#13 ‘Predator’/’The Prestige’

Movie night date – 26/06/19. Post date – 02/07/19.

Back and…totally re-energised..yeah, that sounds good; let’s say that. On that, let’s get into this week’s movies! I chose these ones coming off the Hugh Jackman movies last week and I started thinking, “What was the weirdest movie I had seen Jackman in?” Well, not weird…like unexpected turn ups. You know when you get an actor and go “Oh yeah, that guy who was x value!” Their signature role to you. So I was trying to find the one that surprised me the most and it came down to this and ‘Night At The Museum 3’, and I enjoyed this film much more than that. Then I found a movie with the same beginning letter that I hadn’t seen, and ‘Predator’ was a long time coming after watching ‘Alien’. Anyway, this week’s movies are 1987’s ‘Predator’ by John McTiernan, followed by 2006’s ‘The Prestige’ by Christopher Nolan.

Predator – 1987 – John McTiernan – 107 Mins

When it comes to Arnold Schwarzenegger, I only really knew…I think I only knew him from the first three ‘Terminator’ movies. I know there are more but to me, this always seemed as his two iconic movies; ‘Terminator’ and ‘Predator’. I feel like I remembered Carl Weathers from something as well…a quick Google tells me I might have been dreaming. I’ve never seen the ‘Rocky’ movies and the only one I’ve ever seen once was ‘Happy Gilmore’ and I don’t remember that film because of that. I remember that film because it’s the only other movie I’ve seen Jaws in (the Bond “enemy”, not the shark). But that’s besides the point, for the first real time watching Arnold act in a role that isn’t a robot I liked his active. He brought good life to being a military person. Not only in the body language of commanding his group, but in tone and voice. Sound was on point for this movie, I will say. Not just in the sense of dialogue and movie created audio, but having Alan Silvestri is always a thumbs up from me.

One of the few things that irked me about this movie, and there aren’t many and they aren’t even that big, was when the movie switched gears to Arnold vs Predator. While he is off preparing for the showdown, the Predator is shown collecting its trophies from the bodies of the others. Arnold had left the prisoner girl and told her to run to the extraction point, where the “Get to the chopper”thing happens. When the Predator is getting trophies, it very quickly shows a person getting their spine removed and it was so quick I couldn’t tell who it was. I thought it was the prisoner girl, but it must have been the one who had the off screen stand off so they could have more time to get away. When she turned up in the end in the helicopter I was incredibly confused.

The cloaking in the film looks…not so great but for a 80’s movie it probably looked phenomenal. I’m not a VFX person so I couldn’t tell you how big of an accomplishment it was, but I can only assume it was. The ending scene with the Predator looked great in my opinion; well, the whole costume and props of the Predator looked great when you could see him. Here is what I found on how they achieved it:

The invisibility effect was achieved by having someone wearing a bright red suit (because it was the farthest opposite of the green of the jungle and the blue of the sky) the size of the Predator. The red was removed with chroma key techniques, leaving an empty area. The take was then repeated without the actors using a 30% wider lens on the camera. When the two takes were combined optically, the jungle from the second take filled in the empty area. Because the second take was filmed with a wider lens, a vague outline of the alien could be seen with the background scenery bending around its shape.”

Les Paul Robley in an interview “Predator: Special Visual Effects” Cinefantastique in 1987.

The only other REAL problem I had was the Predator and how it could record them and use their voice and the only real time it’s used is at the end to mimic that guy’s laugh! While it was pretty funny, it could have been implemented more and I would have loved to have seen how Arnold and the group would have combated that. I know I’ve called him Arnold and Dutch all this time, but I found it easier to use Arnold than Dutch. On another point on this film, I am thoroughly impressed at the film being a relatively modern “original” (and I say that loosely because I don’t know what inspirations the author used. If I had to guess, probably ‘The Most Dangerous Game’) science fiction story that had such a huge impact on pop culture. Final thought on it? solid movie. Relatively brainless compared to the other film so a good watch.

The Prestige – 2006 – Christopher Nolan – 130 Mins

The thing that sprung this P themed movie night on me. A movie with Hugh Jackman in it that I haven’t seen in ages. Man did I forget this film had Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, and Andy Serkis in it. For those who haven’t seen it, I would recommend it. I would NOT recommend it from midnight to 2am. A lot of the subtle hints in the film went over my head, some didn’t since I knew what to look out for but a lot did. Brief summery; two magicians competing to be the best. One trick that they both achieve in different ways coming from a different approach to being a magician and how it effects their lives.

It was weird to go back and see young…well, relatively young Hugh Jackman. I haven’t seen ‘X-Men’ in ages; that was the one I missed and saw the second and third of the originals first. Maybe that will be a movie in future. I have a schedule for the next four weeks to follow so it will go somewhere down the line. Anyway. The movie! It’s one of those thinking movies. Not quite on the same level as ‘The Matrix’, ‘Inception’, and ‘Hot Fuzz’, but close. Looking at it from the point of not anticipating the movie and the twists, I definitely would have been more confused and like ‘WHAT?! Noooooo…’

The thing I found most interesting from the film, and it is stated in the film I think is how different the approaches of each magician is. Angier (Jackman) is a great showman but needs a big magic trick to make his name. Borden has a mind full of secrets but makes for a not as great showman. When Borden has a trick that makes his name, Angier gives everything to match and better the same trick. Borden, however never really gets why magicians do what they do. Not even by the end of the film. I don’t want to talk too much about it specifically but I don’t know; their lives and how they play out in the film are incredibly interesting to me. I will take this point to reveal that this film is based on a book by Christopher Priest! It surprised me, but apparently it is true! I really want to read it now…

And this brings me to another reason I love this film. David Bowie plays Nikola Tesla! Nothing could hype me more on top of the fact that ‘The Current War’ FINALLY has a release date in the US other than him being him in this film. ‘The Current War’ is a film that has been teased for ages but got shut down when all that stuff went down with Harvey Weinstein. Stellar cast in it too! Benedict Cucumberpatch, Tom Holland, and Nicholas Hoult! All about the history of electricity and the whole AC vs DC thing. Ugh, I’m so excited for it! Anyway, David Bowie plays an amazing Tesla. Apparently Christopher Nolan only had Bowie in mind for him, but Bowie turned the role down, so he flew out to pitch it in person and Bowie accepted it in minutes. I have some of the other films with David Bowie in them on my list to watch eventually. Overall thoughts on this film without spoiling it? Love it. Makes you think and have to work to keep track of when in time you are. Very solid film.

Closing Thoughts

Sooooooo I kind of forgot to finish this review and get it out on time. Life got in the way…I’m thinking about writing up the reviews on Fridays when my grandmother is at her Alzheimer’s club when I have the house to myself for a few hours, but at the same time I like having that time to myself…I will try get the reviews out on time or slightly after. But I will try get them out before the day before the next movie night in future. And what is in store for tomorrow? Well! I can’t say that, but my sister is joining me; she is in town to help me celebrate ‘Your life is passing you one year at a time’ day later this week. Meh. Birthdays. Gotta…yup…Anyway! I’m out! Drop the mic and yell out:

Hope you’re having a wonderful day and keep smiling.