Predators

You have to be either very brave or very foolish to take on a movie franchise with as much renown as the Predator series and I am glad to say that director Nimód Antal is of the courageous nature. Once again, mankind finds himself being hunted down by an alien race we know as Predators, though this time with an interesting spin. Instead of a chance encounter as we have seen in the first two films, separate individuals who are well versed in the art of warfare find themselves in a jungle. These strangers are soon forced to become allies when they realise that the jungle they are in is actually a game reserve.

The film launches straight into action from the very beginning with the introduction of Royce (Adrian Brodie; The Pianist, King Kong); a hard nosed, devil may care mercenary. It’s a great pace to start with, however I think there are moments when the film struggles to keep up after such an explosive entrance, but it does regain its initial pace.

The action is superb. There’s plenty of bullets and blood flying from both sides as the humans battle for survival and the predators battle for trophies. As we go along we are also treated with a little more lore on the background of these predators, which is a nice addition as they are a race we have seen so often but know nothing about. Some of this we discover through a very shady character called Nolan, brilliantly acted by Laurence Fishburne (Event Horizon, The Matrix Trilogy).

The lush setting of Predators is fantastic, harking back to the days when it all began. However, compared to the first film, it lacks the constant uneasy feeling of being watched. It’s a shame because it’s this suspense that made the first film so good, but I will go on to say that Antal puts in the effort to compensate us with an extra scoop of ballistics. And when it comes down to it, this is what the film is about. A solid sci-fi action movie, with cool weapons, fierce fight scenes and awesome looking aliens, all played by a well chosen cast; and let’s face it, sometimes that’s all we’re in the mood for.

7/10

Tags: 2010, Action, Adrian Brodie, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Horror, Laurence Fishburne, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Nimód Antal, Oleg Taktarov, Sci-Fi, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins