Predator-a-Thon, Part 3 - Predators (2010)

Director: Nimrod Antal

Cast: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walter Goggins, Laurence Fishburne

Country: United States

Production Company: Troublemaker Studios

Rating: R

Run Time: 107 minutes

I'm sure plenty of you are thinking, "No, Zach! Why did you skip over reviewing the two Alien vs. Predator films in your Predator-a-Thon?" Well don't worry, I'll get to them one day. It's just that I'd rather stick to the three main (and also good) Predator films for now. Besides, I only have so much time in my life and I'm not sure if I want to waste three and a half hours watching both crappy Alien vs. Predator films at this moment.

Predator fans haven't had it easy. The last standalone Predator film for twenty years was none other than Predator 2 from 1990. After the dismal AvP films and the wait since Predator 2, it seemed that the Predator franchise was finished for good. However, 20th Century Fox and director Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Til Dawn, Desperado) miraculously brought the franchise back to life in 2010 with Predators. Rodriguez had written a script for a new Predator film back in 1994 and never received word on it. When 20th Century Fox re-discovered his old script, they contacted Rodriguez and asked him to co-produce the film. I remember being so excited for this film back in high school because I had never seen an official Predator film in the theaters. A new rated R Predator film in 2010? It was my dream come true. 

It has now been four years since I first saw the film. And to be honest, I am shocked that this film is only four years old. Not only that, but everybody seems to have forgotten about this film. I haven't heard a single person mention this film to me in person or online in four years! This is surprising because Predators was both a financial success and well received by fans of the Predator series. What happened? It's as if this film fell off the planet for most people. I guess I am to blame as well because I am just now getting around to revisiting the film.

They should have called this film Humans vs. Predators. Just kidding. That joke sucks.

Predators opens as Royce (Adrien Brody) free falls from the sky into a jungle. When he awakes, he finds numerous other people around him. The group quickly puts together that they have been abducted and that they are all elite killers from various groups on Earth: the Mexican drug cartel, the F.B.I.'s most wanted, Russian Special Forces, etc. It's not long before the group discovers that the jungle they are in is not Earth at all, but a distant planet with an Earth-like jungle appearance. When the group is attacked by horned beasts, Royce deduces that they are being hunted. It's not long before the hunters, the Predators, reveal themselves and engage in a hunt to the death with the humans.

Predators is sort of a sequel and a reboot of the franchise at the same time. The film its smartly titled Predators in order to avoid the baggage of being called Predator 3 even though Predator 2 came out a whopping twenty years earlier. But that might be confusing because two AvP films came out before this film. So isn't it technically Predator 5? Regardless, Predators is an excellent title and a nice call back to James Cameron's choice to title the second Alien film Aliens since there is more than one extraterrestrial antagonist. 

Predators also introduces us to an entirely new cast of characters on a game preserve planet that we have never heard of before. Therefore, the film is trying to reboot the series while also carrying some continuity from the older films. Predator 2 is all but ignored as Predators countlessly homages and recalls Predator, even to the point of a character knowing about the events of Predator in Costa Rica in 1987. If the events of Predator are officially canon in this film, than I am going to assume that Predator 2 is also canon. Of course, they never bring up the events of the sequel but never disown it either.

Don't mess with these new super Predators.

Producer and writer Robert Rodriguez produced a very faithful sequel that revitalizes the franchise by bringing the events of the series back to the jungle that we loved so much from Predator. But this time, the Predators aren't going to Earth to hunt us anymore. The Predators are now abducting elite killers from Earth and transporting them to this game preserve planet. With the humans on their territory, the Predators can now hunt in packs and not have to worry about being on their own anymore.

The screen writers clearly love John McTiernan's original film. I don't blame the guys, who doesn't love that film? Therefore, the film packs a few references and homages to the original film in Predators. The score by John Debney sounds like an exact duplicate of Alan Silvestri's masterful Predator score. One of the human characters, a Russian named Nikolai, wields a heavy mini-gun that is clearly an homage to the mini-gun that Jesse Ventura's character uses in Predator. And during the film's finale, Adrien Brody takes off his shirt, wields a torch, and screams, "Kill me now! Come on! Do it!" These references are tied quite neatly into the film. Even though they aren't very subtle, at least they aren't painfully obvious and obnoxious either.

Much like the first two Predator films, Predators has a pretty expansive cast. While I commend the film for assembling a very impressive cast of well known contemporary actors (Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Walter Goggins, Topher Grace, etc.), I can't say the same for the characters that they play and the dialog that they have to speak. Let's start with the good. Adrien Brody does a fine job as Royce, the muscular bad-ass leader of the group who will sacrifice anyone for his own survival. He's no Arnold, but he looks bad-ass when he shoots a gun and packs a good gravely voice. I also love Hanzo, the silent Yakuza gang member. He doesn't say much but is easily the most bad-ass of the all of the characters in the film. I also enjoyed how the bulk of the characters are either criminals or anti-heroes. This is a far stretch from your typical mercenary or police officer. 

"I'm the crazy one."

Unfortunately, many of the human characters are one noted or plain annoying. Edwin (Topher Grace) and Stans (Walter Goggins), my least favorite characters in the film, are a doctor and a criminal sentenced to death. Even though I like these two actors, their characters are given all of the humorous dialog and neither of them are ever funny. When Goggins spouts "humorous" lines like, "You're ass is so hot," I tune out. Their dialog and characterizations are just too forced and unnatural. 

One thing that I did not see coming the first time I saw this film was the nice little plot twist. Topher Grace's character, Edwin, is a doctor. Everyone else wonders how he ended up with the rest of the group since he isn't one of Earth's deadliest killers. But by the end of the film, Edwin's true intentions and reasons for being chosen are revealed in a nice twist that puts a spin on an otherwise formulaic genre picture.

Predators introduces several new ideas to the franchise in order to expand the mythology even more. In this film, there isn't just one type of Predator, but two. The three main Predators in the film are super Predators while the one hanging on a stone at the Predator camp is a classic Predator. The super Predators have faces that look far different from your typical Predator and hunt in packs of three. According to Noland (Laurence Fishburne), the super Predators have a dispute with the classic Predators. This is an interesting concept because we have never seen Predators fight with one another.

This leads into a pretty cool action scene near the end of the film where a classic Predator goes head to head with a super Predator. While the fight isn't incredible or anything special, the idea of two Predators duking it out is just too cool to hate on. It's essentially two guys in rubber suits bouncing off one another and firing lasers from their shoulder cannons. Fans of movies like Godzilla: Final Wars or Alien vs. Ninja might get a kick out of this.

A samurai duel in a Predator film? That's more like it.

All of the other action scenes in the film are pretty good too. My two favorite scenes are the ambush at the Predator camp and the sword fight between a Predator and Hanzo. The first fight at the Predator camp is filled with gun fire and laser blasting from both parties. It's an awesome scene and it definitely gives you exactly what you want from a Predator film. Hanzo also uses a katana in a sword fight against a Predator and its hand blade. The scene is even shot in a open field filled with grass. It's an awesome homage to the kind of samurai duel found in Harakiri or Sanjruo.

20th Century Fox recently announced that a new Predator sequel is in the works by none other than action maestro himself Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Last Boy Scout, Iron Man 3). Black is an excellent choice because he knows how to write a good action film and he even appeared in the original Predator. With Black both directing and writing, I think that the franchise is in good hands. However, I am curious if the new Predator film will follow the remaining characters left at the end of this film? Black stated that he wants to take advantage of the pre-existing mythology in the series (always a miracle to hear in today's reboot heavy world). I just don't understand why a sequel to Predators wasn't confirmed but a new Predator film devoid of details was. I guess we will have to wait and see.

A Predator holds up poor Nikolai.

Predators isn't as good as the first two Predator films but at least it's a huge step up from the lousy AvP films. The film is a nice reboot/sequel that reminds audiences why the Predators were so awesome in the first place. Predators has solid action scenes, good special effects, and great cinematography and jungle settings. The film is quite spooky in some scenes and even really gory too. Unfortunately, the film has some forgettable characters, a slow first act, and terribly cheesy dialog. If you can forgive that, I think that you owe it to yourself as an action fan to check out Predators, one of the better action/horror hybrids of recent years.

Rating: 7/10 - Much like Gareth Edwards' recent Godzilla reboot, Predators is a flawed but serviceable step in the right direction towards bringing a once dead franchise back to the big screen.

Franchise:
Predator (dir. John McTiernan, 1987)
Predator 2 (dir. Stephen Hopkins, 1990)
Predators (dir. Nimrod Antal, 2010)

AvP Spin-Offs:
Alien vs. Predator (dir. Paul W. S. Anderson, 2004)
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (dir. The Brothers Strause, 2007)