Finally the marriage made in hell that was the Alien vs Predator franchise is over and the Predators can go back to doing what they do best, wrecking up the place. For those of you old enough to remember the first two Predator movies, this is a most welcome return of one of the baddest asses in the universe. For those of you just seeing them for the first time, just sit back and enjoy.
When a unique group of killers are dropped into hostile territory with no memory of how they got there, they quickly realise they must band together to fight an enemy they cannot see, on a terrain they do not know, in a world where they are the hunted not the hunters.
When Predator was released in 1986 it was hailed as a man’s man of a film filled with some of the coolest macho characters in cinematic history. When part two was released in 1990 it didn’t fare as well due to the setting being changed from jungle to city and only one badass human in the shape of the miscast Danny Glover.
By the time the ill-advised Alien v Predator movie was made the franchise was in freefall and needed to be put down, which is exactly what happened after the horrendous AVP Requiem.
Thankfully Fox realised that you need someone at the helm who understands what made Predator so popular in the first place and so they went to Robert Rodriguez with cap full of cash in hand and begged him to oversee the rebirth of the Predator franchise.
Badass
Much like Quentin Tarantino (the two are best buds), Rodriguez knows what people want to see when they sit down to watch a Predator movie. He knows they want badass heroes and even badder ass villains knocking seven bells out of each other.
He knows you don’t need elaborate set pieces when plain old mano a mano stuff works just fine. He basically took all the working elements of the first movie, put a new spin on them (the name Predators is a double whammy for the aliens and humans both being predators) and let the cast and director do the rest.
To call Predators a breath of fresh air is an understatement. Producer Robert Rodriguez (Sin City and Planet Terror) and director Nimrod Antal (Vacancy and Armoured) have crafted a sci-fi action movie that stands tall among the garbage we have been subjected to of late.
Predators may be a sequel of sorts but unlike most sequels you need know nothing of the others to enjoy it. That said, being a fan of the first two, it was a pleasure hearing Alan Silvestres’ original score booming out and to see the director use practical effects as much as possible rather than poor CGI.
Outstanding
Predators stands out with an above average cast led by Oscar Winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist) who continues the trend of great actors becoming natural action men much like Matt Damon in the Bourne movies (yes I said Matt Damon and great in the same sentence, shoot me).
Backing up Brody is Alice Braga (Repo Men), Topher Grace (That 70s Show), Robert Rodriguez staple Danny Trejo (upcoming Machete) and a host of faces you’ll recognise from the telly as well as a nice cameo from Larry Fishburne. Meanwhile, director Nimrod Antal acquits himself admirably and serves up a tasty morsel of a movie with some juicy violence to satiate an action starved audience.
Predators is a well above average actioner that harkens back to a time when men were men and a predator wasn’t some bloke in a long coat hanging round playgrounds.
Andrew Kennedy
