Dan Trachtenberg on Predator Badlands: An Empire Podcast Interview Special

31:30Chris Hewitt:shut the fuck door so so I was like we're going to watch these movies and we're going to watch Prey we're skipping the Predator and we're going to watch Prey and then we're going to go see Predator Badlands son's choice yeah I think it's wise. Yeah. Although I'm tempted to give The Predator another go. I was on set of The Predator and I think I've seen it three times and it's still not good. I gave it another go recently. And? No. No. Anything work? No. I feel so sorry for everyone involved in that movie because it should have worked. It should. It's really funny as well because the second half of the movie was basically re-shot at night.

32:06Chris Hewitt:But they basically just re-shot the same stuff. Yes. Yeah. Anyway, it's such a shame how that movie turned out but anyway this incredibly is still the introduction to this podcast but I showed her the 1987 John McTiernan classic Predator and I never really understood the words to Long Tall Sally but helpfully we had the subtitles on so now I kind of understand what Mac is saying when he runs around the jungle going I'm gonna have me some fun I'm gonna have me some fun now I mean, as far as karaoke goes, it's not the best rendition of Little Richard I've ever heard. It's fine. It's a good Paul McCartney, though.

32:49Chris Hewitt:It's, oh my God, Predator is such a great film. It's so good. It is such a great film. Almost perfect. I think it might be, it's certainly the second best Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Ooh. Ooh. I mean, yes, it is the second best, but it is my favorite. Oh, your favorite. I don't think it's as good as Terminator 2, but it is genuinely...

33:21Kindergarten Cop all the way for you, huh? Turn around. Yep, love Kindergarten Cop. Jingle away, I know, it's a banger. But Predator, there's just something about it. It's just there's so much to love about Predator and the fact that it almost was a complete disaster. Like, they shut down the whole film and basically rethought it and turned it into a masterpiece. They snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and it's from the mandibles of defeat, if you will. Yes.

33:46Chris Hewitt:And it's glorious. It's so good. It's so good. I promise this is a Predator Badlands, but Predator is just a wonderful, fully formed slice, Helen, of, and I know you love this movie as well, I do. Badassery. Yeah. That just, it just starts, it just introduces them, it has this really, really crunching title sequence it establishes the credentials of Dutch and his team so beautifully it takes its sweet time it obviously starts with the spaceship dropping the Predator off on Earth the best Alan Silvestri score clearly one of the best Alan Silvestri genuinely it's one of Silvestri's finest scores it is so good he absolutely gets the sort of the muscular testosterone overstuffed and if it's a little similar to Back to the Future we just gloss over that it's absolutely fine no absolutely we go over it to the point of not mentioning it which parts which parts yeah that's taken from back to the future that's not back to the future back to the future no no the main bit but there are leitmotifs of that kind of rhythmic like listen to it once you've heard it you can't unhear it but there's there's a hint of it the bit yeah the song yeah lament for fallen blame is a little bit like Tony Stark's death lament.

35:14He does a lot of that. If you've listened to his...

35:16Chris Hewitt:Yeah, Forrest Gump. Yeah, he's got a lot of those kind of military little... He's one of the greats though. Yeah, he is. I'm not slagging. McTiernan. Oh, starting that run of Predator, Die Hard, which is a film I can say, and The Hunt for Red October, which is another film I can say. Oh, it's just, it's one of the great one, two, three punches. It's so good. It's so just over the top testosterone, just like comically, comically, parodically masculinity. It's WWF, isn't it, really? It kind of is. It's like those comics they were drawing probably the same time in the 80s and 90s where everybody was suddenly like steroidal looking and just tottering about in these teeny little legs because they all skipped legs.

35:56I just love it so much. I love it. I know I've said this before, but I just love when masculinity kind of gets explored in film and even though Predator absolutely doesn't explore it on purpose I feel like it does by accident

36:11Chris Hewitt:I think it does McTiernan I've listened to the commentary that he does and I've listened to interviews he does he said about the movie and he's a smart dude McTiernan he is a very smart dude and he was operating I think on a level that I think it's perhaps fair to say the screenplay by Jim and John Thomas was not and the bit where all the units after Blaine gets killed just unload on rainforest For him, it's an absolute searing indictment of American foreign policy and machismo. They're just shooting across. They're shooting in all directions. They have no idea what they're shooting at. They're just unloading clip after clip after clip into what?

36:54Chris Hewitt:A butterfly? And grenades. Grenades. Just pumping grenades. What are we shooting at? No fucking idea. But it's so good. But everybody in that troupe gets something to do, even if it's just a little small bit. Shane Black, it's Hawkins. He's the first one to die. I promise you this is a Badlands Spider special. But he's the first one to die, but he gets the pussy jokes at least. Blaine gets, you know, I ain't got time to bleed. Everybody gets something to do. Even Poncho, who's the least fun of the characters, gets to be spooked. Billy is so terrific. Also, he's got the got time to duck. Yeah, he does indeed.

37:35Chris Hewitt:But he gets justifiably spooked and Elpidio Carrillo is so good in it as well. Should we watch it now? Yeah, let's go. Let's watch it now. The point is, welcome to the Predator Badlands, point of special. I love Predator unreservedly. I have a great deal of affection for Predator 2, which even managed to withstand the viewing on Saturday night when I realized, oh, this isn't as good as I remember. It's not. It's not. for doing something different. It gets real points for giving Danny Glover a shot at a lead role. Yes, yes. And I do quite like some of the things they're doing with him. Like he's a, he's a, he's a, he's an unflappable, again, almost entirely made of braggadocio, action hero, filled with testosterone, but he's also really afraid of heights.

38:24Chris Hewitt:And they don't quite do enough with that and Stephen Hopkins is not as good a director as John McTiernan, but it's still a fun film. Keegan-Michael Key described this to me as a film made entirely out of cocaine. Well, I believe pretty much everyone involved with that movie is still alive, so I'm not going to endorse that. I'm simply quoting what he said to me. I am offering no judgment. James is just quoting, I am offering no judgments. Helen is wisely keeping her counsel on this one. Yeah, I don't... Let's not go there. We're not going to go there. But it's a lot of fun. But it's not as good as the first movie.

38:59Chris Hewitt:It's not as beloved as the first movie. and then obviously the Predator franchise was a little bit well, dormant for a while. And then, I know this is a controversial opinion, but I love Predators. I think Predators is really good. It's a lot of fun. Predators is fun. It's just, I just wouldn't mention it. You have a proper sentence as well. Predators! Predators! Predators! Predators! Predators is a lot of fun. However, it pales into insignificance and does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Predator. I don't know about that. I think I really like it. I think it's a really, really good conceit.

39:37Chris Hewitt:I think it does that nice thing. It just twists enough your preconceptions to make it fresh and interesting. No one could think Topher Grace was a wrong one. The wife didn't. Really? I didn't see that coming. But he's Topher Grace! Who's famously known for playing nice guys. Oh, but he's got a proper shifty demeanor. You're only saying that because you've watched Predator. I mean, you say that. have you seen Win a Date with Tad Hamilton? I mean, look, he's Venom. Well, I mean, like in that one film everyone's forgotten about, I'm sure. I don't think most people bring your Topher Grace baggage.

40:13Chris Hewitt:Yeah. No, maybe not. And people are like, oh, I liked him in that 70s show. That is a horror. Towards the end, she was going, why is there a doctor there? Because he doesn't... Doesn't make any sense. Doesn't make any sense. I was like, well, he's there clearly to provide medical support to everybody. Clearly. Yeah. The conceptual problem, I guess, with predators that I have is... I promise you this is a Badlands podcast. I swear to God. It implies that they've spent like a lot of time doing research. Who are the baddest bad guys on earth? And I just, that does not, that doesn't work for me. On a fundamental level, do predators have a research team?

40:51No, they don't.

40:52Chris Hewitt:The Yatcha admins of civil service. I'm not really saying it. I don't feel it. Think about the knock-on effect of this. Are they saving a lot of lives on Earth by taking these people away and taking them to the alien planet? It's not Yautja Prime. No. Because that's made clear in Badlands. We've mentioned it. It's made very, very clear in this movie, in Badlands, that that's not Yautja Prime that they're on in Predators. But okay, so here's... I was thinking about this. The knock-on effect, the butterfly effect of they take away Topher Grace's... Spoiler alert for Predators, by the way. You think he's a nice guy.

41:23Chris Hewitt:You think he's a lovely guy. He's a doctor. he's a normal guy who somehow ended up with all these badasses turns out he may actually be the worst of them all because he's an evil serial killer who's kind of hiding in plain sight his plan to survive on the planet beyond killing Adrian Brody and Alicia Braga he doesn't seem to have thought that through he's going to get vaporized very very quickly but anyway that's neither here nor there by taking him off the planet yes have they saved lives but they wouldn't be averse to that because the whole nobility warrior culture thing that wouldn't necessarily be upsetting to them I guess But I just don't buy the research angle.

41:58How did they find this serial killer?

42:02Chris Hewitt:They're silent, invisible, deadly. They're in town with a few days to kill. They've got time for some recce, some admin. Why not? But just say, for example, you're the cop who's investigating because Tover Grace, it's implied very heavily he's killed many, many people back on Earth. So say, for example, he's gone full Ed Gein, he's gone full BTK, and suddenly he just disappears. He just disappears. his spree stops. And the cop is like, oh my God, this is amazing. What about the cop was Mike Harrigan? But, you know. Do you think that somebody is still locked in his basement wasting money? Oh my God.

42:36Chris Hewitt:Oh my God. Fucking hell. That's just grim. Just saying. So anyway, after Predators, there were the Alien versus Predator movies which we don't talk about. We never talk about that. Was that after Predators? Maybe before. I think it might be. One was before. One was before. Oh, okay. And then Requiem is after. Actually, both might have been before. Really? Yeah. I think so. Are you sure? Yeah, I think so. Wow. They were, yeah. Time has no meaning. After that, in terms of pure Predator movies, there was Shane Black's The Predator, of course, and then Dan Trachtenberg, who had 10 Cloverfield Lane at that point, and came up with Prey.

43:13Chris Hewitt:And I know a lot of people love Prey. I love Prey. It is the second best Predator movie. It's a terrific, terrific film. For me, it is too similar an approach to Predator to really stand out from Predator. So that it's not, for me, the second best Predator film. Then he did Killer of Killers, which is a ton of fun. Yes, it is. Earlier in the year. Now, is the word Yautja used in Killer of Killers? Yes. It is. Because I was wondering whether this was the first ever time it's been used in an actual film. Both films, both this and Killer of Killers, start with a quotation from the Yautja Codex. Right, okay.

43:49Chris Hewitt:Okay, but it's the first time it's said then in this one. the first time the word Yautja has been said apart from that bit in Predator 2 where Johnny Glover he goes Yautja! Oh dear. Anyway so this has been an exceptionally long way of saying that Prey was great Yes. Killer of Killers was great Predator Badlands in my opinion is something truly special and I am so fucking stoked to be talking about it but sadly we have no more time and that is it for our Predator Badlands Spider Special. No, this movie is absolutely terrific. I think it is comfortably the second best Predator film. And there will be people who watch this movie who will be fresh to the franchise with this who will then go back and see Predator and they will go Badlands is much better.

44:41Chris Hewitt:I mean, that'd be wrong. That'd be wrong. But those people exist. They could also be about 13 and they'll watch Predator and be like, they skin them alive! Like, because it's, you know. Yeah, I love Deck. He's a cuddly youcher. He's, you know, he's... Well, in fairness, he does cut a lot of heads off. He's one ugly motherfucker. Yeah, and it's like, oh my God, Dex uncle is a cunt.

45:04Chris Hewitt:Is what they might think. Or Dex, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great. It was 1987, Chris. It wasn't that long ago. Great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great. We don't know how far in the future. That's true we don't. I think this is the 24th century or so. Okay, so there's a couple of greats. Well, we don't know. How do they live? Yeah. How do their life step out? Well, we know how long his great, great, great, great, great grandfather lived. Sure. Because he got squashed by a log. But we don't know how long he'd been alive. That's true.

45:28We don't know how long he'd been alive. Didn't he blow himself up?

45:29Chris Hewitt:He did, after he got squashed by a log. Yeah. Yes. It's what you do. It's what you do. It's what you do when you get squashed by a log. Yes. Anyway, so, Dec. Yes. Yes. Anyway, let's talk about Predator Badlands, which is terrific, and I love it. And we have an interview with Dan Trachtenberg, but we're not going to be able to put it up for another week or so so we just thought we would we would gush relentlessly about this movie uh we got sidetracked anyway uh i love this movie helen do you love this movie i do i do shower with kisses like i think i said on the regular pod but i had real uh issues with the idea that i was supposed to be you know empathizing with a predator as the hero of the movie like it's designed it's your favorite thing it's designed as a bad guy i shouldn't be having to like sit here and have empathy for it and he has daddy issues my god it's like the mother load for you or the father load.

46:17And he gets redemption. Oh, no. But no, I am not like a one-dimensional villain here. I can be won over. I can be convinced. You can become the hero. I think that would be a bit strong. But I do think that it worked. They convinced me that this put-upon predator really did have a case, you know, to need to kill the big, bad, scary thing that he was sent to kill. And I wanted him to succeed in that. and I cared about that mission. I cared about him as a character, which I really didn't expect. And that was a triumph in itself. And then you have this great body dynamic, I think, that he had with Thea, which I think worked really well.

46:58And I just felt like it was well-paced, well-directed. I loved the effects. I thought they were so beautifully done. You know, the way that they kind of integrated the beasties and the creatures into the real locations that they used. I thought they did that brilliantly. and the low-key way that they combined alien lore and predator lore was really well done. So I just, you know, yeah, no notes really. Well, a few notes probably. Except the fact that Deck was something of a moron. The bit when he's choosing, I'm going to hunt this, I'm going to hunt, I'm going to try and kill the unkillable Kallisk and his brother's like, oh boy.

47:35On the death planet of Gena. The death planet, I'd be going to the death planet and kill the unkillable Kallisk and his brother's like, Can't you just go to Blackpool and kill some people on a stag do? But I get the thinking there. Like, he's got to prove himself more.

47:49Chris Hewitt:Because he's the littlest predator who's six foot seven. He's not, actually. Demetrius Schuster Koloa Matangi is about my height in real life. But he's like, with a predator clobber on, he gets a few inches. Well, we all do. Steady. It's very exciting for him. He might be about six feet. I did because I stood eye to eyeball. and if it had been Kevin Peter Hall yes may he rest in peace it would have been eye to crotch nipple yeah at least at least um Jean-Claude Van Damme I don't know will I tower over him he's about your height I think because people know he was people may not know he was the original Predator he was yes in that 1987 movie when it was a red lobster which is what the Predator actually looked like initially and you can still see that red lobster in the Predator because that suit has a cameo Yes, it does.

48:40Chris Hewitt:Yes, it does. But going back to Badlands, because we should talk about this movie, I absolutely agree with what you said there, Hellspells, about getting us on Dex's side, which is amazing, first of all, given that he's subtitled all the way through, and he is a yautja of few words at the best of times. And, you know, I was worried that it might take me a little while to be on his side. I think Thea, the introduction of Thea, is absolutely key to that. But one of the reasons I love this movie is I just think it's so brilliantly conceived, Jimbo. I think it's absolutely, you know, a lot of the Predator movies that have come along in the wake of the original have been at pains to essentially be a facsimile of the first film.

49:32Chris Hewitt:Not just having a hero be a human going up against a predator or predators, but just in the structure of it as well. And this flips everything on its head. And I thought it was so cleverly conceived. I was cackling with joy pretty much throughout. There were various bits, various little reversals and payoffs that just pleased me so much. I didn't see coming, for example, the idea that Deck would eventually assemble a team to infiltrate a Weyland-Yutani base and that team would be everything he'd encountered along the way. I thought it was so clever. That's nice. And, you know, as much as I love Prey, I think Prey is basically just another riff on Predator whereas this is something new and different.

50:19I think Prey is new in the, it has a similarity in template and tone but I think it does do something. The historical setting, the different characters, I think it's different enough for me. I think what Prey did, which I thought was impossible, it recaptured the essence of Predator without being Predator. Because Predator is exactly what Helen's saying. It's coming from the WWF, not even E era. It's huge, it's steroidal, it's homoerotic, it's wild. This is none of those things, but it's still frightening and it has that chilling, hunted feel to it. But what's great about this is it tries to do something completely different.

50:53Completely different. On every single level. It's different in tone, it's different in aesthetic, it's different in setting. It's a fucking buddy comedy. and that's the risk there is fucking enormous it's enormous and especially when you bring in the small cuddly animal I mean for the first couple of minutes I'm like oh no is this about to drive off a skeleton crew is this about to drive off a cliff like what's happening here and even that worked and you know I didn't obviously immediately see the kind of twist coming that that's a baby callus it was only when the callus sniffed him and kind of walks away that I was like oh they're related but I just thought that was it was I mean yeah it was just a masterpiece of kind of tone work in this film that those things all work together and that they felt right and I think we've seen a lot of the kind of you know gruff man on a mission you know even grieving hero who's trying to focus on the piece of violence that they have to do and they've got some annoying sidekick we've seen that done before but I just thought it was done exceptionally well here It's a genuinely great performance from Demetrius under all those prosthetics.

52:03Chris Hewitt:Yeah. To kind of make that work and give him a sense of soul throughout the movie. Yeah, agreed. The confidence, though, to do that, to actually even conceive of and execute this film, because it's such a thankless task. Because right out the gate, you are potentially alienating everyone who loves the Predator films. Because you're taking this creature and almost defanging it. you're not because he's still a badass, but even tonally, they're like a... Literally almost, because he's missing a fan. Right, he's missing a fan. But do you know what I mean? You're making him like, quote unquote, friendly, sort of fluffily, a fluffy predator.

52:35So that's a dangerous thing to do with an iconic movie creature, sort of monster. But then, so you're potentially pissing off the predator fans, but then also, if you're not a predator fan, will they even turn up? Will they care? Will they want to see it? So you are almost at, you know, the risk is you're making a film for no one.

52:50Chris Hewitt:Yeah. Whereas actually, what he managed to do was make a film for everyone. But I would say the chance of success there was relatively slim. So, you know, more power to him. Never tell me the odds. I think it's genuinely a miracle, but I think part of the key to this film's success is that the first 20 minutes of this movie is not what you just described. The first 20 minutes of this movie is, in some ways, yes, obviously there's going to be accusations of fan service leveled at anything that isn't created by the original creators of a franchise. but if you are a Predator fan over the years and you've been thinking what is their culture like?

53:27Chris Hewitt:What does their home world look like? How do they interact? The first 20 minutes of this movie are absolute manna from heaven and again it's great credentials establishing which is something that this franchise has been generally very very good at. The first 20 minutes of this is like a Frank Frasetta sex dream. I was just I'm not sure how much sex I mean because he had some sex dreams we've seen those on his covers that's a very good point I don't know if this is that that's a good point but you know what I mean it feels like it feels like this is the first 20 minutes of this movie is just this glorious pulpy fantasy world brought to life the opening shot of this film is this gorgeous shot from inside a cave of this fast alien landscape and we see this this vehicle riding across it eventually, speeder bike thing kind of thing.

54:20Chris Hewitt:And then it just erupts into a world that is completely unlike our own. The confrontation between Deck and, I'm going to mispronounce this, but I think it's Quay, his brother. It might be Quay. But Quay is so different and so interesting and just this kind of hardcore, brutal duel, sparring duel that they do is really fresh and interesting and unique to the franchise and then the introduction to the father who is an absolute fucking grade A prick. All of this feels new. All of this feels fresh. But at the same time, Deck is not denuded in any of this. Deck is still someone who wants to be very much a Yautja.

55:04Chris Hewitt:He wants to, you know, he's happy to, I think he is happy, well not he's happy to die, but he would accept, I think, he wouldn't be happy about it, but he would accept a death if it came his way and his brother's the one steps in front of him and says, no, this isn't going to happen. And then when Deck lands on the death planet of Gena and starts looking for the unkillable Kalisk, he is still very much an angry young man who greets everything he sees with a blade or a harpoon or a harsh look. The subtext of this is deprogramming from the Manusphere. I think this entire film is about that. It's detatification.

55:42Chris Hewitt:But he's not defanged in the classic way. or softened until he meets Thea and even then it takes a bit of a time in that classic I think it's one of the greatest Midnight Run riffs since Midnight Run it absolutely nails that dynamic perfectly because I think the first 20, 25 minutes of this gives you enough hardcore Predator action not like that to satisfy the fans and I've seen some people go not my Predator why? because there's a a woman with a speaking role in it or because of the cute animal that turns out not to be so cute. I mean, both of those things turn out to be lethal in their own right.

56:25Precisely. If that's your problem, you know.

56:27Chris Hewitt:And Tractorberg said in my interview, I don't want to give it too much away, but he was saying, you know, he's been reading stuff about people saying, oh, they're worried about the Disneyfication of this and there's a cute creature in it. And he's like, well, cute creature is my idea. I entirely, this is, I've been driving this. This is what I want to do because why just remake the same film? But also that's misdirection, isn't it? But the reason why it's cute is so you don't suspect what it is. Yeah, and it has a role to play. They are both aliens in this landscape. It is a native. It is the one that sees some threats coming.

56:54It's the one who knows how to navigate the razor grass, which is freaking cool, like environmental addition. I love the environment here. I said about the VFX before, but just the way they integrate those kind of viney monsters into that forest scene at the beginning, the way that the explodey things reload. So you can't even like just, you know, throw a rock through the meadow and then follow it. You know, I just thought it was so, so well done. Like they really kind of, a lot of the time like Death Planet, like how many Death Planets have we been to in sci-fi and fantasy? Like, come on, okay, whatever, you know.

57:33This one felt like, oh, okay, there's some genuine shit here that will fucking eat you. All right, nice. Makes Pandora look like Benidorm. Yeah, yeah. Well, they call that a death planet as well, don't they? What, Benadrym? Yes, they do. That's fair.

57:47Chris Hewitt:Still safer than Australia, though. It's true. We've all seen Mad Max. Yeah. We certainly have. Yeah, I agree entirely. I think the design of this planet was great. He says, this is the death planet of Gena, and he delivers a death planet. From the moment that deck is floating down to the surface, he's attacked by a giant flying dinosaur type thing. And then it's almost like, you know, from the Deep Rising school, isn't it? Now what? So giant death dinosaur dragon. Yeah. And then plant thingies. Plant thingies. And then what was next after that? Was that the lamprey what's-its? Yeah, that's with Thea, isn't it?

58:30Chris Hewitt:Because she's identifying what it is. So then the explodey field. Explodey field. Yeah. And yeah, then we have the lampreys at one point. We have the razor grass at one point. The big stompy things. Big stompy things. The gigantic worm thing that lives on the crag. Oh, yeah. Which just randomly eats things. You know. Yeah. Do you think Noah Hawley has been to one of these planets? Maybe this is where the eyeball creature comes from. But I love that. And I love the fact that it is so pulpy and it is so pure fantasy. And then slowly but surely sci-fi bleeds into it. Yeah. You know, with the introduction of Thea and the Weyland-Yutani thing.

59:10Chris Hewitt:And I'll be honest, I discovered when I saw the trailer, the first trailer, I was like, oh, she's a Weyland-Yutani droid. Oh, I'm not, or not droid. When she's a Weyland-Yutani synth. Oh, I'm not so sure about that. But that's because historically when these two franchises have collided, it has not ended well for us. No. Whoever wins, we lose. The audience. That was true. But this really, I think, worked. I thought Mother was wildly unfair to Tessa. Like it's clearly, it doesn't seem like it's her fault and she's somehow having to carry the can for Thea having been knocked off the map. Corporate bureaucracy, isn't it?

59:42Isn't it? I mean, but you know, I mean, I would have thought our AIs would be better by the 24th century, but apparently they still suck. I so yeah that was a bit of a

59:53Chris Hewitt:I'm guessing 24th century by the way but I know it's further it's further than any alien or predator movie we've seen so far but I thought I genuinely thought that the you know that the idea that they would have a base that they would be researching the deadliest creatures in the universe makes a lot of sense from everything we know of Weyland-Yutani yes 100 % without a doubt if they find a death planet they would absolutely set up a base and start studying shit and also I like the idea that of course they would send synths because that makes absolute sense and also it means we can then have gore and violence without you know gore and violence in our rating this is a PG-13 Predator movie but it didn't feel like that I didn't know that while I was watching that I didn't know it until afterwards so I didn't and I didn't feel the lack because it's massively gnarly it's just because it's not red blood it's fine yeah heads are cut off people are people are cut in half there are all sorts of stabbings and exploding yeah but it's green blood and synths being massacred by the dozen at the end of the film.

1:00:51Chris Hewitt:And there's only one swear word, I think. Is that? Is it in Yowcha? It's shit. Oh, is it? Yeah, Thea says shit at one point. Oh, you could even go heavier than that for PG-13. You could. And you can say whatever you want in Yowcha. That's true. Yowcha. Yowcha. Just randomly, I really liked the idea at the very beginning that you have this kind of tooling up, fake out scene where Deck gets all of his hard, he's got this bow and he's got this staff and spear and all this sort of stuff. and then it all gets stolen by the plant. I thought that was quite nice. And he's back to basics. He just has his sword.

1:01:24I was just so frustrated for him at that point. I'm like, oh, for God's sake. Dude, why did you get all your shit out? Why did you take your backpack off, man? What the hell?

1:01:33Chris Hewitt:I think that's Trachtenberg's approach to this movie in Microcosm because he is divesting himself of all the trappings of a Predator movie and he's divesting Deck of all the trappings of a Predator. If you notice, there's only one shot of Predator vision in this film. Only one. And then he loses the ability to see in that spectrum. I'd love to see what their vision is. I know we've seen it in some movies. It's because he loses the mask. He loses the mask. And yeah, obviously, canonically, that's how Predators see anyway. Yes. Well, we see in Predator that they don't see in that spectrum. Yeah, instead of blue, it's red.

1:02:14Chris Hewitt:But still heat vision. they still see firmly yeah well less so I think it's augmented yeah a little bit yeah I mean it felt like in Predator when he takes the mask off it feels a lot like it's just someone who's taking their prescription glasses off everything's just a little bit blurry it's not quite you know is it the red or the green I don't know well I love it I love it in Predator we're talking about that film again but when he when he he does lose the mask and he takes it off he makes a choice to take it off and go after Dutch because he is so fucking pissed by that point it's just like you know these hunts usually go a lot more smoothly than this.

1:02:48Chris Hewitt:And this motherfucker, this fly in the ointment, it's just wild. And then he just goes pure red, red with rage. Predator is reframed slightly differently in the context of Badlands. What if that is just like another deck? What if it's just a lovable young Yautja warrior? Yeah, this is what happened to Ant. And he's mercilessly killed by Dutch. I thought about this, because you know my pissing in the pool thing. And I did feel a little bit like, if you humanize a predator, does that in any way affect my enjoyment of predator? Will I see that predator differently? And I don't. I think partly because, like, no one ever was saying that the predator culture was monolithic.

1:03:30Like, they're not all going to be like that. You will, of course, get slightly more pleasant ones. I think it's still, because it's not the same predator, it's not the same creature, I think it's fine to hold them in different narratives and different parts of your brain. So it hasn't ruined it for me at all. But also, I think the culture of the Predators that we've been shown or told about before, even really back to the first Predator, there was a ritual aspect to it, right? There was this idea that he was on a hunt and it was like a finite thing. He wasn't doing it for food, he's doing it for sport.

1:04:03It's an honor system or a proving yourself thing or a ritual of some kind. That was always kind of baked into the character. so this doesn't it's not quite it's not the slavering beast of Alien frankly and they can be cunning and everything but they're not strategic maybe in the same way they're not thinking in the same way they're not approaching a hunt the same way they're killing for the love of killing they're not killing for some sense of purpose greater purpose predators may also love killing but there is a ritual aspect and a purpose to their killing.

1:04:41Chris Hewitt:A nobility to it as well. As seen in Predator 2. Well, he doesn't kill Maria Conchita Alonso because she's pregnant and he doesn't kill Elpilio Carrillo in the first movie because she, not because she's a woman, but because she's not armed. Not sport. No sport. No sport. No sport. So I think that kind of lends itself to it being a little bit more flexible maybe than some other villains. Like if they ever tried to, and this is one of my worries about Alien Earth, if they ever try and kind of redeem the alien. Like, that's my hard line. That's a now. But with redeeming the Predator, there's a bit more room to work with.

1:05:17I think, again, aliens are kind of just like animals, aren't they? And at the end of Alien Earth, they have kind of redeemed it to the extent where she's essentially domesticated two of them. So there's an element of that. But again, they're animals, so you can kind of, and she's communicating. I give that a pass as well. Yeah. But you're right, certainly in Predators 2, when that Predator steps forward and gives Danny Glover the pistol, which is a mark of respect. They have respect for him. They are not just mindless hunter-killers. There is a sense of propriety. There's a sense of order. He is now a hunter and they are giving him a Christmas present.

1:05:51Chris Hewitt:They're not gripped by petty thoughts of revenge at that moment. It's like, you've just killed my cousin. That was Steve. What are you doing? Come on, man. No, instead, you've earned this. But we'll be back. Also, this gun is like, we've been here before. so nice on you you've spoiled this party but we're coming back yeah how we got our spaceship into that tunnel not entirely sure let's not get into that let's not dwell on the details left a bit back a bit oh no back a bit you know like the Austin Powers 25.10 so anyway Predator Badlands oh yes that's the end that's the film we're here to talk about the thing is I genuinely love Predator Badlands I just turns out love talking about Predator it's interesting isn't it so the one of the things obviously famously in Predator you've got this high-tech armored alien hunting them down in the forest, and the way to beat him is to go low-tech and cover yourself in mud and haul some logs around and all that kind of thing.

1:06:47And that's what's reversed here, is that the Predator, being stripped of all his high-tech stuff, has to be the one to haul logs around and make traps. And get a little acid-spitting eel as a gun. To messicate an eel as a gun. I don't know quite how much time passed during that planning process that he was able to train the eel. To the extent that the eel sacrifices its life to save him. Yeah. Just for some fucking seeds and berries. Like, that's cheap. I mean, they must be really good berries. They really must be. Jeez. It's a good thing the berries weren't poisoned on the death planet, because otherwise that could have ended very badly.

1:07:19Chris Hewitt:Oh my God, that's a good point. But you're right, the Predator has a very unfair advantage. And I'm glad that he is stripped of that advantage. It's not fucking fair. If you watch any of the Predator films, Predators, right, They parachute all these badasses into an alien planet, and they don't give them any bearings. They don't give them any weapons apart from what they have. So, actually, lots of weapons. And then they just unleash themselves on them. That's not fair. You've got a fucking laser. You can go invisible. It's this weird attitude that you get in a lot of 80s American films to technology, because on one hand, they celebrated themselves for being the great superpower and having the best bombs and the best planes and all this kind of stuff.

1:08:00But then, you know, films like Predator or films like Rocky, isn't it three or four? With Drago. Four. Four. So, like, he's, Rocky is the one who's, like, again, hauling logs and, you know.

1:08:13Chris Hewitt:That's not an euthanism for having a shit, by the way. It sounds like it is, but it's not. But, like, yeah, he's the one who's, like, out in a cabin in the woods, back to nature, and it's Ivan Drago who's in the lab running with a mask on and all this kind of stuff. And which is, you know, not like America, actually. But I'm interested that that's the way they signal virtue in American films is like going back to basics. It's this kind of idea of rugged individualism again, coming out this time in a Predator. So, okay. Or go Bear Grylls. But it's interesting, like, if you were to say, what is the livery of a Predator film?

1:08:51You'd say the cloaking device, you'd say the heat vision, and you'd probably say the shoulder cannon with the three dots. and you know those things are all present in this film but barely and I think that's a really interesting thing that he's taken the grammar of Predator and essentially sidelined it because he's doing something different yeah I guess he's got it's a show of confidence in his Predator I suppose

1:09:15Chris Hewitt:it's a show of confidence in what he wants to do and it's a declaration that he wants to do something very different because I think Prey as great as Prey was you know again to go back to the point I was making about Prey, I think it was very determinately and deliberately clad in the bones of a Predator movie. You know, very much the same structure. Yes, a lot about it was different, of course it was. You know, the setting, the Naru, the protagonist, the Amber Mid-Thunder character, of course, all of that was different. The Predator itself wasn't as technologically advanced as the one that shows up and faces off against Arnie or Danny Glover or Adrian Brody.

1:09:53Chris Hewitt:But at the same time, it was still absolutely recognized a Predator movie almost deliberately so to get the franchise kickstarted again and then Predator Killer of Killers are three variations on a theme they're all very similar in a way that you know it has different time periods and different protagonists and that's all very interesting but they're all essentially here's a time period here's a kickass warrior here's a Predator turning up kills everybody except the kickass warrior they end up one on one and that's it and I think with this movie he was just like I'm doing something completely fucking different from the off and I'm going to have a cute creature I'm going to divest him of everything that makes a predator a predator I'm going to try and fill in some characterization as well I'm going to try and make you feel for a predator which is a hell of a thing as well and I'm going to make it a buddy movie and we haven't talked enough about the and we haven't talked enough about Elle Fanning who I think is the film's MVP to be honest I think she's absolutely terrific in this.

1:10:57Chris Hewitt:She's an actress I've always admired. Yeah. But this is the first time I've really come away from a Nell Fanning movie and gone, oh, this is a movie star. Yeah, she's just terrific because for first of all, let's talk about Thea, I guess, first of all, but Thea is, you know, bubbly without being airheaded in a strange way. She is, you know, especially as the film goes on, even aside from her physical appearance, which is legless, she is not human. She doesn't approach things necessarily in a human way, but she approaches things like someone who's been taught to try to be human, you know. And so there's a humanity to her, which is probably easier for us to gel onto in some way than everything that Deck is going through.

1:11:42But there's also just this little tinge of strangeness and weirdness about her. There were moments where I was like, oh, can he trust her? What is the secret that she's hiding? What is she really up to? you know is there another kind of side to her and there were moments where i had to question that and i think that was very very deliberate and i think maybe that's enhanced by the fact that you also have her second character you have tessa who is coming from a very different place who seems like initially just a very different synth so initially we hear all about her from you know um thea going oh my god she's the best i love her we're great we're best buddies we hold hands and skip through the fields and then we meet this incredibly serious, very laser-focused character who obviously has been put under pressure but you get the sense that there's some of that already there.

1:12:30She had been eaten by a calyx. That might have been a bad mood. Maybe that is why. Yeah, maybe that's why. But I just thought the contrast and the sheer amount of ocean between them was fascinating.

1:12:42Chris Hewitt:I did not know about that. I went into this movie very, very cold indeed. I had seen basically the first teaser so I knew that Elle Fanning was in it playing a chatty Cathy synth. But I didn't know she was pulling double duty. I didn't know she was playing, there was, Tessa was in this movie. I didn't know about Bud, the cute creature. There was a lot of stuff I didn't know about. I knew there was a confrontation with the callus. I assumed that would be the end of the movie. It's the midpoint of the movie. All that stuff was really, really interesting. But I was completely caught cold by Tessa.

1:13:12Chris Hewitt:I think she's a really interesting, formidable foe. I think there's a lot going on with her. I'm really interested about what you just said there. I didn't get a chance to talk to Trachtenberg about this. What was she like before she was eaten by the catalyst and before Mother makes it so clear to her what the punishment will be for failure? You'll be lowered into a fire, I think is basically it. So, for example, is Thea misremembering? Or is she putting rose-tinted glasses on it? I think it's just rose-tinted glasses. I think maybe Tessa was more focused and more sort of mission focused to begin with, but it didn't matter because so was Thea in perhaps a more joyful way.

1:13:57But she's clearly fascinated by the planet. She's really enjoying the experience of exploring this world, really enjoying learning more about it. So she just sees them as on the same page. And I don't think she's paying attention to the degree to which they might not have been because they were both just focused on the mission and not really... Possibly. I don't think there was so much water between them then.

1:14:19Chris Hewitt:But I also think that... I think it's clear that Thea's personality, although I think it has evolved a little bit, I don't know how long she's been stuck on that outcrop of rock. She seems to say days rather than... Okay. I don't know if it's had a profound impact on her personality, but I think she has never had someone... she's stuck with all these synths who are very, very automaton-like, the other synths who aren't Tessa. And she only has Tessa as a frame of reference. I think she's always chatty Cathy, and Tessa's always been slightly cold and slightly taciturn, but there is a bond there between the two of them.

1:15:00Chris Hewitt:But I think the film ultimately, and it's hard to do this without getting into Fast and Furious territory, is about family. And it is about both Deck and Thea suddenly having a different frame of reference for what a family can be. So Thea's sister's probably always been a bit cold and not chatty and nothing like Thea whatsoever because of programming or perhaps because of environment, who knows, whatever reason. Deck has grown up in this really, really cold, harsh, yaucha upbringing where it's all about honor and you're a runt of the litter and you're not good enough and all he's ever known is his dad and his brother who's a nicer guy and obviously lays his life down for Deck.

1:15:42But, you know, beats him up first

1:15:44Chris Hewitt:to try and get him into shape. But there's also a sense of how much of it is that his brother's a nice guy, you're a nice guy. How much of it is that? And how much of it is because he kind of almost owes him a blood date? Because Deck saved his life and that means something to him. And obviously, Yautja, they're all about the honour and stuff. I wonder whether part of it is obligation rather than affection. That's a good point. That's a good point. I didn't really read it as that. I read it as that, you know, I want my younger brother to survive. I think there's both. I think that's part of it, but James is right.

1:16:16I thought the blood debt did play a role as well.

1:16:19Chris Hewitt:I hadn't even thought of that. That's a really, really good point. But I think in the course of this movie, these two individuals, these two characters who have had very, very interesting family members get to see what a real family can be like and what a real connection with someone can feel like. And I think that's where the film really takes off. Absolutely. I think that's a really lovely thing. I think that's what you get from that final scene. It's not just a sort of, I'm finally standing up to my father on my own terms, but it is about, I have now found my real family. This is my clan. This is my clan.

1:16:52Oh shit, mom's home. I mean, look, as cheap sequel bait goes, that is absolutely superb. Yeah, it's good. Yes, okay, I would like films to just end. sometimes. But if you're going to do cheap sequel bait, that was a great example. Because also, even if you didn't get the sequel, it's just a funny thing to end on. It's just funny, yeah.

1:17:14Chris Hewitt:It's just fun and funny. Yeah, everyone's shitting their pants. It's like, well, he was pretty formidable. Why are they shitting their pants? Oh, the mum's home. Because I was thinking, what's the female role in this society? You know, I still don't know. No, but we'll find out hopefully. Hopefully we will, but do we want to as well? because, again, this would be something different. We haven't had a direct sequel. Well, has he said that the next film he wants to make is a direct sequel? Because he said there's another Predator film he wants to make, but to the best of my knowledge, he's not elaborated on what that is.

1:17:48Maybe this is standalone, and his other idea is, because bear in mind, all three of his films have been complete left turns from each other. Exactly. So maybe it's a completely separate film,

1:17:56Chris Hewitt:and this is just its own thing? I mean, Prey ends with a pretty open-ended bit of sequel baiting as well. Which is kind of picked up in Killer of Killers. Yes. A little bit. yeah I can see the next one being there's a way to make it a sequel to both this and Killer of Killers right like it could be done but it doesn't need to foreground deck it doesn't like you could do something completely different but still make it thematically connected and still make it feel like it's part of the same story but I hope if they are bringing back you know the Earth Warriors who survived the last two that they have deck involved I think that would be fun it would be interesting wouldn't it Do you see a Predator movie where maybe Arnold might be tempted back?

1:18:40Chris Hewitt:And would that derail things? I really hope not. And I love Arnold, but no. No. Just, just no. Every time I see Predators and Lawrence Fishburne shows up, I keep thinking about how the original plan was for that to be Arnold. And I'm so glad it wasn't. Yeah. Not because, it's actually one of the least satisfying things about that movie. Because that character's It doesn't make a lot of sense. He saves everybody and then he goes, oh shit, I've saved everybody and now I need to feed them. Oh, I might as well kill them. And then he goes completely insane and his, spoilers again, his death scene is so thrown away.

1:19:18Chris Hewitt:I just keep thinking, well, if that had been Arnold, that's not how you want Dutch to go out. No, it's not. You don't want Dutch to go out at all. Going Dutch. You don't want that to happen. So, yeah, I'm glad that they didn't do that. I think fan service, and look, fan service plays a big part of this film. and, you know, the aliens crossover moments. So I'm thinking specifically the Predator with the pulse rifle. I'm thinking the giant sort of like power loader on steroids, which they put on the poster, which I think is a massive mistake. I didn't know that until after I saw the film. Yeah, I agree.

1:19:50Terrible idea. Both of those things could have been taken off a subreddit. What if this but bigger and better? And what if the Predator got a pulse rifle? But in execution, it's really fun. I will say, like, because the pulse rifle that the Predator uses looks nothing like the M41A from Aliens. like it's a very different I was like okay of course I do but it still has the sound like it's you know the audio imprint you can still you can still tell that it's a pulse rifle yeah and that's quite cool because it didn't look like one it didn't have that kind of slammed fan moment for me I was like oh sound I recognised it but it didn't whereas if it had actually looked like one I'd have been like oh that's really cool and if he'd said in Yachty

1:20:30Chris Hewitt:get away from her you bitch or something got up and walked out of the cinema I'm so glad they didn't go down that route as much as I liked Alien Romulus we've all talked about that moment in that film that moment is hateful and I was really hoping especially when Tessa does Commodire the giant power loader and starts walking into frame much like Ripley does I was like please, please don't don't say it and she didn't yes she's just a baddie yeah it's very well calibrated that way where it's fan service and it's cool but it's not cringe yes and that works nicely and I thought that was yeah it's a lovely moment and actually the power lighter thinks she's kind of cool isn't it and you're like oh it's going to be you versus the callus that's kind of mad yeah I liked all that stuff I liked the pulse rifle bit I liked the whole the whole dynamic actually like the fact when it turns out that she's been stringing him along the whole time and actually she's not going to help him in any way shape or form and she's very apologetic about it yeah but yeah just wants her legs back and can find her sister again yeah who doesn't who doesn't want their legs back Tess is a delight why wouldn't you want to be reunited with her?

1:21:35Chris Hewitt:That's what I say. The stuff with the legs I thought was so clever so inventive. Yes. The original working title of course was not it was never meant to be the title of the movie but was Backpack. All that stuff I thought was just absolutely brilliant. Nick pointed out to me afterwards because I'd forgotten about this I was gushing about the movie and he was going Predator with a pulse rifle and I was going yeah, yeah, yeah but what about this? And then Nick was like there's a bit where she high-fives her own legs. I know. I know. It's amazing. And I'd forgotten that I was like, fuck, you're right.

1:22:03Chris Hewitt:She high-fives her own legs. That bit where she's fighting in concert with her torso. Oh, it so is. But the thing is, again, it's all these things. The invention in this film. Exactly. So that, I mean, understandably, I've never seen that before. But you know, the bit with the tree, the bit with the kind of razor glass. There were so many things. The bit with the tentacles. I mean, it's Evil Dead-y, but it's very, very cool. There were so many moments where I'm like, that's a really cool idea. That's a really cool idea. and I think if you're going to have CG things hitting CG things, you need that level of invention or you get Transformers fatigue.

1:22:36And you really, really get that in this film. No, I think that worked super well. And like you say, something I've never seen before. I feel like action movies, not across the board, but there have been a couple recently where I'm like, oh, you are taking the challenge that a lot of things have been done now. Because first of all, we had a lot of people doing a lot of things. Then we got VFX to a level where they could suddenly do impossible things, and they've been doing all of those now for 20 years, 25. But now we're getting to kind of the limits, I think, of just doing impossible things, and now we need genuine, like I say, invention and weirdness and throwing everything at the screen.

1:23:18And that was one of those moments recently where I'm like, oh, wow, I still have the capacity to be completely surprised by an action beat. and this last act of this movie had quite a lot of that going on even the blowing turning on his ship's engines so the sandstorm would enable him to see his dad that's not so fresh we've seen sand used to reveal invisible things before but it was just really well deployed it was really well timed really well executed in both the literal and figurative sense I just thought yeah it's such a well made movie

1:23:54Chris Hewitt:yeah we should say as well that obviously Dan Tractorberg directed this and co-wrote the story but the screenplay is Patrick Eisen I hope I'm pronouncing that right maybe Eisen I've actually never heard his name said out loud so I'm completely grasping in the dark here but and it's a really really good screenplay again the dynamic fast talking Thea bonding with Taciturn Deck I think that all that stuff is just beautifully beautifully sketched and just at the moment where he's dragging her along various locations and she's just bombarding him with questions that you've always wanted to ask a predator how do your mandibles work how do your fangs work I mean do you open do you eat with your do you chew with your inner teeth or your outer teeth you know all that sort of stuff I love the fact and she's also clearly many many Yautja have been to this planet to try and kill the Kalisk and have failed and she's witnessed it at close hand.

1:24:51Chris Hewitt:Yeah, it's so beautifully written. Shall we talk? We've got to wrap it up in a second. Here's a question. I was going to say do we want to talk about Predator for another four hours, but yes, we do. I had a question. You were talking about the civil service, the Yautja civil service, the admin brigade. It's astonishing that they can find out who is not a sort of secret serial killer on earth, but they can't do basic research. Oh, this thing fucking regenerates its cut-off head. That feels like a piece of information that they could have used. I feel like they're just, you know, fucking with each other at that point.

1:25:23They're just like, look, we told you it was unkillable. We didn't tell you how and why. It was in the dossier. It literally said, death planet, unkillable, leave it alone. You didn't listen. It's on you.

1:25:32Chris Hewitt:I don't think they know. I think every youcher who has gone back, who's gone to Gena, the death planet... Has not come back. Has not come back. And they've gone, well, okay. Well, even father fears the calusque, apparently. Yeah, because he's probably had loads of people, loads of mates go off and try and kill it. I don't think he's ever tried to kill it himself. Because it's unkillable. I guess so. And it lives on a death planet. I did have that moment when it turned up because, you know, I expected it to be bigger, honestly. You know, they've been hyping this thing up the whole time and we've seen a bunch of, like, dragons flying around and I thought the first one of those was the Kallus.

1:26:09But again, I was like, oh, okay, I guess not. And then it turns up and you're like, I mean, it feels like the Predator should be able to kill this. Kallus is like, I mean, I could take that. I mean, I couldn't, but I feel like he could. This doesn't seem like that big a deal. He does. He cuts his head off. Well, this is it. Exactly. And then he regrows his head and you're like, okay, now I see why that might be a problem. Okay, I get it. I understand.

1:26:30Chris Hewitt:Helen, as someone who likes things to make sense within the logical order of the universe, did you have notes about that? Of course. Because, I mean, it's like anything that's self-regenerating. Frankenstein, the creature, has the same problem. Where does it get the mass? where does it get the matter it's catholic so it goes to church every Sunday to regenerate itself like how and in this one actually there's a little bit more sense to it because it's kind of almost like tentacles yeah and it pulls the missing bits back again pulls itself back together that makes a little bit more sense than some things not a lot but a little well we've all had fun walking down the old badlands of Predatorville some of us have learned to say Predator some of us have not but that's fine anything else you want to say before we wrap this up and talk about Predator 2 for another 45 minutes oh no oh is it that time already oh come on you love talking about Predator and Predator 2 and Predators and the Predator and Prey and Predator Killer of Killers and Predator Badlands you're right on some of those but not all alright so I'm going to look at my notes and see if there's anything else we can talk about the title card reveal this is literally the first thing I have written down Badlands spoilers the title card reveal four exclamation points because it comes 20 minutes in and I loved how old school it was 20th Century Studios presents Predator Badlands all rights reserved yeah it's quite busy isn't it oh it was so good and just finding a perfect point to deploy that oh lovely stuff these are my questions given the film a humanoid antagonist that was interesting Demetrius also voices father did you notice that no he voices father and Kwai Kwai Kwai Kwai Kwai Maybe because he was the one who learned Yautja and then just kept going from there.

1:28:20Chris Hewitt:There was a limited pool of Yautja speakers. It's Quay, because Bridge of the River Kwai. Okay. Quay, all right. Dex Mother, who would you like to see? What would you like to see happen with Dex Mother? Judi Dench. Oh, my God. Judi Dench. 100%. It's Dame Judi Dench. Meryl Streep. As a Yautja. Meryl Streep. I mean, that would work too. Meryl Streep. I don't know what I want to happen I just like the idea of her being absolutely terrifying maybe bigger than all the guys yeah there's precedent in the animal kingdom it could be fun do you want to see her grab Deck by the ear and drag him home like oh mom kind of thing no I don't think so Deck have you killed your father again Deck explain yourself is that your dad's head lying at your feet yeah mom sorry went to the death planet again killed the callus glow he didn't though no he didn't did he no he's a fucking fraud yeah I came back with this random android's head and his dad's like what the fuck is this are you going to introduce me to your new girlfriend she's not my girlfriend mom we're just friends that thing better stay outside it's not coming in the house I hope you've got a litter box for it wow you're talking about the callus oh right oh my god no ew I was going to say that's harsh well Bud could be his girlfriend Bud is Bud is a girl.

1:29:42Chris Hewitt:That is true, Bud is a girl. Yeah. Could have hot yowcha on callous action. No, that's wrong. No, everything's fan service. Everything's fan service and this fan wants to be serviced. It's not only fan service.

1:29:59Chris Hewitt:Let me see what else I wrote. Loved. I just wrote loved and a lot of stuff. Loved the final assault on the Weyland-Yutani base where Deck cleverly uses everything that's almost killed him. The eel things with the asses spit, the razor grass, the little slugs that explode as a defense mechanism. Thea's legs. Almost magnificent seven. I think it might be seven. I think he might have he might have seven teammates or six teammates and he's the seventh. Devesting Deck. Oh, Deck makes a joke. Fine sister and legs. Man, he loves that. He makes it twice. So, there we go. Oh, I love this fucking film. I love every movie in this franchise even the terrible ones.

1:30:38Chris Hewitt:I mean, to an extent, so do I. Except for the Except for the Predator and the crossovers. Yeah, the Predator makes me a bit sad because it should have been great. It should have been great. And it wasn't. Yeah. All right. Oh, well. Should we say something nice about Predator to get the mood back up again? Christmas movie. Woo! Is it? You could watch it with Prometheus. Which one? But also a Christmas movie. Predator is a Christmas movie. The Predator is a Christmas movie. The Predator is a Christmas movie. Sorry, yeah. Yes. Well, it's not. I mean, it's not. Because I remember... There's a Christmas tree at one point.

1:31:09Well, there was a bit where I was on set and there were a bunch of what looked like kind of little cypress trees. And I said to him, I said, are those Christmas trees? He went, no, he just shut it right down. I was like, okay, sorry.

1:31:21Chris Hewitt:Sorry, Shane. Okay, well, let's knock this on the head. And that is it for our Predator. Predator, Badlands, spoiler special. Sorry for all the times I've had, Predator. Predator, it's so hard to say. If you're Northern Irish, I think it's one of the hardest words to say. After sorry. I don't know. Sorry. Yes, Elton John's classic head, Predator, seems to be the hardest part.

1:31:51Chris Hewitt:Oh, dear Lord. All right. Okay, let's call it a night, shall we? More spoiler specials coming your way? I don't know. What am I made of schedules? Helen, goodbye. Frankenstein. Oh, bye-bye. Frankenstein, running man. Yep. Now you see me, now you don't. What? Wicked for good. Wicked for good. Naked Gun interview with Akifa Schaffer. Springsteen delivered me from Predator. Wake up, Predator. Wake up, dead Predator. Predator Topless 2. Suopolis. Whatever it's called. That's confusing. I think it's a Topless Predator. I was going to say, we're back on only fan service again. Oh, hello. Wait a second.

1:32:33Chris Hewitt:Well, you do see the Predator's nipples, don't you? In that first movie. He's wearing fishnets. He is. He's very sexy. Very sexy predators. I'm worried about you both. So many words that if you did a search for, you know, very sexy predators, I'm not sure. Well, there is a predator fleshlight. We know. We've seen it. Is there? Yes. I love that. I love that. I love that you just assumed. We know. We know. We've seen it. We've seen it. Is this the royal we, James? I do not own a predator fleshlight. I must emphasize that value. You said what happened at that party would stay at that party, James.

1:33:10anytime turn around stop it over here

1:33:20oh dear lord I said to my girlfriend geez you've got a big fleshlight no anyway hey

1:33:25Chris Hewitt:that's not funny oh well no damn fool would accuse us of being the best I think that's fair to say how does a predator fleshlight work no no genuinely like what is it like Where do you put the mandibles? That's very... I don't want to know. People are going to Google it as a result of you guys talking about it. Never ever Google it. Very, very sexy predators. Sorry, Helen, I have to investigate this. I have to explore the fleshlight. What is the... Look it up. Go on, Google it now. Oh, fucking hell. I'm sorry. I have to explore the fleshlight. There are so many back-to-chosen words there. Oh, dearie me.

1:34:13Chris Hewitt:Okay, images. Oh, no, no. You can never unsee it. No, how would... Oh, is that it? Yes, that's it. That's it? There you go. It's just a predator's face. Yes, it is. But Danny Glover in Predator 2 calls it pussy face. He does, yes, that's true. Perhaps that's where they got the idea from. I thought you were about to say Danny Glover uses one of these Predator's shows because I've not seen that cut. Danny Glover. I really haven't. Maybe he's why he's sweating all the time. That's the thing about Predator 2. It's set during a heat wave. Yeah. This year it grows hot. It grows hot. This year it grows hot.

1:34:56Chris Hewitt:Again, thank you for not doing the accent. And everybody in that movie, despite the fact that it's like 100 degrees in LA, they're wearing layers of very heavy clothing and every scene they're just sweating and sweating and sweating and sweating and it's just like wear a fucking t-shirt mate t-shirt and shorts what are you doing? something in linen you know honestly Danny Glover's costume in that film is off the fucking chain it's absolutely wild anyway that is definitely it for our Predator Badlands slash Fleshlight Spawner special. I mean, I just don't know. How much? No, I'm not buying that.

1:35:43Bye, Helen. Toodaloo, thank you for releasing me from this increasingly depraved hell.

1:35:50Chris Hewitt:Yeah. Bye, James. Anytime. Anytime, Helen? Anytime. See? She wants to top her predator for another 45 hours.

1:36:03Chris Hewitt:I see you. oh so good past em tree oh so good and it's goodbye from me I am off to delete my search history from my phone that is wise thanks for listening see you next time bye bye