Predators: Review

Official Synopsis

“A bold new chapter in the Predator universe, Predators was shot on location under Rodriguez’s creative auspices at the filmmaker’s Austin-based Troublemaker Studios, and is directed by Nimrod Antal. The film stars Adrien Brody as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they’ve been brought together on an alien planet… as prey.
With the exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members – human “predators” that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators”.

Since Predator’s inception back in 1987 the poor guys haven’t really been treated all that fairly… The sequels started wrong with the fucking horrendous Predator 2, and have been sliding down a sewer of never ending shit since. With each Alien vs. Predator incarnation, the predator has been left licking his wounds hoping to avoid the inevitable straight to DVD category. Now in 2010 – could Robert Rodriguez and Nimrod Antal jumpstart this dying franchise with some movie magic and the ‘defibrillators of hope’?

Well, yes actually! First thing you notice about this film… is that it is one big homage to the original flick! Everything is in place… the jungle, the guy with the minigun, the silent but deadly ‘assassin guy’ (now replaced with yakuza.) It forgets everything that ever happened after the 1987 original (so no mention of Danny Glover in beating down a predator in hand to hand combat in Predator 2), there is however, a mention of Dutch (Schwarzenegger) and his elite commando unit… which is nice.

The predators themselves are actually scary again (hooray!!) Antal doesn’t skip the foreplay and get straight to the action – he builds up the suspense before the reveal (which actually make you fear the creatures once again.)And good news fans… Predators tear the spines out of their victims and proudly display what’s left of their human remains. Predators earns every part of its R Rating (15 in the UK.)

Let’s talk about the cast… because that’s where Predators is at its best and most flawed. Adrien Brody pulls off a good leading guy, I mean… he’s the one that turned the most heads when he was announced (the guy from The Pianist?) But, I’ve got to say… he pulled off Royce ‘a flawed Merc’ effortlessly. Alice Braga as the sniper Isabelle brings some heart to the flick and for once… there’s a girl that isn’t a damsel in distress. In fact, all the other actors that make up this group of misfits – play their parts well.

That brings me onto one of the films biggest misfires… and it pains me to say this – Lawrence Fishburne is horribly miscast in this film and there is little point him actually being in it!? He plays “the one that got away, the one you don’t fuck with” which sounds awesome in writing and the part looked good in the trailers. I mean… the guy is decked out like a predator and stalks the jungle hunting for them… so he must be one mean motherfucker right? No, he just comes off like a crazy person in hiding (much like Tim Robbins in War of the Worlds) luckily enough, audiences won’t have to endure his ramblings for long… he’s in it for like ten minutes? Again, what’s the point? I don’t know if it was the script or the acting or maybe even both? Something just didn’t sit right with this character…

The score for this film is excellent, John Debney employs Alan Silverstri’s original theme to good effect and even funks it up in various parts, giving Predators a nice little riff effect in places. And credit has to go to Nimrod Antal for pulling this film off without it being corney, the direction is spot on… the action is well shot, the creeps and jumps are played almost without a hitch. The mood, the feeling everything is in place… this film absolutely deserves the Predator title and can stand proudly next to the original.

This is the true Predator sequel. **** (4 out of 5)