Qt3 Movie Podcast: The Predator

Everyone’s second favorite space alien gets the Shane Black treatment.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2018/09/18/qt3-movie-podcast-the-predator/

First place is ALF, right?

The main black bad govt guy died cos he put on the shoulder canon and shot himself in the head. IT took 3 secs and happened in the distance. Super dissapoint ing as he had stated he had brought his best shoes to ‘dance’ with the hero !

Wait. WUT! That actually happened?

You have to be making that up. Please tell me you’re making that up.

-xtien

“Holy shit. That’s alien technology.”

Here’s another weird line. Said by Little McKenna:

“Nice reverse psychology. I can do that too. Don’t go fuck yourself.”

I loved that line at first. It was kind of cute. And then…just ignored. Because Little McKenna just goes and does what the govt dude Traeger suggested anyway. It’s just writer masturbation if there’s no actual result of the line.

-xtien

“Did I say that out loud?”

That’s what I saw. Others might have seen something different after all it was very dark in that forest and fog of war and all that.
Hopefully some one else can confirm or deny.
Might be a good game to make up ways that he died tho.

I totally love this post. I’m being sincere.

I hope somebody confirms this, because that would be an awesome outcome.

You’re totally right about how dark it was. This has been a trend in a few recent movies, even that goofy Solo movie, where the cinematography is so dark you can hardly tell what’s going on. I think dark shooting is the new quick-cutting way of disguising crap. That whole first sniper sequence I could barely tell what was going on. No surprise it was almost impossible to figure out what was happening in the forest confrontation.

Good on you for at least sussing out something. I hope you’re right.

However, I love the game concept. My entry is that he died because he choked on the gum he was constantly chewing while smirking and fake laughing. It happened off-screen. The Predator felt bad for him and tried to employ the Heimlich Maneuver and accidentally broke his spine. Then he ripped out the spine and said, “It’s cool guys! I totally meant to do that.”

But secretly he felt bad.

-xtien

“Well we took a vote. Predator’s cooler.”

I think he died cos he got his ‘dancing shoes’ on too early and well u know those 6inch heels are MURDER especially in a forest - he tripped and … Well need I say more.

But seriously what a let down for the main human bad guy to go out in like ‘murky confused gloom’ like er wuh ?

However I kinda did enjoy the film once I realised it had no ambition to be iconic. I sort of enjoyed the hot mess of it all. The thing is to me its main tone seemed to be like a kids film and that’s fine but the proliferation of swear words and edgy humour actually denied it that option so it fell into a kind of no predators land.

We couldn’t figure it out after the movie (I missed the whole death, my friend thought Olivia Munn shot him). So we went online to check, and the general consensus is that he fired the gun just as Olivia Munn shouted something, Traeger turned his head to look at Munn, and the cannon re-aimed toward his gaze: i.e. his head.

Thank you !

I don’t follow this. It’s one thing for a kid to have his brave on enough to say something clever, another thing for the kid to completely not do something adults, military adults with automatic weapons and a clear disregard for civilian life, wants him to do. Do you think he should have said “fuck yourself” and then crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at the bad man, refusing to be moved from his spot? Maybe dropping to the ground and making them drag him? I think he was smart enough to realize where the line was and didn’t try to cross it. In my opinion, you diminish a great line by over-thinking it.

Fair enough. But I think you’re giving it way too much credit. Because in movie parlance, the reversal of the line means I’m not going to fall for what you just said. I’m going to stand my ground.

It doesn’t have to be a binary option of the kid throwing a tantrum or doing the exact thing. There is a much more clever option. Shane Black and Fred Dekker, or whomever, just didn’t bother. That’s why I call it writer masturbation, because it’s just a cute line with no result.

Watch any of the party scene from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, especially the scene wherein Harry Lockhart threatens the dude at the party who is groping Harmony Lane. Look at how that works out. It’s funny. It’s a broken expectation. It tells us about character. And it builds character and story.

This line is just splat. Consider what they could have done with it.

-xtien

“Yeah, well…before you lobotomize him I’d like to talk to him.”

Finally got around to seeing this and can absolutely confirm that this happened! Also I think this whole movie benefits from not overthinking it lol

Thanks Mike - I wasn’t gonna shell out myself to confirm it - so again, thanks !

I meant to say I wasn’t going going to shell out AGAIN to find out lol.

I’m late to the party but I wanted to comment on Predator vs. Aliens.

When Alien 3 came out, am I the only one who thought they just changed the style of the alien to make it work better with the movie? Instead of starting up canon about aliens taking on characteristics of whatever they impregnate? Thirteen-year-old me in the pre-internet world thought that was the most likely situation.

Oooo ooooo I’m still working on your podcast but I just got to the point where you mentioned “get to the chopper.”

I think it was muddied because there were some helicopters flying around I think…

Then it all came together: “Chopper” can also mean motorcycle. Usually it’s more of a harley davidson kind of road hog motorcycle and my memory is fuzzy about whether those motorcycles could be described as that, but maybe that’s an example of Shane Black being too clever (or too bad a director).

Late to the game, but I can also confirm that’s what happened.

They emphasized the dramatic irony of him shooting himself by A) putting him in the shadows while a bunch of other stuff was going on, B) having a lot of other action happening in frame, C) cutting away almost immediately after it happened, and D) having no one mention it after that. It’s really an effective storytelling technique.

I believe it is the opposite of that, but thank you for confirming that it happened, Andy. Also I’m not thinking that constitutes dramatic irony.

-xtien

“I specifically said no First Person Shooters and no war-games.”