Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) - Dan Trachtenberg | Houselights #261: Wing of Predator

Transcript

Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) - Dan Trachtenberg | Houselights #261: Wing of Predator · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the ned Palty.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Surprise, Surprise, it is time to open a new What
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: are we doing?
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: A new wing?
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Here in house lights where we are going to be
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: opening the wing of Predator, where we are looking at
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: two Predator films expanding the franchise, which happen to be
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: directed by the same person. Actually, so that's a nice
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: coincidence right there as this franchise tries to find its footing.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: I am John Mills. I'm just absolutely thrilled to be
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: here examining the resurrection of the Predator franchise yet again.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: And here's to how it might be going from here
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: on out. And I am joined by my dear friends,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: fellow Predator Prey Predator targets, Tristan Riddell and Darren Moser.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: One of them is an excellent pilot and the other
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: one is a samurai warrior. I'll let you figure out
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: as the conversation goes forward.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: So here we are.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I'm the only one going into this that had seen
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Predator Killer of Killers beforehand?
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Is that correct?
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: That's correct?
• 1:24
  Speaker 6: Yes?
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 1:24
  Speaker 6: I read this and I wanted to I wanted to
• 1:27
  Speaker 6: watch it. I was really excited about it, but just
• 1:29
  Speaker 6: didn't get to it until.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: This see what's for me.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: What this really tripped for me was I love when
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: somebody does something more adult with animation. I love animation,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: and I love the Predator franchise for all of its missteps,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: like we all forgive our beloved franchises, like when they
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: stumble and they fall, it's like, eh, you know, so
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: there is that nostalgia play in there. But I was
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: super intrigued because also I think Tracktenberg is a great director.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: I really think he's very gifted. So I'm like, and
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: this is a whole new medium for him. So I'm like, Okay,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I'm on board. Let's try this out. And Tristan, you
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: said you were just unable to get around to it. Darren,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: was there a similar sort of thing where life just
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: didn't line up for you or were you just not
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: really interested in this going in?
• 2:14
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I've always been interested in Predator movies,
• 2:17
  Speaker 7: but I guess for whatever remnant of trailer or synopsis
• 2:23
  Speaker 7: i'd heard, it just wasn't enough to push it to
• 2:25
  Speaker 7: the top of the list. And again, nothing against it.
• 2:29
  Speaker 7: There are many things that do not make it to
• 2:31
  Speaker 7: the top of the list, and that is one of
• 2:33
  Speaker 7: the reasons I am so glad for this podcast because
• 2:36
  Speaker 7: it drags them kicking and screaming up to the top
• 2:39
  Speaker 7: where I have pure pressure from my good friends to
• 2:42
  Speaker 7: make sure I watch the things I should watch.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Well, speaking of pressure, there is a lot of pressure
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: with Predator, Killer of Killers, because again this is the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: first entry in twenty twenty five where they're trying to
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: put Predator back on the map to make it a
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: viable franchise again.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: And this gets a release on Hulu.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Because that's the twentieth century Fox outlet. And the first
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: thing I want to ask Tristan is like, I think
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: that was a mistake, But do you think that was
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: wiser because the animation is harder to get play in theaters?
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Do you think that was the wiser choice?
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: I do, I really do. I. Unfortunately, I would have
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: liked it if this got a theatrical release, but I
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: feel like adult animation, specifically in this kind of style
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: would not have made its return with the distribution costs
• 3:34
  Speaker 6: and the marketing and to get butts and seats, it
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: just doesn't happen. I you know, you look at some
• 3:41
  Speaker 6: of the you look at something like Zootopia too. It
• 3:45
  Speaker 6: crossed the billion dollar mark not that long ago. And
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: it's an okay movie, but it's child animation, and it's
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: a type of animation that everybody, like the whole family,
• 3:58
  Speaker 6: can go to. And so it was it came at
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: a time when you wanted to take your kids to
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: the theater. And so if you look at my household,
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: if like I would take my kids and my wife
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: to go see Zutopia two, if this came out, if
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: Killer of Killers came out in theaters, I would be
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: the only one going. So your your market of four
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: goes down to one.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: That's an interesting point, Darren. Are you trying to toughen
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: up your kids earlier or would you have taken them
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: to a Killer of Killers in the theater?
• 4:28
  Speaker 7: You god, this bod No this movie I mean animated, yes,
• 4:32
  Speaker 7: but they pack that are rating in for sure.
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: No.
• 4:37
  Speaker 7: I think Tristan's right. I think we are just in
• 4:40
  Speaker 7: a season right now of film and theatrical distribution where
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: the audience is very choosy, very conservative about the choice
• 4:49
  Speaker 7: to go to theaters. Again, you mentioned Zutopia too, Tristan,
• 4:54
  Speaker 7: which is also a sequel, and so that in that
• 4:57
  Speaker 7: regard there is less rich for the viewer, because Okay,
• 5:02
  Speaker 7: you know, I know kind of what to expect. I'm
• 5:05
  Speaker 7: going to get something like the first movie, which I enjoyed,
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: and whereas this is more of a it's a new concept,
• 5:14
  Speaker 7: you know, being an animation, being kind of an anthology
• 5:17
  Speaker 7: ish kind of thing, and so and it's Predator, so
• 5:22
  Speaker 7: I and we'll get into whether it's you know, pays
• 5:26
  Speaker 7: off or do I wish my virtual ticket that I
• 5:30
  Speaker 7: didn't spend was refunded.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: So, but let me throw this idea out there. Do
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: you guys think that an open floor whoever wants to
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: take it? Like, do you think that there would have
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: been a viable distribution for this if since it is
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: an anthology series, they took the individual stories or one
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: or two of them and put them in front of
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: some R rated features to sort of open things up.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Like they you know, like in the eighties.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: It didn't really happen too much, but Pixar is known
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: for this, for putting the short in front of a
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: film just to give you a little something extra in
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the beginning. Do you think that would have been a
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: viable option to take a segment or two from this
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: and put it out there so that people were more
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: aware of.
• 6:11
  Speaker 7: It, I'll say, I think they should have taken just
• 6:17
  Speaker 7: the first three segments and then randomly put one of
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: them in front of bad Lands to tease it and
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: be like, see how the story ends over on Like
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: is it a blatant get.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: A subscription for a month?
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: Sure, but if that's not your audience, you know, the
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: people going to see bad Lands, I think. And they're
• 6:41
  Speaker 7: fairly long segments, But if you pitched it the right
• 6:45
  Speaker 7: way and not of a I'm giving you a third
• 6:48
  Speaker 7: of a story, more of I'm giving you a whole
• 6:51
  Speaker 7: portion of this animated you know, piece part of this
• 6:57
  Speaker 7: interesting story, and they're each engaging in their own way.
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: I think that would have been very interesting. I mean,
• 7:03
  Speaker 7: it is long to be an animated pre featurette, but
• 7:07
  Speaker 7: I think I don't think that would have been a
• 7:09
  Speaker 7: terrible idea.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Tristan, do you agree with Darren? I think I think
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Darren's right. I think that's actually a great idea to
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: do that, And you're right, that is your intended audience
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: right there. That would have been a great way to
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: drive subscriptions, which is the whole goal of having more
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: content out there.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: So good play, Darren, Good play. I like that.
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: I don't know if I would give like a full
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: I don't know if I would give a full segment
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: like I would give maybe like a Christopher Nolan esque prologue.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: So highlights from each story in front of it.
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: No, not even each story. I would choose one story
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: and just do a highlight of it, like maybe show
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: the opening sequence of the Grendel one, and it's right
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: when they see the you stop it, right when you
• 7:59
  Speaker 6: see the the Predator, and then boom it goes like, Okay,
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: here's your extended preview. Now go see the full thing
• 8:06
  Speaker 6: with three different stories, and like they do, like a
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: sixteen second trailer after it.
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: I wargree the.
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: Most that I would do.
• 8:13
  Speaker 7: I think the Grendel one was the strongest of the
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: three as far as if you're not seeing the entire
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: entirety of that story, it has the best.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: It's the first one as well, like it.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: Has its hook, for sure, it does. It does.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: So I mean, you know, let's let's use that as
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: our springboard there, Darren. You know with that Grendel story,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: is this a movie where you sat down, you started watching.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Did it get you from the go? Did you immediately
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: grab on to this concept and say okay, we're off
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: to the races or did you did it take longer
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: for you to you know, embrace the film and its concept.
• 8:54
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I did know going in that this
• 8:56
  Speaker 7: was a three part, you know, three different stories being told.
• 9:00
  Speaker 7: I like how they named them. You know, the Shield,
• 9:02
  Speaker 7: the sword, the bullet. The alliteration falls apart. So I
• 9:07
  Speaker 7: did doctor point there now. But yeah, I from the
• 9:11
  Speaker 7: get go, I think the fact that they spent a
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: nice chunk of time like Prey does with our quote
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: unquote protagonists with the Shield Maiden before the predators even introduced, Like,
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: I almost don't even care that she's fighting a predator.
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: I just want to see her fight anything because she
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: has a unique style, she has unique weapons. She's fighting
• 9:36
  Speaker 7: in the ice and the snow. And it was that,
• 9:41
  Speaker 7: you know, when you're making your story and your characters
• 9:44
  Speaker 7: strong enough to not even need the franchise lead character
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: to gather interest, you're winning. Now do all three of
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: those play that strong? It's a little bit a plus
• 9:57
  Speaker 7: and minus. But to answer your direct question, yes, I
• 10:02
  Speaker 7: was hooked.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: I was in.
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: I was like, okay, I'm gonna I'm in for the
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: whole thing. Locking the door, kicking the kids out, and
• 10:09
  Speaker 7: make sure we sit down for this whole thing in
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: one sitting.
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: Because it hooked.
• 10:15
  Speaker 7: And I think, especially being on a streaming platform when
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: you have second screens, you have all sorts of things
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: like a hook is very important and or a shield.
• 10:27
  Speaker 6: It got me, So I also, I really, I really
• 10:30
  Speaker 6: enjoy Well, actually, I'm gonna totally ignore what you just said.
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: I'm going to go I'm going to go into what
• 10:37
  Speaker 6: I really liked about this, where you know, we go
• 10:39
  Speaker 6: from Trucktenberg doing Prey and then coming to this where
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: it's just like, Okay, Prey was clearly a reset. And
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: I'm not talking about like a reboot where it's a
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: different continuity or the we're changing the rules of Predator
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: or or on a different Earth or something like that.
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: Nothing like that. Not a notw to read. But when
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: I say reset, it's just kind of like, okay, like
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: we've tried this a few times before. We know, you
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: guys like Predator, but we weren't able to really nail
• 11:12
  Speaker 6: it for a while, and so here's something that just
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: feels totally different, that is aesthetically different, and you know,
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: has a female lead, and then you know, tons of
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: people liked it. It gets a lot of critical success.
• 11:26
  Speaker 6: Now he could have just done that again, he could
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: have just done that formula and move forward, but instead
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: he comes out with this version of who do you
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: think would win? You know, a Viking using nothing better shields,
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: a samurai or a World War two pilot discuss Like
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: you can just see a group of people sitting around
• 11:49
  Speaker 6: a campfire having this discussion, having a really great.
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: Night at the people had this discussion, you know, right,
• 11:55
  Speaker 7: like who would win in a battle?
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: What was it? In college?
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: It was like would you rather be able to fly
• 12:04
  Speaker 7: or have doc oc arms? For some reason, that was
• 12:07
  Speaker 7: our discussion and we would spend all night debating the
• 12:10
  Speaker 7: pros and cons of each.
• 12:12
  Speaker 6: And then checkten Berg comes out with a third film
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: that completely changes the formula again. So this is this
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: is great, this, this is this is this is a
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: great period of time to be a Predator fan. And
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: if you haven't been a Predator fan for a while,
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: now is the time to get back in.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: But in terms of the movie, I mean, I think
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: you're tipping your hand here like it got you from
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: the go, like you were just all in. Did you
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: also have you know, ups and downs of interest throughout it,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Like Darren, and you know, I'll confess myself as well.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: There are certain points where the pacing gets a little
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: bit too slow for me in the later stories, where
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, okay, we've established let's keep moving. I'm
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: not I'm not saying like huge, but did it maintain
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: your interest?
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: At the same legs it to maintained my interest all
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: the all the way through, And I mean there were
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: some moments I enjoyed more than others. I thought the
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: Viking storyline was was phenomenal, like Darren was talking about,
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: and probably the strongest in terms of getting the hook.
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: I think it was a great way to start it.
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: I think that was the only way that you could
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: have started that film with the stories given. But I
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: probably enjoy the Samurai tail more just because I love
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: the the the ancient type story of two brothers separated
• 13:31
  Speaker 6: by the love of a father. You see that all
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: the time in cinema and in stories and everything like that.
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: And I think there was even like the Knights of
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: the Old Republic story like cgi extended trailer that came
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: out that was like that. Yeah, But I'm also a
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: really big sucker for feudal Japan and tales during that era.
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: And I did enjoy the World War two one, but
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: that one I had to spend my disbelief a bit
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: too much.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: See that.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: That's a great point.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: I'm glad you say that, because I argue that the
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: smartest thing about setting these stories as animation is the
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: audience tends to be a lot more forgiving of what's possible.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: When you're watching animation, you see it go to the
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: samurai tail. They're jumping a little bit exaggerated, but because
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: people animated, Okay, but I agree with you, it's more
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: difficult with such like feudal Japan. We've seen enough movies,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: the Wirefu, the kung Fu, all of that type of
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: stuff where it's like we're used to seeing this sort.
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: Of leap of like a Wusha type deal.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, supernatural ability and everything. The World War two plane thing,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I agree with you as a bit of a stretch,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: specifically because we live in an era where we know
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: and we understand how planes work in their horrible capacity
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: to terrify us and threaten us every day of our lives.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: And so but I know I what a plane is
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: capable of, right right intimate.
• 15:04
  Speaker 6: See, that's the that's the thing. And also like there
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: are people who are still alive who fought in World
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: War Two and engaged and flew and you know and
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: everything like that, and so we're still connected to it,
• 15:18
  Speaker 6: right where we're not. No one here is connected to
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: feudal Japan, no one here is connected to the Viking era,
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: but we are still connected to World War two. And
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: and so when you see a dude get out on
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: a plane while it's still flying and he's not being
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: flown off and he's a video games right yeah, yeah,
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: but he's still able to use his eyes and not
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: immediately goes blind from the wind sheer. You know, like
• 15:44
  Speaker 6: it's stuff like that where you're just kind of like,
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: I shouldn't be worrying about this or the way that
• 15:48
  Speaker 6: the plane moves physically, and it would be ripped apart.
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: You know. Like you said, John, you summarized it perfectly,
• 15:54
  Speaker 6: is that we're able to forgive kind of supernatural ability
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: because we've been raised on movies where if John McLean
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: can survive a fall like that or an explosion like that,
• 16:06
  Speaker 6: you know, like we move on because it's a movie.
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: But it's okay to bend it, but just don't break it.
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: And the World War two storyline pretty much broke.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: It, which is a shame because I think it occurs
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: late enough in the movie that like it burns a
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: lot of goodwill out of it. And I think that's
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: the problem is. You know, we all three of us
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: have always talked about how if you start weak and
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: end strong, you'll forgive a lot more than if you
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: start strong and end a little weaker. But Darren, you know,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: of the stories, I think we're all in agreement that
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: the Viking one best choice to go with everything follows
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: a certain sort of temporal progression as things go through.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: But do you think that.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: The leaps in time are too much? Do you think
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: that they're the right amount? Because in my brain, justly
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: or not, you know, you have Viking story and Few Japan,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: and in my brain, I'm like those are closer together
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: than suddenly jumping to World War Two. Do you think
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: that was too much of elite that tacks the audience
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: as well?
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: Uh?
• 17:09
  Speaker 7: Not, particularly as far as the time choices, because in
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: the way they kind of faded into the future prison,
• 17:20
  Speaker 7: you know, transport. I liked that in my sci fi brain,
• 17:24
  Speaker 7: it established, oh, we can put people in stasis forever,
• 17:29
  Speaker 7: like they're as fresh when we pull them out as
• 17:32
  Speaker 7: they were the day they got taken. And so I
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: think that concept is paid off all over.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: But I will say with the time jumping this, I
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: know why he did it.
• 17:47
  Speaker 7: I feel the I guess I'm talking about the pistol,
• 17:51
  Speaker 7: and the pistol kind of bugged me because I get
• 17:54
  Speaker 7: the joke, but it feels like the darling that Dan
• 17:57
  Speaker 7: should have killed, but he had to put it in
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: there because it's the connection to pray and oh look
• 18:04
  Speaker 7: it's got the you know, the date and the name on.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: It and predator too very and predator too like.
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: I get that, but I felt like once the haha
• 18:13
  Speaker 7: joke of you know, I have to load an old gun,
• 18:17
  Speaker 7: I was like, could he maybe have kicked the crate
• 18:20
  Speaker 7: and there's like a selection of more modern weapons like
• 18:23
  Speaker 7: in the base or something like.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: I don't know, it just it.
• 18:27
  Speaker 7: It wasn't a bad joke, and I and I get
• 18:29
  Speaker 7: where they're going, but I guess I would have just
• 18:32
  Speaker 7: gone a little bit different direction in that tooth.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: It's fair enough.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: But I will say also.
• 18:38
  Speaker 7: For the sword portion, it it wasn't it wasn't that
• 18:44
  Speaker 7: it wasn't good. I just to Tristan's point, I have
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: seen that story so many times that I was very
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: on the edge of being bored because it played out
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: exactly how I expected it to play it out, like
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: to giving each other the same scar to like I
• 19:05
  Speaker 7: almost felt like they weren't going to have a single
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: spoken word in that one, Like they almost didn't because
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: you didn't need it because the story was so strong.
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: But that's because it's a story we've seen several times before.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: So I was.
• 19:20
  Speaker 7: Wanting personally a little more of a of a vibrant
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: at the end of that chapter. Either Yeah, I don't
• 19:31
  Speaker 7: know something in how they are are fighting against each other.
• 19:36
  Speaker 7: I also had a tiny bit of difficulty wrapping my
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: head around the in the Viking shield one around the
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: Predator's plunge your weapon, like it felt like futuristic yet old.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: It was.
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: I don't know, I I liked it. It was so weird.
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: It wasn't bad. I guess, you know.
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: There was one shot and these are all nitpicks.
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: This isn't, you know, an overall feeling, But there was
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: one shot where okay, at point blank, it just literally
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: evaporates her shield. But then the next time it's that
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: point blank it doesn't evaporated shields and pushes her, you know,
• 20:19
  Speaker 7: clear of all the blasts.
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: And I'm like, so, which is it?
• 20:22
  Speaker 7: Is it evaporating you or is it pushing you? So, man,
• 20:27
  Speaker 7: it was underwater changed.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the physics, man, you gotta think about
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: the waters that's actually gonna die faster.
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: I mean, the.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Extra shield is what happens.
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: You don't understand. There's your stuff.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: Between you to exactly.
• 20:48
  Speaker 6: It's not ash, don't you know science?
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Come on, Darren acting like water is an unknown entity here,
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: like obviously.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: Was it wasn't very green?
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: Okay, it wasn't very cool.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I I acknowledge those points, you know, Tristan,
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: do you think that people are going to be more forgiving?
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Do you think that the animation as a whole to
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: you know, to Darren's point, like we're talking about, you know,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: the different things that it pushes. Do you think that
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: the the underwater stuff, you know, is asks enough of
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: us to forgive early on and it's sort of like
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: wanes as the movie goes forward. Do you think it
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: just wears out that that well, that reservoir of goodwill
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: by asking us to overlook certain things and the way
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: they should work A probably.
• 21:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, Yeah, I think I think that could be a
• 21:40
  Speaker 6: good read where like you start off with, you know,
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: like this some a predator who's way too big, like
• 21:50
  Speaker 6: absurdly large, where you're just like, oh, okay, that's where
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: this is going in this kind of stale like this
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: is the kind of realism that we're going for. But
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: then you you spike with that, but then it gets
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: a little bit less where you're just kind of like, okay,
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: it's it's pretty believable. Yes, they're using a plunder weapon underwater,
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: and some people are not going to understand the science,
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: but that's fine, but you're you're able to, you know,
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: alleviate it because it's animation. But then you get to
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: the next one and then you're like, okay, people are
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: jumping around like spider monkeys, and but we're used to
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: seeing that in movies. But it still pushes it just
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: a little bit further, and then you go to World
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: War two and then it just breaks it. So yeah,
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: I think it's like I think if it went the
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: opposite way, I don't know what what would what do
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: you think if it would go the opposite way, would
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: it be worse where you're just like, okay, people would
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: check out because it's not it's unrealistic, or because it
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: starts unrealistic. You're more forgiving for the stuff that's less.
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: And I do feel the order was correct. It hit strong,
• 22:49
  Speaker 7: have your mid one next, and then have the you know,
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: English speaking one, not that you can't understand the others,
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: but like pace wise, as soon as we were done
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: with the nineteen forties one, I was ready to get
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: to the conclusion, to the last chapter, to the fourth act.
• 23:11
  Speaker 7: Whereas I think if at the if that had been
• 23:13
  Speaker 7: the first one, I would have been like, where are
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: we going with this? And I would have almost forgotten
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: about that character. By the time we get to the
• 23:21
  Speaker 7: fourth act.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: I'd be like, oh, that's right, he's there too.
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: So I'm I'm sure there was a lot of thought
• 23:27
  Speaker 7: given into the order, because that is very important in
• 23:30
  Speaker 7: this kind of story.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's important to have it be linear
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: in that sense, the build forward with time. You know,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: it's sort of because the audience is more willing to
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: go along with that. I think just in general.
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: You feel like like if it was medieval, like medieval
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: Europe for the third one? Would you feel better about
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: that than jumping so far forward with World War Two?
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: But then again, I think the reason why they went
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: to World War two is because then you and somebody
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: who could fly, right like at least knew how things flew.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: You're changing the whole movie if you don't have a
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: flying ace, that's true, like you who can.
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: If the fourth act didn't involve flying, would you have
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: liked medieval Europe or or like you know, ancient ancient
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: Africa or something?
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, something, Yes, I think it would have worked better
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: with a different time period in that sense, if it
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: wasn't integral to the resolution of the film, I would
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: have steered way clear of medieval or Renaissance Europe. Though,
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: because again you know, you have you have Norse, then
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: you have feudal Japan. That's way too compressed, like you're
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: you're dealing with too much compression at that point, And
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: I think maybe what it is is I think maybe
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: that's the key right there, is you have to choose
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: between Viking and feudal Japan, and then if you remove
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: one of those, if you start with feudal Japan, it's not.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: But again that's the problem is that's not as strong
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: a story to start with, and so that that's where
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: that breaks down. But let's say you did that then
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: jumped to basically you need some sort of technological progression
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: because it's showing how the predators have adapted through time
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: as they come to the planet, as they sort of
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: like learn people, and how they they change and everything
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: like that. So I would I probably would have dropped
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: one of those two in favor of a different time period.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: I think Ancient Room you said, Gladiator Darren, I think
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Ancient Rome would have been really interesting in that context.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Would have been like ooh, okay, well.
• 25:41
  Speaker 7: And it's interesting now that I think about it, because
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: the predators, it's interesting like for a space faring populus,
• 25:51
  Speaker 7: like how do we want them to progress? Because their
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: technology and weaponry kind of progresses the same rate. So
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: you're in the eight one hundred and forty, you know,
• 26:04
  Speaker 7: and he has this sonic weapon, but it's pretty much
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: just Braun. He's just fighting because he's a mountain. And
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: then you have the cool staff with the splitting you
• 26:15
  Speaker 7: know head and more sword based weaponry by Japan. And
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: then you have basically as a dog fight like with
• 26:23
  Speaker 7: an advanced although I mean, I'm sorry, I've seen I've
• 26:27
  Speaker 7: seen P forties fly like with modern ships around, you know,
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: planes around them, and there's no pursuing that ship would
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: have overtaken those planes in like two seconds.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: That ship wouldn't have been able to engage the P
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: forties because it wouldn't have been able to slow down
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: enough to fight out. It would have been like, oh,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: I guess I'll drop down. It's like burn him with
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: my engines or something.
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: Wasn't there wasn't there a Simpsons episode where they had
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: like someone stole.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: Not the kiddie Hawk, Yes, it was the right brother's plane. Yeah,
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: and it was yes, and it took forever yes, yes,
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: And then.
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: Would have like like they took jets to overtake it,
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: and they're like, suggest we get out of the walk.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, and then everybody just slowly walks behind them until
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: it hits the shack.
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: It would have been a filer.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, but that I think also could have
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: been solved by retooling the story a little bit and
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: having it be a predator. But you know, Tristan and Darren,
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: but to both your points of like how large the
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: predators are in this sort of animated universe, Like it
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: would have been interesting to have a predator hijack a
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: P forty to engage the other P forties on their terms,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and then the predator gets his ass handed to him
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: and he's like oh fet and the like he goes
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: gets his plane and it's like, oh my gosh.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: And that that I.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: Think would have been really interesting.
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: That that would have been cool or that idea or.
• 27:59
  Speaker 7: A chrissair or some other like, yeah, he's he's in
• 28:02
  Speaker 7: something as he's in an enemy plane even and like
• 28:05
  Speaker 7: the personator is a small predator because we've seen different
• 28:09
  Speaker 7: sized predators and whatnot. So yeah, that could be that
• 28:13
  Speaker 7: would take it, That would take that whole chapter. I
• 28:16
  Speaker 7: think up a notch in interest.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because I think we all agree that it's that one.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: It's he's flying because it's necessary to the story, right,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: but it just doesn't work as well as they want
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: it to.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: And I think that's I.
• 28:34
  Speaker 7: Would love to have seen the predator and his ship
• 28:37
  Speaker 7: fight against a battleship like you, but it's fighting against
• 28:41
  Speaker 7: P forty's, which is it's not even a contest, like.
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: Well, let's let's talk about the characters a little bit.
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: What did you guys, John, what did you think about Ursa? Oh?
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: I there's very little I would criticize at all about
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: that that Viking bit. I thought Ursa was interesting. I
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: thought all the characters were interesting. I thought the way
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: that it played out was interesting. I absolutely was on board.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: And what's interesting as well, because you mentioned how you
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: know with Prey, oh, we had a female protagonist. This
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: is where I'll continue to give Trachtenberg a lot of credit.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Is I think that I'm trying to stay.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: If I state this in the wrong way, somebody clean
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: me up, please, right. Audiences regardless of who they are,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: will never complain about the quote unquote oh it's a
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: female protagonist thing. If the character is cool. People respond
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: to whether the character is good, and I think I
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: never is.
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: You can't say never. That's the only thing I'm going
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: to clean up. Continue.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that anybody who's
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: not a bot will never complain about that as long
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: as the main protagonist is good. And I think that
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Ursa checks that box.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: I really do.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: I think that that's that is Trachtenberg's real strength and
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: I think you go back to other works that he's done.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: He does he constructs his female characters very well, and
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: I think that, you know, this character fits in that
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: same category, that same sort of accomplishment of his for
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: the action genre. I haven't seen him really, you know,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: do like a an Aaron Brockovich type of role for anybody.
• 30:27
  Speaker 6: One thing that got me questioning URSA is that they
• 30:30
  Speaker 6: make her look older, like they gave her gray hair
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: and a lot of wrinkles and everything like that. And
• 30:35
  Speaker 6: then all of a sudden we see her very young
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: son and we're like, OK, how old are you? Well,
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: it must have been city miles and back in biking days.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: I guess, well, it's it's a hard life.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: But yeah, you know, I mean, you know old back
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: then and gray hair would have been like twenty, so.
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: You know, yeah, I did think.
• 31:00
  Speaker 7: Then side age, but more, if she's old enough to
• 31:04
  Speaker 7: have gray hair, how is her body not like snapping
• 31:08
  Speaker 7: in two by being thrown against a like you know, if.
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: You're an age to have hair like that?
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: Unless I don't.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Know, maybe it's you get within arms reach, Darren, and
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: I'll show you how somebody old doesn't break into I fight.
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: All right, how about that?
• 31:22
  Speaker 6: I was just say I shouldn't say the gray hair
• 31:24
  Speaker 6: thing because like there's a friend who's I have a
• 31:26
  Speaker 6: friend of mine who is exactly my age, like to
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: the month, and he has completely silver hair, So I
• 31:32
  Speaker 6: retract my statement you should. But so Luis Ozawa, I
• 31:38
  Speaker 6: think I'm saying that right, or Louis Azawa played Kinji
• 31:43
  Speaker 6: and Kiyoshi. What did you think about that dynamic between
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: the two of them, Like, did you you know, Darren,
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: you mentioned it that you've seen a lot of times
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: that they didn't even feel like they were going to speak.
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: Did you were you okay without emotional arc or was
• 31:57
  Speaker 6: it too familiar? Like did you like the way that
• 32:00
  Speaker 6: they characterize these people? Do they make it different at
• 32:03
  Speaker 6: all or did they not make it different enough?
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 32:06
  Speaker 7: Kind of like I was saying, it wasn't different enough
• 32:09
  Speaker 7: to me I And maybe I'm misjudging it because I
• 32:14
  Speaker 7: had kind of guesses on how they could could have
• 32:17
  Speaker 7: changed it up a bit, and then they didn't, Like
• 32:20
  Speaker 7: I would have liked to have seen, you know before
• 32:22
  Speaker 7: right at the very end, before they killed a predator
• 32:27
  Speaker 7: a reversal where the one who attacked in the first
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: time he puts his sword away and is realizing like
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: it's not about but again, it's a story they want
• 32:38
  Speaker 7: to tell, and it's not a bad choice. It's just
• 32:41
  Speaker 7: I was not as interested because I felt like it
• 32:43
  Speaker 7: wasn't really offering me anything new.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: But see, I would, I would. I would come back
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: instead to the fact that the I think that the
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: talking about the casting and the voice talent. I think
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: it's enough of an accomplishment that while I was watching,
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: before I paid any attention credits or anything like that,
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: I wasn't sitting there saying this is the same guy
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: doing the voices like and that I think is an
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: accomplishment for an actor to make it distinguished enough that
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: I think that these characters sound like brothers, but it's
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: not the exact same person talking. So I think that
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: is a lot of credit to the acting talent here,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: like huge, huge, I can't praise that enough because what
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: is wild to me is that there is.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: A there's a long.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Tradition of utility voices and animation that I think sometimes
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: is not as appreciated as it should be, and the
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: ability to be a utility voice, I think is a
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: tremendous talent And the fact that you have somebody basically
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: reading lines against himself. I think maybe it worked to
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: the story's advantage because he wasn't guessing or playing off
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: of what the other person was giving. He knew exactly
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: what the other lines were giving and he could give
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: it right back.
• 34:02
  Speaker 6: So also, I freaking love that the only identifiable voice, like,
• 34:08
  Speaker 6: the only big celebrity that was in this was Michael
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: bean Yes, like that. It's so rare in animation these days.
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: I mean, like, I guess it's been that way for
• 34:19
  Speaker 6: the past, you know, over almost three years.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: Blame the Transformers the movie for that one back in
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: eighty six, because that was the all star cast. That
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: was the all Star cast, and that's the one where
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: like it became like the thing from that point forward.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: And I don't care if any of you nerds out
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: there tell me I'm wrong. I say that's when it started,
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: and that's when it started, So there you go. So
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: but yeah, I agree, I here, you know, Michael bean Is.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: I think he's good in this. I think it was
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: a good casting choice for for his voice, like it
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: fit the character and everything like that. What is interesting
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: to me is with the predators themselves, you know, and
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Darren throw this you know to you first, Like, do
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: you think the vocalizations for the Predators were interesting and
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: unique because the Predator, like in the first two Predator movies,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: it's just howling, whereas this there's more of a semblance
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: of intelligent communication as grew through.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: The franchise as a whole.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: Obviously, but like even if you go to Predators with
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: with Adrian Brodie and everything like that was no, that's
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: not his name, was it, Adrien Brody?
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: Is that him?
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: Yep?
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: Anyway, like even when they're like talking with each other,
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: it still sounds like, you know, it's like that indistinguishable
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: wookiness of everything, whereas there's more of an attempt at
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: actual language in here. Do you think they were successful
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: with that with the vocal talent, Yeah, I think.
• 35:49
  Speaker 7: I mean the even with that, the Predators aren't saying much.
• 35:52
  Speaker 7: They're very short on communication. I will say it did
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: kind of confuse me when they first did the callers,
• 36:03
  Speaker 7: and I'm like, oh, that means they can understand the Predator,
• 36:07
  Speaker 7: but they can't understand each other. So and then I
• 36:11
  Speaker 7: was kind of lost, like I would have expected once
• 36:14
  Speaker 7: the caller. Once that was turned on that they could
• 36:18
  Speaker 7: all understand each other made sense in my mind. So
• 36:21
  Speaker 7: I was kind of I didn't like how that technology
• 36:25
  Speaker 7: seemed stunted.
• 36:27
  Speaker 6: I think that was on purpose, like for the same
• 36:29
  Speaker 6: reason where if you look at what they gave, like
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: they didn't give Ursa a shield, they gave her an axe,
• 36:40
  Speaker 6: and they didn't give Torres a real gun, they gave
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: him an old gun. Like it was always like that's
• 36:47
  Speaker 6: kind of the predator's deal. In my opinion is that
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: it's always like they know that they're far more advanced technologically,
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: they know that they're bigger and stronger, but yet they
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: keep going after weaker prey humans. And so I feel like, yeah,
• 37:02
  Speaker 6: we're gonna give you a caller where you can understand us,
• 37:06
  Speaker 6: but we're not going to let you understand each other
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: because that would give you too much of an advantage.
• 37:10
  Speaker 6: To me, that feels kind of in line with their.
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: Mo o and see.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: But see, that's even an interesting thing because this sort
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: of esteem is built up around the predator, the idea
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: of the predators over time that they're like, they're these
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: honorable hunters and maybe they should have done more to
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: call out the fact that they're cheats, Like this movie
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: really does a good job of exposing the fact that
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: the Predators at their core are like you know, it's
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: it's like, oh, you know, the most Dangerous game or
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: what's the one with iced tea geez surviving the game
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: where you know, it's like it's a bunch of rich
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: guys get a homeless guy, treat him well for a second,
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: and they're like, all right, now we're gonna hunt you
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: in the woods.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: And it's like.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: What And it's like that that's the sort of vibe
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: like I think it's completely recast the predators, is like
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: they're just simply so decadent that they're being maintaining the
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: illusion that they're these great hunters. But the fact of
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: the matter is if they went up against like an
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: actual adversary who was there equal, they wouldn't necessarily fare
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: too well, Like they need to go against weaker stuff.
• 38:18
  Speaker 6: I can't wait for you guys to see bad Lands.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: I really all right spoilers, there's no for next week, Tristan,
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: save it for next week, butt And And that was
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: another aspect of this story that I liked again, Killer
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: of Killers, Like, these aren't just three humans, these are
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: three humans.
• 38:39
  Speaker 7: That successfully killed a predator. So I'm like, okay, so
• 38:43
  Speaker 7: they're bringing them together again. I don't know the the
• 38:47
  Speaker 7: gladiatorial thing it worked, but I I love my Predators cunning.
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: The coolest part of Predators is how they Yes they
• 38:59
  Speaker 7: have a dance technology, but it's how they use it.
• 39:04
  Speaker 7: And so I would have loved more of something like Predators. Gosh,
• 39:09
  Speaker 7: they need they need to make the titles different. But
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: but basically where these three were drop dropped in the
• 39:16
  Speaker 7: jungle of an alien play like that would have been
• 39:18
  Speaker 7: very interesting and and I know we didn't have time
• 39:21
  Speaker 7: for that, and we had to wrap it up with
• 39:22
  Speaker 7: the Gladataria stuff. I get that, but I it wasn't
• 39:26
  Speaker 7: just rush the bat, rush the big bad to win.
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: But but see here here's my question, because you know,
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: you talk about when you said, you know, drop them somewhere,
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: and it's like, you know, you think of predators, not
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: concuused with the predator or predator. Thank god, Predator two
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: has a number in its title. It's the easiest one
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: to tell a part of the bunch here, come on now.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: But with the stinger that got inserted later after its
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: initial release, we see the likeness of Amber mid Thunder
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: and Danny Glover and Arnold Schwartzen as the three previous
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: characters that we've seen having killed predators and gotten away
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: with it. But Adrian Brody, why doesn't he get the
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: love in that singer? Like why why do you guys
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: think that? I mean we also in the Predator we
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: don't acknowledge that one either, But it's like somehow Predator
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: two has snuck in with more esteem the later sequels.
• 40:22
  Speaker 7: It's the classic two plus the one he made. Like it,
• 40:26
  Speaker 7: That's the simplest answer is the most likely.
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: I think.
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: I think that's the thing that Darren. I think Darren
• 40:32
  Speaker 6: nails it. It's it's the Classic two and the one
• 40:34
  Speaker 6: he made. It's just how it is, like people love Arnold,
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: people love Danny Glover, and it's the one he made.
• 40:40
  Speaker 6: Because like you add you start adding in everybody, you're
• 40:43
  Speaker 6: just kind of like, okay, like are we going to
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: add in the blonde guy from the Shane Black one?
• 40:50
  Speaker 6: You know?
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: No, That's what I'm saying is like I'm okay with
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: erasing that one. Like Brody earned a seat at the table.
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: Nobody likes real life. I think that's a problem.
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: That's fair.
• 41:04
  Speaker 6: Fair.
• 41:04
  Speaker 7: I would also say it's better to not be there,
• 41:07
  Speaker 7: because you're kind of implying, at least based on the
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: age of the Frozen people, that after they won, they
• 41:16
  Speaker 7: did not live very long before being abducted and removed
• 41:20
  Speaker 7: from their planet, Like, you know, so we basically lose
• 41:25
  Speaker 7: see I think, I.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: Think, you know, if you really want to do like
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: the head Cannon thing, you're like, well, Brody kind of
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: got away at the end of his so it's like
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: he's still out there Laurence Fishburne style. They just haven't
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: caught him yet, Like they can't they can't get a
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: hold of Yeah, you know, long enough dealing with sci
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: fi franchises, you can write your own your own head cannon.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: But you know, was it good or was it bad
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: to withhold that credit stinger? Like I like, I questioned,
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: I was like, why why would you hold that back?
• 41:59
  Speaker 6: I liked it. I don't know, I don't know.
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: I like it, but I'm saying, why did they Why
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: did they hold it back from the original release? So
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: many people would have talked about it.
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: I liked it, but at the same time, I was fine, Okay,
• 42:13
  Speaker 6: the first time I saw it was just with I
• 42:16
  Speaker 6: can never remember her name. What's her name? Amber mid Thunder,
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: mid Thunder. I knew Thunder was in it, but you'd
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: think I'd be able to remember a cool name like that.
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: So seeing Amber mid Thunder at the end, I was like,
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: freaking awesome, that's cool. Okay, it's Trackton Berg. He's playing
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: within his own, you know, his own mythology here. That's fine.
• 42:38
  Speaker 6: I think it would have been interesting, more interesting and
• 42:41
  Speaker 6: personally that if at the beginning, because you know he's
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: going to come back to these characters in animation. If
• 42:47
  Speaker 6: he comes back to these characters in animation, we start
• 42:51
  Speaker 6: with mid Thunder and then the camera pans to the
• 42:55
  Speaker 6: right and we see Dan Dalton, uh, we see and
• 42:59
  Speaker 6: we see Swarts. I think that would have been interesting
• 43:02
  Speaker 6: where you're just kind of like, oh cool, we're starting
• 43:03
  Speaker 6: right where we left off. Oh my god, it's Glover
• 43:06
  Speaker 6: and Schwarzenegger, Like I would have had that that fanboy moment.
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: But at the end, I think it's it's kind of
• 43:14
  Speaker 6: like an all or nothing thing to me, like either
• 43:16
  Speaker 6: put them in there at the beginning where they're all
• 43:18
  Speaker 6: three there, or don't have Schwarzenegger and Glover until the second.
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: One yeah, no, I mean, I don't know.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: I think I think that from a word of mouth
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: perspective going in from the beginning, like not withholding that,
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: having that go. I'm simply thinking in terms of the
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: fact that people would have been talking about this a
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: lot more when it got released, because people would be like, look, look,
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: look you got to see it just just for the
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: credit singer.
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: Trust me, trust me, I know so many people here
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: would have come to me.
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I know it is.
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: But that's the lesson, right is you put something where
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: it's like no, no, no, you got to see it.
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: I won't tell you why, but watch the credits, right.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: That was always that was always the play with the
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: MCU stingers, and why not just borrow from their playbook
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: for that one, because what a tease? Like everybody would
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: have talked about it, I Darren, you know, do you
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: agree everybody would have talked about it or do you
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: think it it should have just stayed with with NHRU
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: from prey.
• 44:24
  Speaker 7: I mean, it's a good coin toss really, like having
• 44:28
  Speaker 7: just be.
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: Naru is enough.
• 44:31
  Speaker 7: Like that's the version that I saw before I was
• 44:35
  Speaker 7: updated to like, oh watch this, you know, refreshed. I
• 44:37
  Speaker 7: hadn't it refreshed on my browser yet. But but but
• 44:42
  Speaker 7: even so, it didn't. I agree with you that people
• 44:47
  Speaker 7: would talk about it, But it didn't shift the paradigm
• 44:51
  Speaker 7: of the whole story. It wasn't like, oh, well, now
• 44:54
  Speaker 7: this means you know, other things. Honestly, what it made
• 44:57
  Speaker 7: what it made me feel, was like I had said
• 45:00
  Speaker 7: that now these characters lost, like because they got kidnapped
• 45:06
  Speaker 7: from Earth and did not get to live the rest
• 45:08
  Speaker 7: of their lives. They won at the end of their
• 45:11
  Speaker 7: respective stories. But nope, they didn't because unless they're unless
• 45:16
  Speaker 7: these are clones, then that means that if anyone kills
• 45:20
  Speaker 7: a predator, you're doomed to be abducted and die in
• 45:25
  Speaker 7: this arena, and that kind of stinks.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: They can only be clones.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: If at some point in the next animated one somebody
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: one of the predators translated goes somehow Dutch has returned,
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: then it's perfect. Then it works absolutely well in every regard.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: I had to take the shot don't get mad before
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: I had to.
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: I had to.
• 45:48
  Speaker 4: I had to.
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: It's a meme, come on, you know what?
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, At least I didn't lean into the meme
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: of saying you know Dutch Schaeffer will return in Avenger's Doomsday.
• 46:00
  Speaker 8: That's oh god, I'm already buckle up, you got you
• 46:05
  Speaker 8: gotta hear that left Tristan, just buckle up and hang
• 46:09
  Speaker 8: on for dear life.
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: So you know, I think we you know, we've gone
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: into it. There's one last thing I want to.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: Throw out there for us to to to talk about
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: the music. Was the music successful, Darren?
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: Was it good?
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: Was it memorable? Or was it just there and you
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: can't even recall it?
• 46:29
  Speaker 8: No?
• 46:29
  Speaker 5: I think the music was good.
• 46:31
  Speaker 7: I the thing I noticed was the way they wove
• 46:35
  Speaker 7: in the classic stinger lines from the classic films like
• 46:40
  Speaker 7: the there was anytime you had like kind of a
• 46:42
  Speaker 7: classic Predator moment, you had more of the.
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: Da Da Dad like I think.
• 46:48
  Speaker 7: I didn't think it was overused, but I liked the
• 46:51
  Speaker 7: amount that they wove it in.
• 46:53
  Speaker 5: It made it interesting.
• 46:55
  Speaker 7: And because the Predator does have a theme, he has,
• 46:58
  Speaker 7: you know, an interesting tone, and so I enjoyed that.
• 47:02
  Speaker 7: Was there anything else that I could remember besides those stingers?
• 47:07
  Speaker 7: Not particularly, But that doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing.
• 47:11
  Speaker 6: Speaking of Predator theme, it just got me thinking that,
• 47:14
  Speaker 6: like we actually see what could be surmised as someone
• 47:17
  Speaker 6: as the same clan as the first predator in Guatemala.
• 47:23
  Speaker 6: In this movie, I think he's the one who gets
• 47:26
  Speaker 6: his head chopped off. And the fourth act in the.
• 47:30
  Speaker 5: Full story show what the callers do.
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, yeah, you know this is good.
• 47:41
  Speaker 4: I need clan genealogies.
• 47:43
  Speaker 5: I need to understand the predatorness.
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: Well, as they expand this, universal hit the same problem
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: that Trek has with trying to explain the complexities of
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: Klingon culture when they suddenly find out that people who
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: set it up originally didn't really think that far ahead.
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: So you know, we'll get.
• 47:58
  Speaker 6: Like get the history of Mendel Armor.
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: Oh hey best Scar. Sure, yeah, it happened.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: Trailers really good though, but you know, you know we've
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: gone through we've hit all the notes here, so you know, Tristan,
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna make you go first here.
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: You know, here we are at the end. We were
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: in the arena and.
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: To escape you had to give your star rating and
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: final thoughts. So what are you giving Predator colon killer
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: of killers?
• 48:27
  Speaker 6: I give this four colon's. I absolutely I thought this
• 48:31
  Speaker 6: was great, Like I was, I was floored, Like when
• 48:34
  Speaker 6: I watched this. I didn't know what to expect. I was,
• 48:37
  Speaker 6: you know, because it didn't get a theatrical release. I
• 48:40
  Speaker 6: was expecting something where was this kind of like Okay,
• 48:43
  Speaker 6: this could be fun, you know, something like a nice
• 48:46
  Speaker 6: distraction and then all forget about it a couple days later.
• 48:49
  Speaker 6: But no, I was. I was jazzed. Like as I
• 48:52
  Speaker 6: was watching watching this, like besides some of the stuff
• 48:55
  Speaker 6: that we talked about with World War Two, at the end,
• 48:58
  Speaker 6: I was like, I want to see these characters again.
• 49:01
  Speaker 6: I want I want this to continue. This was fun.
• 49:05
  Speaker 6: I think that's the thing. Like is everything perfect?
• 49:08
  Speaker 7: No?
• 49:09
  Speaker 6: Is is it beyond amazing?
• 49:12
  Speaker 5: No?
• 49:12
  Speaker 6: Is it entertaining? Hell friggin' yes. This was a very
• 49:16
  Speaker 6: entertaining film. It had a lot of fun animation, had
• 49:20
  Speaker 6: interesting characters, great voice work, really fun action, and it
• 49:25
  Speaker 6: was engaging. I will watch this again. I want another
• 49:28
  Speaker 6: one four stars. This is the situation where like, yeah,
• 49:33
  Speaker 6: there's some drawbacks, but all the cool stuff far outweigh
• 49:37
  Speaker 6: the other stuff.
• 49:39
  Speaker 3: Darren, where do you fall with this?
• 49:43
  Speaker 7: Uh? Yeah, I'm I'm giving it a three and it's
• 49:46
  Speaker 7: in the middle of the pack.
• 49:48
  Speaker 5: Like I enjoyed it, but.
• 49:53
  Speaker 7: I don't I don't want to hold this against it
• 49:55
  Speaker 7: just because it is this shorter format story. But I
• 50:01
  Speaker 7: felt not wanting more in a part two way, but
• 50:06
  Speaker 7: wanting more as in I there's something about the good
• 50:12
  Speaker 7: Predator movies.
• 50:14
  Speaker 6: We all know which ones we're talking about.
• 50:15
  Speaker 7: Just look at our ratings here on how one two
• 50:17
  Speaker 7: yeah uh, and where they're they're weaving into the the
• 50:24
  Speaker 7: you know, the smart predators, the cunning, the traps, the
• 50:28
  Speaker 7: and there just wasn't enough time for all of that,
• 50:31
  Speaker 7: so I felt like I was kind of missing out
• 50:34
  Speaker 7: on part It's like a Star Trek movie where they
• 50:37
  Speaker 7: never get on a spaceship and we have zero spaceship,
• 50:41
  Speaker 7: Like I would feel like I'm missing something. So I
• 50:45
  Speaker 7: think that's why it kind of just came up to
• 50:48
  Speaker 7: a three for me. What I love a Killer of
• 50:51
  Speaker 7: Killers two or another anthology? Do I want more? I
• 50:55
  Speaker 7: always want more, you know. I think I think, give
• 50:59
  Speaker 7: him another budget, give them another shot to tell us
• 51:02
  Speaker 7: even more of these stories, and I'm all for it.
• 51:05
  Speaker 5: But just for me, it was a three.
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna land on a four simply because I again,
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: like I said, I love adult animation. I love the
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: when it's explored as an art form. I enjoy when
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: the designs evolve in a certain way where they're like, look,
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: you're in the animation world. Things look a little different here,
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: but you can sort of like do the work in
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: your brain. You're like, Okay, if they did this as
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: live action, it would look this way instead, or something
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: like that. I think, honestly, the biggest strength of this
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: is that the stories that they have told as anthology
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: here are movies that would have been boring misfires had
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: they been a full two hours. This leans into the
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: best aspect of a predator question, which is, ooh, what
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: would happen if what would happen here? What about this
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: time period? That sort of thing without a studio head
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: saying great, here's fifty million dollars, now make it a
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: two hour blockbuster that's going to make us a billion
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: or something like that, because frankly, maybe the Viking one
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: you could tease out enough, but none of these stories
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: is really the two to two and a half hour,
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: you know, seventeen dollars movie ticket material that you would want.
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: So I think that it forces them to pare it
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: down and focus on the core concept of it, as
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: opposed to trying to blow out a neat idea longer
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: than it needs to be. So four from me. So
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: that's two fours and Darren's way too harsh. Evil three
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: thrown out there. He is not making it out of
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: the arenas, unfortunately, but before the Predators, he's at least
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: losing an arm, at the very least before the predators exact.
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: They're told, Darren, why don't you tell us what we're
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: gonna be doing? Looking at next week?
• 53:07
  Speaker 7: That's right, we have another chapter here in the wing
• 53:10
  Speaker 7: of Predator as we cover Predators bad Lands next week
• 53:14
  Speaker 7: here on house Lights Join the Revolution, Join the net Party.