The Predator franchise has been going intermittently strong for nearly 40 years now. And, thankfully, we now seem to be in the middle of its highest point yet. For the longest time we just had Predator and Predator 2, which made it seem like an IP that never really figured out how to be a franchise. 2010’s Predators was a fun revival of the film series after the disappointment of the aughts’ two Alien vs. Predator movies, though it also felt like it was walking safe territory. But most mainline Predator movies are just like any other big-budget movie: they have flaws that, once you see them, you can’t unsee them. Even still, much to their credit, some of the films didn’t even have much to contribute to the gaffes department. This is primarily true of Prey, which is front to back mostly free of errors.
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Then there’s Predator: Killer of Killers which, as an animated film, more or less exists in a different plane of reality. Lastly, there is the duo of Alien vs. Predator movies, which were left off because their error-stuffed selves could make for a list all their own. Will Dan Trachtenberg’s upcoming Predator: Badlands keep the winning streak of Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers going? And, more to the point, will it have noticeable gaffes of its own that could help expand this list? Time will tell.
7) A Red-blooded Scorpion
The Yautja’s infrared vision (when it’s wearing its helmet) is an important part of the 1987 film. It’s an important part of the whole franchise. But it’s also proved to be a tricky thing to get right. For instance, with the scorpion in the first film. When Mac stabs the little critter and removes it from Dillon’s back, he discards it. Then, as Dutch and his paramilitary rescue team depart from the guerrilla camp, the Yautja leaps down and moves towards the scorpion. At first it shows signs of body heat and, when the Yautja picks it up, it’s cooled off.
With algor mortis, body temperature begins to drop as soon as the individual dies. A human corpse cools by about one and a half degrees per hour until it reaches room temperature. Even if it were red-blooded, which arthropods are not, the scorpion’s body heat would have decreased to the environment’s temperature level before the Predator picked it up. For one, a scorpion is much smaller than a human and, two, it and the soldiers are in Central America, which is known to be consistently humid. It wouldn’t have been much of a drop. Three, and this is the kicker, arthropods body temperatures rely on the environment. Basically, they’re exactly as hot or cold as the air that surrounds them. If anything, the Yautja would have a very difficult time seeing the scorpion at all.
6) So Much for the Hostages
Dutch and his team are brought out to Central America to rescue a local cabinet minister. And, when they finally find the guerrilla camp, they’re under the impression that their goal is to not just rescue the cabinet minister but also the other hostages who were kidnapped with him. As it turns out, Dillon has kept secret the fact that all the hostages are actually CIA agents. There never was a cabinet minister.
But cabinet minister or no, Dutch and his team absolutely annihilate the guerrilla camp. They think there are multiple people in need of saving, so why are they chain-gunning and hurling grenades into shacks that may very well contain prisoners? Only once the gun battle is done does one of Dutch’s team actually search for hostages. If they were alive before the paramilitary rescue team arrived, they certainly wouldn’t be now.
5) Was He Just Hanging On to the Beef Slabs?
Gary Busey’s Peter Keyes is one of the stronger characters in Predator 2, and his death is one of the more memorable send-offs in the film. However, it doesn’t entirely make sense.
When Keyes tells Danny Glover’s Lt. Mike Harrigan that he can take the Yautja from here, he’s immediately bisected by a hurled Smart Disc. And, at that point, we see Keyes’ lower half slump over in a bloody pile. As for his top half, it never falls at all. Unless his hands somehow got caught in the two chunks of beef surrounding him, both halves would fall at the same time.
4) No Mask Infrared
The icebox slaughterhouse scenes are the home of the two biggest gaffes in Predator 2. On top of the illogical nature of Keyes’ demise, there’s a larger issue.
Specifically, once it’s down to the Yautja, Keyes, and Lt. Harrigan, the Yautja fully has its mask off. However, it’s still seeing in infrared. In fact, from this point on in the narrative, the Yautja’s mask is off most of the time and yet it continues to see in infrared. The issue is that, when the mask is off, the angry alien visitor sees in thermal imaging consisting just of red and gray. The color of the maskless vision has been altered as the franchise has gone on but, at this point, it was a goof. Nothing was established that said this Yautja was all that different from the Yautja of the first film.
3) If They Bleed Blue, We Can Kill Them
Yautjas are not easy to kill. The franchise couldn’t have as many exciting action sequences as it does were that the case. And, when it comes to their pups, Predators and The Predator have made it clear that they’re quite similar to their masters in that way (not to mention in their toothy, mandible-adorned appearance). But with enough bullets, they can go down. This was notably seen when it comes to Predators‘ Hell-hounds. Unfortunately, this also led to a noticeable visual flub.
In the scene where the Hell-hounds start charging towards Adrien Brody’s Royce, Alice Braga’s Isabelle, and the other humans who found themselves dropped on a Yautja hunting preserve, we see the groups bullets smash into the hounds’ hides. And, when the lead does hit the hide, we see spurts of red, just like we would with a human. However, when we get a shot of the Hell-hound dead on the ground, the wounds are oozing blue. Unless the red blood turns to blue after be oxygenized for a minute or so, this doesn’t make much sense.
2) The Predator Has Its Years Mixed Up
In Predator 2, the first thing we see after the 20th Century Fox logo is a shot that sweeps over a forest that becomes decreasingly cluttered until we realize we’re looking at Los Angeles. The exact city is revealed in a title card. Right next to that revelation? The year 1997.
However, in The Predator, when Olivia Munn’s Dr. Bracket is shown images documenting humanity’s previous run-ins with the Yautja, there is a pretty big problem. First, we see 1987 and Central America, which is accurate, but we also see 1990 and Los Angeles. 1990 was the year Predator 2 came out, not when its narrative took place. Making the gaffe worse is the fact that Sterling K. Brown’s Will Traeger literally just got done saying the L.A. event occurred in 1997.
1) Metamorphosis, Not Evolution
Evolution is something that happens to an entire species, not just one member of it. Metamorphosis, however, can occur to that single member of the entire species.
So, when evolutionary biologist Dr. Casey Bracket says the Ultimate Predator is evolving, what she really meant was it is metamorphosing. Considering she is, as mentioned, an evolutionary biologist, one might assume she would know the difference between the two terms.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
