Predators Movie Review
Troublemaker Studios has decided to take a whack at the Predator action movies, this time simply calling their film Predators. The first movie, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a great action flick, the sequel, set in LA, not quite as good. Alien Vs. Predators, which was initially a fantastic series by Dark Horse Comics, turned into some truly hideous movies. This one comes back to a decent action flick like the first.
Predators Movie Review
I give them huge points for the opening; you don’t see the characters get captured or shipped off to the game preserve they will be hunted on. The main character, played by Adrien Brody, wakes up in free fall, clearly with no idea how he got there or what’s happening. There’s a countdown on the parachute, which is recognizable by the audience as the script the Predators use, and it deploys barely in time to save his life, although certainly not giving him a soft landing.
I won’t go into detail, but if you’ve seen the first, or any, of these movies, you have an idea what to expect. It’s a good popcorn movie, with some nice twists. Some I saw coming, some I did not. There’s a fairly well known name who shows up as almost a guest star, and he had me guessing (and wrongly) the whole way. There is a nice nod to the original, with one of the characters with an Intelligence connection of some kind knowing about Arnie’s team’s mission on Colombia and roughly what happened. Wisely, no mention of the Alien Vs Predator movies (so much potential, such a waste…).
Overall, if you’re expecting fine cinema, you’re clearly in the wrong place. If you go in for some pure escapism with lots of weapons fire, traps, folks running for their lives, etc, it’s entertaining. I’d say it’s worth seeing, but I’d also say you don’t lose much if you see it on the small screen and wait for cable.
It was amusing seeing the psycho death row inmate Stans, played by Walton Goggins. Goggins is currently also playing a very interesting criminal on the TNT network show Justified, which is a great show I am eagerly awaiting the return of. I didn’t realize until I checked the cast list on imbd.com (great resource for all things movie) that the African soldier Mombassa is played by a guy whose name I’m not even going to try and spell, but he’s been on Crossing Jordan and the 4400, and I enjoyed his work on both places. Mahershalalhashbaz Ali is it, or close to that.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| great opening, an interesting mix of characters with some good surprises | a few plot holes and some bits that just didn’t quite make sense |
| Rating |
