PREDATORS
2010
R
You can watch the trailer here
R
You can watch the trailer here
In case you haven't noticed, the lack of original thought in Hollywood has led to a slew of sequels, remakes and reboots, which probably led to the eventual green-light for the production of Predators. Although I'm not a die-hard fan of Arnie's 1987 original - I've seen it before, but it's been ages - I remember finding it at least moderately entertaining, and it had a rather clever premise. In crafting this semi-sequel, semi-reboot, director Nimród Antal tried to capture some of that entertainment.
Sparing any type of a prologue, the audience is immediately thrust into the action as we see a man plunging towards the earth but managing to activate his parachute just before he hits the highest peaks of the treetops below. Once he lands on terra firma, we meet this unnamed soldier (Adrien Brody) as he watches more people fall from the sky. Once everyone is accounted for, we find eight people - four soldiers, one drug cartel henchman, one Japanese mob guy, one death row inmate, and a doctor - now stranded in a jungle they do not recognize. The only female in the group, a similarly unnamed soldier (Alice Braga), suggests that the group stay together because there's strength in numbers. And so, the crew sets out, trying to figure out where they are. However, they soon realize they are no longer on Earth and instead have been taken to another planet that's used as a type of game preserve, and they are now the game. Action - and a bit of unwanted hilarity - ensues as the group does their best to compete against the "predators" hunting them around the planet.
I think it goes without saying that there's not much of a screenplay to talk about here. It's basically your standard action flick with a few good fighting sequences that are much too seldom and too far in-between. The dialogue isn't anything to applaud, but it suits the context of the movie. Of course, there will always be the one guy who seemingly and inexplicably knows everything - enter Adrien Brody, everyone - and as a result becomes the unwilling leader of the group. Some people live, most people die; I think you know how these types of movies go by now.
At least there's a little redemption from the characters. The acting is "action movie good," but if you put this level of performance into a drama, I'd laugh it out of the theater. All of the characters are distinct and different from one another, but there's so many different people that you never really get a good insight into any of them, aside from Brody, Braga and Topher Grace. (By the way, I just want it to be publicly known that I'm not a fan of Mr. Grace. I couldn't tell you what it is about him that I don't like, but something just doesn't rub me the right way about him. I mean, aside from the fact that he's a terrible actor. He's not quite at the Shia LaBeouf level of hatred, but he's close.) We do get a small role from Machete himself, Danny Trejo, but when he's -- SPOILER ALERT -- out of the film in the first twenty minutes, -- SPOILER ALERT -- you know you're not in for much of a quality flick.
It's not that the movie is bad; in fact, it's even entertaining at times. But there are quite a few scenes that will leave you a little bit bored, wondering when the next predator is going to rip some guy's spinal cord from his body. If you're a fan of the original, I'm sure it's worth watching this installment, but it's not going to blow you away. For what it is, it's a decent flick, but it's not really going to stick with you for a long time.
Sparing any type of a prologue, the audience is immediately thrust into the action as we see a man plunging towards the earth but managing to activate his parachute just before he hits the highest peaks of the treetops below. Once he lands on terra firma, we meet this unnamed soldier (Adrien Brody) as he watches more people fall from the sky. Once everyone is accounted for, we find eight people - four soldiers, one drug cartel henchman, one Japanese mob guy, one death row inmate, and a doctor - now stranded in a jungle they do not recognize. The only female in the group, a similarly unnamed soldier (Alice Braga), suggests that the group stay together because there's strength in numbers. And so, the crew sets out, trying to figure out where they are. However, they soon realize they are no longer on Earth and instead have been taken to another planet that's used as a type of game preserve, and they are now the game. Action - and a bit of unwanted hilarity - ensues as the group does their best to compete against the "predators" hunting them around the planet.
I think it goes without saying that there's not much of a screenplay to talk about here. It's basically your standard action flick with a few good fighting sequences that are much too seldom and too far in-between. The dialogue isn't anything to applaud, but it suits the context of the movie. Of course, there will always be the one guy who seemingly and inexplicably knows everything - enter Adrien Brody, everyone - and as a result becomes the unwilling leader of the group. Some people live, most people die; I think you know how these types of movies go by now.
At least there's a little redemption from the characters. The acting is "action movie good," but if you put this level of performance into a drama, I'd laugh it out of the theater. All of the characters are distinct and different from one another, but there's so many different people that you never really get a good insight into any of them, aside from Brody, Braga and Topher Grace. (By the way, I just want it to be publicly known that I'm not a fan of Mr. Grace. I couldn't tell you what it is about him that I don't like, but something just doesn't rub me the right way about him. I mean, aside from the fact that he's a terrible actor. He's not quite at the Shia LaBeouf level of hatred, but he's close.) We do get a small role from Machete himself, Danny Trejo, but when he's -- SPOILER ALERT -- out of the film in the first twenty minutes, -- SPOILER ALERT -- you know you're not in for much of a quality flick.
It's not that the movie is bad; in fact, it's even entertaining at times. But there are quite a few scenes that will leave you a little bit bored, wondering when the next predator is going to rip some guy's spinal cord from his body. If you're a fan of the original, I'm sure it's worth watching this installment, but it's not going to blow you away. For what it is, it's a decent flick, but it's not really going to stick with you for a long time.
Movie Review Summary:
Grade: C
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Grade: C
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