Predators

Predators has been a labour of love for Robert Rodriguez which has lasted sixteen years but has this relationship been a case of star-crossed-lovers or the raptures of true love blossomed into holy matrimony?

The film starts with the Troubleshooter logo bursting onto the screen followed by a high energy opening which gets your heart racing and the excitement pumping through your veins. As an audience, we are falling at considerable speed with Adrian Brody’s Royce who is unconscious and hurtling towards earth. He wakes up just in time to open his parachute and crash-land into the jungle. Here he meets a band of reprobates, elite forces specialists and Danny Trejo, all of whom have suffered the same ordeal and have no idea why.

As they search to find where they are and what has happened to them, they are set upon by alien dogs and, eventually, Predators. It soon transpires that they have all been selected for being the best in their field as killers and hunters to become the hunted on a planet which doubles as a game reserve; and they are the game. The film then plays out as homage to the first Predator film as one by one the Predators pick off the team with scenes very familiar to fans of the original until there are only a hand-full of humans left. This is when the twists and turns begin and we are nosedived into a finale involving a psychotic doctor, a supped-up super Predator and Adrian Brody fulfilling the action man role of his dreams.

The reviews thus far have been mixed for Predators, however this reviewer left the cinema exhilarated and thankful that someone out there is still making action films like they used to when Arnie was a star. The set-up is long; we are introduced to each character and their talents/flaws with only a little clunkiness. Yes it is bogged with stereotypical dialogue and Brody’s Royce seems to come to the right conclusions all too easily but that’s what action films are about, that’s what Predator films are about. We want to see the Predators, but we can’t do that without a story and a story needs a set up.

Alice Braga is suitably macho, yet vulnerable in the role of Isabelle and Oleg Taktarov stands out as the muscle man, Nikolai. In fact there are no bad performances here. Topher Grace perhaps seems out of place among these mercenaries but that will be explained later and Danny Trejo does his bit (it will be great to finally see him in a lead role when Machete hits our screens later this year).

The direction from Antal is muted in the set up until he lets the dogs out, then things really liven up and the murky jungle becomes a place of fear and dread – exactly what the hell are these guys up against? We all know of course and, in case you miss it, look out for the little red triangle of dots throughout the first thirty minutes which are cleverly included like a Tyler Durden flash.

The script lacks characterisation; you never really care too much about the characters, though Brody’s Royce has the vulnerability that a certain Austrian body builder lacked previously but, again, that is not the point. Predators is about spectacle, the cinema of attractions; it’s a fan movie created by the ultimate fan and so the script plays out like this. There is build up and action sequences, homage and plot twists. Predators really does have everything in it; but saying that, perhaps everything and then a little too much.

The addition of a new Predator, only a little bigger and meaner than the original is fan-boy masturbation and the lack of a wrapped up ending leaves you a little dissatisfied until, of course, the closing credits role and the final homage plays all around the auditorium. All in all, this is a great film for anyone who longs for the long forgotten action movies of times past. Don’t go to see this expecting it to have everything you want from a new Predators movie, instead go in to have fun and see someone bury the awful AVP franchise.

Last edited: 30th October 2010

No related posts.