Reviews

Wakanda Forever rips off Avatar concepts and ideas shamelessly. I'll make a list: 1. Plot revolves around precious mineral. Avatar - unobtanium; Black Panther - vibranium.

2. Race of blue colored beings.

3. Humans want to exploit precious mineral which is found in large quantities right under where blue colored beings live. Exploiting said mineral will inevitably result in the destruction of blue guy race.

4. Said blue colored beings can control the minds of large animals.

5. Blue colored beings use these animals as means of transportation.

6. Blue colored beings are indigenous and spiritual.

7. Blue colored beings are anti-technology.

The list goes on...

I'm surprised James Cameron has not sued Marvel.

Following up and improving upon the spectacularly disappointing and anger inducing last installment of the Predator franchise was an easy task.

The true challenge is to actually make a good Predator movie.

'Prey' succeeds in all accounts. It is arguably the second best in the series. The original is among the greatest action movies ever made. Predator 2 was OK, but it had enough flaws to make it forgettable. One could argue it killed the franchise considering that it took 14 years for the next predator to make its next screen appearance on the 2004 spin-off 'AVP'. It's direct sequel, 'AVPR', missed the mark completely. 'Predators' was a step in the right direction but, again, not entirely satisfying. 'The Predator' was pure excrement.

'Prey' shines where all other aforementioned sequels in the series have fallen short and, more often than not, failed spectacularly. Finally we have the formidable Predator, with all its cool weapons and gadgets, be confronted by a human characters we van actually care about. The slow burn first act balances well with the explosive action sequences that occur later in the film.

More of this, I say. The moribund Predator franchise has been resuscitated and back on the hunt.

Some of the best movies are the ones which turn out to be nothing like what you thought before seeing them. Considering the subject, I was expecting something along the lines of 'Goodfellas'- a mafia underboss wiseguy whose life spins out of control. Watching the documentary currently available on a certain streaming TV service only bolstered my expectation. My preconceived notions were incorrect. That was a good thing. There is no glamorization of the mafia lifestyle in this film. We even see the mafiosi call their purported familial ties "a farce". It portays the members of the cosa nostra as the sick sociopaths that they are. Nothing glamorous about that. This is a very well made film, worthy of the high praise it has received.

This movie brought me to tears. No small thing considering that the last time I cried in a movie was in 1982 while watching E.T. in the theater. Malek carries the film with a truly spectacular performance. There is always something to be said about an actor playing a role with such enormous conviction. Make no mistake, Queen the band is Freddie. And Freddie, in turn, is all of us.

This movie was a complete disappointment and, sadly, it probably means that there will be no more Predator movies. Only the first ten minutes were somewhat interesting. The remaining 90 minutes were utter garbage. The plot ignores everything that makes the Predator universe interesting. It was difficult if not impossible to care for any of the characters. The pacing was frenetic and horrendous. The dialogue hardly made sense. The jungle setting of the original was one of the elements that made it so interesting. Instead, this one takes place in some boring suburb, and inevitably, a high school gym. At that point, I was ready to walk out of the theater...

This is a good movie. However, it will probably not get a fair shot by most. The reason is the way the story is structured in which apparently nothing happens in the first 45 minutes. For today's average 18-34 audience this is almost intolerable as they are now conditioned to expect cheap CGI thrills and impossibly huge explosions in the first two minutes of the film (not necessarily a bad thing BTW). What underrated Director/Writer David Towhy is doing is actually putting your brain to work during the first two acts of the movie, all the while enjoying some incredible visuals of the Hawaiian tropical rain forest. Towhy concentrates on subtle character development. The acting is good. Mila Jovovich and Timothy Oliphant are the two that carry the film throughout. All in all I have to say that Towhy put out a fairly plausible story here with none of the CGI generated hyperbole that we see so much of nowadays.