GBW #61: If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It (Predators / The Predator / Predator 2)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Good, The Bad, and The What!? The show in which we discuss three films that we have deemed "good," "bad," or "what!?" within a subgenre, theme, motif, director or actor's filmography, and more! This week, in honor of the upcoming "Prey" (out on Hulu on August 5, directed by "10 Cloverfield Lane" helmer Dan Trachtenberg), Ryan and Chris dive into the history of the "Predator" franchise, and as we do with these franchise episodes, we eschew our traditional "Good-Bad-What" order to go chronologically through the series. After a brief talk about the 1987 original masterwork (one we decided not to categorize because it'd be unfair), we dive into our "What?" which is 1990's "Predator 2," a departure from the original which was not well-received at the time, but we argue while imperfect, it's a ton of fun. Then, we move into our "Good" which is 2010's "Predators," which may not have the subversion of the original, but it returns to operating on the primal terror of the original and for that, it works pretty damn well. Finally, we end on a sour note for our "Bad" pick which is 2018's "The Predator," a big, sloppy, dumb disappointment given that the film is written and directed by Shane Black (and even though it was hacked-to-bits in editing, even the Black-authored stuff is beneath him). You can find this and future episodes on our website thegoodbadwhat.com. You can subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Anchor.fm, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and more! Feel free to email us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments, or just want to say hello. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram @thegoodbadwhat. You can also like us on Facebook. Our logo comes from Michelle Parkos, and our theme music comes from Paco.