is cool. The third time watching it, I still really enjoyed it, but I was kind of hitting up a bunch of things. Kind of like Will was saying he wanted less dialogue. I think that would have fit the movie better, but just me personally, I kind of wanted it a bit more. Not that it would have been good in this movie, but just like your dialogue, I'm a dialogue heavy person. Didn't really detract it all that much because I still really did enjoy this movie, even for the third time. It's just. I don't know how much I'm gonna go back and re watch this one, like, throughout the years. I'm definitely gonna watch it again at some point in my life, but I don't know if it's gonna be like, oh, you know, it's every summer I gotta crack out Prey and give it a good watch. I gave this one a pretty solid 95. Whoa. I don't know that I'm gonna see something a lot higher than this, because for what it is, it's kind of perfect. [01:02:50] Speaker B: I'm excited. [01:02:52] Speaker C: Wow. [01:02:52] Speaker B: Wow. [01:02:53] Speaker C: I'm gonna ask the audience and I'm gonna ask you guys. Where do you think this one lands overall? Not. Not Prey, but Franchise. Now we've got all of our scores out. Don't do the math real quick, Brian. I see you looking down. [01:03:06] Speaker A: I'm adding up my scores of. Of the franchise to see where, like, my total total of the franchise comes out. And then. And then extrapolate against you guys. But I can't do math in my head, so that's not gonna work. [01:03:17] Speaker B: It's got to be around the 80. Some 80 mark, maybe just under. [01:03:22] Speaker A: Well, it's got to be better than Highlander. [01:03:25] Speaker B: All right, well, well, Dan leaves us in suspense. Can I just say, my favorite action scene in this movie is when Taba comes rocking in on the horse and just goes buck wild on that predator. [01:03:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:03:39] Speaker B: That was like the cleanest, most awesome looking part of this. And then it's like, this guy. There's a reason the brother's a warrior. Like, this guy's awesome. That was super fun. And. And no time did I feel like, oh, he couldn't have been doing this except for, you know, maybe the unrealistic flying off the horse. But. But like, he was fast and nimble and just outmaneuvering the Predator. And I thought it was really, really, really nice. I wish that was. I almost wish that was the finale fight. Yeah, right. Or like, they double team this guy right to the end. I'd be okay with that. But that takes away from her story. Right. So it couldn't have been that. But I just thought it was a really nice fight. [01:04:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Her jumping 23ft out of the tree to, like, land on his shoulders and stab him was. I was like, really? Did it have to be that high up like that? I'm pretty sure you broke something, lady. Yeah, there was. Yeah. That final fight scene was the same thing. She was trying to be super nimble and powerful like her brother and everything. And it was a little, like you said, it was chaotic a bit. It was a little much. Still fun. It was still really cool. [01:04:53] Speaker B: It was cool to see her, like, implement all the things she learned about the Predator to take advantage and. [01:04:58] Speaker A: And that. [01:04:59] Speaker B: That was, like, the through line of the fight. The fighting. Her physical fighting itself, obviously may be a little questionable, but, yeah, overall, it got the message across of what they were trying to set up and execute. [01:05:14] Speaker A: So Elder thinks it loses to Mad Max by three. [01:05:18] Speaker B: All right, Dan, what do we got? [01:05:20] Speaker A: I. I think. I think it beats Mad Max by three. [01:05:24] Speaker C: I've got it. I just don't know how to show it on the screen in a good way. It's going to kind of COVID up half the screen, but it'll. It'll do the job. [01:05:32] Speaker B: That's fine. Cover me up. [01:05:34] Speaker C: I wish I could, but. Okay. So, Brian, you think it's gonna beat Mad Max? Elder gym things gonna lose to it. What do you think, Will? [01:05:43] Speaker B: I think it'll be under Mad Max slightly as well. [01:05:46] Speaker C: I kind of hate this, to be perfectly honest. We've only three movies in, and we've got a tie for first place. Oh, seventy. [01:05:55] Speaker B: I knew it'd be under eighty. I knew it'd be under 80. [01:05:59] Speaker C: I'm a little surprised at that. I'm a little surprised that it came in under Mad Max. I. [01:06:03] Speaker B: Well, look at me dropping that score. Hot, though. [01:06:06] Speaker C: Yeah, a little bit. [01:06:09] Speaker B: I mean, there was a couple bad movies in this franchise, let's be honest. Yeah, well. [01:06:13] Speaker C: And that's just it. Not that Mad Max was clean, let's be honest. But no. Yeah. I thought Overall, I thought 872 and prey would carry this franchise. And then, ironically, I tanked two. Like, I didn't like two nearly as much as I thought I was going to, and I. I kind of kept the other two a little bit higher up. But that's interesting to me. I really thought it'd be higher. I honestly, I thought your guys scores for Prey would be a little bit higher too, to be honest. [01:06:38] Speaker B: I mean, Brian gave a great score, I think, actually. [01:06:41] Speaker C: Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm looking at the overall franchise scores when I say that with low 70s, not. No. 87 and 78 are both actually pretty respectable scores. Never mind. [01:06:52] Speaker B: It had some dips in the movies for sure, right? So it, that's, that's the beauty of the franchise. There's always the highs, there's always the lows. And they're gonna find their way somewhere in the middle. [01:07:02] Speaker A: And, And Fury Road carries the Mad Max franchise all on its own. Whereas in the Predator franchise we have one and we have Prey that are both solid. [01:07:14] Speaker B: You know, this book ends there for sure. [01:07:16] Speaker A: So. Yeah. So, Dan, what's the next Predator movie to hit the big screen? What's it going to be? Tell me the script. [01:07:26] Speaker C: I think you already said it. I don't remember if it was before or after the camera started rolling. It's got to be feudal Japan. I want to see a samurai or a ninja or both. Hunting, slash, getting hunted by a predator. I want there to be more close combat weapons. I know they've always got those Wolverine claws, but I'd love them to have something else. Although he had a shield in this one too. That'd be kind of a cool dichotomy. Something like that would be incredible. You did show us that short film on YouTube, which I'll put a link in the description below for like the medieval times one. I thought that was kind of fun. That was cool. But for me, it's got to be feudal Japan. That's, that's what I'm fingers crossed. If they ever make another one of these, make it exactly like this one. Just change the time period. Keep it as authentic as you can. To the, the Regent. The area. I want to see as much like Japanese countryside the same way we saw Canadian countryside. And this one, Give it to me right now. Is there, is there another answer? Does anybody have something different they want to see? [01:08:22] Speaker B: Will, I'm cool with anytime, period. Throw it in the old west, man. Get some, get some six shooters up in that biz. I, I would love it just to see some dynamite really being utilized, you know, like. I don't know. I think there's lots of cool time periods. You could just throw this Predator guy into different, slightly iterations of the Predator and focus on the story. Make it a good story and just let the action speak for itself. [01:08:53] Speaker A: Colonial Marines. [01:08:54] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:08:55] Speaker A: No, honestly, I wouldn't mind a future version of Predator, but man, that's so scary. That's tough ground to tread on because you get to make everything up and I don't want you to make it stupid. Right? They took everything out of the film in Prey. They, they, they took all the weaponry and they went, they went, you know, analog kind of on this movie and it worked. If you were to go into the future, I'm so worried that people would be like, oh, we can do whatever we want. And then the sci fi, you know, cgi, just off the rails. It would really upset me if they could actually do something where it was a late colony on Mars where we have like several colonies established or something like that, and he's sneaking around. Maybe that would be okay. But honestly, yeah, Feudal Japan's the way to go. We all know that's, that's gonna be probably the hot sauce right there. I would like to see someone who encounters the Predator and is somehow like disabled or disarmed. And the Predator's like, nah, I ain't going to fight you. And walks away from the guy. And the guy then feels shamed that like his, his, his tribe or his group or his warriors or whatever were all killed and he was spared and he didn't get the opportunity to fight him in battle and feels like really cowardly and he, and it's all about his honor and trying to overcome his honor. And later he hunts down the Predator when they return and he goes looking for the Predator to hunt him down and he trains like maybe a group of mercenaries to go with him or something. Something like that would be cool, where they really dive into the whole honor thing. [01:10:34] Speaker C: Predator minus one. [01:10:36] Speaker A: Yeah, sure, I guess. But I think that would be an interesting thing where they could get. Really dive into the honor of it because they did a little of that. And we talked about the Predator being kind of cocky in this one. As he started having an easier and easier time defeating his enemies, he started getting a little flashy, especially when he was slaughtering all the Frenchmen. It would be really cool to see the Predator on his heels a little bit by somebody who came prepared, you know, and maybe had like a team of ninja assassins and they chased him down a little bit, I think. I don't know. There's, there's things to explore there. I'd like to certainly want to see another film, though. [01:11:14] Speaker C: I, I got your Predator movie right here, Brian. [01:11:16] Speaker A: Okay. [01:11:17] Speaker C: The year is 2400 or something. Humanity is conquered. Space. We're flying all over the galaxy. We finally find the yacht homeworld, and we descend. One person dressed in a suit from the end of the Predator. Oh, predators on their own home world. [01:11:38] Speaker A: No. [01:11:38] Speaker B: That's right. [01:11:39] Speaker A: We're bringing home world. [01:11:42] Speaker B: We're gonna get. [01:11:44] Speaker A: I can't remember. [01:11:48] Speaker B: God. [01:11:49] Speaker C: All right. [01:11:49] Speaker A: Oh, please. [01:11:51] Speaker C: All right. That has been our rating as we discussed the Predator franchise. What do you guys think? Way too high a score. Way too low of a score. Do we get something right or wrong? Leave a message down below. And next month, we're gonna be touching on the Evil Dead franchise, the original three, including the two remakes for Halloween, so make sure you tune in for those. Hit the like button if you like this video. Hit. Subscribe if you want to see those videos coming forward. And if you want to hang out with us live while we're recording this, head over to Twitch TV sl the Mongoolie show, and come say hi. Have a good night, everybody. [01:12:21] Speaker A: The movie was fun off.