The world's most dangerous killers are now being hunted by the universe's most dangerous killers. ROOOOAAAARRR!
- Who's going to like it: Fans of the original, and people who hated the "Alien vs. Predator" movies.
Those pesky Predators are
sick and tired of traveling all the way to earth to hunt and kill humans.
They’ve thought of something even more sinister. Kidnap earthlings and drop
them into an interplanetary game reserve used just for hunting humans. Now the
Predators don’t have to travel so far and deal with the likes of Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Only these aren’t just any
humans. As the trailers make it abundantly clear, the Predators want a
challenge and the only way to make hunting humans challenging is to hunt the
most dangerous ones. Over half a dozen killers, mercenaries, and criminals land
smack dab in the middle of the jungle. Special Forces, Yakuza sword masters,
and even one of the FBI’s most wanted group together to figure out what’s going
on.
Leadership of the killer
squad falls more or less into the hands of a grizzled mercenary played by
Adrian Brody. Brody sports the ever-popular super-deep gruff voice that is now
a pre-requisite for anyone even considering action hero work. Brody’s
character, whose name remains a mystery until the end, figures out things
marvelously fast. While the others stand around scratching their heads he’s
figured out within the first 15 or 20 minutes that this is indeed a game
preserve, and that they are being hunted. This is before they find out they’re
on a different planet. No matter. He’s one smart cookie, which is why he’s
there I guess.
Other members of the group
include a young Latin woman who is the Yin to Brody’s Yang. Brody’s character
has no feelings or remorse, his only object is to get off of whatever planet
they’re on. She, on the other hand, feels sympathy and humanistic emotions
towards the other members of the group. She’s been hardened by combat, but she
still has a heart. That’s what the Predators are counting on.
See they don’t just jump in
front of the humans energy pulses blasting. They like to make it interesting,
by setting traps and following their prey through the jungle in cloaked body
armor. I guess they realize that have a significant advantage, and don’t want
it to end quite as fast.
They’re still the same old
Predators we grew up with and have seen recreated over the years as they’ve
fought Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, and even crossed paths with the aliens
from “Alien.” They still see through heat vision, which always turns out to be
their greatest weakness. You think after all this time hunting humans they
would’ve learned that they should probably invented some better technology to
help them see.
“Predators” is big, dumb fun
– with extra emphasis on the dumb. There’s plenty of unintentional guffaws to
be had especially when the Yakuza sword master strips off his shirt slowly in
order to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a predator. It’s just a known fact
that you must be shirtless in an action movie when fighting for your life.
Makes your more manly. There’s really not much of a storyline to be had, just a
bunch of gun-toting maniacs now find themselves on the other side of the war.
There’s a twist at the end that comes out of nowhere, like it’s from a
different movie. It seems very out of place and doesn’t add much to the overall
effect. Fans of the past movies will like this one, it’s definitely better than
the awful “Aliens vs. Predators.” “Predators” is a step closer to bringing the
franchise back into relevancy.
(3 out of 5)
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