I have to admit, I have been looking forward to this film for quite sometime. Those who know me know I'm a fine of gory 80's Sci-fi and I'm big fan of the original Arnie classic. With nothing to do on Wednesday evening after work, Lee (who had also got excited about this after I showed him the trailer, though not as much as another film that is going to be a great 80's throwback, the Sylvester Stallone directed The Expendables) and I decided to catch this in Romford.
To be honest, I'm not quite sure if I thought it was good or mediocre. I think we can both agree that it's an improvement on AVP (being poked in the eye by Freddy Kruger would be an improvement on AVP), but we both felt it was still kind of wimpy compared to the Arnie outing. Granted, the blood was back (yay!) but we felt that the Predators looked a fair bit shorter than the ones from the original 2 films. We did toy with the idea that they could have been Predator Oompa-Loompa's, but we figured that wasn't the case when Gene Wilder didn't turn up with a mini-gun, bringing the pain.
Story wise, it felt like a greatest hits package. Back in the jungle. Check. Reference to Arnie in the first film. Check. Scene where the jungle get's blown to pieces by shooting at something that's not there. Check. Now I realise that it's a sequel, but considering it was written by Robert Rodriguez I was surprised by some of the wholesale lifting from the original! I mean the ending wasn't that much different from the original. Hell, it even had a Little Richard song playing over the end credits!
It may sound like I'm slating it, I'm not, but I just wish it had a been a bit more original. On the one hand, it's good to have a Predator film with blood again, but on the other anybody who's a fan of the original will find it a case of de-ja vu. My verdict? Entertaining, but I can't help but think it's a missed chance.
Hang on, though, Kevin, aren’t Robert Rodrigez and Quentin Tarantino both noted for both gore and straight lifts from earlier flicks … ?
ReplyDeleteAnd, on top of that, can we — in theory — call Predators a sequel … ?
Or a remake … ?
After all, I’d’ve expected the younger generation not to have seen the original version.
A remake dressed up as a sequel … ?
Could well be a good thing … !
It was written by Rodriguez, but not directed. Nimrod Antal directed it (just realised I omitted that!). The gore quota is surprising, considering the amount in the average Rodriguez script. Don't get me wrong, compared to AVP there's buckets, but nothing compared to the original 2.
ReplyDeleteCan we call it a sequel? Yes. Robert Rodriguez wrote it as a sequel, complete with a cameo for Arnie (he's not in it, but you can see where it was meant to be).