Predators (2010) Review

Predators (2010) Review

A few years after the stink of the two AVP movies cleared out of theaters, it was time for the Predator franchise to return to its human-hunting origins. With the exception of one reference to the original Predator, this is essentially a stand-alone movie. Predators was produced by Robert Rodriguez, who is no stranger to the action-horror genre, having made From Dusk till Dawn and Planet Terror, among others, but it was directed by unknown director Nimrod Antal (wow, I’m sure he was never made fun of with a name like that). 

I loved Predators when I first saw it in theaters—in fact, I thought I liked it more than Predator 2. But, having re-watched it numerous times, I’d say I actually like Predator 2 more, though Predators is still pretty great…for the most part. 

It starts off with Adrien Brody’s character Royce freefalling into an unknown jungle with an otherworldly parachute strapped to his back. He becomes the leader of a group of survivors who all show up without explanation on what turns out to be a game-reserve planet, and the hunters are, of course, the predators. However, this tribe is more cunning and less honourable than any we’ve seen before.

I could split this movie almost perfectly in half, and say the first half is really well done, is simultaneously original and worthy sequel/homage material, and entertaining, while the second half is less original, not quite as entertaining, and almost seems like they ran out of ideas by the end.  What saves it overall is the solid cast. Adrien Brody isn’t particularly outstanding as the lead. He lacks charisma, especially compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Glover. But, the second-most-important character is Isabelle, played by Alice Braga, who I think is an underrated actress, and together, they are reasonably compelling.  

Two of my favourite characters are Stans, a talkative convict, and Hanzo, a member of the Yakuza who rarely speaks. All-around, the group is interesting and entertaining (there’s even Robert Rodriguez-regular Danny Trejo as a Mexican cartel member), but then there’s Topher Grace as a befuddled medical doctor who doesn’t seem to fit in amongst the collection of killers at first. Obviously, to make the character stand out, they cast him, because he’s most-well-known as Eric on That 70’s Show, but the first thing I thought of was how bad he was in Spider-Man 3, and while he’s not as bad in Predators as he is in that, he stands out like a sore thumb just the same. I just can’t see him as anyone but Eric Foreman. 

The dividing point in the film (roughly the halfway point) between great and average is when the character Noland (Laurence Fishburne) shows up. He’s an interesting character, having survived many previous hunting seasons and eked out a living on the game reserve, but what would have made him more interesting was if he’d been Danny Glover’s character from Predator 2, and been played by Danny Glover. 

The first half of the movie is a surprisingly deliberate build-up, with a decent amount of successful suspense and character-building. We meet everyone and get to know them a bit, there are spurts of action, hints at what’s going on (empty cages, traps set by previous human prey, the familiar predator heat vision/voice analysis shots), and then, the first time the group is attacked, it’s not even a direct attack by the predators, it’s something new: an alien-breed of hunting dogs that flushes them out and allows for some badass shoot-‘em-up moments. This isn’t the same kind of bombastic 80’s-action from the first movie; these characters actually take the time to do a shell count, and this is just one moment of the characters exhibiting intelligence, putting them a slight cut above B-movie creature fodder. 

They actually hold back on revealing the predators, but when one is finally shown, it’s again something new. A predator (dubbed “Classic” because its design is the same as the original) is tied up to a strange structure, as if crucified. It’s unmasked, unarmoured, and pissed off. Then, in a unique (though bit questionable-looking) shot, the main trio of hunters are shown, and these guys are different. They’re called “super predators”, being of a different bloodline from those of previous movies. These ones are beefier, tougher, and crueller, not necessarily adhering to a strict set of hunting rules. Predators features one of the most-brutal moments in the whole franchise: someone is killed by the lead super predator, called “Berserker”, by having his spine torn out while he’s still alive! Even for a predator, that’s hard-core. 

On the technical side of things, Predators is more than satisfactory. The cinematography is clean and crisp, the action is well-directed, and the settings are reminiscent of the original, as well as Aliens. The creature effects are practical, like the original, and well-done—yet, still aren’t quite as good as Predator or Predator 2. Maybe it’s because a different effects studio created them, or because of the bulkier design of the Super predators, but there are a few shots where it just simply looks like a guy in a suit, instead of an intimidating alien killer.  What I really like is how unique each predator looks. There’s Berserker with the jaw bone on his mask, Tracker with the tusks on his, and Falconer, with a Falcon he uses to scout out their prey.  

There are some really nitpicky nerdy things in this movie that bother me, but probably wouldn’t bother general viewers, such as:

-The classic Predator always has its mouth open, which it never did in the other films. It’s as if they messed up on the mechanics of the mouth mechanisms on the suit.

-The predators are killed too easily by the humans. In Predator and Predator 2, it’s a nearly impossible task. In both AVP films, it’s acceptable because they’re up against the deadliest species in the galaxy. In this one, it’s established that once in a while a human kills a predator, but in this film, all three are killed by people? Seems a bit too easy. 

-The trailer revealed it took place on another planet, but it’s built up in the movie as a mystery, which was counterintuitive to the marketing strategy. It’s as if something was lost in communication. Why show that in the marketing instead of leave it to be revealed in the movie? 

-Noland is killed by the “Tracker” predator, but he’s blown away by the plasma caster in a single powerful shot, which obliterates his body. 1) This shot looks fake and stupid. 2) It’s likely the predators knew Noland had killed other members of their species and survived multiple hunts, and they just didn’t know where he was hiding out. If so, why didn’t they take his spine as a trophy? I mean I get that they might not have known who he was, and they just want to kill and aren’t as worried about trophies, but any way you slice it, this moment always rubbed me wrong. 

Where Predators stumbles the most is in the throwbacks to the original, and hiccups in action. After Noland finds them, the predators find the group and track them down, killing them one-by-one, just like in the original. And, just like in the original, one of the last few survivors engages in one-on-one combat with a predator to allow the others to escape, though with a different outcome this time, and we see the battle. Even the music throughout is copy-pasted from the original. Then, by far the least-original part, is the climax, when Adrian Brody covers himself in mud, exactly the way Schwarzenegger did, and fights the last predator. The overall ending is not only a big step down compared to Predator and Predator 2, it leaves off on a bit of a cliff hanger that seems to be setting up another movie, but even when I first saw this, I knew there wouldn’t be a sequel the way the ending intended.   

This isn’t to say the second half is devoid of anything great. In fact, it’s far from it. When Classic predator fights Berserker predator in the third act, it’s an awesome battle, it’s just too bad Royce’s fight with the super predator afterwards wasn’t as epic. With such promise in the first half, it’s disappointing to see things devolve into the very familiar by the end. 

Predators is a good entry in the Predator franchise, plain and simple. It’s not of the excellent quality of the original, nor is it of B-movie quality like the AVP films, it’s somewhere in the middle, though more of a serious, well-made horror-action-film than AVP. It’s just too bad they couldn’t have developed the second half to be as original and interesting as the first half.