The reason Predator (1987) works so well is also why sequels had such a hard time matching its success. Between John McTiernan’s film and 2022’s Prey, it seemed like the Predator franchise would only consist of one good movie. Neither the Predator sequels nor the Alien vs. Predator films were as good as the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led film, leading to the belief that Predator should never have become a franchise.
Prey (2022), which is a sequel in terms of release date but a prequel in terms of plot, has now revived the franchise and set the bar high for a potential Prey 2. However, given Predator’s influence on pop culture, which includes many In other media, not just feature films, it’s curious how long it took the franchise to get a worthy follow-up to the first installation. Each Predator sequel and Alien vs. Predator film released between 1987 and 2022 had its problems, but they all faced the same problem.
Predator (1987) Was Just Another Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie
From the moment Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch arrives and is briefed by Carl Weathers’ Dillon to the reveal of the Predator, Predator (1987) could have been any other generic war movie from the 1980s. Almost nothing within the first 20 minutes of the film suggests it will be a monster story with elements of sci-fi. For someone not familiar with the actual premise of the movie, Predator initially plays out as the most generic Schwarzenegger war flick about an action hero coming to the rescue of a politician in a Central America jungle, only for it to flip audiences’ expectations once the creature shows up.RELATED:
Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Never did a Predator Sequel
What starts out as just another “Commando” quickly turns into a “Jaws meets the Terminator” story where the creature is rarely shown but easily defeats the main characters. Audiences are used to seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s characters take down their enemies without breaking a sweat or running out of ammo, something that Predator brilliantly uses to its advantage. No human opponent could keep up with Dutch, but that didn’t apply to the Predator. The same can be said for the other action heroes, who are taken down one by one by the Predator. It’s a simple premise that works because of Schwarzenegger’s character.
Very Few Action Stars Could’ve Replicated What Schwarzenegger Did In Predator
This is one of the reasons why none of the Predator sequels until Prey could match the quality or success of the first movie. Whereas the original film was an action movie with a sci-fi twist to it, all other entries in the franchise have been just “Predator movies.” Although this may seem redundant, trying to create an entire genre around the first Predator film was the franchise’s biggest mistake. The lore surrounding the Predator or how scary the creature looked were never the most interesting things about the first film. Little to nothing was revealed about the titular monster in Predator, and the focus was on the human vs. creature aspect of it.
Prey Understood What Made Predator Work (& It Didn’t Try To Copy It)
Predator 2 is perhaps the only entry in the saga that came close to matching what the first movie did, not in terms of quality or setting, but in regards to how tried to insert a sci-fi creature into an established movie genre. However, Predator 2 was a much more flawed film compared to its predecessor, and everything else that came after it struggled to give the franchise a new identity. Predators (2010) had an interesting concept and even feels like a spiritual succession to Predator in some ways, but the movie falls apart midway through and never lives up to its full potential.
Predator (2018) was a critical failure, with the film feeling almost like a parody at times. Between boring sequels and poorly executed ideas, it seemed like the Predator franchise was done. But 2022’s Prey proved that notion wrong. The Predator prequel, set hundreds of years before the first film, did a great job of reversing what made the original film so interesting. Instead of a typical 1980s action hero, the main character Prey, played by Amber Midgrom, is a character whose own tribe doesn’t believe she can be a warrior.
Naru is depicted as the underdog from the start, especially because of the technology disparity, yet her bravery and intelligence make her the most interesting Predator main character since Dutch.