Thank you to all who read here,
I came from my long while of watching films to review the 2010 film, which I had a fair share of little expectations for. After watching the laughing stock that was A-Team based on the famous big television series and the even more expendable mercenaries in a B-movie known as The Expendables, I had decided to review Predators. This Sci-Fi film is a remake of the Predator franchise. So, forget Alien vs Predator (2004) and Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007). Pretend they never happened, that is exactly what I was told by one of my friends when I was just about to buy tickets at the box office. Those crossovers stink anyway, nothing compared to the first two original films Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990). Let's get down to it.
As per usual, I will break this down into three categories. Those of you who read my past reviews know this, as for those who don't know, they are the "Good", the "Bad" and the "Overall". No, I didn't make a Clint Eastwood reference. Man, you people always spot these Easter Eggs a lot, just kidding. Anyway, Predators (not Predator, notice the "s") is directed by Nimrod Antal and is produced by Robert Rodriguez, the master behind the Spy Kids series and most recently Sin City and Grindhouse with Quentin Tarantino. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and is 107 minutes long, a bit of a drag than it needed to be. What is quite interesting is the fact that Rodriguez penned an early draft of a script for Predators more than a decade ago in 1994 before Fox invested with this. In a way, I'm kind of glad they picked the right time to show it. On with the review, I'll get to my bench mark later.
Predators had the Lost feel to it, but that does not necessarily do much for the ratings. When you are shown on the screen in the opening scene, you first meet Royce (Adrien Brody) who literally falls from the sky from only God knows where into a jungle reminiscent to an Amazon. Royce meets up with several other people who have landed in the jungle and turn out to be either hired soldiers of fortune or convicts execpt a doctor. The party includes Cuchillo; a drug lord (Danny Trejo), Nikolai; a Russian soldier (Oleg Taktarov), Isabelle; a sniper from Israel (Alice Braga), Mombasa; RUF officer (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), the skilled Yakuza member; Hanzo, (Louis Ozawa Changchien) death row inmate; Stans (Walton Goggins) and finally the doctor I was talking about, Edwin (Topher Grace). In a space of 15 minutes during the film, it becomes obvious the group is not on the planet they think they are on.
Good:
Before I get to the good bits, let me say that this movie does bring a sense of intrigue. I admit that I was surprised by the level of gore in this film since this is a certificate 15, but that does not really do much for me. There were some little good parts in it that kept me watching like the surprising appearance of our guest actor Laurence Fishburne, but even he did not do well to save this feature in being average. There were some crispy clean visuals as I would expect in a science fiction film of this day and age plus some very snappy dialogue. The Predators themselves were just how I knew of them with their gnawing split mouths and Rasta dreadlocks hidden away by their space helmet/masks. Yes, as ugly as ever. I thank everyone in the costume department for their handiwork. Another great part is the film maker's new take on the extraterrestrial hunting machines, an existence of a new specie of Predator dubbed Super Predators who are larger, more bloodthirsty and do not share that honour the original does. Among other creatures, I will talk about later, there is a feud between those large Predators and the classic ones. I do appreciate the sword fight between Hanzo and one of the Super Predators, but that is really it and was more for entertainment.
Bad:
Predators serves as only a half point between the box office failure and splendor masterpiece of Hollywood films, meaning don't bother waste your time going cinemas just rent it in your local DVD or Blu-ray market. I made a painful and reckless mistake watching this. Nevertheless, I didn't really complain, I mean I had cheap and tasty popcorn. The sweet kind, done just right. The acting was mediocre at best, although, I couldn't believe the factor of Fishburne's rendition of a crazed militant could be so bad. In my mind I was thinking along the lines of "Is he for real?!" but as I placed more popcorn in my mouth I just was shocked at the idea. Fishburne you can do better, man. I will ignore the fact that producers killed off a black man in the most terrible fashion they can think of. The irony is Mombasa (Ali) is not the first but the second target after another non-Caucasian man (Trejo). After more senseless humans getting picked off, a lame plot twist involving the doctor and some brawl with monsters I now come to my final conclusion. My rating fits the picture of another great concept gone to waste.
Overall:
The script is weak in certain places, but it beats A-Team with leaps and bounds. Though it still does not do enough to really pick me apart with their awesome plasma guns, in fact it does not even come close. The acting was okay but Fishburne felt like an extra. Good direction, but poor execution, visuals are standard blockbuster imagery and so is the sound, which sets the creepy air but it takes all of the thrills away and can get boring quite easily. They did a number on the effects budget and relied on references from previous films to catch on. My suggestion is just buy it on DVD and just wait till the ticket sales end. I got another review for you coming in a few weeks and it is [Prototype] the game, which means I have to grab my PS3 pad and start breezing through all the levels. Peace out, fans.
- Written by Kbon
