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Danny, Blake, and Nathaniel look at the first straight up action movie on the show. What better way to start than an adaptation of a classic short story? 'The Most Dangerous Game' has been adapted many times to varying degrees of success. 'The Prey' is the most recent take on the story.
The boys ponder how little action can an action movie have, gun fu vs hand to hand combat, and generic villains. 'The Prey' also dispenses with one of the key themes of the source material. Does it work well? And what was up with that ending?
Adventures in Movies! is hosted by Nathaniel Muir, Blake, and Danny. You can find Nathaniel on Instagram at nathaninpoortaste. Danny can be found on Twitter @default_player and on Instagram at default_player. Blake can be found on Twitter @foureyedhorror and on Instagram at foureyedhorror. You can reach us personally or on Twitter @AiPTMovies.
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0:00
Welcome to another episode of Adventures in Movies
0:14
Looks at Dot, Dot, Dot. My name is Nathaniel Muir, and I'm the movie editor at AIPT
0:20
Joining me on this week's episode are the hosts of Adventures in Movies
0:26
That is us. I am Danny. Hello, and I am Blake. and this week we're going to look at the prey
0:34
we always brag about how eclectic we are but this is actually the first time correct me if I'm wrong
0:39
that we've ever looked at a straight up action adventure movie the prey is about Jin
0:46
he's an undercover Chinese cop maybe who gets arrested after a sting or a raid he's arrested
0:55
and he gets deported to an underground Cambodian jungle. It's at this point a most dangerous game
1:09
So first question, are you guys familiar with? And if you are, do you like the original
1:18
the most dangerous game? Yes. Yeah, I'm a big fan. It's a fun short story
1:26
It has really cool themes. in it really, it's really short, really easy read, so it's fun to get into
1:32
So the prey is an adaptation of the most dangerous game. How well did you think the prey adapted that story
1:43
So it's been done a lot to involve varying degrees of success
1:48
So right off the bat, it has a lot to live up to. It does
1:52
It's been remade since, like, I think the first time was probably in the 20s or 30s
1:56
By far the best one is the pest. John Lequisamo. It's not as good as the pest
2:07
It doesn't live up to the pest type. You know, I didn't know that, actually
2:17
But, you know, I think it's not the best rendition of it
2:23
but it's also not the worst. The prey. I think the thing with the most dangerous game
2:28
you guys have mentioned that it's been adapted many, many times. I think the over, and it's a really easy theme to get out of it
2:34
It's basically a struggle between classes. Different between classes. Rich hunt the poor, rich or evil assholes, poor are heroic and strive to survive
2:43
We don't get that in this movie at all. No, I actually, I was confused by the motivations
2:49
Danny, I think you will agree with that. Yeah, yeah. So I was trying to, this is a lot harder now
2:57
I guess I have trying to like pay attention to a movie and like Joggle Baby at the same time
3:04
So a lot of like the key, yeah, a lot of the key points of it I kind of did lose
3:10
Usually with movies like last week's movie that we talked about, I, I kept up with it
3:15
But this one I felt a little bit lost at times, even though for being a generic action
3:23
thriller film, you know, I felt like I couldn't, I couldn't grasp what they were trying to, like, tell me
3:31
And usually, like, I asked you before, like, you know, before we started recording, like
3:36
oh, he was an undercover cop. Like, I, like, you know, these things kind of like just fell through the, like, through the
3:42
well and stuff like that, or through the cracks. So I didn't really. Well, in all fairness, in all fairness, the Chinese cop, the undercover Chinese cop thing
3:51
it's literally one line in the beginning of the movie and it's just never ever ever
3:58
mentioned again and even then they don't outright say he's an undercover cop
4:03
he's a Chinese police officer you know he's undercover based on where he's at right
4:11
unless he wanted to be there he like paid for it unless he's literally a drug dealer
4:15
I feel like well even with those like kind of like throw away lines
4:19
you know we didn't really like we don't get that kind of stuff throughout
4:23
like when we meet the the big bad guys I guess or the big bad there's really
4:29
no explanation of what's really going on it's just like oh here's a setup
4:33
and uh we're going now you know I think you having a baby has very little to do with you being
4:39
confused by this movie I think you could have been 100% engaged in this because
4:44
Blake and I were to some extent 100% engaged in it and I'm probably just
4:49
as confused as you are right Okay. Well, let's get into the character
4:53
So one of the things I told, like, while we were watching it, is the main character
4:57
Jin, like, the best way to describe him as is undercover cop
5:03
Like, that's it. He has no motivation. No personality. No. I don't know
5:10
Like, okay, he's a cop, and he wants to bust bad guys. Like, that's the best way to describe
5:16
So what did you guys think of the characters in The Prey
5:19
There was only one interesting character in it at all to me, and he was confusing. I did not, he was, he was, I don't know who he was
5:28
Was it bad? Is he the one who like was playing both sides It felt like uh he was crazy Yeah he was crazy Okay maybe See Yeah because he was
5:42
He was crazy? Okay. All right, so I guess he was the one I was, like
5:46
most interested to see, like, how it would finish off for him. But, yeah, the characters were all pretty bland
5:54
Cookie Cutter. Nothing to the... Nothing memorable about, like, virtually anyone, except for that one guy
6:01
because I was like, wait a minute. Is he on their side all of a sudden? No, he's not. No, he's not
6:05
No, wait. No, he is. It was so cookie cutter that the villain was wearing tan golf clothes
6:13
Yeah, that's true. Just like any generic villain. It was so the character that you're talking about
6:19
Oh, Camantante. The character you're talking about was by far the most interesting
6:25
but because he was the most confusing. They had this weird backstory for him where he may have been
6:31
in a mental home? And we won't get too much into spoilers, so just spoiler
6:35
but we might say some things that give away a little bit of the movie, but we won't ruin too much
6:39
because there is something of a twist at the end, kind of, sort of, maybe. Yeah, yeah
6:43
You ask me, like, so does this mean blah, blah, blah? Because it involves the big bad
6:49
Yeah. And then it involves the crazy guy, and you're like, oh, was he, did he used to be blah
6:54
But they don't really explain it or even, they kind of give you
6:59
a reason to think it. But then it's like, okay, why is he hunting them now, if that's the case
7:04
Like, I will say this about the prey. I thought that was a cool idea
7:09
Like, he's seeing visions and people look like the pig things from the Twilight Zone and all that was really, really neat
7:15
It just made no sense. Yeah, this movie kind of stumbled all over itself, like, from the word go
7:23
I never felt like it was fast-paced. I will give it that
7:28
It was extremely fast-paced. It went by really quickly. But it lost me right at the beginning
7:36
And I, while I knew, like, we keep bringing up most dangerous game, that kind of stuff
7:40
While I knew that's what it was. I did not know any other reason behind why anybody else was there, any of that stuff
7:47
It was very, very hard to follow. And it wasn't because it was in a foreign language or anything like that
7:53
I don't think that at all. Like, it really just was in its own way
7:58
like from the start. Yeah. And I, like, those type of things, like, I was like
8:04
because we had a little bit of March war here and there. We had like, like, yeah, not enough
8:09
Yeah, just a lot of things. And usually, like, even like, with foreign films
8:16
prestigious or not, we have a sort of, like, follow through. And this movie, even though, like, the thin line was the most dangerous game
8:23
it tried to do, like, original things. And those things kind of, like, set it apart
8:28
like the other, I guess, hunties, we don't know, and I guess we don't need to know anything else
8:37
The prey, Danny? The prey, yeah, there we go. I like to say hunties
8:43
I like honties. Well, that's a good point. So what did you think was original about it that said it apart
8:49
Because I'll be honest with you. I didn't see anything original about it at all
8:54
How dare you ask that question? No, I'm serious. Like, like, maybe I missed it
9:00
That one character that was seen to vision stuff, like, well, I'm sorry, and I'm
9:03
sorry, and I meant to say, like, in the story of the most dangerous game, you know
9:09
everything else is very generic as an action film. It's not like we haven't seen anything like this, but if we're just putting it on the
9:17
most dangerous game pedestal, you know, being seen visions and trying to like play the
9:24
is he not playing for the good good guys or bad guys
9:29
I thought that was pretty original like for this kind of story but
9:34
through every single action scene and every little like dialogue kick out's like
9:40
oh my dad would really enjoy this movie he would really enjoy this movie
9:44
and it was never like a movie that like oh that was really cool it's like oh
9:48
I think my dad would really like it would just cement it every single time
9:52
oh yeah this is like a movie that my dad would enjoy is something that you would probably see, like
9:56
on the Spanish-speaking channels. It had the spirit of a thousand bad action movies in it
10:03
Like, yeah, go ahead. So I was going to say, so, we're talking about the action
10:09
and then you're, like, you know, my dad would like a type movie. So what did you think of the fight scenes and the action in it
10:16
I wanted, you loved it? Yeah, you really did. I wanted, so the thing that, I guess the thing that bugged me
10:24
the most about this was the action scenes because like gun heavy
10:28
super gun heavy movie which I did not I guess expect I wanted way more
10:34
hand to hand like martial arts had this been like the raid or something
10:40
had they just gone full like fistacuffs like through the whole thing
10:43
they all have guns and then like they immediately drop them or get them kicked away or like that's cool
10:48
and then just like throw down I wanted like that that's what I wanted
10:52
out of this and it and it It left me wanting with all the gunplay
10:57
The reason it did that is because it teases you. Yeah. Like in the prison immediately when Jin is first, I guess
11:05
they try to extort him to pay the toll. And then it a really quick like 10 15 20 second thing but it pretty awesome You like wow Because I even told Blake like man this dude going to kick him ass And they constantly tease you
11:20
Like, he picks up the guns, which is smart. They never do that in movies
11:24
He picks up the guns, smart. But he's supposed to run out of bullets then. And then, you know, he's supposed to shoot, throw it away
11:30
And then he kicks ass with his fist. Never does it. Super disappointing
11:37
It's like, uh, it's the, uh, the, uh, In the end of that one sentence of this episode where Homer wants to see the little dude kick some ass
11:45
And he turns and misses it. Yeah, misses the whole thing. It's kind of something like that
11:49
I feel like the... Except you were paying laser focus. Yeah, exactly, yeah
11:56
Like, you know, and this is why I think why I liked it. It was we had the gunplay, the kung fu
12:04
But I wish, and I was thinking throughout the, like, that fight scene, I was like, oh, man, we're going to see some, like,
12:09
awesome gun-foo stuff. And I feel that's where I was kind of like let down
12:17
But as I mentioned, this is something like, it's just generic and it's fun for being generic
12:27
Yeah, it's something. So, okay, what did you guys think was the best fight scene
12:34
Like, to me, I think the fights were the biggest, by far, the biggest wasted opportunity
12:39
in the movie because there is obviously the talent there to do some amazing stuff and they didn't
12:44
do it for whatever reason but um i mean there were some fight scenes there my my favorite it wasn't a
12:49
full scene but i loved when they're chasing jinn and he's on there's the guys on the motorcycles
12:54
he like jumps over a fallen tree and he has a knife he just turns and throws the knife
12:59
blind tosses the knife and kills this dude that was amazing and that was a tease yeah so like this
13:07
the thing that this movie was good at was like the weird just random acts of
13:11
action that would happen like and sometimes they wouldn't they wouldn't even proceed more action
13:17
they kind of would just like weird bit of action and then they would move on to like some weird talking point
13:23
and like some new character that I'm like where'd she come from? Yeah yeah
13:26
you know so like it did a lot of that but like yeah it was kind of good at like the weird kind of like random spurts
13:32
of like hyperviolence because it's right it tried it tried It just, it wasn't as successful as it could have been in any of that stuff
13:42
Yeah. It was weird. It was like it, and it was almost like it knew the talent that it had, but it purposely pulled back
13:50
Like, I don't think they did it on purpose, but it seemed like, it was almost like they wanted to mess with the audience
13:55
Yeah, it was weird. It was really weird. Speaking of weird, the ending
14:01
Without getting too much into it, what did you guys think? So this definitely does not follow
14:07
this is unique because of what Danny was like. This does not follow the spirit of the most dangerous game
14:12
I'll leave it at that much. And I did not like the ending. No. So what did you guys think
14:18
I was not a fan. I was very confused. I felt like I coughed and I missed something
14:25
It was, no. This is, it's weird to say, but this is the weakest part of the whole weird trippy movie
14:35
I'm not going to lie. by that point in the movie I had started to drift in my attention and I may have looked down at my phone or I may have looked off into the distance and, you know, just thought about my life
14:50
And when I looked back, it was over and there were credits rolling. And I had to go back and put back like the last 45 seconds of it just to watch it again
14:58
No, it was horrible. A bad ending. It just stops. And it's weird that they..
15:05
It's really weird. It was one of those things where, like, I was watching it, and I felt like I was paying attention
15:11
But then I thought that it was fair enough that even though I was paying attention, it was so bad that I missed something
15:17
So I actually texted Blake. I was like, so what happened with so-and-so
15:22
And he was like, well, I guess this is. I was like, okay, that's cool
15:28
I mean, it's a strange, strange ending. Like, I honestly don't even understand the purpose of ending a movie in the way that it did
15:36
Very weird. It's almost like they, like, ran out of money or ran out of film, and, like, they were like, well, that's, well, that's what we're done
15:43
They were like, okay, guys, we have, we have 18 minutes. Whatever happens in the next 18 minutes is how the movie's in
15:50
Cut it and red. And that's that. So, another weird thing about the movie was the soundtrack
15:56
What did you guys think of the soundtrack? Poor choice, weird choice
16:01
I don't know. I, you know, I don't know. I would say I agree with you weird but appropriate
16:13
I was about to say I'm going to be the odd man out because I'm like I think it worked
16:18
for as stupid and weird as that movie was I don't know where the music came from I don't know if it was original if it was made for this
16:28
it wasn't mocking 80s action movies but it certainly wasn't anything modern
16:32
No. I don't know what it was going for, but it did work on a weird level
16:40
It was like bad It was like a retro video game music in a lot of ways or something It was kind of strange I will say this Like a good soundtrack is one that you don notice Like occasionally it like oh there music there It never ruined anything that was going on I never thought like
16:58
wow, this scene needs more action and this music makes it even worse. Like, I never
17:02
thought that. I noticed it in a good way. Yeah, I noticed
17:06
it. I was like, oh, that's a weird choice. And you know where it really like
17:11
picks up? Towards the end, like, at the end of the movie. Like, we just have the song
17:17
start, and you're just like, oh, okay, where, where, were you, okay
17:23
this is, this is fine, I think. Um, yeah, no, I don't, I thought, yes
17:29
it's weird, there were all weird choices. And it works, I guess
17:33
but I don't think it was really, I don't know what it was
17:38
I really don't know. One thing I noticed about this movie, and it's, maybe it's a strange thing
17:43
that it does, but all action movies, they have that one big chasing
17:47
There's a car, planes, trains, something. Were you surprised by how little vehicles were involved in this
17:54
There's the motorcycles. There's like one part where they come across a roadblock type thing
17:59
That's all that I remember. I don't think there was much in the way of vehicles in this. No, and there could have been way more of that
18:04
Like, I was expecting, like, more motorcycle foo as Joe Bob would say
18:10
Maybe, like, stringing stuff up in the forest to, like, decapitate people
18:15
I don't know, like there could have been, there was lots of missed opportunities. There was like, was there a deadfall even
18:21
I think there was like one deadfall trap maybe. Well, the guy that gets killed by a bamboo
18:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there was some of your classics. There was definitely, but underutilized
18:32
Like, go great. Very much so. I think this should have been more Rambo with the booby traps and other stuff and less
18:39
fortnight to use them. Like Kevin McAllister. Yes, more Kevin McAllister. Let's, uh, I can't think of another Kevin
18:52
Spacey. Yeah, definitely like Kevin Spacey. Would you guys like to see, okay, maybe not pre-franchise movies
19:01
but the start of the movie, Gu Sheng Wing, I think his name
19:05
Would you like to see more of him in action movies? Yes. Yeah, I liked him a lot
19:10
He was by far the best part of the movie. He was a good actor
19:14
I could see him being like the next Chow Young Fat like definitely he's he had a lot of
19:20
he was awesome he was awesome he was he was he was he did
19:24
obviously he's the start of the whole film but he really knew how to carry those scenes and
19:30
I definitely like to see him in more action films even if there is a prey to
19:36
you know which there won't yeah they won't be but you know whatever whatever he comes out to
19:43
next I I'll keep an eye out to see what the movies is going to be about
19:48
If it's as confusing as this, then he needs a better agent. Yeah, exactly
19:53
It's the agent. I think there was lots of teases. He did the most that he possibly could have done with this script
20:01
And he does have some, he has some moves. He doesn't get to show him very often, but they're there
20:07
I'd like to see him with the leash off. I think it would be pretty awesome
20:12
The Pre-2, maybe they'll adapt a. the Bay of Silence for that
20:17
So final words, Blake, will start with you here. Is this an opening night
20:22
If you pay to rent it, wait to stream, or completely ignore? I'm going to be a negative Nancy
20:32
Completely ignore it. I'm sorry. There's not enough here for me to recommend this, really
20:38
I mean, if any of this that we said sounded like, hey, yeah, shit, I'll give it a shot
20:42
guy go cool I can't personally like I would not I would not like
20:47
recommend this to anybody in a casual conversation what about you daddy
20:53
I will also say completely ignore it unless you're my dad I'm surprised I'm surprised
20:58
specifically my dad I think we will enjoy this movie and if it's like I want to like
21:05
Unimaz or anything that's played in the Mexican channels but this is just ignore it
21:11
Ignore it. You know, I, uh, I'm surprised Danny said that. So I guess I'm going to go with Danny's answer
21:17
I, it's worth a stream. Throw it on in the background. I mean, you don't have to pay attention to it
21:22
Like, if you're into, actually, it's probably better if you don't pay attention to it
21:27
But, hey, if you're into like, uh, one fight, gun, gun, gun, uh, one gun battle to the next gun battle to the next gun battle
21:35
And then an occasional vision in there. The hell. Just, uh, don't really pay attention to the, gun, gun, gun, uh, don't really pay attention to the
21:41
the beginning, because it doesn't matter. Don't pay attention to the end, because it sucks and it's confusing
21:45
Other characters. It's gory. There's a lot of blood. Oh, yeah. It's bloody as hell
21:51
But blood can't save this. Blood can't save this movie. Well, that's what I'm saying, just stream it
21:55
in the background. We're here every week on adventures and movies looks at dot, dot, dot. Next week, we
22:03
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22:08
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22:15
But come check us out at any time. And also, we have a review all policy
22:19
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22:24
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