Movie Review: Predators (2010), a Welcome Addition to the Predator Franchise

Humans are dropped individually by parachute into a jungle setting. They eventually get together and learn that they are all highly trained soldiers brought together for their predatory nature in order to be hunted by alien predators.

Predators is the latest movie in the Predator franchise that began in the late 80s with Arnold Schwarzenegger. When I first learned of Predators, I thought it was a remake of the original Predator. It turned out to be a type of sequel, one that stands on its own and makes reference to the original. I guess the writers and producers titled it Predators in the same manner as Alien with its sequel titled Aliens.

There is very little story and a lot of action. Predators is basically like Predator, only this time the jungle is on an alien planet of some kind, purposely built to simulate an earth jungle in order to hunt humans in their own environment. Basically, human soldiers are dropped into the jungle to form a group that can be hunted by 3 alien predators for training and practice purposes, nothing else.

Predators is a straight up action movie for guys -- without much good dialogue and plenty of firepower, like Rambo.

Robert Rodriguez of Desperado, The Faculty, and the From Dusk Till Dawn franchise fame is the producer of Predators. He came up with the idea for Predators in 1995 but the studios said it would cost too much to make back then. The budget for the Predators that was made was an estimated $40,000,000, which they have since earned back at the box office.

The soldiers and others, who are dropped into the jungle, are a who's who of elite Special Forces from around the world and a few miscreants with rough backgrounds, several ready to be executed for crimes. They include Royce (US dark ops mercenary), Edwin (American doctor), Isabelle (South American soldier of some kind), Stans (American killer), Nikolai (Russian Special Forces), Cuchillo (Mexican soldier), Hanzo (Japanese Yakuza) and Mombasa (African soldier). I really enjoy when teams of people or beings with their own specialty are put together for competition or battle, so this aspect was very interesting for me. The original did not have such a diverse group.

Later in the movie, Noland, a human survivor who has survived 10 seasons of predator training, appears. I'm not sure where he is from or what his background is but I assume he is an American soldier of some kind. All of the pressure of being hunted for so long has made him a bit crazy and he hears voices. He has survived for so long by sneaking around, killing predators when he gets the chance and stealing like a scavenger from other humans dropped into the jungle. His character is similar to another character from the Alien series, if anyone remembers him.

I recognize about half of the cast, which is made up of a few big stars and a bunch of unknowns to me.

The two biggest surprise cast members of this movie include Adrien Brody, whom I knew was going to be in this movie but was a big surprise considering his rise in status as an actor as of late, and Laurence Fishburne, whom was a bigger surprise because I did not know beforehand that he would be involved in the movie. Brody and Fishburne were two big surprises because they are like B+ or A- level actors that I would not expect to be involved with an action movie such as this.

Adrien Brody gives a good performance as Royce, an American dark ops mercenary, the "hero" of the movie with a Rambo-like persona with less altruistic intentions that grows into a good guy by the end. His body is kind of ripped more than usual which is unlike his usual scrawny build, so I'm not sure if he worked out for or there was some kind of computer enhancement. He did a good job with the part but it did not require much acting skill. He tried to make his voice deep and scratchy to try to act tougher but not so much as Christian Bale in the new Batman franchise (thank God!).

Predators seems like a step down for Laurence Fishburne, who plays Noland, the only surviving human (that we know of) of the predator hunt that has gone a bit crazy. He handles the part well, as he really does seems crazy. It seems like a step down in his career but at least he does it well.

Alice Braga plays Isabelle, a South American soldier of some kind and the only female character of Predators. She plays the part well as a tough chick, like Sigourney Weaver of Aliens but a bit cockier like Michelle Rodriguez as Ana Lucia in the TV show Lost. This movie fits Braga's career at this point.

Walton Goggins of The Shield TV series plays Stans, an American killer of some kind; in a role as a serial killer, rapist and/or a soldier gone bad, I'm not sure. I suppose he plays this character well but he is also the most annoying character of Predators, one which I rooted for to get killed. His dialogue was awful -- tons of cursing (to be expected considering his character's background), constantly talking about raping women and drugs and, even more annoying, begging for a gun and help (never offering). He did a good job at being annoying which is what the role required.

The ever present and disposable, rough-looking character actor in many Robert Rodriguez movies, Danny Trejo, plays Cuchillo, a Mexican (surprise, surprise) soldier. As always, his character has very little dialogue and is killed off very early on (I believe he is the first one to die in this movie as well).

The rest of the cast plays its stereotypical roles well for an action movie.

There are three different types of predator aliens in this movie, which shows us a little bit more complexity in the predator hierarchy. I don't remember it from the previous movies but we are shown that even among predator aliens there is a status quo where bigger and smaller predators are enemies of each other, so they attack each other while attacking humans. This is interesting to see and definitely more complex than the first predator movie, in which we only see one type of predator.
There is also another type of alien in Predators, which act like predators' dogs.

Predators is the third Predator movie in the franchise or the fifth, if you include the two Alien versus Predator movies. It offers a slightly different take on the original movie while keeping pretty much the same tone and style of the original, which is a very good thing in my opinion. It keeps what is good about the original and adds another few layers of variation and complexity. I know it is just an action movie, which is not supposed to be a heavy "thinking" movie but I like to look at some of the intricacies beyond just the basics.

The ending does not accomplish much but leaves it open for a definite sequel. There are 2 small twists that are somewhat intriguing but most viewers will probably see them coming.

The original script had cameo appearances by Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Michael (Danny Glover), the heroes of the first to Predator films but they were cut out, probably due to the budget in my opinion. It's too bad because I'm sure Predator fans, like me, would have definitely liked to see that.

Overall, Predators is a good action, no think movie for what it is and a good addition to the Predator franchise. There is plenty of action, firepower and explosions. I do wish that more time was given to the predator aliens but it's sufficient. Give it a view, especially if you are a Predator fan.

Rating: 3/5 stars.

Quotes

Royce: We're being hunted. The cages, soldier, all of us. We were all brought here for the same purpose. This planet is a game preserve and we're the game. In case you didn't notice, we just got flushed out. They sent the dogs in. Just like you would if you were stalking boar, shooting quail. They split us apart and they watched. Testing us.
Isabelle: How do you know this?
Royce: Because, that's what I would do.