Film review: Predators

In a summer already filled with remakes, sequels, big-screen adaptations and big-budget duds, Predators always had a lot to live up to. The unusual casting of Adrien Brody as lead notwithstanding, this franchise about menacing toothy aliens on a hunt has been mauled so badly by sequels and spin-offs in the past that fans of the 1987 original have been timidly watching with apprehension.

I’m afraid to report their worst nightmare might come true.

But before you get your planetary cogency in a twist, let’s focus on the good parts, for there are a few.

Firstly, the opening shot of Brody midair, barreling down to the alien planet’s surface is beautifully executed, and immediately sets the tone for what’s to follow. Royce, as his character is called, lands in the middle of a rainforest, quickly presented as a hostile environment, and encounters others who came the same way.

There’s Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), a Mexican drug cartel enforcer; Isabelle (the impressive Alice Braga), a sniper; Edwin (Topher Grace), a doctor; Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), a Russian special forces soldier; Mombassa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a Revolutionary United Front Officer from Sierra Leone; Stans (Walton Goggins), an inmate on death row and Hanzo (Louise Ozawa Changchien), a Japanese crime lord.

No this is not Lost. But props to director Nimrod Antal for deftly introducing all these characters whilst maintaining the tension. There’s something sinister lurking just around the corner and one watches in anticipation, preparing for a few scares. 

The group speculate that they have been brought to the jungle for a reason and soon find empty cages and skinned bloody corpses before arriving at a higher ground to find themselves staring at an alien sky.

First a pack of alien dog-like beings attack and it’s all very good action. There’s enough blood and bullets to satisfy any action fan. Some members of the troupe are killed off at this juncture but interestingly, Antal keeps the predators at a safe distance much of the first half.

Then, Morpheus, nay, Noland (Laurence Fishburne), a soldier who has survived in the planet by hiding and observing the Predators appears out of nowhere. He steers the troupe to his hiding place, which is where he explains the purpose of their arrival.

Those prawn-like Predators, it seems, sharpen their battle skills by collecting skilled warriors from other worlds and hunting them. Also, just like there are good and bad people, there are good and bad Predators.

Once the remainder of the group is briefed about their plight and fate, the action picks up as the Predators up their game and locate their hideout. But this is where, unfortunately, things start to go very wrong in the movie.
 
Antal summons every known cliché in an alien-chasing-human movie and we’re left to numbly watch as the characters are hunted down one by one. He tries to throw in a twist with Grace’s character, who, in the first half provides a much-needed comic relief, but falls flat.

By the time Royce fights the final Predator, offering Brody a chance to show off his six-pack – he gained 11kgs for this role – the whole thing has fallen to such predictable depths that you could almost tell what the next scene would be.

Brody, as an action hero, is convincing and much-deserved, definitely a feather for this very talented actor’s cap. Fishburne is completely wasted while Grace does his best for his material. You’ll struggle to remember the rest of the cast, except, maybe Braga, who, as a tough sniper, reveals somewhere amidst all the blood and gore, why the letter ‘s’ has been added to the original title.

By then though, you’d have already wondered why you even bothered.