FEATURE FIEND: PREDATORS

Three Fiends saw this movie together, so it's rather fitting to have us review it together, albeit more in the style of the John Carpenter retrospective we did awhile back. So sit back, relax, grab yourself a roast beef sandwich, and enjoy the Fiend's 3-headed monster review of Predators!

PLOT:

SAL: The idea of killers sent to a Gaming World for the Predators is rather solid. It makes sense for these technologically advanced alien hunters to have such a place to hone their skills.
LOU: The plot on this one was pretty straight forward. A group of killers from Earth find themselves trapped on another world that turns out to be a game preserve for predators. There are a few twists in terms of the makeup of certain characters, but overall this is a straightforward action movie.
ANT: There's not a whole lot of plot. It's basically just a good setup for a lot of cool action. A quick and easy explanation of the hows and whys of the movie.

CHARACTERS:

SAL: I dug the characters in this one, as it was a rather solid cast all around. Adrien Brody made for an interesting lead. Royce was a complex character, one that's hard to get a grasp of, and one that makes some rather questionable decisions throughout. His support crew is interesting as well with special kudos going out to Topher Grace. The more I think of his role, the more I think it was a stroke of genius by the casting agent.
LOU: I thought the cast was good here. The types of characters were diverse, as far as killers go with Adrien Brody and Topher Grace both giving strong performances. Laurence Fishburne's appearance was also noteworthy and helped to establish some sense of hope for characters that seemed essentially doomed at the opening of the film.
ANT: There's not a whole lot of diversity here especially considering the type of characters featured in these movies. Not to say there weren't enjoyable. Just not a lot of originality except for Topher Grace's character which goes sour in the third act.

MUSIC:

LOU: I thought the music here by John Debney was fitting. It intensified the action without drawing you out of the moment. It wasn't as stylized as some of his previous work (see Sin City), but definitely worked well with the film.
ANT: The music was very fitting. Basically the same music from the original movie which is an intense driving score which was great until the third act where it went from orchestra to electric guitar therefore bringing in the cheese.
SAL: I agree with Ant on the first part, though I fail to recall the third act guitars, but I usually like that sort of thing so it probably just blended in for me.

ORIGINALITY:

LOU: If you were looking for originality this wasn't the film to watch. It's a sequel, so there will always be some basics carried over from the original film(s). It this case the movie plays a lot like a cross between the original Predator and Aliens. There are definite homages paid to Predator, down to the music played over the closing credits.
ANT: The concept here is the most original thing about this movie even that isn't original at all. It's taking the first film and reshooting it in a very similar environment and calling it someplace else. meh.
SAL: I don't think it was meant to be original, but more of a retelling of the first film in a new way. I dug that idea, and thought the execution was spot on.

ACTION:

LOU: The action was strong. I found the movie to be pretty intense, though at anytime I thought they could have gone overboard into the point of the ridiculous. The closest they come to going over is a swordfight between a Yakuza member and a Predator. The fighting techniques are actually choreographed well which kept the fight in the realm of the believable.
SAL: I agree, Lou. Strong throughout without going overboard. They kept it as grounded in reality as possible, which is kind of surprising from a Robert Rodriguez produced film. I loved the swordfight!
ANT: The action was fairly solid. Sad to say that it was nothing so spectacular or different than anything I have seen anywhere else. Most of it was actually the same action scenes as the first one, only this was shot with different people.

EFFECTS:

LOU: I thought the effects were solid. The science fiction elements were believable and the gore/horror elements were well done. Die hard fans of the original movie may have some problems with the look of the Predators themselves, but I liked the updated looks and found them to work well with the overall feel of the film.
SAL: Agreed on all points. I liked the idea of a second race of Predators as it added a new element to the franchise. We only got to see that design up close for a moment, but it looked rather creepy. The alien dogs were a nice touch, and one that made a lot of sense.
ANT: Sound and visual effects were fairly good. There were a couple of shots where the Predator dogs or whatever they were looked a bit too C.G. but no biggie. It didn't take you out of the scene. I'm an unfortunate die hard fan of the original, so like Lou said, yea. I wasn't exactly pleased with the overall look of the new Predators.

OVERALL:

LOU: Overall I'd say go and see this movie in the theater. It's a worthy successor to the original whose effects won't be as good on the small screen. It's a good summer popcorn movie and one of the better action movies of the summer.
ANT: If you've never seen the original Predator I say go the the video store, rent it, watch it, love it. Leave this movie alone. There was no need for it. If something was done great once there is no need to redo it again. This movie is a carbon copy of the 87 classic with a couple of moderately interesting twists but not nearly as entertaining. That's my problem with it. If your going to make a sequel, make it different. I wanted so much to like it but just found myself bored and even slightly irritated. This film made me really appreciate Predator 2 and now I can't wait to see it again.
SAL: I'm more with Lou than Ant on this one. I had a good time watching it. Was it original? No, but I'm not sure that was the point. The AVPs pretty much killed both franchises and Robert Rodriguez was tasked with putting the Predators back in the spotlight. In essence recreating it for an audience that has since forgotten the original and for folks that have never seen it. Sure, he and director Nimrod Antal homaged the first heavily, but at the same time added some interesting ideas to the Predator canon. I thought it was a solid action/horror movie, and, in my opinion, the best since the original. Next, though, maybe can we see Predator homeworld? That would be neat!

We hope you enjoyed our take on Predators! I like that we had a couple of diverse takes on it. We'll do this again soon! In the meantime, if you've seen it, let us know what you thought of the movie!