Synopsis:PREDATORS, a bold new chapter in the Predator universe, shot under the creative auspices of Robert Rodriguez, stars Adrien Brody as Royce, a mercenary who reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realise they’ve been brought together on an alien planet... as prey.
With the notable exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers – mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members – human "predators" that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien predators.
My comments:Predators was always a film I would see, but once Robert Rodriguez's name was attached to it it became a MUST-SEE. While it didn't quite live up to those expectations (which were huge ones, at that), I liked it.
So where does that film stand? It seems all they considered was the original
Predator film, the story of which is actually mentioned. So is
Predators to
Predator what
Aliens was to
Alien? in short no. To me that would have meant the appearance of large amounts of predators (as hinted at by the trailer, actually), which does not happen. It is a lot closer to the original, with its jungle setting and trying to create suspense for the most part. While the one scene of the trailer was deliberately confusing and does obviously not appear, I think the rest of the trailer did a good job of setting up the film without giving away too much. I found myself repeatedly surprised by what happened (I am easily surprised like that, though
).
Adrien Brody seems as an odd casting choice in the role of the tough guy, but he grunts himself through creating enough believability. Danny Trejo does his thing. Laurence Fishburne seems to chew the scenery a bit (boy did he get fat; then again, well, so did I
, guess it's an age thing). Topher Grace (he is playing the physician) surprised me in his role. The other cast members are much less known (one or two faces seemed familiar, but I didn't know anyone by name).
There is some gore here (quite some, actually), done by the excellent team of KNB. CGI seemed to be either be held at a minimum or was done exceptionally well.
There was no Alien reference placed i the film (at least I didn't see it), like it was at the end of
Predator 2, only the music took a cue from Alien soundtracks two or three times, which felt extremely out of place to me. Luckilyu it was early on so it wouldn't distract from the action on screen too much.