Photo: 20th Century Fox
The Predator franchise began in 1987 as a standalone feature starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of several commandos dropped into the jungle of Central America for a bit of anti-guerilla warfare. Along the way they encounter an extra-terrestrial proficient in killing, skinning and spinal cord removal. The film was an excellent bit of horror meets thriller meets sci-fi and it has since spawned a shoddy 1990 Los Angeles-based sequel starring Danny Glover and a spin-off of sorts combining the Alien and Predator franchises in the lackluster Alien vs. Predator in 2004 and its even worse sequel in 2007 . In my eyes all three were failures and seem to suggest this is a franchise best left in the '80s.
Nevertheless, under the tutelage of producer Robert Rodriguez (Sin City), Fox is still attempting to prove this is in fact a viable franchise and not just a one-time feature that can't be duplicated. Experimenting with the Alien outline, adding an "s" to the title and upping the Predator quotient three-fold we have 2010's Predators directed by Nimrod Antal (Vacancy) and written by first-timers Alex Litvak and Michael Finch. While this isn't an awful film by any stretch it's entirely unnecessary as a theatrical effort. Had it gone straight to DVD it would have made more sense, but it doesn't bring nearly enough to the table to warrant today's primetime ticket prices and even matinee prices are debatable.
"Predators" is a 20th Century Fox release, directed by Nimród Antal and is rated R for strong creature violence and gore, and pervasive language. The running time is 1 hour 46 minutes
The cast includes Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walt Goggins, Danny Trejo, Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Derek Mears and Laurence Fishburne.
For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
While Antal and Co. realize there are certain story details we don't need, it seems they forgot the audience has been aware of Predator aliens for 23 years, which makes me wonder why they take so long to bring on the Predator. Outside of a fun bit with some Predator hounds in the beginning we don't get much Predator action until the lumbering and lame finale. Keeping the reason most people are interested in this film hidden in the jungle is a pretty bad idea if you ask me.
In fact, the hunting of the human prey in Predators is quite tame. For the most part the group remains together and periodically one of them will fall behind or end up injured or dead from a booby trap. With nine humans to kill you'd think it would be a little more exciting, but in reality only two of the kills are actually entertaining in that "need for gore" kind of way. The rest are either off screen or involve giant explosions. Just wait until you see Louis Ozawa Changchien as Hanzo, a Yakuza killer, take on one of the Predators in a sword fight – it's laughably uninteresting. Additionally, a battle between a pair of Predators is so clunky and slow it leads me to believe the reason Antal kept them hidden for so much of the film is because they could hardly move underneath their foam rubber costumes.
Adrien Brody leads the cast as Royce, a mercenary with a black heart and a passion for killing. Brody is solid and you'd hardly expect some ex-black ops mercenary to be some muscle bound thug, a la Schwarzenegger, but as with all films of this sort the actor is only as good as the material. For the most part, Predators isn't hurt by character development or silliness as much as it suffers from a lack of intensity. Nothing seems new or interesting and the excitement meter rarely jumps. Sure, we are on an alien planet, but unless you're working on par with Pandora we are going to need a little more than gooey flowers to stimulate the imagination.
Joining Brody are Topher Grace ("That '70s Show"), Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Walt Goggins ("The Shield"), Danny Trejo (Machete), former UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Laurence Fishburne is along for the ride as a weathered survivor with a few loose screws. Of the bunch, Goggins plays one of the more foul-mouthed and eccentric characters, a serial killer on death row who can't wait to get back to Earth and "rape some fine bitches." Rightly, Nikolai (Taktarov), a Russian Special Forces soldier, tells Edwin (Grace) he should "stay away from that guy." The audience laughs.
Antal does his best with what he's given and what is there to take. However, I am now convinced this is a franchise that should've never gone farther than one film. Outside of remaking the 1987 original this is a story that just didn't have much else to go on. In the first film the buildup worked because the audience didn't yet know what was around the corner, but after 23 years many of us know what to expect and there doesn't seem to be much else to offer.
Predators may work well with newcomers to the genre that aren't sitting around waiting for the next Predator kill, but I was more interested in seeing some cool new alien technology and gut-spilling kills. I got a little of what I wanted but not nearly enough. As a result, there isn't much bad I can say about Predators just as much as there isn't a whole lot of good to relay either.
Watched Predators last night, disappointed really, there wasn't a classic line in the whole thing, the original is littered with them, I expected better from the likes of Robert Rodriguez
I'm a fan of the original film, and I saw the new one yesterday. That being said I don't know what movie you saw, but Predators was FULL of lines from the original. I mean the ending with Adrian fighting the Predator had some dead on quotes from Predator. Not trying to be rude to you or anything I just found alot of lines from the original. I agree with you, there were alot of classic lines in Predator. I thought it was an over all good movie though.
Predators delivers nothing more than repetition in "foreign planet" from the original film.
But this film isn't bad at all, my audiences seems to enjoy this film ver much. And the action scene (except samurai battle) was quite decent.
Overall this movie is a nostalgic yet average movie.
Regards from Indonesia
I really enjoyed as a one-time watch. Absolutely no desire to watch it again, but it was an entertaining and intense action movie with fine characters and Brody pwning in the role.
"Vacancy" was a very pleasant surprise. I'm curious about seeing this "Predators". Plus, I really like Alice Braga.
Talk about a bitter and one eyed point of view. give the film some credit mate. I stumble across a link about a " review" on Predators, and all I get is some windbag saying nothing but winy superficial criticisms on a film that should be based on it's merits. Not the mood or piss poor attitude of a reviewer clearly not enthusiastic enough for the task bested upon him/her or whatever you call yourself. Here's a word of advice from someone in the real world: the moment you stop belittling everything around your orbit, you'll discover moments in time that are actually pleasurable. Maybe then you so called "critics" might find the time to produce something positive.
Haters gonna hate.
it would have been better had they casted michelle rodriguez instead of braga lolz.
I'm on the fence about seeing Predators, but can't agree a good sequel can't be made. It will just take a director and maybe some writers who are enthusiastic enough about it to put some thought into it for a couple of years. The director of Pride and Predjudice, with Kiera Knightly, said he thought about the project for two years solid. Because he was remaking a historic classic of literature and would get lots of criticism if he bolloxed it up. My favorite moment in AVP, was when the Predator detected that a ship containing an Alien(s) was about to fall to earth, and his decision? To handle it all by himself! Classic. All a good Predators movie needs is more of those moments.
This was a much better movie than this review makes it out to be. I was pleasantly surprised by the performances, granted I walked into the theater expecting something a little better than the AVP debacles. There definitely was suspense and you knew a lot of people were going to die, but didn't know how and who would ultimately survive. The Predators were shown plenty in this movie, and I understand why they waited a while to show them; because most people in the audience probably never saw the 1987 classic, and were only subjected to the aforementioned travesties. But I'd say the young audience enjoyed the gore, plot, and the overall movie.
Topher Grace was horrible, as he is in every movie, but perhaps he was meant to be so. I wanted more action but this played out more like a thriller. The ending was a cliffhanger-type setup for sequels, but I expect that from almost every goddamned Hollywood movie nowadays. Fishburne was in here as a plot-moving character, and believe it or not, when he came on screen, there was actually a small smattering of applause. Brody and Braga acted well in the movie, although I liked seeing Brody as a wiry and cut-up mercenary rather than the Vin Diesel/Ah-nuld types.
But since you're a girl (or perhaps a 45 y/o fat guy {shudder}), you'd probably enjoy this as a date movie. Otherwise, see Despicable Me. I've heard good WOM for it AND support Steve Carrell so he finally moves out of THE OFFICE.
Overall a 7/10 or B.
You gave it a C-, reviews are saying its a B, and overall everyone that has seen it has said its pretty good for an action film. I really love this site but the reviews have been so off this year its kinda disappointing.
So… Brad isn't allowed to have a divergent or individual opinion? What's the point of even looking at review sites if that's your mindset? Why not just go to RT, look at the tomatometer, and be satisfied with that if you're not interested in actual critical writing?
Yeah tell me about it. SATC 2 actually got a B-.
So far, this is the most disappointing film of the summer. The problem is that it's massively slow and boring. I'm fine with a film that takes its time and builds toward the finale, but Predators does nothing with the downtime. No real character development, no suspense. I mean, the film is called Predators, it would've been nice to see some. What made the original great was that there was a rapport between the characters which gave us some great lines and made us totally care for the heroes. Here, they don't know each other, so we lose that comfort with the ensemble that the first and the second had. Then, it takes an hour to see our villains which isn't shocking since we already have a familiarity with the villains. We get a ridiculous, non-sensical twist at the end. The movie only comes alive when Fishburne shows up and then the final fight between Brody (he's been working out) and the Predator. I guess I was hoping for a throwback to 80's films, but it doesn't have the humor or the violence. Overall, it's a movie I wish had more to it. I have a feeling The Beast wouldn't call this bit here a critique either. Oh, well.
Just came back from seeing this and I'll say that it makes a valid entry in the Predator's universe.
Predator
Predators
Predator 2
^In that order – in terms of flow.
I will say that they make a SHITLOAD of references to the first film. Some of the music is the same. For a minute there I thought I was watching a remake or reboot rather than a sequel. Even some of the character arcs resemble the first film.
The violence is great and I enjoyed the story. I will buy this on blu-ray when it comes out and hope that it will be a director's cut or at least fully loaded.
This movie let me down BIG time… I don't even want to get into saying anything about it. The only cool things in this movie was some of the locations. I've actually been to both places that were filmed in the movie(I'm from Austin). Some of the forest scenes I couldn't really tell, but the first part when they were hiking in the rocks(the spinning leaf part) was actually a camp site(McKinney Falls). The second place was after they fell down the waterfall. That place was called Hamilton Pool. A very nice little cove/lake area with some pretty cold water even during the summer.
I walked into this movie expecting to hate it, and ended up liking it. This is coming from a girl who normally hates these kind of movies. But I genuinely liked it, and I think a lot of it has to do with the actors. I liked Brody as an action hero. Who knew he had it in him? And Alice Braga did great as the killer with the heart of gold. Topher Grace didn't add or detract. The Japanese fellow was cool, and unlike the reviewer, I really liked the scene when he fights Samurai-style with the Predator. It was fun. And I think Lawrence Fishburn was a nice addition.
I actually like the fact that there isn't a whole bunch of mindless killing. I'm sorry Brad, but I think this is one of its strongest points. It doesn't have to rely on the gore to be entertaining. Even though there is plenty of gore. So all in all, I say it deserves a B at least.
I'm either seeing this or Knight and Day tonight. I live in boston and my newspaper gave it a 3 and a half star review, that is as good as the avatar review, and knight and day got two and a half. I really want to see both, but i'm not sure which one to see.
What should i pick?
Pick this movie, I gave it 3/4 it is cool enough to let you feel that your watching the first peredtor movie, It starts strong and intense then slows down and then it finishes strong. It has its moments and as I said its way better than kinght and day.
thanks, i got back from a 1:45 showing and i loved it.
I am a BIG fan of the Predator series. I loved the first, hated the second, and loved this one.
Adrian Brody did a very good job, and i actually thought Topher Grace wasn't terrible. Alice Braga was good. I think the real standout was the guy who played the convict. He was funny and likable.
The gore and violence was just the right amount, the best two deaths being either the spine rip and lawrence fishburne exploding.
I saw lots of comments from fans saying that they are super predetors and how easily this crew killed them all blah blah blah. Well first of all you cant say something stupid about the first predetor kill, you can argue about the second one where the yakuza guy killed him 1 on 1 using sharp sword, but its a sharp sword hello it can cut any human into 2 halves, these predetors are not made from steal think about it. I liked this movie and some notes i wanted to see that it could have made it than the first movie :
1- more soldiers and less convicts .
2- the battle between 2 predetors should have been epic but it was a C- kick ass.
3- The doctor guy could have killed one of his crew members and made it look like the predetors did it and that adds more suspense.
All in all, I gave it a solid 'B' or 3/4
I am a big fan of predator and alien movies,I am from Belgrade and i cant wait to see this film.
But i just cant find the release date!!!
Does anyone knows anything about it??
Plus i read the critics and i dont know what are this people expecting?? This movie is suposed to be an action a good old fun hard action!!!
No one should look it like a sequal,the first was new and unexpected no one knew what to expect from it and it turn out to be one of the best action adventure sci fi movie of all time!!!!
I love all predators first and the second,and i also loved the AVP 1 and 2,its fun to watch it!!
Hell you just give me the movie where you have predator or alien and it cant miss!!!! :) :) :)
cant wait to watch it!!!
bye!!!!
pozdrav svim fanovima!!!! :) :)
i just saw predator….the movie is decent…but at the very beginning…i picked out the survivors and was dead on….this left me with a bitter taste in my mouth as i knew the survivors would be most definitely the girl the 2 youngest…and so called straight people out of the whole crew….the rest of the crew did not make it for obvious reasons….they were either too old…a minority or a criminal…it just hits head on and tells so much about the way this world really is…..the movie would have been so much better if the criminal would have survived…which is really a good possiblility…or a minority would have made it…because it would have not been expected…so sad the movie was so predictable.
I just wanted to come in late and agree with Brad'd review.
Except I wouldn't be as kind. This movies sucked in every conceivable way and it deserves to be flopping in it's second weekend.
Dull action, unlikeable characters, bad twists and bad acting from everyone (especially the wholly miscast Adrien Brody – whose never been good in any film anyway, don't even bring up the Oscar he won) involved.
This was abysmal film-making at it's very worst.
thats the problem with people know adays ……….always complaining about something…….i mean get over yourselfs…..always saying this is bad or this is bad if your b****ing so much about it why dont you get your a** up and make a better movie then…..do you really have to listen to a critic to be happy with yourself thats like listen to those morons who say the world is going to end, nobody listens to those a**h***….and what do you expect from this generation today to say if its a good movie, you would be surprised if they quick texting or got off facebookt to go see a movie…and the ones that do complain…all im saying is quit complaining and enjoy what people make or you because i know for a fact you cant make anything better
i will give this review: F
being Predator fan from the 90's- i had no complain abt the film. i guess u wanted predators to fight decepticons or something and finish the movie swimming with the great white from Jaws. stop writing reviews. please.
Predators was complete rubbish. It added nothing new, the bigger predator was completely pointless and so were the predator hounds. The movie was a remake of the first film and not a very good one. Please Hollywood start coming up with new ideas and stop this revisioning, remaking, reimagining, rehashing of things that have gone before. They say you can judge a society by the stories it tells. Maybe this is a sign of the downfall of civilisation as we know it. Oh wait a minute that was 2012, and that was pants as well, which means the end of the world might not be as bad as we thought. That's what hype does, it never lives up to expectations.