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[Predators]
Plot:A group of humans find themselves stranded on a planet home to Predators, and must survive the horrors they encounter.
Cast:Laurence Fishburne,
Danny Trejo,
Walton Goggins,
Adrien Brody,
Topher Grace,
Derek Mears,
Alice Braga,
Oleg Taktarov,
Mahershalalhashbaz Ali,
Louiz Ozawa.
My Thoughts:Good popcorn flick.
Review:"Predators" is the latest salvo of the action/sci-fi creatures who first appeared on screen in the 80's with "Predator". This film doesn't really have a place in the "Alien vs. Predator" series, and if I were a betting man, would say that you could put this movie after "Predator 2", timeline wise. The film is set on the home planet of the Predators, which before you ask, has no name. The name of the planet is never mentioned, so all of you hardcore faithful will just have to guess or make one up on your own. I'd go with "Jungle Pluto" myself.
Anyways, the movie starts off when a bunch of earthlings are parachuted onto the Preds home turf. One by one, they are all dropped there, and end up coming across one another in typical popcorn movie fashion with such one-liners as "who the hell are you?", and "where the hell are we?" Like I said, "popcorn". One thing to like about this movie though is how the human characters are introduced, and how they interact with one another early on.
Also the appearance of the Predators isn't rushed. The film spends a significant chunk of time allowing the audience to become affiliated with the films human kidnapees, before their hunters (the preds) show up, and start shredding people left and right. Right away, most people (like I did), will probably end up sympathizing with Sonia Braga's character Alice. But the intriguing this is, by the finale, you'll probably end up rooting for another one of the films characters also. The personalities in the movie are all different because the characters are all very different.
We get a Yakuza guy, a Mexican Drug Cartel enforcer, an African Death Squad enforcer, a Chechnyan rebel, and a few other people who are dangerous in their own way, but not as badass or psychotic as the other guys. It's kind of like Super Bad meets Bad Lite here. When the preds finally do show up, it ushers in one of the movies best action sequences. But the problem is, once the movie delivers it's power punch of introing in the Predators attack dogs, it kind of backs off too much.
Truth be told, the film manages to survive it's journey, but when you compare it to the original "Predator", which had a ton of memorable sequences and scenes, "Predators" delivers it's best shot early, and never really manages to muster up anything similar or better later on. Once the humans have their first encounter with the Predators, we're left with the obligatory surprise attack scenes, where someone gets caught by or in a trap, or gets killed "cloaking device" style by an unseen Predator in invisibility mode.
But the film leaves you waiting for that moment or sequence where it tops what comes in act 1, the first action scene. But it never does, and while the film loses it's action edge early, it still manages to muster up enough human drama to keep the wheels turning and ultimately keep the film on the rails averting total disaster. There's enough good actors in this film to do that as well, which is the movies saving grace. Goggins, Braga, Brody, and others, manage to give the movie a large injection of human drama which keep things very interesting when someone isn't getting blown up, impaled, or incinerated by a laser beam.
And with all of that being said, the film also manages to save a few characters for late in the game as part of it's final few surprises, thus making sure the events leading up to the final act are strong enough to carry the movies ending. While not as gory as "Predator", "Predators" still manages to deliver enoguh blood, guts, and gore to satisfy, and we even get a quick subplot about inner-species warfare involving the Preds, although that small nugget of story is mostly glossed over for more explosions and beheadings, which would've been okay with me if it had been an easy-to-wrap piece of story.
But it wasn't, and it's still not, and I'd still like some answers as to that part of the movies story. The ending is very strong, with some nice twists and surprises, and even leaves a final scene for the audience which gives the viewer something to ponder, worry about, and kind of snicker over all at the same time. "Predators" is pure popcorn-movie-goodness, and that's all you should expect when you go in to see it. If you're looking for a strong story and deep plot caviats, might wanna check out something else this weekend. But if you're looking for pulp, heavy gunplay, crazy visual sequences, and alien/human warfare at it's most violent and intense levels, then give "Predators" a watch this weekend.
Positives:Good performances by Brody, Braga, Steele, Goggins, and pretty much everyone else. The atmosphere of the Predators home planet was visually awesome, and the finale was very strong.
Negatives:Like I said in the review, once the film gives us it's cornerstone action sequence early on, it fails to followup with anything equally as impressive. Also the subplot involving the inner-turmoil within the Predators own species needed some explaining and ironing out.
Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.
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