Reviews

This is a highly problematic episode that hasn't aged well considering all the stories that have come out of Hollywood since. The moral of the story is that you shouldn't believe a claim of assault from a woman, because it can destroy the lives of rich and powerful men.

False memories are of course a very real thing, as are false accusations, but this is not the story we need. This story has been told too many times already, and we need more stories that don't teach us to be sceptical towards claims of assault.

Otherwise, the episode is well acted, well filmed and technically proficient. But it well and truly has not aged well.

ER is easily my favorite drama show of all time, and a superb show in so many ways. But this episode is bad. Thankfully it had some regular scenes lifting it, but the whole Calaus subplot and the grandmother talking about evil, it's too much and too silly.

This has to be the worst. Please, let it be the worst.

The plot is a complete break with the set up so far, and fine, that could be a "plot twist", but it's just not believable the way they do it. Making Thornton a previously unknown big bad, when everything about her personality suggests she is the only competent one of them all, and very much sincere ...

It doesn't sit well.

Well, I must admit I never liked her character, but Sandrine Holt is the only actor in the series with any ability to convey her character in a non smarmy way. I don't know what to say, except that this episode is really bad.

Latvia as the breeding ground for a group of armed insurrectionists who walk around in the streets with assault rifles, and the authorities don't react? I mean, in Somalia or Syria, sure, but Latvia?

And the whole subplot with MacGyver's roomie belongs in a sitcom. A government agency who lets a civilian sit in when you call in the cavalry and discuss super secret ops? Also, as a NATO country bordering Russia there is a rapid response force in Latvia, you wouldn't need to call a carrier group to get reinforcements.

I think you have to be put through the best an American education can offer to buy this. This is an exercise in absolute idiocy. G.I. Joe cartoons had more believable plots, and those had Cobra Commander to boot.

The Predators is to the Predator what Alien Resurrection was to Alien, and will have the same effect. Thanks to Predators this franchise managed to limp into a new phase of survival after the horrendous AvP films, but this is the nail in the coffin.

Why? There are several reasons.

Where the first film had intelligent elements of parody this film takes all those same elements seriously. The whole tough guy routine. Probably the idiot who wrote and directed this film, and acted in the original, doesn't understand irony and subtleties.

Also the film is wildly inconsistent, with tasks being difficult or easy according to how it affects the progress of the film, not in any believable way. Two F-35s can't shoot down the Predator spacecraft, but a guy jumping into one its engines is enough to take it out. First the scientists can't open the door to the spacecraft and needs the savant to open it, then the action hero can open the door without ever having laid eyes on the console before, while basically falling around.

There's a lot more like that, and the film is also wildly out of tone with the three films that came before it. As well as having a grasp of how evolution works that is about as accurate as what you'd expect from a Creationist.

This film is a poor cash grab that replaces anything remotely intelligent or challenging with infantile action sequences and CGI space dogs. I regret watching it, and had to redeem the time I wasted by warning others to stay away.