Predators Review

It's July already and honestly, this summer's been kinda shit so far concerning movies. Sure Iron Man 2 rocked, but besides that what really did we have? Two mediocre remakes in Robin Hood and Nightmare on Elm Street, boring high-budget action entries like The Last Airbender and Prince of Persia, and not much else. Compared to last year with Star Trek, District 9, Inglorious Basterds, 500 Days of Summer, and Public Enemies, summer 2010 hasn't been too great. But alas, there's the second push. Predators was first. Initially I wtf'ed at the thought of Adrian Brody as a badass killer, but after the trailer debuted my worries subsided. The Predator franchise was really hurting after the two previous installments bombed. I didn't see AvP2, but I did sit through AvP in the theaters and it atrocious. So when word came out that Robert Rodriquez disciple Nimrod Antal (teehee his first name is funny) was directing hopes were for a reboot in the same vein as the 1987 original.

I rather enjoyed it. Look I'm not delusional enough to look for anything deep or profund here, and as my buddy said before the film started, "there better be some blood." That exactly the type of movie Predators is and it seemed like Antal had a good grasp on that. His directing was pretty impressive here, being a fan of his work with Vacancy, I really enjoyed how he used the environment to constantly give the audience that "oh shit, did I just see a

Predator?" feel. As not to spoil anything all I'll say is "that scene" with Danny Trejo was creepy as shit. I'd love to see Antal get behind another horror flick. The acting was very good too. Adrian Brody was fantastic as the lead and was completely different from anything I've seen him in previously. Gone was the piano playing/Village retard, he was a killer. Though at times I was feeling a bit too much of a Bale-Batman thing going with his voice, he was thoroughly convincing as a black ops/mercenary type. The rest of the cast was pretty great as well. Alice Braga played the killer-with-a-heart role pretty well and seeing Walton Goggins in anything is always good. (If you don't know who Walton Goggins is, go watch the FX TV series Justified, not only is it amazing but he's fantastic in it too). Topher Grace was Topher Grace. I can't stand him (partly because I feel he raped the character of Venom) and is really just annoying. A bit of a spoiler here, but in a rare feat I predicted a little twist with his character. That's all I'll say, but I'm rather proud of myself for not being a blind boob with things like this. Laurence Fishburne had a very cool cameo as a deranged survivor and wasn't extended any longer than the character needed to be.

The story, more specifically, the ending is where I have major beef. First of all what makes this franchise so great is the feeling that anyone can die at any second. I never doubted for one second that the leading man Brody himself could have been wiped off screen if it suited the story. The only problem was that really didn't happen here. The people who you think will survived, survived. It didn't feel very "anything goes" like the previous films did. Don't get me wrong though, the action and the kills were amazing. There's one scene that was something so brutal it felt like it belonged in Mortal Kombat. It's just that the third act felt too Hollywood. I know I'm on the verge of being the "anti-machine maaaaaan" guy here, but this ending really didn't suit the movie. Again, in the heart of being spoiler free, it was as "happily ever after" as a movie like this can get. It felt contrary to not only the feel of this franchise, but the characters themselves. These are ruthless, do-anything-to-survive people, that's why the Predators chose them and that's why they're fun to watch. But some plot points in the end kind of wrecked that feeling. It should have closed with an "oh shit, that was awesome" style ending, but instead it was more of a float into the sunset type thing. So no, it was not as awesome as the maniacal laugh ending of the original. That was one of the fucking coolest things I've ever seen.

It was a much better entry than anything since the original and though it felt a bit corny in parts, it was still very good. The Predators were badass, the characters were awesome, the entire movie was a brutally fun time. I cringe at even saying that last part but it's true. There was tons of action, gore, and pretty much everything that makes Predator movies fun to watch. And thank god they didn't do the obligatory Arnold or Carl Weathers cameo/scene recreation. Remakes/reboots do that shit all the time and it's always terrible. Though for die-hard fans of the series, there's a cool nod to the original in the closing credits music. As far as the future of this series goes, they certainly left the door open for a sequel and I'd love to see one if it's done well. Though it's hard to imagine Antal and Brody would both return and not be on to bigger and better things. It made a respectable $25 mil over the weekend so I guess only time will tell.

Bottom line: Full of kills, gore, and badassery, Predators takes a dying franchise and revives it by utilizing the same elements that made the original so awesome.

Overall score: 7 out of 10