![]() ![]() In comparative terms that statement could have been made as early as 1991 based on the status of Aliens and Judgement Day, which many have argued are superior to the movies they succeeded. That leaves the Predator franchise, which most will agree has proven the most underwhelming overall. As soon as the series dropped its adrenaline-induced, stalk-and-slash simplicity for expansive, world-building action, it all fell apart rather dramatically. The Terminator franchise dropped the ball with the dizzyingly underwhelming Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which was never going to live up to James Cameron’s staggeringly about-turn sequel, a cultural phenomenon that somehow managed to match his jaw-dropping, horror-infused original in a way that was familiar yet fresh. Alien 3 probably tips the scales in favour of the franchise, David Fincher’s stripped-back threequel disappointing some and intriguing others, but it was a slippery slope from there. The Alien franchise probably edges it in terms of quality output, Ridley Scott’s moody, knife-edge original evolving into James Cameron’s balls to the wall successor, an outer space onslaught very much in the action mode that refused to jeopardise its predecessor’s horror elements. To be fair, those other franchises would tread something of a rocky road too. ![]() It was all so hollow and unnecessary, an unfortunate sign of the times. Few franchises escaped the dreaded 21st century reboot treatment, and few films were as underwhelming as José Padilha’s reimagining of Paul Verhoeven’s satirical cyberpunk classic. Robocop 2 derailed Alex Murphy’s commercial potential before Orion’s punt at cultural marketing salvation Robocop 3 all but killed it, and don’t get me started on 2014’s wholly unnecessary and poorly received reboot, a transparent cash-in released at the derivative phenomenon’s oversaturated peak. You could probably add Robocop to that list, but The Terminator, Aliens and Predator are the three that stand tallest in terms of cinematic shelf-life. The action sci-fi genre was epitomised by three movies during the 1980s, each featuring iconic characters who would spawn sequels, prequels, trilogies, quadrilogies and whole cinematic universes. Overcoming the mystery elements of the original Predator seemed like an impossible task, but Predator 2 has more to offer than most give it credit for
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