Predators

Predators, an entertaining film with genuine surprises, may be the first movie I've seen to start with a deus ex machina. Yes, the whole plot and all the humans plummet into the movie from the heavens, dropping toward the alien soil, shrieking, groping for ripcords on the parachutes that they didn't realize they had. The last thing they recall is a blinding blaze of light. The first to land, with a powerful thud, is Royce. The others then crash all around him.

These people are bitter specialized murderers from all over: a mercenary, a yakuza (who uses a Hanzo sword; probably QT buddy Rodriguez's idea), an Israeli markswoman, a serial killer, an African warlord, etc. How did they find themselves in this dense jungle, and why? They determine they're on another planet: a flawlessly terra-formed one, it would appear. The gravity lets them walk as usual, and they can breathe and hydrate. Royce observes something bizarre: The sun never moves. They see there are three or four moons in the sky, which are either colossal or very near.

Even more bizarre, it never becomes molten lava yanked around by enormous tidal waves. But as you always have to say when Rodriguez is involved, "Whatever." After the characters are assaulted by massive eponymous monsters, Royce nails it: They're in a game reservation. He solves a lot of questions in the movie, which might've been more interesting if he hadn't. But it's all still much more intriguing that just pitting two franchise monsters against each other. Instead, this movie is smart enough to again pit predators against humans, who are predators with the weakness of being human. It's the sense of compassion or empathy for our fellow human that makes us vulnerable to predators.

But who oversees this game preserve, and why? If you remember the first Predator, Schwarzenegger and other mercs were in the Amazon pitted against an invisible predatory extraterrestrial. Has that alien race snatched humans into its galaxy for a rematch? Is it a sensible consumption of assets to transfer numerous people countless light years merely so you can kill them purposelessly? No time to ponder. Here come some extremely ferocious four-legged creatures whose horns and fangs continue too far in front of their mouths for them to be able to eat their prey. They don't even look like they can lie on their backs and scoop the quarry in with their feet owing to all the spikes on their backs.

This is a Rodriguez production: Making sense is not an issue. The movie is generally about our malevolent protagonists being mauled by frightening mandible-jawed creatures. who use active camouflage and energy weapons, reposition as swiftly as panthers, can see in a variety of spectrums, and are equally as self-aware as humans, sans compassion of course. Nimrod Antal gave Vacancy a masterful sense of what to show and when to reveal it, and so is a proficient enough director to keep these villains intriguing throughout unintelligible jumbles of bullet-paced visual effects. The eponymous indigents see all in infrared POV shots via what seems like a closed-circuit monitor. Or sinister videotape on a motel TV set perhaps? There are invariably a handful of characters who get slaughtered in manhunt films like this. What puzzles me is why they all don't get slaughtered? Consider if that spiky warthog tackled you to the ground at 20 mph and all you could do was stick it with your knife, would you imagine you'd be making facetious comments on it later on? Still, a charming moment where Apocalypse Now alum Laurence Fishburne hums Ride of the Valkyrie nonetheless pulls us out of the claustrophobia by being meta-referential. On the other hand, lines like "Say goodbye to your little friend" work as momentary relief from the claustrophobia.

This is a strip down predator movie. A group of disparate tough people are parachuted off into an alien world. There isn't much of a setup. They find themselves being hunted by predators.

This one stars Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Danny Trejo, and Laurence Fishburne. Fishburne's character is a bit of a missed opportunity. There are other actors who could play crazy better.

Even though Robert Rodriguez didn't direct this, it's got many of his touches. And it's a worthy sequel to '87 original. It's definitely better than all the Predator versus Alien movies. It's even better than the 1990 sequel.

Before I took a chance on this film there was really only one question I wanted answered...

'Is this film going to be another steaming pile of disappointment like the AVP films?'

And the answer, happily, is 'No', though after having to sift through all the unhelpful and uninformative 1 rater reviews here, I never would have guessed. I almost gave this film a miss, but I'm glad I didn't. It was actually quite good, and I'll tell you why (no spoilers I promise).

I think it is important to go into this film with the right expectations. This film returns to the original Predator format, and borrows heavily from the first 1987 Predator film. There are scenes and characters (and even weapons) which are so reminiscent of the first film that they would not be out of place in a remake. I like to view this as very deliberate homage to the original rather than shameless plagiarism, and I enjoyed the film more and feel much happier because of it. Of course this is not a remake. It is a sequel with some major differences from the 1987 film, and enough originality to make it interesting and unique in its own right.

The story is not overly ambitious, they play it straight and the focus is given more to building tension, which it manages to do very well. Because it is a Predator film you kind of know what is going to happen, but it still manages to be suspenseful from the start, and there are quite a few surprises and twists along the way to keep you guessing. The unnerving way the truth of their situation unfolds for the characters is quite enthralling, and reminded me strongly of shows like 'The Outer Limits'.

The characters are interesting and all of them are well portrayed. Some are a little cliché, but the main character played by Adrien Brody is actually more human and teeters on the edge of being a full blown anti- hero.

My only major gripe with this film is that there is little character development. The characters are (as I said) interesting, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time to explore them very deeply. The most you really get is a shallow glimpse of who they might be, which left question marks over some of their motivations. This does make the film slightly forgettable, as you never really end up feeling or caring too much for them, and sometime it feels like they do things just to drive the plot/action forward, rather than because it is something their character might do.

Overall I would give the film a 7 out of 10, it was above average for and action flick and screamed quality, despite a retentively low budget, and I definitely wouldn't mind going to see it again. An entertaining action thriller at worst, and a nice edition to the Predator franchise.

Predators Review

In A Nutshell...

Eight of Earth's most dangerous Soldiers and Criminals awaken falling into an unknown jungle – on an alien world. As they try to work together to stay alive, an invisible enemy hunts them for sport.

Review

In 1987 John McTiernan directed a testosterone filled action flick, which pitted Arnold Schwarzenegger against a bad-ass alien, it did well with its worldwide audience and is still considered a solid action film today. But after a poor sequel, which replaced The Terminator himself with Danny Glover (bad idea) and two laughable spin-offs, it seemed the predator franchise was all but dead and buried.

Twenty-three Years later producer Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and director Nimród Antal (Vacancy – but don't be put off just yet) have come together with an unproduced 1994 script by Rodriguez – who has been eager to get the picture made for quite some time. The film does well with the original formula, a jungle, a group of mercenaries with big guns, a strong leader — who in this case is Oscar winner Adrian Brody (The pianist, King Kong) who has bulked up for the role of Royce, but is merely a shadow of Schwarzenegger's Dutch in size. But what Brody lacks in statue, he makes up for in pure acting talent, and brings a well needed central performance, to a film that ultimately lacks in dialogue.

The supporting cast unlike other movies of this genre, don't just play the part of a large body count, but have a likable mentality (well some do) similar to James Cameron's Aliens – but don't get me wrong, none of them are by any means Bill Paxton's Hudson. An honourable mention goes to the Katana wielding yakuza Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien) whose sword skills are somewhat deadly. Unfortunately one of the biggest disappointments of the film is how the predator is handled, with the introduction of the new berserker Predator, which hunts the humans and Predators alike. You would think they would be ten times the hunter that the first was – But actually they are a lot sloppier in comparison to the 1987 original.

Final Thoughts

The first half is a brilliantly paced action movie which lives up to expectations, in many ways surpasses them. Unfortunately due to a few minor hick-ups and a dull climax it suffers in the third and final act. But overall a well earned three star effort, which should grant Nimród Antal another bash at the recovering franchise.

3/5 Stars www.CrazyAboutFilm.com

After re-watching this movie for a third time in 4k and 10 years later, I think this is better than I thought the first and second time. The story is quite simple and enjoyable and most of the characters are true Badass. Action is pretty well done and filming locations are similar to original Predator. Last, I just noticed Oscar winner Mahershala Ali is in the cast! Probably one of his first roles. So, overall a great re-watch in 4k and great movie for franchise fans.