Tagline: Fear is reborn.
Curiosity: I have a soft spot for the Predator films, even though the original is the only one worth watching.
Plot: Mercenary Royce (Adrien Brody, Splice, which has a similarly silly tagline) wakes up to find he is falling through the sky. Since this does not typically happen to him, he freaks out for a bit before he gets his parachute to deploy. Eventually, he meets up with a group of soldiers and convicts, plus a doctor named Edwin (Topher Grace). None of them remember how they got to this jungle, but eventually they realize that they’re not on Earth anymore. Something in the forest is hunting them. It has laser cannons and cloaking devices. And it strongly resembles a creature Isabelle (Alice Braga) heard about in
Thoughts: Overall, Predators is the strongest entry in the series since the original. It doesn’t undo all of the bullshit of Predator 2 and the AvP series, and it has plenty of its own problems, but for a while it’s a solid sci-fi/action/horror flick that eventually runs out of originality and settles for ripping of its source material. That’s a shame, since a decent chunk of the movie is funny and awesome in its own right without having to reference the original too much. But screenwriters Alex Litvak and Michael Finch eventually hit these points where they need things to happen fast, which is why Isabelle improbably provides a plot summary from Predator so the characters can progress from trying to understand the aliens to trying to fight them. The ending has a similar issue, but I’ll keep that complaint vague.
Oh, and there are some pretty tasteless rape jokes thrown in too.
But the action is satisfyingly gruesome, especially after the watered down Alien vs. Predator. The performances are generally good – Brody is actually a pretty good action star, although he channels Christian Bale’s Batman voice a lot (I think that’s awesome, but take that comparison as you will). Larry Fishburne turns in a great performance as a bat shit insane soldier who has survived 10 years on this game preserve. Danny Trejo (Pretty much every good movie ever) and Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The 4400) don’t get enough screen time, but Grace does his trademark Topher Grace sardonic thing well. Louis Ozawa Changchien starts out recreating Sonny Landham’s Billy from the original – ethnic, quiet, attracted to low tech weaponry – but he’s the only actor to bring a twist to something from the first movie. True to Simpsons form, if you wait long enough, the silent Yakuza guy will totally do something awesome.
Reflection: I midnight premiered this movie, got about three hours of sleep, and then went into work on nothing but will power and caffeine. I was pretty twitchy, but otherwise I’m comfortable with this decision.
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