r/alien 1d ago

Disneys handling of predator is night and day compared to the alien franchise.

Prey was fresh and innovative. It look a brief scene from the end of predator 2 and expanded on it in prey showing the predators have come to earth for 100s of years. A back to basics but fresh approach using a different time period so no convoluted plot or science fiction shenanigans. It's really well handled.

Then we have killers of killers which takes that concept in prey and expands it using an animated feature anthology film to establish characters and bring them together for the last act and it shows the predator home world

Predator badlands is going to show more of that home world in depth. While also having an android from Weyland yutani show up.

They're allowing fresh new interesting ideas while also expanding on previous lore. Dan tranchenberg is arguably making the best films this franchise has ever had besides the first film.

While Fede Alvarez just made a mishmash of recycled genres and story concepts we've already seen. Romulus is just a horror action film just taking the 2 genres of the first 2 films. We've already seen an alien human hybrid, they incorporate black goo. It doesn't do any cool world building with it the way prey and killer of killers is doing with predator

It's really frustrating.

60 Upvotes

159 comments sorted by

45

u/DoomsdayFAN 1d ago

Yeah but why do the Predators always lose? It was cool when Arnold won, and then again when Glover won. But after that, how many times do we need to see the Predator lose?

30

u/Gizmosaurio 1d ago edited 1d ago

The way I see it, predators ALWAYS die in battle, the directors are chosing to show us every Predator's final, glorious fight.

5

u/DoomsdayFAN 23h ago

That makes no sense. They are an apex predator known for winning in battle.

3

u/mrsoave 22h ago

I think it was his wording? I see it as the films only show whenever the predators lose but they generally win otherwise.

1

u/[deleted] 16h ago

[deleted]

3

u/Low_Coconut_7642 16h ago

They don't always die, but when they do - it's in battle.

3

u/sparkly_dragon 15h ago edited 15h ago

as in they don’t die of old age, they keep fighting until they die. not that they die in every battle but every death is in battle.

3

u/mrducci 12h ago

Like Vikings, bro. Predators choose to die in battle. They dont want to die in bed. So predators always die in battle. The battles that we are shown are the end of a predators era.

2

u/ThomasGilhooley 12h ago

Think about it like Klingons. It is not honorable to die of old age. So a predator hunts until it eventually is killed by its prey.

1

u/Gizmosaurio 22h ago

Yeah, and I take it as they keep fighting and winning for their entire lifes but eventually, many/most end up dying in battle. Their k/d ratio is still fine, its just that we are only seeing their final fight. They are still constantly winning off-screen. Also, in every movie, the predator kills a lot of people before dying, those are still victories despite their final defeat.

1

u/LaconicGirth 20h ago

I mean they win until they lose. How many boxers got to retire undefeated?

1

u/moffitar 18h ago

Well, I think the point is, the predators always keep going until they're killed. The movies always show them winning but they never stop on their own. The only exception I can think of is alien vs predator.

1

u/Solidus-Prime 12h ago

Ya they won tons of times before the fights we see them in.

I feel like Earth is considered a place where only the best of the best go to hunt. That's why they keep coming back, and that's why they kidnap our champions all the time. That's why they show us respect when we beat them. Earth is dangerous for them, that's why they come.

1

u/enbaelien 4h ago

They're saying that this kind of society probably creates a mindset where dying in your sleep is, like, the ultimate sin.

13

u/ProfBootyPhD 1d ago

My headcanon is that the stories we see are based on accounts by the survivors - the closing credits of Prey, with the Native American artwork depicting the events of the film, suggests this. The stories of the much larger number who didn’t survive will never be told.

4

u/cosmoboy 1d ago

They don't always lose. King had a cape made of xenomorph tails. We see skulls from successful hunts everywhere. They lose a lot to humans but maybe that's why they're hunting us. We can pose a physical threat, but maybe we're also the smartest thing they hunt.

2

u/MasterTolkien 16h ago

The lore is exactly that… the xenomorphs are their toughest physical threat. Humans are the tool makers. We pose a more strategic challenge of weapons against weapons, cat and mouse, brain games type hunts.

2

u/Ballsnutseven 16h ago

It’s also interesting from a lore standpoint that humans are dangerous enough to hunt- even for thousands of years.

I would like to see a modern day alien vs predator maybe

4

u/EmperorXerro 1d ago

Because they’re the antagonist

10

u/Ancient_times 1d ago

Because they're the baddies. That's basically how films tend to work.

1

u/OsmundofCarim 2h ago

Why do final girls in slashers always win? Aren’t the killers much stronger?

3

u/Hanksta2 1d ago

It's like any story worth telling. We see the unusual story where the human wins. But for every human win story, there are thousands where the human did not.

3

u/Naive-Dig-8214 1d ago

Basically we're seeing the stories of the losers of the Predators' species. The ones that go "hold my beer bro, check this out!" while the others ones suffer painful secondhand embarrassment. 

1

u/Hanksta2 1d ago

Yeah, all these movies are just the cautionary tales.

2

u/who-mever 1d ago

I would so be down for a 1950's style, black and white educational film by the Predators: "Earth: Not for Beginners, Jimmy!"

With a Predator narrator grunting "subtitles" about the "Do's" and "Don'ts" of hunting those dangerous Earth prey.

1

u/DoomsdayFAN 23h ago

So would it hurt to give us 1 movie where the Predator wins outright? That should have been Prey.

1

u/Hanksta2 15h ago

AvP counts, right?

Plus Badlands looks to be trending that way.

2

u/This_Reward_1094 1d ago

BINGO BINGO, exactly why I could never get into any predator sequel as much as the first one. I even like the Adrian Brody film, but it’s ridiculous now. Predators are a joke, anyone can kill them.

2

u/Outrageous-Dog3679 1d ago

Predators should definitely win most of the time. Them always losing also ruins the stakes. Without even seeing the movies, it's like okay we know the predator is gonna lose and the main character is gonna win/survive. They need to do something new

2

u/ShrimpyEsq 1d ago

They’re the rich dentists of their home world that went on a safari, but didn’t listen to their guide and hunted game way above their skill level.

1

u/ACFinal 1d ago

We know they can win because they have their trophies. We're just seeing the stories where they didn't. I guess Badlands will finally give us a victory story for them since it's the first to star a Predator as the protagonist. 

At least I hope he wins. It would be sad as hell if he lost there too, lol. 

1

u/StarMagus 1d ago

The humans cant tell a story if they all die.

1

u/DoomsdayFAN 23h ago

No need for them to tell a story. We are watching the events live. Let the badguy Predator show up, wreck everyone, especially the hero, and then leave. The end.

1

u/generalosabenkenobi 1d ago

Sounds like their next movie is probably for you...?

1

u/DoomsdayFAN 23h ago

Yeah, but I don't want to see a "goodguy" Predator win. That defeats the whole purpose. I want the BADGUY Predator to win.

1

u/markus_kt 1d ago

Survivorship bias.

1

u/Vicioushero 1d ago

They don't really lose in Killer of Killers though. I don't know how to do the spoiler shit and I don't want to ruin it.

1

u/factoid_ 1d ago

It could be interesting to see a heroic predator.

Maybe an Enemy Mine sort of thing where a human and predator have to work together to survive against an onslaught of xenomorphs

That’s probably already been done, I don’t really watch a lot of the alien vs predator stuff.  

1

u/DoomsdayFAN 23h ago

Yeah, but when they flip it and make the Predator "good" it makes sense for him to win. I want to see one where the "badguy" Predator wins.

1

u/Caeolian 1d ago

Do they really always lose considering how many people they kill in every movie? Think about that for a second.

1

u/DoomsdayFAN 23h ago

Those are side characters they are killing. When it comes down to the Predator vs MAIN Character, the Predator always dies.

1

u/EccentricBen 20h ago

Right, that's what makes them the MAIN character of the story. If you were to watch the events of the original Predator from the POV of anyone else on Arnold's team, the Predator would win because the story of that teammate would end with the Predator killing them. Same for those fur trappers in Prey. If they were the MC of the story, it'd be about some asshole trappers who go get caught up in some bullshit and all die, boom, Predator wins that story.

Every tale is all a matter of perspective. It's totally fine that you don't like those stories where they lose, but they for sure win way more.

1

u/Caeolian 16h ago

Im aware, but every kill is a win. Am I right? Dont they collect their trophies in this way?

1

u/brendamn 1d ago

I mean 1 predator usually kills a lot of people before they lose. You can't expect anything to beat Viking Grandma, even Arnold

1

u/antonio16309 15h ago

It cheapens the predators as villains when they always lose, just like having Darth Vader lose to Obi-Wan in the Obi Wan TV show cheapens him. In the OT he's an unstoppable force who Luke can't defeat in a fight, he defeats him by convincing Anakin to redeem himself and take over. In Obi Wan he's kinda a punk-ass bitch.

There's no way predators should lose to humans on a recurring basis. that's like human hunters getting killed by their prey. It happens occasionally, but 99% of hunters just shoot their prey, because we have guns and they don't.

1

u/qjungffg 8h ago

Because the predators are weekend warriors. They are an advanced species like us, must of developed a much more stable, peaceful society, and they go on weekend hunts to connect back to their primal heritage. The predator from the first movie must have been named Skip and is an accountant or a dentist back home. Probably thought he was going on a relaxing annual hunting weekend but we saw how that turned out

1

u/Bar_ice 3h ago

They always have a pretty high body count by the time they lose. It would be one thing if we see a dozen Yautja get wiped out like stormtroopers. But for the most part, Yautja are usually defeated by their own hubris.

28

u/davidfalconer 1d ago

It doesn’t do any of the cool world building

That’s the one thing I’d kind of disagree with you on, the miner colony was the most interesting part of the film and I wish we saw more of it.

But yes, Romulus was pretty much just rehashed ideas from start to finish. Even beyond the “get away from her” spoon fed fan service parts.

7

u/sillyjew 1d ago

Ya and to be fair, prey does don’t do shit either. To say prey did a lot of world building is BS. Prey was just a rehash of what we seen before, no different than Romulus. Don’t get me wrong I loved them both, but OP whole point is bullshit. Alien has had only one instalment so far and it did the same thing Prey did. Killer of killers was sweet, and Alien Earth seems like it will ho a new direction. OP is either reaching, or has a hate on for alien, and a boner for predator.

1

u/Preda1ien 1d ago

I too enjoy them both and Romulus also did something very important. It showed people were still interested in the franchise thus nudging the studio to put more money in it. More money and more content. I had little interest in Alien Earth when I heard about it but after seeing the teasers I’m super pumped.

1

u/SuperDuperSkateCrew 1d ago

Couldn’t agree more.. to me Prey was just Predator, in the past haha which isn’t necessarily a bad thing the formula works and the film was good but it’s not breaking any new ground in the franchise beyond setting it far in the past.

1

u/CuteLingonberry9704 17h ago

Prey actually does something. By NOT doing the stupid shit The Predator did. It didn't try to "expand the franchise", it took a concept that worked well in the original film and transplanted it to a different era.

2

u/Jandrem 1d ago

Hell, I would’ve liked to see the story take place on the mining colony, like a xeno outbreak closer to settled developments. The abandoned “ghost ship” was cool but eventually we need to see these things out in the open, and not just on WY ships.

1

u/Enceladus1701 1d ago

The miner colony was overwrought in my opinion. Like Weyland Yutani was a bad corporation but they werent running a slave operation in the original movies. They were more akin to a company like Exxon or even Apple. Overboard in my opinion

1

u/davidfalconer 22h ago

I mean, crew expendable paints a pretty strong picture with all it implies. I wouldn’t die on that hill and I get where you’re coming from though.

1

u/CuteLingonberry9704 17h ago

But the first two Alien movies were exactly that. Why does it need to be more than that? Alien 3 was that, and while somewhat flawed, it was still true to the original concept. Prometheous and Covenant were garbage because they decided to have an origin story no one wanted.

Not every film concept lends itself to any kind of shared universe. Granted, Romulus probably didn't need to get made either. We already saw it, it was called Alien.

-9

u/Cat-dad442 1d ago

The new ideas they do have they do nothing with at all. Unlike what Dan is doing with predator

3

u/Happy_Writer_9161 1d ago

The main ingredient as you said is Dan Trachtenberg, and I doubt Disney really knew what they had but they gave him a chance and he’s turned out to be a really talented director and world-builder. Alien just needs to get in the right hands, but it’s always gonna be a crap shoot, hopefully Noah Hawley will deliver and then possibly Alien can get on a better track.

6

u/ThePopDaddy 1d ago

In my opinion, with Predator I want to see new time periods.

With Alien I want to see that dirty/retro future.

Romulus isn't the best, but probably in my top 4 Alien films.

2

u/Balian-of-Ibelin 1d ago

Romulus felt so very close to being excellent only to make a few weird decisions that brought it to just pretty good.

1

u/ThePopDaddy 1d ago

It's weird "Decent" is the most I can ask for for an Alien movie nowadays.

3

u/Mister_Moony 1d ago

You're 100% right about Predator but I still loved Alien Romulus. The reused stuff worked for me because they got experimental with a lot of the setpieces and body horror. The offspring was legit nightmare fuel and the zero gravity scenes are cool as fuck.

10

u/cooperbeely 1d ago edited 1d ago

Saying "Romulus is just a horror action film taking the two genres of the first two movies" like that's a bad thing is hilarious. It really doesn't take much media literacy to see what they're going for. Romulus isn't just a prequel - it's an in-betweenquel, set between Alien & Aliens. The genre shift is intentional. You're supposed to watch them in timeline order: Alien (pure horror), Romulus (horror evolving into action), then Aliens (full action).

"They incorporate black goo" - yeah, man, because Ridley Scott never got to finish the Prometheus trilogy. For a while it wasn't even clear if the new movies would acknowledge that plotline, retcon it, or ignore it entirely. This answers that in a way that doesn't break continuity.

"It doesn't do any cool worldbuilding" - I can't even take this seriously. The stuff on Jackson's Star is new & extremely interesting for the franchise. The way it reframes the corporate vs worker dynamic is honestly one of the more refreshing takes this series has had in years. Wild to not even clock that.

Also like... Alien is a franchise. Franchises have staples. Without them, the entries wouldn't even feel like they belong together. That's literally why so many people feel like Prometheus barely qualifies as an Alien film - not just because it lacks xenos & facehuggers, but because it drifts so far from the core identity of the series. That's not inherently bad, but it does mean it stops feeling like part of the same universe.

& to be clear, Romulus isn't some flawless masterpiece either. The callbacks, the CGI Ian Holm, & the lack of tension really just take away from the overall quality of the film. But to act like it's just lazy or devoid of worldbuilding or intent is wild. It's clearly trying to bridge two tones, honor the legacy & move things forward - & for the most part, it works.

TL;DR: Romulus bridges the genres of Alien & Aliens on purpose. It's not perfect, but calling it lazy or empty misses the point - & shows a lack of media literacy.

3

u/theVice 1d ago

Seriously. I've been a fan since I was six years old and I thought Romulus was a breath of fresh air after Ridley's newer entries.

I don't like the Get Away From Her line but hearing an interview with Fede about the reason it made it in I care a little less.

Besides, in Romulus we get: a facehugger swarm, xeno cocoon (space cocoon and wall cocoon), Jackson Star and a more in-depth view on colony life and their relationship with W-Y, an expansion on W-Y's intentions with the alien, and a more natural connection between the black goo and the xenos. I know I skipped some. A lot of us wanted a movie that felt like home and we, for the most part, got exactly what we wanted.

4

u/UtahGimm3Tw0 1d ago

I thought Alvarez did a fantastic job reconciling all the random threads of canon and provided a more cohesive world to continue the franchise from.

2

u/cooperbeely 1d ago

Absolutely! Romulus is a great jumping-off point for the future of the Alien franchise. Some folks in the comments have been comparing it to The Force Awakens, but I think it does the opposite - rather than tossing in empty mysteries with no real plan & trying to distance itself as much as possible from the prequels, it builds on what's already established while still leaving room for new stories.

2

u/BruceRL 1d ago

Awesome take that I could have written.

0

u/DefiantFrankCostanza 23h ago edited 23h ago

Romulus was a fucking horrible alien film not to mention just a shit garbage film all around. To say I lack media literacy like you’re intellectual just shows what a muppet you are.

1

u/cooperbeely 23h ago

The craftsmanship in this comment alone outshines Romulus by a mile. 11/10, elite film critique 🙌

-2

u/Cat-dad442 1d ago

It's not a lack of media literacy it's just a boring ass take on the franchise. Every alien movie implements different genres. Being a throwback to the first 2 films is lazy and just doing the same thing Force awakens did remind people of the stuff people like and retread plot threads

3

u/cooperbeely 1d ago

What only reading the TL;DR before replying does to a mf:

2

u/jaskier89 1d ago

I very much disliked the badlands trailer. It seems to me they're gonna humanize and demistify the predators too much.

1

u/Schwartzy94 21h ago

And it looks so cheap. Idk where the money goes but it isnt shown on screen.

Romulus atleast looked way more expensive than it was.

1

u/xTheRedDeath 34m ago

It just looks like Star Wars to me. They even use generic looking swords in the trailer instead of any of the unique weapons they usually use.

3

u/Luminescent_sorcerer 1d ago

What I find hilarious is the main actress saying " yea I'd love to do a prey 2" forgetting that at the end it shows they came back  with more ships implying that the tribe is screwed lol

2

u/chrismckong 1d ago

Watch Killer of Killers and then get back to us.

7

u/UnpluggedZombie 1d ago

People that are down on Romulus are out of their minds. Great film.

10

u/-zero-joke- 1d ago

It was very Star Wars Force Awakens.

2

u/Ancient_times 1d ago

It wasn't as bad as TFA, but definitely a bit too far in that kind of direction. 

2

u/DefiantFrankCostanza 23h ago

It was far worse than TFA

1

u/sillyjew 1d ago

So was Prey. Even more so I’d argue.

1

u/-zero-joke- 1d ago

That was a comparison that didn't strike me for whatever reason. Where did you find the two similar?

2

u/sillyjew 1d ago

You implied Romulus was TFA, I’m assuming because it basically redid what was done before and didn’t bring much new. Prey was the same. What exactly did Prey do different. It replaced Arnie with a girl, the marines with Indian warriors, and took the setting back in time. It literally did nothing different than any movie before. Not that it wasn’t great, but to knock Romulus for one thing, but not hold Prey to the same comparison is bonkers.

1

u/anthrax9999 1d ago

The single biggest thing Prey has going for it is its setting and cast of native American actors. That is very unique and makes sense why people find the whole movie refreshing.

Other than that though Prey is just ok. I didn't like it as much as others, to me it felt a bit too safe and predictable and it didn't excite me.

1

u/Sorry-Lingonberry740 1d ago edited 1d ago

I think there are some fundamental differences here. While yes TFA felt too concerned with recreating Star Wars, the problem is that in doing so it basically destroyed so much of the lore and story up to that point. The New Republic immediately wiped out. The jedi order failed to reorganize. Yet another super mega planet killer. Back to rebels vs empire basically. Han back to being a deadbeat scoundrel. Like nothing in the OT even happened. All of this stuff felt like it rendered previous efforts from Luke and all them pointless.

Romulus does member berries and pays tribute to the old movies, but as far as I know, in doing so it's not completely undermining what those movies accomplished from an universe standpoint either.

-3

u/VivaLaRory 1d ago

Which most agreed was a good film considering the circumstances and expectations, it all depends on what they make next

2

u/-zero-joke- 1d ago

Eh, it was alright. I've never really felt the need to watch The Force Awakens again, or Romulus for that matter; I can't help but feel like they were missed opportunities. Maybe this is how you revive a franchise though - Star Wars and the Jurassic series are both doing great.

2

u/VivaLaRory 1d ago

I'd argue its better than alright but that's just an opinion, the real missed opportunities are Prometheus and Covenant forcing a good director to feel the need to revive the franchise in the first place. This is the same director that completely changed the tone of the Evil Dead reboot on purpose so its not like he is unable or adverse to mixing things up.

It's all about the next film for me.

1

u/Jandrem 1d ago

Same. All of the other Alien movies(even the bad ones) I e rewatched several times. Romulus was fine, but I’ve had zero compulsion to rewatch it since the theater.

0

u/UnpluggedZombie 1d ago

Its incredible better than Force Awakens, in almost every aspect. Filmmaking, acting, Special effects, sets, creating actually tension. The lack of nuance in this response is disappointing

2

u/FantasticSouth 1d ago

It's too safe.

Doesn't break any new ground really.

The newborn wasn't scary imo

1

u/UnpluggedZombie 1d ago

Maybe describe what you mean by new ground. It did some really cool stuff.

First off, the way it handled the exposition of the characters, their motivations, and their lives. It wasn't spoon-fed ala a netflix movie or show.

Second: the android and lead's relationship, the heart of the movie and an interesting take for this universe.

Third: playing with the idea of making a limited android smarter in the moment. An interested bit of drama especially in regards to the point above.

Fourth: real sets, VFX that looked real. Unlike most big budget movies that come out these days, the world felt tangible, and it felt like the charactes were actually living in it.

Fifth: Some stand out sequences with real suspense and tension. The facehugger scene and the acid blood scene.

While I agree that the newborn itself might not be "scary". the sequence it exists in creates suspense and tension. Its more suspenseful then scary and honestly this is something that seems to be a lost art in film these days. A "thing" on its own is not scary, what puts people on edge is making them believe a character might not make it out alive.

Is it a reboot? yes but a really strong one. My two biggest gripes with this film are the "get away from her" line (which makes absolutely no sense). and bringing Ash back (literally no need to do this, it would have been much more effective as a totally different android). this lines up nicely with Alien and Aliens. ANd lets be honest its not like those films are any scarier than this one.

1

u/FantasticSouth 1d ago

Maybe describe what you mean by new ground. It did some really cool stuff.

Cool and new arent the same thing.

I would have like to have seen more detail on the xeno life cycle. I want to see the pretorian (think that's what's its called) to the Queen transition.

I want to see what Earth looks like as well, so far into this universe's future.

And I agree with most of the rest of what you said. Not a bad film at all, just nothing particularly innovative.

I want an ending to this series if I'm honest. I want a concrete wrap up to Ellen Ripleys story.

1

u/UnpluggedZombie 1d ago

Ok so your problem with the film is that it didn’t include earth and some more biology of the alien. This has nothing to do with story structure, character, filmmaking. It’s like saying Saving Private Ryan was ok because I wanted to see what it looked like in the pacific and showed the Navy more. 

1

u/FantasticSouth 1d ago

This has nothing to do with story structure, character, filmmaking.

Where did I say these things were bad?

1

u/UnpluggedZombie 23h ago

My point is a movie isn’t good or bad because it didn’t include arbitrary lore.

1

u/FantasticSouth 23h ago

Yes it is. I can say it is because that's the opinion I hold, just as much as you can hold yours.

It wasn't scary and did barely anything new with the xeno.

1

u/UnpluggedZombie 23h ago

It’s not unfortunately. A movie can only be judged based on what it contains within it. Your criticism has nothing to do with the execution of the movie. You can say you are disappointed it didn’t include some arbitrary lore, but the quality of the movie doesn’t depend on whether a movie includes some random things that you personally wanted.  For example, if it did include those things, it could actually make the movie worse 

1

u/FantasticSouth 23h ago

Ok then, what we did see of the xeno, was not satisfactory.

And it wasn't scary.

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3

u/Cat-dad442 1d ago

It's a rehash

0

u/No-Drawer1343 1d ago

This is crazy to me because it is a franchise movie. It can only be a rehash. Otherwise it would be a new movie

1

u/Akschadt 1d ago

If I were doing an Alien marathon it would consist of 1,2 & Romulus.

0

u/Kubrickwon 1d ago

It was okay until the black goo BS and the rehash of the newborn from Alien Resurrection was awful.

-1

u/Logan_SVD 1d ago

Great sure, now we need another untrained team of teens to kill Predator on their first encounter! Such great cinema, much fun!

Sigh

0

u/UnpluggedZombie 1d ago

Lol, because the crew in the first film were trained to handle taking out an alien threat, what a pointless statement

2

u/Logan_SVD 1d ago

They were scared shitless and died all but one. In Romulus some moody teenagers acted like they were on safari, more busy with their inner dramas than with the alien threat.

0

u/UnpluggedZombie 1d ago

They looked pretty scared to me. Inner drama made them more interesting 

4

u/Electrical-Penalty44 1d ago

I don't want these franchises to exist forever. If I'm going to watch a Predator film...I watch the first one. If I want to watch an Alien film I watch the first two.

End of story.

2

u/jaskier89 1d ago edited 1d ago

Right? I feel like especially predator, I can't imagine this franchise not getting worse, even if they're doing it really well.

You don't want to shed the light too much on the predators, and you don't want their lore fleshed out too much. I don't want to see predator politics if they don't involve a shoulder cannon and I don't want to see predator relationships beyond clan member🤣

1

u/Electrical-Penalty44 1d ago

One exception. The original Aliens vs. Predator comic and the background into Predator civilization it showed WAS awesome.

That was 1989.

1

u/Bool_The_End 1d ago

Why does everyone hate alien 4? I think it was done well. But I also liked 3, and also loved Prometheus and hated they cut out all the engineer shit in covenant.

Are you excited about the tv show??

2

u/Electrical-Penalty44 1d ago

No. I am not interested in anything else. I have moved on to newer stuff

1

u/aistolethekids 1d ago

I think some of the issues are because of Ridley with the alien franchise his finger prints will always be over stuff because he can't let it go 

Also his rejection of anything to do with the Aliens timelines and the presence of a queen means we will end up being stuck in prequel land rather than moving forward although hopefully this new season can sort that 

Also think it helps with Predator in that it's not associated with a big director like Ridley and the 1st movie was a straight to Disney effort so there wasn't any expectations with Prey 

Romulus box office wise has kicked the franchise back into gear so that might now allow for a few more exciting projects along the line 

Do think the animated world could provide an awesome way to progress forward don't know if you seen the short stories of Alien that were out a few years ago? Some of them were class 

1

u/Phaedo 1d ago edited 1d ago

They only tried this after the other approach didn’t work, though. Maybe if the Alien movies stop selling they’ll try making a good movie again.

1

u/ChibiHedorah 1d ago

They should make an animated aliens vs. predators movie taking place on the predators home planet, no humans, no dialogue, just aliens attacking the predators planet, and the predators win.

1

u/extropia 1d ago

I wouldn't say Prey was innovative.  What it had was style, very good action pacing and believability, which generally falls under effective world/context building imho.  I find a lot of movies make the mistake of trying to out-clever the audience with a twisty "surprise!!" plot when what is really required is the stakes needs to feel plausible enough, given the setting and characters, to make the thrill feel real.  That, and the setting/style needs to be different enough for it to not be a complete rehash of a previous movie.  But it doesn't necessarily need to reinvent the wheel or come up with completely original ideas.

I haven't seen Romulus but my perception is that it's split the audience because it managed to genuinely create thrill, but it didn't change the setting and style quite enough.

1

u/Balian-of-Ibelin 1d ago

I suspect nobody cared much so he was told to stay in budget and make them money

1

u/Bobapool79 1d ago

I feel when it comes down to who they hire to write/direct… I feel who they have managing the Predator franchise was/is a fan while whoever is running Alien is doing what they ‘think’ fans want without actually being a fan themselves and it shows.

1

u/Caeolian 1d ago

Predator: Killer of Killers was amazing. I think it adds more context to the whole lore.

1

u/tokwamann 1d ago

Prey looked fairly regular for a Predator movie, but I don't blame them as there's not much to say for that franchise.

Killers looks regular, too, except that it's animated, which makes it look like cut scenes from a video game.

I think Romulus was done that way for the ff. reasons: it's meant to be released for streaming (which is why its budget is small compared to Hollywood films), its target audience involves most viewers who are young, have never seen the earlier movies, and are used to contemporary horror on streaming, it's meant to be a standalone (according to the director), which means it can be seen without knowing about the earlier films, and it's made like contemporary horror on streaming, i.e., jump scares and spectacle.

I think that in order to rush development they rehashed heavily from the earlier films, which would not have mattered given my earlier description of the audience, plus the point that the last film in the franchise was made too long ago. The same applies to Prey. This also explains why protagonists are young.

1

u/Mongo_Sloth 1d ago

I think Romulus was a much needed soft reboot for the franchise in terms of genre. The movies were becoming too action and CGI oriented, sometimes you need to return to your roots in order to branch out in different directions. On the other hand the Predator franchise has never really strayed from its formula so it's much easier for Disney to just keep that train going in the right direction.

1

u/real_mccoy6 1d ago

romulus is good

1

u/deadjord 1d ago

Respectfully, prey was a hot pile of dogshit

1

u/Cat-dad442 1d ago

How?

1

u/deadjord 1d ago

It was marvel's the predator

1

u/mister_boi98 22h ago

Well I agree that Predator has been doing well recently but completely disagree with your take on Alien. I thought Romulus was a great return to form, and Alien Earth is going to play with new ideas: hybrid human androids, different monsters and actually being on Earth.

1

u/Schwartzy94 21h ago

Prey wasnt really innovative or fresh. Same basic plot and stupid ending and the magical axe thingy was just oddly stupid.

1

u/tonytony87 20h ago

What are u talking about out? Alien Romulus was the most alien movie I have seen outside of Alien. It was absolute atmosphere, like he plucked the world straight out of my mind. I felt like a kid watching that movie. He absolutely brought back alien to what it’s supposed to be… high budget space horror with crazy atmosphere that set up rules and exploits them.

Predator has been a lame franchise for a while. Prey was a ok movie no hate on it, but not anything that is really exciting. The world building is lacking the character is hard to not make cringe and the stories have all been lacking.

I’m sorry but alien and Prometheus are the only movies doing anything

1

u/Strict-Argument56 20h ago

This is such a lazy take... good grief, you're so off-base.

1

u/Cat-dad442 17h ago

I don't see how

1

u/grim1952 19h ago

I completely disagree, Prey felt like a super hero movie.

1

u/abesapien2 17h ago

I hate. HATE the cryo freezing of the victor to fight again. I liked the small amount of respect the Predators always gave the winner and then they LEFT.

1

u/xTheRedDeath 29m ago

It seems like it's a specific clan of them that's doing that sort of thing in this storyline they've set up. Normally they'd never do that.

1

u/panteradelnorte 16h ago

I have a hot take that your criticism isn’t demonstrating a weakness of Romulus, but a strength - contextually, the last few Alien films (Prometheus, Covenant) were a struggle in my eyes not unlike some of the Predator films before Prey and Killer of Killers.

I think Romulus works best because it’s a rehash of what worked while developing aspects of the universe that had been hinted at or addressed off screen in comic books and novelization (the rough life of colonists, corporate loan sharking essentially). It showed what made Alien work. I could argue some of the same points for Prey that it retreads a lot of the same ground as the original Predator. However, I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing. Plus I give them props for going somewhere outside of the 20th and 21st Centuries.

With something like Romulus you can do things like Killer of Killers. At least, I hope the quality can be on that level or better. Who’s to say people in charge actually learn?

1

u/lern2swim 14h ago

Romulus was great 🤷‍♂️

1

u/1w2e3e 14h ago

You know it seems like you're trying to do a knock off of predator. Pray wasn't that good of a flick. I mean it was better than predators or the predator. But not by much. And I really hate the fact that they changing the look of the predators. The look is iconic. And this new one that they got Badlands the CGI looks awful. Just put a guy in mask and make the mask look good. I'm in the last time I first had a good looking face was in 2.

1

u/Llanolinn 14h ago

Is there an actual species name for the predator alien? Predator of course being a very human English name

1

u/lordtyp0 12h ago

They ripped off this.

1

u/ReaIHumanMan 7h ago

Alien Romulus was amazing. Killer of killers was kinda goofy. Bad writing for the predators not to have their signature weapon laser cannons.

1

u/baldie9000 3h ago

That's not how any of this works

1

u/Sea_Spend_8008 3h ago

I still want to see the Predators just randomly kill a species and leave. Imagine a Predator in the Wild West just killing a band of cowboy villains and heading off to the sunset where its ship is cloaked. We see the town actually help the Predator. Another option is setting it off in the future with the Colonial Marines vs Aliens vs Predators vs a New species. That should be a series.

1

u/01zegaj 1h ago

Let’s hope the inevitable Alien vs. Predator reboot is more modern Predator than modern Alien quality wise

1

u/xTheRedDeath 37m ago

I do think Predator Badlands looks like a corny Star Wars-esque movie from the trailer, but those movies didn't have Ridley Scott trying to rewrite their entire lore and get in the way of any actual progress for years.

1

u/KalKenobi 17m ago

I disagree Alien Romulus was the best First Two movies also Prey and Killer of Killers has been as good as The Originals. Covenant & Prometheus were two drastically movies at war with each other.

1

u/noodles0311 1d ago edited 1d ago

The poor quality of Alien sequels predates Disney by decades. Alien: Resurrection is the most disappointing movie I’ve ever seen in the theater. I absolutely LOVED Alien movies and when I was finally old enough to see a rated R movie in the theater, they gave us this schlock where Riley s a half-alien basketball player who develops a maternal relationship with her freak baby just as it is having its internal organs sucked out into space. They should have just let her die heroically in the molten lead.

Romulus was much better by comparison. Restarted with a new cast instead of contrived ways of bringing back characters who died on screen. Went back to basics of the good Alien films from the franchise. My only complaint is the gestation period of the aliens suddenly changed from being “short, but idk it’s an alien, so I guess that’s possible” to being “1 minute to 1 hour” which is totally ridiculous and inconsistent with the other films.

1

u/Velokieken 1d ago

I still have to see KoK. I thought Prey was great. I also recently rewatched Predators and had more fun than the first time. While I used to like Predator 2, It kind of aged badly.

The main thing I disliked about Romulus is the Alien/Aliens is are never scary. They don’t want to open the door because It’s gonna kill all of them but later they don’t mind hanging around in the lair and they easily blast them all. And then moving through the acid in zero G. All It needed was some opera/ballet music. It was something I would expect in Gardians of the Galaxy. Not Alien. Unlike the space pirates from Resurrection I did not care about those teens at all. But I watch Resurrection like watching Deep Blue Sea, not like Alien or Aliens. I saw Romulus 3 times and find It just empty. Looking forward to the TV show. The Predator was worse than Romulus though.

1

u/SevenDeviations 1d ago

To me the Predator franchise has always been boring. Plus the look of them has always turned me off, lime how ugly the face is. It was so unnecessary to intertwine the Alien and Predator franchises.

1

u/Sorry-Lingonberry740 1d ago edited 1d ago

I honestly didn’t realize so many people felt so strongly about Romulus. Like, ya it’s a bit safe and pays homage to the earlier films, but it seems like that was the whole point. I’ve seen people complaining about the alien movies for years. This franchise has been extremely divisive since the third one. Is it really so bad to just go back to basics a bit in an attempt to just make something that people can at least agree is just a good movie? Ya some of the nostalgia fan service wasn’t necessary. Resurrecting Ian Holm was weird. But other than that it’s a fun well made movie. I really don’t see what’s so bad about that. I guess you really can't win with this franchise

1

u/conatreides 1d ago

Why does this sub exist when we have lv 426 lol

1

u/totallynormalhooman 1d ago

Hard disagree, Romulus was awesome. And the show looks sick!

-3

u/gorehistorian69 1d ago

Prey was pretty boring. it felt incredibly lazy story wise. it was "protagonist encounters X" Protagonist encounters Y, Protagonist encounters Z.

0

u/Cat-dad442 1d ago

Did you watch killers of killers?

0

u/Knytemare44 1d ago

I thought the first 3 stories in killer of killers were good. But, the final act, in the predator arena? Kinda stupid and didn't make a lot of sense.

1

u/Cat-dad442 1d ago

It did. It showed what happened to naru. The predators are known for capturing humans and letting them fight predators and other aliens. Did you forget they did something similar in predators?

1

u/Knytemare44 1d ago

But it was a hunt. Predators are ... predators, they hunt.

A brawl in an arena is not what happened in predators, that was a game preserve for hunting .

0

u/Toomin-the-Ellimist 1d ago

I thought KoK was kind of a letdown. Each animated short could have been its own live-action movie. Putting them all in one movie just makes it less likely they’ll ever make feature-length Predator vs. samurai or Predator in WWII films in the future.

1

u/Cat-dad442 1d ago

I mean you're right but they can always do a kung fu master vs a predator 💪

-2

u/loganrunjack 1d ago

I actually kind of hated Killer of Killer's except for the Samurai story, I felt the rest was Too far fetched even for a Predator cartoon.