Predator: Badlands - Jennifer Lopez Was Right And So Is Dan Trachtenberg

Send us a text

We score Predator Badlands, argue whether a simple hero’s journey helps or hurts, and celebrate a creature-forward approach that finally trusts the predator. We toast new “listeners,” confess our vices, and then drop into lore, tropes, and ridiculous self-inserts that break the universe in fun ways.

• fan acceptance over fan service
• acting under prosthetics landing real emotion
• CGI and practical effects blending cleanly
• soundtrack as functional atmosphere
• shonen-style growth arc and clan worldbuilding
• plot simplicity vs desire for narrative ambition
• predator culture, toxic norms, matriarchal hints
• rewatchability drivers and franchise future
• wild crossovers and inserting ourselves into the hunt

Support the show

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:15):
Mad the rest of the fucking day, no matter what.
So I'm glad that I'm able toevolve a little bit in that
aspect of my life where else Iwas in for a long fucking ride.

SPEAKER_01 (00:25):
That's awesome, man.
That's and that's very true.
I I think a lot of us couldrelate to that.

SPEAKER_02 (00:31):
Like I I I had to be prescribed medication for that.
I before before I get in thecar, I take uh I take a anxiety
medication so that I don't drivelike a dickhead.
I'm pissed off.
I honestly, I honestly get that.
That was another thing that Camactually said to me not that
long ago.
She's like, I have to say, youused to like scream in the car,

(00:54):
and now you don't.
And I'm like, oh that's yeah,now I just say you asshole.
Like it's calm.
I still need to acknowledge thatthat guy's a piece of shit.
However, I can do it calmly now.
Now it's like, oh fucking idiot.
That person's having a bad day.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (01:14):
It's usually like a fucking 04 Nissan Ultima,
anyways, that is missing a boat.
Like you like, they're probablyin a rough position.
Just let them pass.

SPEAKER_03 (01:24):
Oh, I've been the Nissan Ultima too.

SPEAKER_02 (01:26):
Don't you worry.
I drove a just got rid of thedisc changer in the bag.
Just this year, we got rid ofthe 2007 Nissan Ultima.
I was I was that person.
You were.

SPEAKER_01 (01:41):
We all develop at our own rate, you know.
Like the brain isn't even fullydeveloped until you're 26.
And then we could startlearning.
Someone argue even after.

SPEAKER_02 (01:51):
Who knows?
Yeah, yeah.
Let's bump that up to like 46.
Yeah, boy.
Give me some wiggle room.
I sure hope so, because I need alittle more development, guys.
I can't I can't stop at 26.
I fucked, if so.
Holy shit.

SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
The great Jennifer Lopez once said, a man ain't
shit till he's 35.
And uh that pissed a lot ofdudes off, but uh I
wholeheartedly agree.

SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
Wow, dude, when I reflect on who I was at 23
versus now I'm like 23-year-oldLucas was a fucking dick face.
Like relatively, right?
I wasn't shit.
Just as she she said, she knew.

SPEAKER_01 (02:33):
Yeah, right.
Um, so well, hey everyone, I'myour host, Ryan Baron North,
with me as always, JamesCrosslin.
Luke, this is a high and drypodcast.
So we already kind of know howwe're doing.
Everyone's you know, surviving.
We're a little healthier, alittle better each day.
Um so let's jump into uh thispodcast for all of our thick

(02:53):
kings out there.
So, like I said, we're at theonly podcast keeping alive the
fandom that is the great north.
If you're familiar with that.

SPEAKER_02 (03:05):
Hmm.
The Great North.
Is that was that adultanimation?

SPEAKER_01 (03:11):
Yes.
So it was so I it just recentlyended, if I'm not mistaken.
Um, and if it didn't end, uhthere's like two people watching
it.
Um and it uh it was trying toride the wave of that Bob's
burger.

SPEAKER_02 (03:25):
Yes, I remember.
I remember I watched one episodeand I was like, this is a this
is a lot like Bob's Burgers,which I hate.
You hate Bob's Burgers?
Despite it, never mind.
I'm gonna go ahead and log off,guys.
Bye.

SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
Later, Luke.
So I'm your host, Grand BearNorth with me as always, James.
So, but no, we're not actuallygonna be talking about the Great
North.
No one has and no one ever will.
Instead, what we're gonna betalking about this week is
Predator Badlands, the film ofthis week, and we're gonna do it

(04:01):
in a stunning three-part methodguaranteed to uh really take you
to where you need to be in orderto understand this film.
First off, we're gonna give youthe definitive score.
Five out of five stars to seewhere it stands.
Infinitely better than anythingFandango has ever produced.
That's true.
Then we're gonna jump onto thegolden path and dive into the

(04:24):
deeper meaning behind thisaction blockbuster.

SPEAKER_02 (04:27):
Very deep.
I we've got so much to delve, sodepth, so much depth.
We're gonna have to take sometime before we come back up to
equalize, or else the nitrogenin our blood will boil.

SPEAKER_01 (04:41):
And you folks as well.
You folks as well.
I don't recommend you listen tothat part while driving.
And finally, the third portionof it, we're going to insert
ourselves, drugs, or alcoholinto the film.
And what makes it so great, sospecial, so fun is that we are
going to be doing it drunk andhigh.
So, fellas, uh, what are you uhwhat are you smoking this week?

SPEAKER_02 (05:04):
I'll first look I actually uh don't know because
it was a gift.
Oh, I don't know either.
Yeah, could could not tell you,uh, but I'm definitely smoking
it.
Hell yeah.
I've got a pack of hemp.
It's C BD hemp.
It's got point z 0.3% THC, soinsignificant.

(05:29):
And so it's all C BD.
I don't it didn't have a strainon it on the package, so it's an
indica.
It's just CBD.

SPEAKER_03 (05:38):
Sounds delicious.
Fuck yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (05:40):
It said it's sweetened.
So what are you choking backthis week, Ryan?

SPEAKER_01 (05:45):
What am I choking back, you ask?
Well, let me tell you, I amgoing to be enjoying the
original backpacker moonshine.

SPEAKER_03 (05:54):
That's a jar.
That's not even a jar.

SPEAKER_01 (05:58):
That's a joke jar.
A mason jar of dark chocolatecherry moonshine.
What is the what is the proof onthat?
So it it so compared to what I'mnormally choking down, it's
actually it slows down a littlebit, alright?
So we're looking at 50horsepower right here.
So I'm gonna.

SPEAKER_02 (06:16):
He's at up to 100 horsepower on here, so yeah.
Well, I've done are you are youportioning it or are you trying
are you gonna drink just drinkfrom the jar?

SPEAKER_01 (06:25):
So I'm gonna drink from the jar.
Oh no.
On the side, I have a seven uhyear age dry that I'll be I'll
be enjoying.

unknown (06:38):
What the fuck?

SPEAKER_02 (06:39):
Why'd the other thing eat at all?
That just looks like the firstthing iced.

SPEAKER_01 (06:44):
Yeah, yeah, I put some cubes in this.
Okay.
Well, I mean, that's how youshould do it.
Yeah.
So uh that's what I'm gonna bedoing.
So, boys, let's line them up.
That sounds something likesomething.
This first toast, this firsthit, this one goes out to our
newest listeners, and our newestlisteners are coming to us from

(07:05):
oh, somebody goddamn Pyongyang,North Korea.
Ita purunga.
Itapuranga.
Oh, from India.
Yeah, yeah.
That's an interesting VPNlocation.
Yeah, nice.
Uh we got a new VPN coming fromIndia.

(07:27):
India.

SPEAKER_02 (07:28):
Cheers, cheers to them.
Cheers.
Let me see.
Is that is that India?
Oh no, that's Brazil.
I was mistaken.

SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
Oh apologies.
Apologies to that VPN user.

SPEAKER_02 (07:43):
Brazil.

SPEAKER_03 (07:45):
DC's Brazil.

SPEAKER_01 (07:51):
So that's nice.
That's uh that's smooth.
Very smooth.
Is it delicious though?
It's very nice.
It's very nice.
I like I I can mix this withsome uh some cherry coke or
something like that.
Actually, you know what I'mgonna do?
That yeah seems crazy.

SPEAKER_02 (08:12):
I wonder if the G is pronounced differently in
Portuguese.
I don't know Portuguese.
Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 (08:21):
Wait, it's yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (08:22):
It might it might be like Ida Puranca.
I don't know how the G ispronounced.
Have it have it speak it to you.
I can't Google AI definitelyspeaks with a perfect Portuguese
accent.
There's zero doubt in my mind.
Well, while it doesn't have anypronunciation.

SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
We're looking into that.
It's time for our second shot.
This one goes out to the filmthis week.
To Predator Badlands.

SPEAKER_02 (08:46):
To the Badlands.
It was so fucking funny when yousaid like that we had to get we
had to get get on the path tobetter understand this movie.
That's that would crack me up.

SPEAKER_01 (09:01):
There's a lot of subtext.
I you know, I saw Father-Sondynamics, uh, you know, there
was uh I have a very deep pullthat is probably not it's
probably me reaching a littlebit, but you know, we'll see.

SPEAKER_02 (09:17):
Yeah.
I mean that's the only thing youcan do is reach.

SPEAKER_01 (09:21):
Yeah.
Well, me and my moonshine areexcited to talk about it.
So this uh final shot, finaltoast, I I don't know, it's
still just ringing around myhead.
Here's to uh Jennifer Lopez andMen Ain't Shit Till 35.

SPEAKER_02 (09:34):
I'm just gonna let you know that you didn't
introduce the drawer ofmoonshine as a official guest,
so he is not allowed to sayanything during this podcast.
I'll keep that in mind.

SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
I don't know.
I'm the with this mixture righthere went straight to my brain,
and I have a feeling thismoonshine's gonna be doing a lot
of talking.
Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (09:54):
Maybe you should go first in the uh in the ratings
category.

SPEAKER_01 (09:58):
Uh all right, so let's talk about well, let her
rip.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 (10:05):
I I being the person who loves Predator the most of
all of us, you should go first.
Let's know what you love aboutit.

SPEAKER_01 (10:14):
Well or hate.
So what I saw in this film, Ithink, was and maybe this might
come up later a little on whenuh we get on the golden path.
But um I I think we we may havehit like a positive future in

(10:36):
filmmaking watching this guy.

SPEAKER_02 (10:38):
Really?

SPEAKER_01 (10:39):
The reason why I say that because for the first
fucking time in any IP, what Isaw happen right there was not
fan service.
It was just pure fan acceptance.
It was just pure.
I'm a fan of like everyoneinvolved, like, hey, I'm a fan
of Predator.

(11:00):
We've been listening to you,this is what you want.
Nothing creative is coming outof film anymore.
That's done.
Those days are over.
Everything's a remake,everything's to sell toys.
So here you go.
Here's a movie of what apredator fan wants.
You came here to see Predator,fucking enjoy.

(11:22):
He's not gonna be killed off bysome jackass, he's not gonna be
an idiot.

SPEAKER_02 (11:27):
He's the first predator to ever survive.

SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
You're just gonna have a great time.
You're gonna enjoy your IP,you're gonna sit down, and
you're going to enjoy yourself.
Danny Glover doesn't show up andkill someone, the predator
doesn't blow its own brains offwith his own helmet.
That would have been prettygreat.
It was just it was just, hey,predator fans, have fun.

(11:53):
Enjoy.
Cheers.
And what I saw was it was great.
I I think I I hated that we hada fanning.
Um why?

SPEAKER_02 (12:06):
I hate that.
Just because uh Nepo baby, oryep, I hate it.

SPEAKER_01 (12:09):
I hate it.

SPEAKER_02 (12:10):
I thought she did playing it well though.
But I thought I thought she wasgood.
I thought she played it reallywell.

SPEAKER_01 (12:15):
You just it just should have been someone else.
Should have been someone else.
Like yeah.
So again, so here's the thing.

SPEAKER_02 (12:21):
Here's the thing with Nepo babies, all right?
Some of them have talent.
It's like it's like when youit's like it's like a it's like
an artisan family from theMiddle Ages, where like the dad
is really good at doing an artand he puts his little symbol
onto every piece of armor hemakes or whatever, and then he
passes down all his secrets tohis kids and they're really

(12:44):
good, even though they're Nepo,even though they get the name
and stuff, they can still begood at the thing.

SPEAKER_01 (12:50):
Well, but he but my response to that is that one, if
your entire life is nothing butcomfort and you decide to break
into acting, if you're not good,shame on you.
Sure.
Like if all you've ever had toworry about was your acting
class and you're bad in thatmovie, you should be publicly
executed.

(13:11):
Like, there is no excuse.
Sure.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (13:15):
I mean, I don't think I don't think anyone's
arguing against that.

SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
I think that uh in the middle evil in the medieval
ages, us peasants had more timeoff back then than we do now.
Like it you know, it it's ourlife is nothing but struggle,
their life is nothing butenjoyment and fun.
Um, you know, and we went overthis a lot in our previous
episode with Tiana Reeves as theangel.

(13:41):
So yeah, I I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
Um you know what's interesting?
So so so listen to this.
El Fanning is not actually aNepo baby.
Except her dad was just a minorleague baseball player.
He never got to the pros.
And his mom, I mean, and her momwas nobody.
She had no connection to famewhatsoever.

(14:06):
She's actually the older sisterof Dakota fan.
So she is not a nephew.

SPEAKER_01 (14:13):
I retract my statement.
Yeah, you piece of it.
As a man over 35, I am capableof admitting when I was wrong.

SPEAKER_02 (14:22):
No, no, no, she's she's younger.
My bad, she's younger.
I I misread a number.
She is younger.
I again retract my statement.
She may, she may, she, sheprobably got a little bit of a
bump from Dakota.
From a sibling.
I'm okay with that.
From a sibling.
I'm okay with that.
And like I said, I think she didvery really well in this role.

(14:44):
So, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
At least at least she'sdelivering.

SPEAKER_01 (14:48):
I love siblings rolling out to Hollywood to
follow their dreams, so I'm allfor it.
Fuck.
Okay.
So I I I retract my statement.
I apologize, Mrs.
Fanning.
Um, I do not apologize to DakotaFanning because of her role in
War of the Worlds.
But Okay.
That's fair.
That means I like that movie.

(15:09):
She's it's okay though.
I don't care.
I don't care about DakotaFanning.
It it would have made more senseif Tom Cruise just pulled over
and just beat the shit out ofhis kids.
But um, anyway.
Especially the sun.
And then just Dakota should havecaught some smacks by proximity.
So uh for that though, I uhyeah, I retract my statement.

(15:32):
I am now happy for them.
She did fantastic in this role.
Um, she was delightful.
The uh the predator, um Iapologize, I don't have the
names of all my DemetriusMatagani Ganji.
So close.
Kaloamatangi.
Kaloamatangi uh was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 (15:51):
I was He's a Nepo baby.
The colo the Kaloamatangidynasty.
No, I'm just gonna get it.

SPEAKER_03 (16:02):
That was fucking hilarious.
That was so funny.

SPEAKER_02 (16:10):
He's from New Zealand.

SPEAKER_01 (16:13):
Okay, all right, all right.
So uh well, at least that's notthe case.
So what I so I was readingarticles about him learning the
Predator language, you know,doing all these things.
Uh it was absolutely impressive.
I thought what he brought wasgreat.
Um the only the only acting thatwas like eh was the villain,

(16:36):
like the the android villain,and like the side villain, you
know.
But then at the same time, it'sa fucking android.
So for me, across the board, Ihad an amazing predator, I had
an amazing actress who was not aNepo baby, 4.5 for acting, nice.
It's a good score.
Cinematography, I thought wasgorgeous.
Um, this made um uh fucking uhthe the the blue alien creature

(17:02):
movie Avatar.
Yeah, it looked made Avatar looklike a B movie.

SPEAKER_02 (17:06):
So um I'm gonna say I actually you really believe
that.
I was actually talking withsomebody today about the movie,
and they had made the referenceto Avatar that it was like it
was on the same level of CGI andkind of the the effects that
they had within the movie, but alike darker version, like like a

(17:27):
dark eye.
And I thought that was a goodanalogy because I thought it was
really spot on.
I thought it was good too.
It's it's the alien world.
They they successfully createdan alien world.

SPEAKER_01 (17:36):
Yeah, I I thought it was gorgeous.
I was enjoying the shit out ofit.
Um, so cinematography, CGI, um Iagain uh it's gonna be high
here.
Um I I was brought into a world4.5, 4.5.
Um soundtrack.
The only reason I can mark itdown is just because it wasn't

(17:58):
the original Predator soundtrackthat was so iconic.
You know, my fives are reservedfor Star Wars, Harry Potter, um,
like those songs.

SPEAKER_02 (18:08):
K-pop demon hunters.
K-pop demon hunters.

SPEAKER_01 (18:10):
Like when you hear it, you're like, yeah, that's
it.
Yeah, that's that's synonymous.

SPEAKER_02 (18:16):
So I can't give a conjuring series.

SPEAKER_03 (18:19):
Yeah.
Dark commonest tones.

SPEAKER_01 (18:23):
I I can't tell you how often I just find myself
whistling the conjuring in theshower.
In the shower.

SPEAKER_02 (18:32):
Someone comes up to your window.
Hey, is that the conjuring?
You know, brother.

SPEAKER_01 (18:39):
Because my shower windows just open my local
community.
Obviously.

SPEAKER_02 (18:45):
I have to listen, I have to have my shower window
open.
For some reason, my shittylandlord didn't put a fan in my
bathroom, and so I gotta leavethe window open so that it
doesn't mold up.
So everybody hears me whistlingthe conjuring tune.
All good, I got a fuckingaudience.
So they all whistle along, andit's like a fucking choir
outside my window while I'mshowering.

SPEAKER_01 (19:08):
But uh, but yeah, but so like when we're talking
as far as like inside the theIPs, uh a soundtrack that's
great.
It borrowed from the original tomake me feel like I was there.
It did its own thing, it broughtme in.
It didn't Jurassic Park uhScarlet Johansson it where
there's this random guitar thatuh like so for that I give the

(19:31):
soundtrack a four.

SPEAKER_02 (19:33):
Nice.

SPEAKER_01 (19:35):
The story plot it it was it was a basic um heroes
journey.
It was a basic heroes journey.
It was a basic hero's journey,uh redemption arc, um shown it
almost even.
Almost an eastern influence, butyeah, was I was about to say or
a western, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (19:54):
Spaghetti western.

SPEAKER_01 (19:55):
Yeah.
And so nothing nothing insanehere, but I didn't need it to
be.
I I'm here to watch the firstfilm with zero humans in it.
Right.
So for that, I give it a four aswell.
And uh rewatchability, I'm gonnawatch the shit out of this.
Um, I'm gonna watch it all thetime.

(20:17):
It it's definitely a contenderfor the best predator movie.

SPEAKER_02 (20:24):
Yeah, for sure.
It's a contender.
I agree.
So right up there with thepredator.
Oh my god.
I'm sorry, sorry, that was justa joke.
Just a joke.
I meant I meant I meant Alienvs.
Predator 2.

SPEAKER_01 (20:42):
So Alien vs.
Predator 2 had the bestpredator, worst movie.

SPEAKER_02 (20:47):
Yeah, right.
No, second, second worst movie.

SPEAKER_01 (20:51):
That's true.
Next to the Predator, yeah.
Yeah, the Predator was theworst.
Yeah, rewatchability for me, andrewatchability, in my opinion,
is our most uh subjective, butfor me, five.
I'm gonna watch this all thefucking time.

SPEAKER_02 (21:06):
Very strong.
I like the very strong.
Now, now so so we started withRyan, who has seen and
re-watched all of the Predatormovies, even the bad ones.
Read the books, read read thebooks, played, played the video
games where he was the predator.
He's he's done he's done all thepredator media.

(21:27):
Now, Luke, what is yourexperience with the predator?
So for those of you who uh thefirst episode that I was
actually ever on was one of thealien movies.
I think it was Covenant.
Uh that's right.
Maybe it was Romulus.
No, it wasn't Romulus.
It was definitely one of theolder movies.
Yeah, really?

(21:48):
Old or new, yeah.
Yes, that was, I think, believemy first episode on.
As a host.
Interesting.
Yes, yes.
It might not have been, yeah.
I think you guys asked me toguest on one before that, and
then as a host, you guys askedme.
It may have been just theoriginal alien movie.
It may have just been until itwas either cut it was
chronologically, it was the veryfirst movie.

(22:08):
Prometheus.
Prometheus, that was it.
Prometheus.
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (22:11):
Yeah.
September 9th, 2024.

SPEAKER_02 (22:14):
Yeah.
Okay.
So that was the movie that kindof introduced me into this
franchise.
I had never watched anythinguntil that day.
I watched that movie and I kindof dove into the entire universe
and I'd watched quite a bit, butI I watched Alien vs.
Predator.
I'd watched Predators.
And then I've watched Alien vs.

(22:35):
Predator Reunion.

unknown (22:37):
Oh.

SPEAKER_02 (22:39):
Wait, Requiem?
Probably not.
Yeah.
Requiem, sorry.
It looks like it's a small, it'sa small, it's a small word.
I couldn't read it like that.

SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
I'd watch Alien vs.
Predator Reunion, for sure.
I agree.
I agree.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (22:52):
They both go to their like what what have you
been up to?
You can't ask me that, man.
And then I've watched the uhmore recently Prey, um, and then
the the animated series, umPredator Pred, I can't remember
what the name of the film is.
Cinematically killers.

SPEAKER_01 (23:13):
Cinematically, you're you're relatively well
versed.

SPEAKER_02 (23:16):
Yeah, so I've watched a decent amount of it.
And honestly, when I when Ifirst watched the Predator
movies, um after watching, Ikind of dove into Alien First.
Um they didn't land that wellwith me.
They were kind of fun, but notlike nothing that I was like, oh
my god, yeah.
Like they were fun movies, if Ilike you, like I didn't feel

(23:37):
like they had depth, which thisdoesn't have that much, but I
feel like more.
It's a better story.
They did a good jobstorytelling.
But I really liked um, and thedirector who directed this movie
did the first two.
Um oh, you guys do really likethe original movies?
Was that crazy to say?
Uh I like the original Predatora lot.

(23:57):
Uh I also like the originalAlien a lot.
I think those are.
I love some of it.

SPEAKER_03 (24:01):
I love Alien.

SPEAKER_02 (24:02):
Yeah, I was gonna say, like, Alien 1979.
Oh, we've I misunderstood.
I misunderstood.
Alien, the alien first originalAlien movie was probably my
tip-toe into more horror.
Because when I first watched it,I was literally like, oh, this,
and then I was I fell in lovewith that's what really meant.

SPEAKER_01 (24:21):
And then I watched Alien, I'm sitting here
thinking, like, wait, you didn'tlike the first alien movie.

SPEAKER_02 (24:25):
I'm talking about the predatory change.
Is a little bit less serious andnot as like they're just kind of
like fun movies.
Yeah, alien movies.
You got Arnie shooting from thehip.
Yeah.
Um but fun, like they still arefun.
Yeah, sure.
I guess it was just a differentspeed from coming off of the
alien franchise that I had likeobviously it's kind of coexist,

(24:46):
but like I had just come offthat and I was like, oh.
Um, but this director, um Dan,oh, I don't want to mess
Trachtenberg.
Trachtenberg, yeah.
Trachtenberg.
Trachtenberg he's revitalized.
The recent thing.
Killer of Killers, he did Prey,and he's done now Predator
Badlands.
Um, and I I really like hisvision for the franchise, and I

(25:08):
think he's doing a pretty goodjob.
Um this this cast to get onto myscores um was pretty limited,
right?
Like there wasn't a lot ofcharacters in this movie.
Um, it was kind, you know, Dad,the brother Kwai, the the main,
the main I can't remember thecharacter's name.
Deck.
Um should that should have beenan easy one to remember.

(25:29):
Deck, Thea, and then um Jenna,Anna, something like that.
Whatever the other AI bot's namewas.
Yeah, whatever.
So there wasn't there wasn't alot um of characters.
Small cast.
Yeah, but I think they all didwell.
I actually got a lot of emotionfrom um the predator.
I don't know if that was due tospecial effects or if that was

(25:50):
like kind of a mix of of theacting and stuff, but I felt
like I got emotion throughsomething that isn't real, which
is kind of cool.
Um it's overlay.
It's a combination.

SPEAKER_01 (26:01):
Um they showed the prosthetic mask that he was
wearing, and him and Eli Fanningactually did a um a thing
together where they weresinging, and you could see how
articulating his mask was as hedid it, and he's like, Yeah,
he's the predators rapping.
Um worked really well.

(26:23):
So a lot of it was his emotion.

SPEAKER_02 (26:25):
Yeah, they did it like Jurassic Park, which you
know pioneered the technology oftaking animatronics or puppets
or or special effects andoverlaying physical special
effects with CGI to make it.
And even now, Jurassic Park, thescenes of the Tyrannosaurus Rex
when it's a fucking puppet likewith CGI over it, are so good.

(26:48):
Like just like Alien Romulus,which they did the same thing, a
lot of like practical effectsthat they laid CGI, and it
looked just fucking awesome,like super good.
So um, but I gave the acting a4.5 as well.
I thought it was really good.
Like I said, I I really itreally landed with me the fact
that I was getting emotionthrough these like um alien

(27:09):
creatures, um, which was cool.
Um, and that might kind of goesinto the next score,
cinematography and CGI.
Um, the only kind of takeaway Ihad was like I always think to
myself, man, uh every planetthat ever anyone goes to just
looks like rural somewhere onEarth.
Like, and it's because it is.
They're using those real places,but you know, there was a shot

(27:30):
where they're waterfalling, I'mlike, that looks so like Earth.
Like they didn't do felt likethey didn't do a great job of
like, and I don't know if thatis due to cinematography or more
that's like set choice, but Ikind of tie them together.
So I gave that a uh a four a4.5.
I didn't give it a perfect five.
I really for a movie that reliesso heavily on CGI, I really
raised that up because they theyfucking killed it, and it looked

(27:52):
really, really good.
It did look good, yeah.
Score soundtrack.
I didn't kind of I obviously gotsome of the original original
songs, and I I, you know, cooltribute, but other than that, I
didn't really remember all toomuch.
Like it was good, it definitelyset tones, it did what it was
supposed to, but I didn't thinkit like really set the bar uh to
the next level.
I'll give it a 3.5.

(28:14):
Story plot, I liked a lot.
I love a shonen arc, so it worksfor me.
Hell yeah.
Um it's something that I lovesomething where it's like, oh,
I'm not strong enough.
Goes out, goes through like a acondition where it gets him
stronger and he becomes believeit.

SPEAKER_03 (28:29):
Yeah, like believe it.
You better believe it.

SPEAKER_01 (28:32):
Like you know, these stories have been working for
thousands of years because weresonate, they resonate, and it
was fun.

SPEAKER_02 (28:39):
I really, you know, it gave me I like I said, I
really I I kind of thought of ashown in anime.
That was what I thought of whenI got out of the theater.
Yeah, it's Naruto.
Yeah, it was.
It was literally like, oh no, mybrothers died.
Now I have to go throughadversity and grow as an
individual and strength.
Everybody keeps making fun ofme, nobody likes me, I gotta
earn their respects.

(29:00):
I'm deck, I have a dead brother.
Like it just it's it's uh it's ashonen.
So and I'll approve myself,yeah.
And then he shows up and then soI uh but I really liked it.
Uh for its simplicity, it doeswhat it's supposed to do.
Um, I think that it is aextremely cool concept.

(29:25):
They did good world building.
I felt like I really was intothe whole storyline of the
clans.
Um, and it was, you know, like II want to me, I was like, oh,
that's a clan.
Give me I want more.
I want to know like all over theearth and like what it's about.
Um so yeah, I gave the story afour and pause.

(29:48):
What's up, Ray?
Is it recording?

SPEAKER_01 (29:51):
Yeah, we're good.
We're good.

SPEAKER_02 (29:53):
Okay, okay.
I just wanted to make sure yousaw you were typing.
I was like, oh no, oh no.
Oh no, no, we're all as well.
All is your shirt, I just don'tsee our bars moving.
You guys do see 'em.
Yeah, I see bars moving.
Cool.
That's just on the side then.
Okay, just want to make sure.
Don't want to fiasco again.
So, anyways, so last, lastly,the rewatchability.
I think that I'm definitelygonna watch this again, and

(30:14):
especially this.
New little world that is kind ofbeing created.
I don't know if it's gonna tietogether, but I have a feeling
that we're going to go.
It definitely was.
And it's de uh this scene.
This wasn't a movie where I'mlike, fuck, I'd have to watch it
again so to understand.
No.
It's like, ooh, the next one'scoming out.
Let me get like re rewatch thisreal quick to make sure I they
struck gold and they know theydid.

(30:35):
Yeah.
I I'm a big fan, and I hope thatI hope that um Dan Trachtenberg
continues to produce the trackdirection.

SPEAKER_01 (30:44):
Trackberg did Prey, and Prey was uh Hulu release.
Yeah, and then it did so wellthat they made Badlands like
this is coming to theaters.
Yeah, and now Badlands isfucking killing, and then Killer
of Killers is the highest ratedPredator movie across the board.

SPEAKER_02 (31:03):
Um so yeah, he's uh and Dan Trachtenberg did that
one as well, which is likeinsane.

SPEAKER_01 (31:08):
Yeah, he he's he's living high right now.
He revitalized Predator, and Ilove him for it.
I never cared about Arnie, Icared about the Predator.
I've been obsessed with thePredator, and I'm so happy to
finally have him back.
100%.

SPEAKER_02 (31:22):
Um but I give it a four because I just I can't I
can't say I'm gonna watch itevery single year.
I will continue to watch thismovie at times, especially when
I just dive into the universeagain.
Because the the alien, and thatmight be, you know, alien might
carry that a little bit, but umI can't say that I that's
something I'll watch all thetime.

(31:44):
But yeah, really, I reallyenjoyed this one.
I was I was happy to come out ofit.

SPEAKER_01 (31:47):
I was nervous going in because of the preview, and I
just wanted to it looked good,but you know, they can fuck this
stuff up, and they did if theygive Trachtenberg a a Bad Lands
2 and we see a more evolved DAC,and now like he's got kids, and
the universe is.

SPEAKER_02 (32:04):
His clan's grown.
His clan might have grown.

SPEAKER_01 (32:07):
Would that ex would that extend your rewatchability
beyond four for this?

SPEAKER_02 (32:12):
Well, I think the four, not many movies go above
like a 3.3 really forrewatchability.
So for it to get a four isbasic, you know, anything above
a four for me is like probablywatching.
You love that movie.
So yeah, like somethingsomething I'm gonna probably
watch at least once a year.
Something I'm watching, youknow, mid throw on a couple

(32:33):
times a year might be a five, oreven once a year solidly, like
at a certain time.
But like, yeah.
So a four above a four is hardfor me, but I think it's a
really good score onrewatchability for me.
Because like movies are hard torewatch.
For you to want to re-watchsomething is like impressive.
Like that really is.
And that's why I like it in ourscoring.
Because like, man, it reallyshows that, like, oh, not only

(32:54):
did that person consume it,think it was a good film, they
think it's just a good movie,and they enjoy it and it gives
them soul.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (33:01):
And that's what puts us miles ahead of.

SPEAKER_02 (33:04):
That's Fandago's not considering rewatchability, I'm
telling you.

SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
Yeah, Fandago isn't considering anything, so fuck.

SPEAKER_02 (33:12):
They're inconsiderate.
Well, I'm excited to hear yourscore, James scores, James.
Please.
I can't imagine you're likesuper far off, but who knows?
Well, let me give you a littleinformation about my experience
with the Predator franchise andthe Alien franchise.
Okay.
So the first movie I saw ofeither of them was Alien vs.

(33:34):
Predator.
Oh, okay.
But I liked Alien vs.
Predator.
I watched that movie a bunch oftimes.
I was like, whoa, these fuckingmonsters are super cool, and
that's all I wanted.

SPEAKER_01 (33:48):
I liked it on later on watching.
It just wasn't as a predator fanfor me, it just wasn't what we
were craving as Predator fans.
I wasn't a predator fan.

SPEAKER_03 (33:59):
So for me, so for me, I was like, shit, these guys
are fucking dope.
Like super cool.

SPEAKER_02 (34:06):
Yeah, so I enjoyed it.
I didn't care much.
Yeah, but I I actually compareit a little like story
story-wise, you know, the amountof like thought that went into
the story.
They're both real basic.
And so for me, it it's like it'slike a return to the kind of
basic story, shows some coolpredator shit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And and and yeah, that's cool.

(34:28):
Yeah, some CPS.
Yeah, yeah, cool predator shit,absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, CPS.
And and but like, but then Iwent back and I hadn't seen
Predator until we did thepodcast for it.
Like, that was I I hadn't seenPredator until that point.
No shit.
No shit.

(34:48):
I had seen Alien versus Predator2 before that.
That's that's how much predatorexperience I have.
But of course, like then I wentback and saw Alien and love
that.
Uh, you know, went from there,hated Aliens, uh Alien.
Uh the third one, that wasResurrection.

(35:08):
No, no, no.
The third one was Alien justAlien 3.
Yeah, that one was that waswhat, David Fenture?
That one was pretty good.
Uh the Resurrection.
What'd you say?

SPEAKER_01 (35:19):
The Prison Planet.

SPEAKER_02 (35:21):
Yeah, the Prison Planet one.
I enjoyed that more than Aliens.
Uh Resurrection, real weird.
I don't know how I feel aboutthat one.

SPEAKER_01 (35:29):
No one does.

SPEAKER_02 (35:31):
And then uh The Prometheus and all those.
I was kind of indifferent.
I thought they were interestingto a point.
You can go back and listen toour episodes on those.
Yeah.
Romulus, I enjoyed.
I also thought plot was fairlysimple again, but it also
mirrored that one role-playingbook that came out for Alien,
which was very fun.
I enjoyed playing that one.

(35:52):
Uh I think it might have beenlike a direct port of it.
I think was that like the storyfrom the book?
Pretty much.
Uh for Predator, like Predator2.
I watched that leading up tothis.
I had never really watched thewhole thing before.
I'd maybe seen a few scenes.
That one is like aconservative's fucking erotic,

(36:14):
like like erotica.
They fucking jerk off to thatmovie every weekend.

SPEAKER_01 (36:21):
Except uh Danny's in there and uh a certain aspect
they don't enjoy.

SPEAKER_02 (36:28):
No, they love when a black people's willing black
person is willing to shoot otherminorities for them.

SPEAKER_01 (36:33):
Like they love.
And his boss, his boss, his bosswas white, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (36:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He was getting ordered, he wasgetting ordered around by a
white man, and that's okay.
Yeah.
That was awful.
I didn't I didn't likepredators.
Predators, like, I likedpredators.
I saw predators before I sawPredator.
Predators, to me, I was like,damn, that's some good shit.

SPEAKER_01 (36:57):
It was.

SPEAKER_02 (36:58):
And Predator fans agree with you.
Walton Goggins.
He makes that just a crazy, acrazy hillbilly.

SPEAKER_01 (37:07):
Fucking prison shanking a predator.
Prison shanking a predator.

SPEAKER_02 (37:11):
Yeah, that show is real funny.
He makes that movie.
Let's see.
So yeah, so I have someexperience with Predator and
Alien, and um yeah, I really thethe Predator was really bad,
maybe.
That was the one where uh autismwas human evolution, and so he
had to go hunt down the autisticperson because they're natural

(37:33):
predators.

SPEAKER_00 (37:34):
And I was like, what the as you do.

SPEAKER_03 (37:40):
What the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 (37:42):
Yeah, and no one, no one saw that as problematic from
cyberboard to like on so manypeople's desks, and not a single
person was like, hold on asecond.
Jesus Christ.
Oh my god.
That was that was the worstPredator movie of all time.

SPEAKER_02 (38:01):
Oh my god.
Uh so this one, I thought theacting, yeah, I thought the
acting was bad in the predatoralso, but the acting in this
one, good.
I really liked the acting.
I liked I agree with Luke thatwe got really good uh emotion
from even through Predatorprosthetics, you know.
Uh I thought L.

(38:21):
Fanning was really good in bothroles as someone who's like
darkly detached and and someonewho is like newly discovering
emotion.
I feel like yeah, I feel likethe acting was really good.
I'm gonna give it a I'm gonnagive it a four.
I don't think it was asrevolutionary as you guys

(38:41):
thought it was, but I think itI'm still gonna give it a four.
For cinematography and CGI, Ithought the CGI was exceptional.
I thought they did a really goodjob of making an alien world.
There's like there's like athing on Netflix that I think is
just called Alien Worlds orsomething like that, or strange
worlds, and and they don't evenhave a plot, it's just them

(39:01):
coming up with alien worlds, andthen and and uh and I felt like
this was even better than that.
And I definitely think it wasbetter.
I went to go see Avatar Way ofWater and it's re-released
because I because I plannedbecause I never saw it.
I never saw the second one.
I was like, Oh, really?
Okay, yeah, I'll go see it.
So I saw that recently, and likeby the time it was over, I was

(39:23):
like, oh, I'm so fucking tiredof this.
Oh my god, I know I'm so tiredof this world, it's so fucking
boring.
Um, and we liked Way of theWater.
At least I remember liking it.
Yeah, I I don't I could bemissing a watch.
By like the two-hour mark, I waslike, Can we just fucking end
this movie already?

(39:44):
Um I'm I'm gonna be able to dothat.

SPEAKER_01 (39:45):
So you're not looking forward to comparing to
the first one.
Like the first one, like thefirst one was introducing us to
the world, and there was likeyeah, yeah.
I like that one.
The second one is like I'vealready seen the world, and you
introduce this really lamefucking plot to it.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (40:00):
But now they're introducing you to the water
world.
Can't wait.
It wasn't enough.
I even I and listen, and listen,I'm someone who loves the water.
I go like diving and spearfishing, and it's like I that's
like one of my favorite fuckingthings in the world.
And I really liked how they likeshowed diving, and now they're
like, you really gotta relax,and it's all about focus, and

(40:21):
it's all about like feeling thewater.
And I thought that was reallycool.
And they took they went toolong, it was too long with all
that shit for real.
And this relates to Predatorbecause Predator, because
Predator like it, it did theright amount of time on these
things.

(40:41):
We didn't like fucking linger.
We did the thing, we were therefor a reason, we saw the
important, cool shit, and thenit was like, All right, moving
on to the next thing.
We didn't just sit there andkeep we didn't keep coming back
to it and have to relearn itagain and shit, which we were
doing the same thing like fourtimes in Avatar.

SPEAKER_01 (41:00):
Yeah, the world builder wasn't just jacking off
on screen, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (41:03):
Yeah, they're they were like, No, we did this for a
reason.
We like the the we put shit inhere for a reason.
We and and they came back andcollected everything to use it,
you know, in an interesting newway.
So I found that very cool.
Uh, and so for cinematography,I'm gonna give this 4.5.
I actually really look forwardto sitting down like with my
Dolby vision and being able tocontrol the the contrast.

(41:26):
Some scenes were too dark forme, which is why it's not
getting a five.
Like some scenes were so darkthat I couldn't see what was
happening sometimes.
Um uh score and soundtrack, I'mgonna give it 3.5.
I don't remember much.
I need to, I I need to rememberto pay attention to that.
Um, story and plot.
This is where I kind of divergedfrom you guys because I was when

(41:47):
when I left the theater, I waslike, that was I enjoyed myself
with this movie, but man, I waslike that plot was bare bones.
That's what it felt like to me.
I was like, this that was just ahero's journey.
That was like the most basichero's journey that you could
get, and then they and then theyput it in an environment, you

(42:09):
know, and the environment wasreally cool, but that's like
cinematography, and that's youknow, acting, and it's those
things combined that make theenvironment cool.
Yeah, so this one was not asgood for me.
I'm actually gonna give thestory a three.
Uh it's it's really just ahero's journey, and it's done
competently.
It's done competently.

(42:31):
But when I left the theater, Iwas like disappointed in that.
And and and you know, I'm glad Ihad a little time to mull to
mole on it because I do enjoythe movie.
I did enjoy the movie, but itleft me feeling like, damn, they
could have done somethinginteresting with story.
And for rewatchability, uh I'mprobably less likely to re-watch

(42:52):
this a bunch of times uh justbecause of that plot issue.
I can only sit and look at acool, interesting world for so
long or so many times, like withAvatar, where I was just like
so.
For this one, I'm probably I'mgonna give it a three where I
will re-watch it at least onceto uh because I want to see it

(43:13):
in Dolby and I want to be ableto turn the brightness up on
those dark scenes.
But I don't know if I'm gonnawatch this a bunch of times.

SPEAKER_01 (43:23):
Okay, all right.
Well, hey, still let's so I'mI'm really anxious to see what
we got here because this is.

SPEAKER_02 (43:32):
That's really good.
Right where I thought it wasgonna land, if I'm honest with
you.

SPEAKER_01 (43:36):
Um which is super fucking strong.

SPEAKER_02 (43:38):
Yeah, super strong for a for a basic Western or
shonen or just heroes journey.
Yeah, the basicist with a with awith a really nice rapper.
It got a four out of five.
That's pretty amazing.
Think about what they could doif they did like an innovative
story, like that could be afive, you know.

(43:59):
And that's and I do agree thatthat's kind of where it was
missing a little bit, was theinnovative story.

SPEAKER_01 (44:04):
I'd like to talk about that and on the golden
path.
Let's do it.
But before we do that, it's timeto get a little more drunk, it's
time to be a little more high.
Let me crack my shine.

SPEAKER_02 (44:13):
Here's to a four.
It is.
Shinecracker sounds kind of likea slur.

SPEAKER_01 (44:23):
Take this, you filthy shinecracker.

SPEAKER_03 (44:27):
Cheers.
Cheers to that, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 (44:31):
Oh my god.
It's just an Appalachian whiteman.

SPEAKER_02 (44:36):
Shinecracker.
You don't gotta put labels onit.
Any anybody can be ashinecracker.

SPEAKER_01 (44:47):
All right.
So welcome to the second pieceof this.
It's time now to dive into thedeeper aspects of this.
And I feel that the film itselfdoesn't offer that.

SPEAKER_00 (45:01):
What I that's true.

SPEAKER_03 (45:05):
But what I that's why I was laughing so much at
the beginning.
Like as soon as you said thedeeper video, I was like,
There's there's not.

SPEAKER_01 (45:14):
There's not.
But what I think this is thereis one though.
I did go.
Oh, go, you go, you go, you go.
I got one.
Well, what I think this isthough, is just fucking finally
someone laid some groundwork,listen, like they they went
under Reddit.
They looked and saw like whatwe've been saying for 20 years

(45:35):
now about the predator franchiseis that we just want to follow a
predator.
And then Fox 20th Century Foxcomes and says, No, you will
follow a high school student,and he will occasionally
encounter a predator.
Thank God.

SPEAKER_03 (45:55):
Are you sure he will encounter a predator?

SPEAKER_01 (45:59):
Only at the end.
And it's a silhouette in thedesign.
And then, oh, you don't want apredator, you want another
action hero who has an autisticson, and it's the autistic

(46:19):
people that are the realpredators.

SPEAKER_02 (46:23):
I think this is you think you know, I I really just
want to get the point throughthat it's okay to kill autistic
people.
They're threats, every singleone of them.

SPEAKER_01 (46:35):
Yeah, this this thing was written, but that that
movie was written by fuckingRFK.
But what what I think is is thatwe finally have a movie that is
just it just gave us what wefucking wanted.
Like, I don't want all thiscrap.
I like the the reason whyPredator One worked, and the

(46:58):
reason what Predator One wastrying to do, they why they
brought all these action heroesin, why they gave them those 80s
tropes, was to have a monsterthat just wiped through those
heroes that they had beenrooting for for nine years at
that point, like they werenothing.

SPEAKER_03 (47:17):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (47:18):
You had hip shooting, you had fucking Jesse
the body ventura brought aminigun on a stealth mission,
yeah.
And this creature just like itwas nothing to him at all.

SPEAKER_02 (47:33):
Yeah.
And you know, you know what'sfunny?
I and I didn't know this goinginto Predator that it was a dust
till dawn situation.
Like, I didn't know that.
I thought that was really cool.
It was like way earlier thanfrom Dust Till Dawn.
Uh and yeah, they justintroduced itself as a regular
action movie, and then all of asudden there's a fucking alien

(47:55):
killing people.

SPEAKER_01 (47:57):
That's slaughtering the point.
That was the point.
That was the genius.
I mean, we all know that QuentinTarantino hasn't had an original
thought in his fucking life.
He just takes someone else'sthoughts and slows them down to
a painful crawl.

SPEAKER_02 (48:12):
And then has uh Steve Buscemi say them out loud
in conversation or whatever.
Harvey Kaitel, probably morelikely.

SPEAKER_01 (48:20):
Well, yeah, Harvey Kaitel, and there's a foot
involved.
That's all quite chokes a woman.
Yeah, yeah, it's all great.
But uh that's what the first onewas.
It was hey, here's all your 80saction here that you guys have
been worshipping.
This creature doesn't give afuck.
He slaughters them.
And uh that's what it was.

(48:43):
And but then what they did therewas they in the rest of us, like
the at the time you got the 80s,and like the nerds are still
this pushed under you know groupof people.
And we've since found thatthey're all basically insults,
but we found like the situationwas that there was a group of
people like, I don't care aboutthe heroes anymore.
He killed them all.
Tell me more about thiscreature.

(49:06):
And for 40 years, we've beenlike, hey, just show us the
creature.
That's all we've been askingfor.
And then all of a sudden theTrachtenberg's like, All right,
there you go.
There's a movie about him.
Enjoy, fucking enjoy.
And what I think we have here isa green light for other IPs.
So imagine your favorite IP.

(49:27):
If it's not the predator, great,like whatever it is.
Now imagine your IP finally justgets a story the way you want.
Yeah, and I think a predator init.

SPEAKER_02 (49:37):
Whatever I dude, I want to see Marvel vs.
Predator.

SPEAKER_01 (49:42):
I want to see uh Harry Potter versus the
Predator.

SPEAKER_02 (49:45):
I want to I want to see the zookeeper's wife versus
the predator.

SPEAKER_01 (49:51):
Paul Blart versus the Predator.
Like I think I think every filmnow, just based off of the
success of this film, will havea predator.
And I'm I'm thrilled to see it.
I'm excited.
I can't wait for the new era ofmedia.

(50:13):
The next uh the next uh knivesout film outing will win it.

SPEAKER_02 (50:19):
There's a trailer.
There's a trailer where he andand they tell you the plot is he
goes into a locked room, andthen like 30 seconds later, he's
dead.
It's gotta be the predator.
It's invisible.

SPEAKER_01 (50:33):
Yeah, so yeah, it's it's gonna be uh uh you know
James Bond versus the predator.
It's gonna be great.
Like the future of media we'rebeing haunted, and audiences
across the world are like, yeah,he's back, baby.

SPEAKER_02 (50:52):
Cars for McQueen versus Predator.

SPEAKER_01 (50:55):
Yeah.
And the Predator keeps winning.
Like every movie, the Predatorpulls it out, and we're just
yes.
Cheers.
Five stars, five stars.
The good guys win.

SPEAKER_02 (51:08):
Um I do I will say though, I I get kind of get your
point where you're you're sayingwhere Hollywood just sometimes
doesn't get the fucking point,and they make this content.
I think I think we were reallylet down by Jurassic World or
Jurassic Play and Justin and it,you know, this was almost like a
a palette cleanser for that forme, because um it I felt like it

(51:28):
was like like Ryan said, I getuh I feel like you really
understand like what they'vedone with it, and like um your
appreciation makes me, you know,even see it in a brighter light.
But I think like it's sick thatthey have made good content.
It seems like Trachtenbergreally wants to do very well
with this franchise and not justmake bullshit about like like

(51:51):
like we want to see thepredator.
That's the coolest part aboutPredator is give us the
predator.

SPEAKER_03 (51:56):
Yeah, like what the fuck?
Give us the predator, yeah.
What's that?
What was that?
What's the guy's name who usedto host that show?
Uh I have no idea.
Chris Hansen.

SPEAKER_02 (52:07):
Chris Hansen, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (52:13):
Chris Hansen versus the predator.
Could you take a seat for amoment?
Invisible.

SPEAKER_01 (52:23):
And then you see the three dots to the move.
Then a bunch of sheriff'sofficers come out and tackle it.

SPEAKER_03 (52:33):
You just start slaughtering all these cops,
though, because it's still thefucking predator.

SPEAKER_02 (52:39):
Yeah, you know, one thing I'm really happy about is
it was that kind of predator andnot the Chris Hansen type of
predator.
Makes the movie good.

SPEAKER_01 (52:47):
But like, but like, so you take uh AVP two, and
whoever fucking wrote thatthought like Predator fans
wanted to follow a high schoolstudent as he figures out his
coming of age in a war-torn areawhere predators and aliens are
fighting.
Like, no.
Then who then whoever madePredators with Adrian Brody was

(53:11):
like, Predator fans want toreturn to the first Predator,
which made a very solid film,but didn't quite get what we
wanted.
And then finally, for the firsttime across a dozen movies, um,
we finally have like, oh, youjust want to watch the predator,
you want to be over thepredator's fucking shoulder.

(53:32):
Like, yes, and I think that'strue for most IPs, is that we
just want to be over theshoulder of this character that
we fucking love.

SPEAKER_00 (53:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (53:43):
Like if you're just like just like I Frankenstein.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (53:47):
Which was the fancy.
Five out of five.
Aaron Eckhart killed it.
Sweet knives, bro.
Uh, but you also need avisionary to help.
But uh, you know.

SPEAKER_02 (54:03):
So I do have some some tropes that we can discuss
really quick for this.
So we've got uh we've got thepredator was inside you all
along.
We got that one.

SPEAKER_00 (54:16):
Yep.

SPEAKER_02 (54:16):
Uh we got uh maybe the real predator was the
friends we made along the way.
Got that one.

SPEAKER_01 (54:23):
Yep, there it was.

SPEAKER_02 (54:26):
We can we can keep going.
Yeah, we got uh what's the one?
Uh sure, you the mini predator.
You he only killed the minipredator, and then at the end
the big the the the boss the themain boss predator shows up.
Got that?
Uh I don't know, that's actuallyall I got.

SPEAKER_01 (54:47):
At the end of the day, we just wanted to see a
fucking predator.

SPEAKER_02 (54:49):
Um the deeper meaning of this movie is really
the fact that Deck overcomesgenerational toxic masculinity
um and shows his father it's notmore toxically masculine.
Yeah.
No, no, no.
He he makes friends, he he he'sno longer predator who hunts

(55:11):
alone.
Yeah.
So you know, he breaks thatgenerational toxic masculinity
by murdering his father, whichis obviously what you have to do
to break that cycle.
This is actually the transitioninto the Pirates of the
Caribbean universe, where youtake take what you want and give

(55:32):
nothing back.

SPEAKER_00 (55:33):
That's a dear person of predator.

SPEAKER_02 (55:37):
And then so they start the pirate ship, like it's
a pirate ship now, and then wego across the universe doing
pirate stuff.
Love it.
Five stars.

SPEAKER_03 (55:49):
But yeah, and that's that but that is the that's the
deeper, you know.

SPEAKER_02 (55:52):
I saw it, I say it jokingly, it kind of like does
explore that fucking like thatlike this is like a very toxic
culture, not necessarily toxicmasculinity, but just like the
predator culture.
It's just different.
Like calling pulling yourchildren fucking crazy, all
right?
Like that should not be like I Iunderstand you guys want to go

(56:13):
on the hunt, but like fuckingChrist, like just because your
son can't murder an all-knowingbeast that can't die, he he now
can't be your son.
Like, I you know, just to Idon't know.

SPEAKER_01 (56:26):
A lot of that was countered.
A lot of that was countered atthe end when the other ship
shows up and Dak goes, that's mymom.
Predator fans will know that umthe male predators do the
hunting because they need to getthe fuck off of their planet.
Because as soon as the femalesgo into heat, they start killing

(56:50):
all the males.

SPEAKER_03 (56:52):
Do they have sex with them before or after?

SPEAKER_02 (56:55):
Both like pregmatises.
The predator system before I gois matriarchal.

SPEAKER_01 (57:03):
And the female predators don't bother with the
hunting because they have othershit to do.
Um fucking killing their ownkind.

SPEAKER_02 (57:11):
They're hunting still.
Very tight gender roles.
It's not great for a society.
Even worse societally, really.
Like, this society needs justbillions of years of growth
before it's ever gonna be ableto live um in a cohesive.
They keep destroying themselves,like they killed the floor.

SPEAKER_01 (57:31):
I don't want to go into the I I don't want to get
into the full detail.
Like, I'll I I'm the culturestagnated.
Well, I'll start anotherpodcast, uh Ryan Baron's The
Predator, to wash some bad tasteout of the mouth and uh really
just dive into this that I'vebeen learning since I was nine.
But uh anyway, it's time now tojump into the third portion of

(57:53):
this thing.
It is time to insert ourselvesinto this film.
How does it change when yougentlemen enter this movie?
What happens?
Yeah, how does it go?
Am I a human?
You're whatever you want to be.
You you are the producer that uhhas wiped his ass with every

(58:16):
movie so far where fans arelike, please just show me what I
want, and he's like, No, you geta teenager, no, you get Adrian
Brody, no, autism people arepredators.
You can do whatever you want.
Like I'm inserting myself asMama Predator.
I don't like how do you appearin this film?

(58:38):
Luke?

SPEAKER_02 (58:38):
You go first, Luke.
Or do you want to do you want topass for now?
I can't say that like the onlything that I can think of is
that I would be somebody who wason that ship with the AI bots,
and then because they think I'man AI bot, and I'm too scared to
pretend I'm not, so I'm justpretending to be an AI bot on

(59:03):
this ship.
Just like yes, you're like thespecimen.
That gif of John Travolta fromPulp Sh Pulp Fiction with the
code over his eye lookingaround.

SPEAKER_03 (59:14):
Like, yeah, I'm I'm I'm in a I'm also uh wanting to
find the specimen.
Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 (59:21):
Uh just pretending to just contrying to keep my
shit together.
I must recharge my batteries,yeah.
And then every time I say that,I just go in a closet and I just
like take a couple rips of thepen and then fucking come back
out, like chill.

SPEAKER_03 (59:36):
Oh wow, guys, how are we doing?
Yeah, man.
Oh, yeah.
Eat a couple of the proteinbars.

unknown (59:43):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (59:45):
You guys, you guys hungry?

SPEAKER_02 (59:46):
No, me either.
No, I'm not either.
I just but if if we did knowsomebody was hungry, where could
you find some food?
Yeah, I I'm not, I'm like youguys.
I don't need to eat.
So, and that would it would justbe me on the ship, uh, scared as
fuck.
You know, like they're allshooting guns.
Uh, when when uh what's herTessa comes out uh of the ship

(01:00:09):
and she's like hunting them downand she's got her little
androids next to her with theguns.
I'd be with one of them and belike, Holy fucking shit guys,
like you guys just the trees areattacking us.
Like, I'm freaked out, barelygetting by.
Just in the background of prettymuch the whole movie.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:25):
I like it.
I like it.
Well uh well James, how uh howwould you uh how would you jump
into this thing?
Sure.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:33):
So I would also be a predator.
I would go I I I would I wouldgo there to help deck.
I'd be like cousin Shmey andShmaims cousin.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:49):
I like Schmaims.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:53):
So I'm I'm cousin Shmaimes C H E I M S.
Shmaims.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's perfect.
So I go so I land on the planet.
I don't land anywhere near whereDeck landed.
Do you crash like he does, or doyou like land this bitch?
No, no, no.

(01:01:13):
I purposely land.
I'm but I'm looking at thelandscape from above, right?
And so I so I land on thatplateau that we see like right
at the beginning.
Like you know how you know howright before it says Predator
Bad lands.
Yeah.
You know, it has that has thatview.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:27):
I land on top of that rock, and as soon as I
land, that fucking worm, thegiant worm hanging from the
rock, wraps around and eats me.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:39):
And then that's and that's where my story ends.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:43):
Oh no.
Dex never goes.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:46):
I don't even get I don't even get to see anything
interesting.
It's just this planet is likefucking kryptonite to our
people.
Oh no.
That's it.
Okay.
That's all right.
I would like that.
That adds a just a nice littlecomedy, comedic relief right
there.
He finds he finds my ship laterand he's like, what the fuck is

(01:02:09):
this?

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:11):
Never to discover what that was.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:15):
Oh no! Shmaimes was weak.
Oh, that's how he got outbecause his other ship was
wrecked.
So I I was confused how hefucking got out of the planet.
So I'm glad that he found yourship.
That's how that's how he got outof there.
He took the you want, I mean hetook the Whalen Utani ship off
the planet.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:31):
Oh, is that what he took?

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:32):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:33):
Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:34):
All right, well, uh he can take my ship.
Well, for me, uh, I would say myso Predator is probably my
second favorite creature next tovampires.
And in a uh a new world wherewe're finally doing what we're

(01:02:58):
supposed to with IPs, and thisis probably a controversial
opinion.
It was the last time I put it onsocial media.
There has never been a goodvampire movie made fucking ever.
And like Lost Boys was trash, uhDust Till Dawn, trash, interview
with a vampire, trash.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:17):
What about John Carpenter's vampires?

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:21):
Uh not even James Woods could save it, but I
fucking eclipse.
It was it was all Nepo trash.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:33):
Uh what about the what about the Dracula with
Keanu Reeves?

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:37):
That was oh my gosh.
Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:41):
So there's a werewolf fuck scene in that one.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:44):
Oh, so terrible.
So terrible.
And and and any and I I actuallyposted this once uh threads, I
think it was.
I said there's never been a goodvampire movie.
And I had everyone coming in,like, well, what about fucking
this and that?
Like, they were terrible movies.
They were terrible movies, andlike I appreciate that you saw
them at a time in your lifewhere you were impressionable,

(01:04:07):
but that doesn't make it a goodfilm.
Um, and so what about theunderworld prequel?
But since we're reinventing IPs,I am now going to enter the
predator universe as vampireversus predator.

SPEAKER_03 (01:04:26):
Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:27):
Are you choosing any specific vampire IP or is it
just vampire?
Just vampire.
Like, this is going to be thenew IP that like wrestles the
reins from everyone else.
And together, me and thepredator are going to kill Ron
Weasley of Harry Potter.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:47):
The Predator goes around to every franchise and
picks the most the most deadlything from each of those
franchises.
You get like a Dementor, and youget like a fucking dragon from
Game of Thrones, and you get youhave this entire team of just
the worst monsters.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:07):
And it's just me, the vampire, and Dak the
Predator, like let's kill thesethings.
And he's like, and off we go.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:20):
It turns out he just makes friends of all of them.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:22):
Like, God damn it, Dak.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:26):
Listen, I make friends now.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:29):
Jesus Christ, Dak.
Yeah.
And uh and that'll be like ourthing, you know, like back to
back, arms crossed, damn it,Dak.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:39):
And then then and then you jump on the whale thing
from Avatar and suck its lifeforce out.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:46):
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
We we fuck up Avatar, we fuck upHarry Potter, we fuck up uh
Alien, we fuck uh just all ofit.
All of it.
We're there.
Uh Marvel?
Marvel.
Oh yeah.
Scare Bears.
Like all of it.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:03):
My little pony?

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:04):
Just vampires and the predator is the wave of the
future.
We've been struggling to acceptvampires since Twilight, and
guess what?
We're back now, and we'reteaming up with the predator for
a worldwide tour.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:17):
I enjoy the Twilight films every so often.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:21):
No cringy bad, but it is fun to watch.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:27):
Say what you want.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:28):
I'll watch it every so often with say what's CGI
baby that an adult is in lovewith.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:37):
It's like funny how bad it is.
Like you can't like it's likefun to watch in that aspect.
It's bad.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:43):
And then an adult man is like, one day, I will
fuck this baby.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:53):
So I'm your host, Ryan Barron North.
With me as always, JamesGroslin, Luke.
Join us next week as we finallydissect the Twilight series.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:05):
I cannot wait.
All of them.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:08):
All of them.
Yeah, we're doing them all.
All of them.
One go.
One go.
One giant episode.
Can't wait.
Buckle up, folks.
Alright, we're out of here.
Um, yeah.
Just we're not going toadvertise this thing.
We're just going to end it.