Directted by: Nimród Antal
Starring: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne
I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from Predators. After the disasters that were the two Alien VS Predator films, I didn't think there was much life left in the series. Luckily the creative team behind this film thought the same as I did about the AVP films, and decided to ignore that storyline altogether. They drew most, if not all, of their inspiration from the first film. Predators is a fun, no-brainer action movie, that gives a slick 2010 feel to the 1987 classic.
We open on our main character, Royce (Brody), as he is in freefall. His parachute opens and he lands less than gracefully in a jungle. There, he meets up with a few other people who have fallen in the same fashion he has. Most of them are all killers of some kind (save for one doctor): Special forces, mercenaries, mass murderers, and gang hit men. They soon realize that the're not on earth anymore, and that something is hunting them.
We open on our main character, Royce (Brody), as he is in freefall. His parachute opens and he lands less than gracefully in a jungle. There, he meets up with a few other people who have fallen in the same fashion he has. Most of them are all killers of some kind (save for one doctor): Special forces, mercenaries, mass murderers, and gang hit men. They soon realize that the're not on earth anymore, and that something is hunting them.
One of the best thing that Predators does well is the casting. Adrien Brody is perfect as the impromptu leader of the group trying to survive. Alice Braga does well in her role as the tough Israeli soldier, who reluctantly follows Royce in their attempt to get off the planet.
However, there are a couple of cast members that don't totally fit in. Laurence Fishburne is Roland, a crazy soldier that has been trapped on the predator planet for years. His acting is great, I was just surprised at how small his part ended up being. It seems as though the character was tacked on just so they could get another big name actor in the credits. Eric Foreman Topher Grace also feels awkward as a seemingly harmless doctor. Its another role that doesn't seem like it has a lot of purpose to it. Intentional for the character or not, Topher just seems out of place in a gritty action film.
"I'll never be typecast all the way out here in the jungle."
Bottom Line: 8/10: Predators is one of those no-thought-required action films. It managed to hold my attention from beginning to end, while capturing the feel of the original 1987 film. Best of all, it pretended like the AVP films never happened.
Loved the movie. Not thrilled Laurence didn't have a bigger part. But it was ten times better then AVP.
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