I saw Predators the Saturday of its release at 2:40p.m. Given the time of day, it wasn't particularly packed, and I suspect that people were still finding out that The Last Airbender was a terrible movie undeserving of even the smallest praise. To say that I was surprised that the movie attempted to make steps towards the strengths of the first Predator would be a lie, but I enjoyed that aspect of the movie possibly more than any other. The strongest showings of the film would have to be the characters. They showed such a strong diversity even as they discovered that the only thing they really had in common was that they were all "monsters", people who reveled in humanity's more violent tendencies, and survival.
Still, the movie didn't reach the realm of great summer blockbusters, I think that its return to a more balanced and structured form was a good move. It created a world that allowed for other creatures to exist with little explanation as to what they were or where they were from, and I was cool with that. What I wasn't cool with, and what seems to be a trend that spreads across every movie I have ever seen where a group of people are trying to survive, is what I'm calling the Sojourning Hero.
The Sojourning Hero is by far the most experienced and longest lasting character any movie, whether it's through intelligence, tactics, physical skill or training, or just plain common sense in overdrive, they've survived situations more dangerous and bowel loosening than anything the protagonists have seen so far. There's no way they'll be killed anytime soon, right?
Wrong.
*Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen the movie and don't want to know certain details then don't read on*
Time and time again these are the people who for some reason or another are used as fodder for the protagonists. Predators is no exception. Nolan, an insane remnant from a previous hunt 10 years ago, 10 years, suddenly gets his noodle blown off by a predator when he tries to suffocate the people he's saved so he can scavenge their supplies. I get why he's killed off. He tried to kill our heroes, who at this point we've begun to feel some connection to--even the prison inmate who wants to get back to "rapin' bitches" as soon as he gets back to earth--so he should be punished. The problem is, now it's expected. We know now that if you've survived this long without being found or killed, you can kiss your hero rescuing ass goodbye cause you're as good as dead.
Think about it, Nolan wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was a survivor, he had to know that the predators would have heard the explosion. You don't survive 10 years and kill 2-3 predators without learning that much. You would think he would have booby trapped the place at some point. He should have known that they'd find him. He should have been ready. But he wasn't.
When I said that Nolan wasn't the sharpest, I meant it. He himself said that he never thought to try and steal the pred's ship and fly back home, and based off of his actions leading to his death, he must have thought he was safe, even when he had been compromised. His lack of imagination was his undoing. So like I said, I get why he was killed.
Fuck imagination. Nolan's lived 10 years without being found by a predator, and he's killed at least 3 (he doesn't remember, because he's too busy being a badass). I wanted to see why. I wanted him to run into a predator and after 10 years of fighting these "ugly motherfuckers" show us why he's the shit. Instead of owning a pred like he'd just run into a kid with a rocket launcher pointed in the wrong direction, he gets his head blown off. I call bullshit.
No comments:
Post a Comment