Tortoisemogwai

With Predators we escape from the slightly underwhelming concrete jungle of Predator 2, the shitty snow not-a-jungle jungle of AVP and whatever location they had for its sequel that no-one with any sense bothered to watch and return to Arnies domain of just-a-jungle jungle. Except we are in space on a mysterious world with several funny looking moons and suns. Being back in a jungle, and being thrown into it straight away (no bullshit waiting) starts Predators off on the right foot. Luckily it manages to stay on that foot and ends up being a very enjoyable, if flawed, b-movie style popcorn flick.

After following Brody's descent in hell we get introduced to our motley group of lovably cheesy characters one by one. There's Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Morpheus, Danny Trejo and some guys with long names. Each holds their own exploiting their character traits to a level that's acceptable to make them seem real enough people instead of extremely annoying walking lumps of flesh. I think Brody does well, he's no Dutch – and certainly seems far smaller in comparison – but does a good enough job to warrant him leading the pack and making the film well worth seeing. Essentially all the characters are lambs for the slaughter and you're just waiting for them to die, but they're well crafted enough for you to care when your favourite one dies. Unfortunately my favourite character died first, damn. From here the story is kept simple and follows them looking around for a bit, finding out where they are for a bit and then trying to survive a bit. Well, it's not that simple. There are some ethical issues thrown in along with a sort of twist for good measure and it manages to be directed and shot with creative flair making it feel far more personal and therefore likable compared to much of Hollywoods action based output. Congrats Rodriguez & Co.

In relation to the first film Predators makes a fair few lovable references to it. Best of all reusing music from the original to great effect, making me feel like I'm watching a Predator film – which is a good feeling. Like Predator the film paces itself fast and never really slows down, and even when it does there is enough threat from the situation to warrant a fair amount of tension. It's good that they went through a check list of what to take and homage from the original to use in the film and what not to take from the AVP films, as well as introducing plenty of new elements, and it's nice to see the Predators up to their no good shenanigans, even if the effects are slightly to CGI based to seem as realistic as the optical effects (which may sound strange) of the first two films the creatures look nearly as good as ever and fans will defiantly enjoy the Predators and their trademark hot-spot viewpoint, which, unfortunately, isn't used nearly enough throughout the film. Fans of the first will also enjoy the credits, which hold a nice musical surprise. On the down side Predators is fairly shoddily written leaving more than a couple of plot holes and leading to slightly hammy acting at times, however, it manages to make up for this is many ways and ends up being great fun if you can forgive its setbacks. If you can't though, I can't say that you will enjoy it as much, although I'm pretty sure that you will be able to tell whether you will love or hate it in the first five minutes, it has some class titles.

One final thing: That shot of Adrian Brody, in the trailer, with about 10 predator guns pointed at him might be a little white lie and counter to the amount of guns pointed at him in the finished package.

Ozploitation. Exploitations colloquial cousin. During a period Ozploitation films where popular and Turkey Shoot is a notable success amongst some of the trash of the Australians attempts at exploitation films. It's fairly controversial 'The Most Dangerous Game' approach has helped it gain a fair amount of cult following over the years and all though it doesn't hold up in the slightest to later films with the same honourable human hunting intentions such as Battle Royale and more recently Exam it still holds up nicely as the definitive Australian approach to the subject matter.

Turkey Shoot takes place in a dystopian future, now past, where 'social deviants' can be re-educated and returned to society through concentration style camps. The films narrative starts by following the lives of three newly arrived inmates and their view upon the extreme violence and toil prisoners suffer throughout their stay, mostly beatings and depravity by a hugely entertaining large bold Australian with a handlebar moustache. In the second half of the film the camps owners, safari British style hunters, round up five one-dimensional, to the extreme, characters (we have whore, rebel, rebel mark 2, bad guy and vulnerable) and force them to participate for their possible freedom in a human hunt, staring themselves, called Turkey Shoot. When faced with the dilemma of what to do when hunted each character uses their own personality to forge different ways of dealing with the situation and in true exploitation style extreme violence bordering on hilarity ensues.

Brain Trenchard-Smiths direction is riddled with plot holes but the right ingredients are there; i.e. gore, nudity and some kind of circus freak werewolf guy. What makes the film and its direction good is that it doesn't treat itself seriously, there is no character development or even some kind of message or lesson learnt by the end of the film. It just wants to exist to entertain its audience and being a film exploiting violence make money. All the factors that would bother audiences in drama films don't matter in Turkey Shoot and can be disregarded as its honesty in being a technically bad film tells the audience that it wasn't made to win awards or be visually or musically stunning.

Naturally the acting is bad. But as all the characters only have one characteristic for the actors to act in the characters are appealing as comical relief from the films serious, even if not shown in the film, underlying story. The English actors are great in playing their roles as the bad guys in typical posh ascents to stress that they are 'better people' than the Ausies. The person that stands out most however is Roger Ward as Chief Guard Ritter, his enthusiastic approach to the violent sadistic character fits perfectly creating a highly memorable giant Australian with a handlebar moustache. This along with the werewolf placed in the film just to chew peoples toes and such are probably the most imaginative parts of the film and make it memorable over many other films in its genre.

Visually and musically there is little going on. The film is shot and edited nicely enough but sometimes its conventional style makes you think that the director could have done so much more. The aspect that saves its dull camera work comes from the variety of lush Australian landscapes ranging from the sandy concentration camp style centre to woods, fields of long dry grass and beaches. This helps the film as a whole always capture your interest and I'm in no doubt that without this kind of variety in the sets landscapes the film might seem very boring indeed. Overall Turkey Shoot holds up as an entertaining popcorn flick and with its blend of extreme violence and lovable characters (for the most part, villain-wise anyway) makes a entirely watchable exploitation movie. If you are a fan of the The Most Dangerous Game style situations it might boost itself to a must watch.

Ever had the feeling were you just have to shoot at something? No? Well I have and Black is the game I use for it. Basically there is no story to this game. Your just some grumpy soldier who releases his pent up aggression though shooting countless Terrorists. You just simply go through the levels shooting anything that moves and blowing up every thing that can explode. It kinda reminds me of 'Black Hawk Down' with the way it looks, settings and such. It is a pure joy to play. The special effects are brilliant to the point you think your there and actually get post-traumatic stress disorder, the graphics are also very good for a PS2 game. Plus there is a variety of lovely gunshot and grenade sounds to keep you entertained.

There are a few problems however. For example when you reload to screen goes all blurred apart from your gun and arm, and this happens in real life to. Also the cut scenes are awful. But that isn't exactly anything new for this genre of game. Overall though it is a pure joy to play and is one of the if not the best game on the PS2. Still, I'd play on Call of Duty 4 now... But I wont forget this.