PREDATORS (2010) - Movie Review

Director: Nimród Antal
Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Mahershala Ali, Danny Trejo, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Horror
Writer: Alex Litvak, Michael Finch
Runtime: 107 min
Rated: Rated R for strong creature violence and gore, and pervasive language
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

Brought together on a mysterious planet, a mercenary (Adrien Brody) and a group of coldblooded killers now become the prey. A new breed of aliens pursues the ragtag humans through dense jungle. The group must work together to survive, or become the latest trophies of the fearsome intergalactic hunters.

Review:

"Predators" is the third installment in the main "Predator" film series, but a direct sequel only to the first movie, ignoring the existence of "Predator 2". Produced by Robert Rodriguez ("Sin City", "El Mariachi", "From Dusk till Dawn") and directed by Nimrod Antal ("Armored", "Vacancy"), the film circles back to the jungle setting of the original film but adds a bigger sci-fi twist, and assembles a team of hardened killers from around the world as the prey for the alien predators. As the title suggests, this is intended to be what "Aliens" was to "Alien". Bigger, badder and with more than one creature.

The idea isn't bad, but the ensemble cast is mostly made up of thinly written one-note stereotypical characters, a typical slasher horror trope setting these guys up as fodder for the alien hunters to pick off one by one. Overall, the cast is great, but they can't do much with nothing. At first glance Adrien Brody doesn't look like your typical action hero, but to his credit he really put in the work, bulking up for the role and bringing gravitas and a shred of intelligence to what could have been a brainless badass. Alice Braga is also great and fits in well among the vicious killers, showing early signs of the intensity that would pay off in her hit TV show "Queen of the South".

The setup is perfect for some cool action sequences, and on that front the movie delivers well enough. It's well-shot, with some gorgeous jungle cinematography, the creature effects are top notch, and the CGI is used sparingly and effectively. What is sorely lacking, however, is the tension and dread of a near invincible alien stalker that the first film handled so well. "Predators" is violent and gory, but the film's attempts at suspense and horror are disposably perfunctory.

While sequels and prequels today are overly concerned with convoluted franchise building, it's so much fun to just sit back and watch a new chapter in a series that doesn't go out of its way to set up the next sequels or some silly cinematic universe. There are plenty of references and easter eggs, some dialogue nods and nostalgia baiting, but I'd say it's handled respectfully. John Debney's wonderfully propulsive score pays homage to Alan Silvestri's classic themes, and the whole movie feels like a riff on beloved elements from the original film. There are a few new additions to the Predator lore here, but nothing particularly groundbreaking. In a way, it plays it too safe. On the other hand, look at what happened with "The Predator".

It's not as ambitiously original as the 2022 reboot "Prey", but perhaps more satisfying for fans who wanted more of the brawny action of the Arnold Schwarzenegger flick. It's a lean, undemanding and efficient sci-fi action thriller that is very much self-contained and a lot of fun, just as long as you don't expect this to top the original, or move the franchise forward in any significant way.

SCORE: 7/10