Nimród Antal and Robert Rodriguez have resurrected a dying bread. For almost 23 years now the Predators have slowly been fading away from an onslaught of mediocrity to down right awfulness– yes, I’m looking at you AvP’s. A once great monster got turned into a goofy one. Now it’s back and in full swing.
Predators may not be as wonderful as the original testosterone-filled spectacle, but it’s not too far behind in terms of delivering on the B-movie goods. It’s extremely self-aware and does nearly everything you’d expect and want from a picture like this: well done action, a compelling ensemble, and plenty of standout cheesy (in a good way) one-liners.
In the promising opening we’re immediately brought to Royce (Adrien Brody) who’s in a free fall and has no clue why or where he is. The same goes for the others that land on the unknown planet along with him. Similar to Royce, they’re all nearly as deadly as the Predators they face off with. There’s the hard muscled scene stealing Russian Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), the sharp shooting sniper Isabelle (Alice Braga), Stan (Walter Goggins) the psychotic death-row inmate, Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien) the samurai aficionado, and two wasted characters aka the ones killed early on–one of them played by Danny Trejo. There’s also an out-of-place doctor played by Topher Grace who, as expected, is mostly (and well) used as comedic relief. Soon they all find out they’re not alone and they’ve been sent on this planet for a reason: to be hunted.
If there’s one glaring issue that stands out, it’s that Predators is a bit of a mess. Tonally, it shifts a bit here and there. It knows what type of film it is for sure, but it’s arguable that it goes too far at times such as Laurence Fishburne’s lovably bizarre performance. He’s great and a lot of fun to watch, but the whole detour to his crib feels like something out of a completely different film. It plays into some of the very minor pacing issues- it rushes at times- but that one particular segue-way isn’t too distracting due to Fishburne’s onscreen absurdity.
Besides that, it’s difficult to complain. Many have lamented the exposition as pure hamminess, but if you look at the original film there’s plenty of that there as well. The dialog is a bit cheesy at times, but intentionally and enjoyably so. As for the exposition, it honestly feels natural. If one was on an alien planet with a group of unknowns, wouldn’t they point things out? Try to explain events or attempt to figure out what’s going on? Some may call it pandering, it could easily be argued as so, but it works.
Brody is considered an unconventional choice to many, but he fits in perfectly and is extremely competent in his first action outing. The fact is, most mercenaries and soldiers don’t look like “Arnold.” They mostly look like Brody or even less so. He’s absolutely convincing as Royce. He plays it serious, but never goes too far to deviate from the established tone. The same goes for the rest of the cast who all do a fine job. For one, it’s great to see Braga finally have her talents put to use in the sci-fi realm. She was wasted in both Repo Men and I Am Legend, but here that’s not the case at all. Braga holds her own and never becomes the cliche you’d expect aka a love interest or the weak one.
Antal brings along a slick style similar to his past films. While he still has yet to capture the greatness of his debut film Kontroll, he’s still showing in the B-movie world he’s a director to follow. The action is what many want out of a Predator film and Antal delivers on all fronts splendidly. All the action beats are distinct, unique on their own right, and there’s no constant retreads back to the original film. There are some nice nods here and there, but it’s never glaring a la Terminator: Salvation style. Antal has made a film that stands on its own. Ever thought you’d see a samurai battle in a Predator film? Well, you get one here and it’s as glorious as it sounds.
This summer has mostly been uneventful in terms of blockbusters, but here’s a hard-R summer fare that won’t go down as another forgettable and underwhelming action romp.