- Hello, everyone.
The Predator has hit theaters more than 30 years
after the original became a monster hit.
This week on Heat Vision Breakdown,
we look at the notion that sometimes
an original film can be groundbreaking
and then it's franchise can veer off
in a completely different direction.
(energetic music)
Let's start off with 1976's Rocky,
which launched the career of Sylvester Stallone
and forced every person named Adrian
to hear the same dumb joke for the rest of eternity.
Hey, Adrian.
(laughter)
The film won three Oscars, including best picture
though it's praise was controversial.
With critics today maintaining it shouldn't
have topped contenders like All the President's Men,
Taxi Driver, and Network.
Still, Rocky was truly an understated piece.
Focusing on the inner life of working-class boxer
and debt collector, Rocky Balboa,
a guy who may not be too bright,
but had a lot of heart.
(grunting)
(laughter)
As Stallone's star power grew
as big as his muscles over the years,
seriously, Rocky at age 40 is way more jacked
than Rocky at 30.
The franchise also bloated to include
a talking robot, a villain played by Mr. T,
and a boxing match that writer-director Stallone
seemed to think could end the real life Cold War.
Though, the Cold War did end a few years later.
Coincidence?
You be the judge.
- Everybody can change.
- Many of these movies are amazingly fun,
but it's a far cry from the Oscar-caliber original.
It wasn't until Fresh Blood,
in the form of filmmaker Ryan Coogler,
that the franchise returned to its roots
with 2015's Creed.
Not to harp on Stallone, but I'm going to harp on Stallone.
Sorry, Sly.
With 1982's First Blood, the Italian Stallion,
who has a screenwriting credit on the film,
helped craft a portrait of John Rambo,
a Vietnam vet suffering from PTSD,
making a film ahead of it's time,
in terms of discussing important issues
facing our veterans.
Especially those who returned home
from Vietnam feeling forgotten.
However, by 1988's Rambo III,
the character has left America
to go fight the Soviets in Afghanistan
and engage in underground baton fighting matches.
(smack)
Moving beyond Stallone, reluctantly,
is Predator,
which while never Oscar-level material
like the original Rocky,
is considered one of the best
sci-fi action films of all time.
Seriously, our guest, Brad Peyton
has seen it 365 times,
and I don't think he's wrong for doing so.
Teaming up with Arnold Schwarzenegger at his peak
with Rocky alum, Carl Weathers,
to face off against the deadly alien hunter
who can literally make himself invisible,
solidified the film as an action classic
and placed the Predator monster itself
as one of the most iconic creatures in film history.
(monster groan)
Meanwhile, 1990's Predator two
didn't live up to the charm
or the body mass alone of the original
and featured some really weird moments
like a group of aliens giving Danny Glover
props for killing their friend
and presented him with a flintlock pistol.
It also set up that Xenomorphs
from the Alien franchise
existed in the same universe
and gave rise to the Alien versus Predator series,
which, despite centering on two alien species,
decided to set both of it's films on earth.
Neat! Colorado!
Thanks movie!
- Ah, the sunshine state!
On Denver!
- 2010's Predators similarly underwhelmed fans.
Okay, I get Danny Trejo
and I get Mahershala Ali,
I don't understand why Adrien Brody
and Topher Grace would be fighting
master space assassins.
Hopefully, this year's Shane Black
directed The Predator,
will get the franchise back on track.
Speaking of aliens,
Ridley Scott delivered a defining sci-fi film
for the disco generation with 1979's Alien,
which went on to win an Oscar
for visual effects.
The original film is an unsettling,
claustrophobic horror,
that internalizes much of it's scares and suspense.
Only revealing the truly unique character design
of it's central monster in the last moments
and is a hallmark of both the sci-fi
and horror genres.
1986's Aliens from James Cameron
is considered among the best action films of all time
and ramped up the explosions,
body count
and monsters ten fold.
Really delivering on that pluralization
of it's title.
Aliens!
From there the franchise became a mixed bag,
to say the least.
Making bizarre decisions,
such as turning central figure Ridley
into an alien-human hybrid
in 1997's Alien Resurrection
or sending a bunch of literal scientists,
who decide to just poke alien space worms for kicks
in 2012's Alien prequel Prometheus.
Even children know not to just go around
petting snakes.
Come on!
Then there's Die Hard,
which is the greatest action movie
of all time, objectively.
The film's sequels,
Die Hard two
and Die Hard with a Vengeance fared fine,
but fourth and fifth installments
in 2007 and 2013, respectively,
all but destroyed the franchise.
Or so you think!
But, guess what?
Or get another one!
Yippee, ki aye!
All of this begs an important question,
is it really fair to bash someone
who gave audiences something so wonderful
just because they didn't live up to their own
lofty expectations down the road?
In the case of Indiana Jones
and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,
yeah, maybe.
- He chose,
poorly.
- So what do you think?
How does Shane Black's The Predator
stack up with the rest of the franchise?
Let us know in the comments right down there
and join us here every Friday morning
for new episodes of Heat Vision Breakdown.
(energetic music)