*SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT MAJOR PARTS OF THE STORY RUINED FOR YOU*
I was planning to write a review of Predators after watching it yesterday. I was enjoying the film much more than I had Predator 2 or either of the AvP films. Finally a sequel to a favorite film of mine I had been waiting to see for 23 years. Sure it didn't have Arnold, but it was a good Predator film in its own right. But than the Yakuza/Predator scene occurred and strong flashbacks to the original began to kick into overdrive until the end of the movie and I got upset with the fact that after all was said and done, what Rodriguez and crew actually did was weaken the strength of the original film.
I realize that other moments in the film prior to the Yakuza/Predator scene made references back to the original and they were pretty subtle. I smiled and was glad they were showing respect to the original. Than we get the scene that plays out initially like the scene with "Billy" in the first. One individual decides to make a stand armed only with a large bladed weapon. The leader recognizes the situation and moves on followed by the bladed individual remove his top and preparing for battle. In the original all we get is the character of "Billy" screaming and we realize he has died. In Predators there is a confrontation and the Yakuza is actually able to kill the Predator, still dying himself of course. So this says that the "Billy" character (a long well trained military professional) is not as impressive of an individual as the Yakuza character from this film.
Now we get to the scene that throws the original film under the bus and says that the entire original team was weak and that "Dutch's" victory in the end was small in comparison to Brody's character and his thrown together team. When Fishburne's character talked of the Predator tied to the tree in camp, he referred to him as the, "smaller" Predator and that the "larger more powerful" Predators hunted the smaller ones as well as the humans. Well when Brody makes it to their camp and approaches the "smaller" Predator we realize that this is the same breed of Predator that "Dutch" and his crew faced in the first film. After freeing the "smaller" Predator he comes face to face with the "larger Predator" and gets beat pretty easy. (Showing us just how much more powerful this "larger" breed actually is over the "smaller") At which point Brody and the female lead claim victory over the "larger" Predator.
Predator had a crack team of six highly trained military individuals who worked together as a unit for a very long period of time as well as an individual who was prior military (now with the CIA) but had worked in the field with "Dutch" before. This group died one by one until "Dutch" made his final stand and won against ONE SMALLER PREDATOR. In Predators we get eight individuals who have never worked together and who have less military experience combined between all of them who are able to take out THREE LARGER MORE POWERFUL PREDATORS. Two of which were taken out by only one each of the eight members.
I am biased to the original I know. It was an excellent sci-fi film starring my favorite actor of all-time. I watched it at a very impressionable age and it stayed with me. But I believe I make a strong argument for how Predators weakens the strength of the originals squad and "Dutch's" victory.
One other big question I have is, "Why did the Predators come to earth in the original if they had this game preserve and why only send one if they did this in packs of three?" In Predator that was not the first time they had come to earth. The female character in the original stated that these types of events had "occurred before in the hottest of seasons." In Predators Fishburne character says that he has been there for 10 seasons but the Yakuza finds a sword that he says is "old" and that they have been doing this for a "long time". Sure, Predator was 23 years ago and I don't know how old the sword was, so maybe it was only 22 years old.
Well, what do you think? Am I over analyzing or do you agree? Of course this post will only make sense to those who have seen the original and understand where I am coming from. Let me know?
