The original Predator movie back in 1987 had a a simple idea, a simple script, and a great cast. Skip on nearly a quarter of a century and we see Predators coming back to the big screen courtesy of Robert Rodriguez serves as the film’s Producer! The original movie starred 80s hard-man turned Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, will the 21st Century cast live up to the high standard that he set?
The main star of the new Nimrod Antal directed movie is Oscar winning actor, Adrien Brody who we’ve never seen in an action movie before. He plays Royce, a ex-military black ops soldier who instinctively looks after himself before anyone else! The movie begins with Royce falling through the sky unconscious. Seconds pass and he’s awakes to realise that he’s plummeting to his death. A split second before he hits the earth, a parachute opens automatically and he crashes to the ground. Queue the rest of the cast which includes Alice Braga, Danny Trejo and Topher Grace all of whom has arrived on the planet the same way. Slowly they have to work out why they are there and what they need to do to survive.
Good news people…. I really enjoyed Predators. The movie takes us back to basics, uses very little CGI except on some of the effects and gunfire but primarily the movie is done with special effects and pyrotechnics which was very refreshing in a world where all movies have to have a quota of CGI. The tie in to the original movies was well scripted and fit in perfectly, although no mention was paid to Predator 2 or AVP which both would have happened after the events from the first movie and before this. Antal relies on his actors to give simplistic but powerful performances, most of which succeed. Lawrence Fishburne also appears in the movie in rather a dramatic way but is sadly underused.
The imagination of the death sequences has to be commended! Someone has obviously sat in a room for a long time thinking some of those up! They used the score from the original movie in Predators and it worked so well. The score alone was a fundamental part of why the original movie worked so well and the same can be said here. Some of the dialogue in the new movie is questionable (you’ll know which bits when you hear it!) but for the better part, the script and screenplay works in a movie which essentially revolves around a group of people walking through a jungle, works well.
Adrien Brody made a good action hero but he’s no Schwarzenegger – we knew that would be the case didn’t we? His chemistry with Alice Braga worked well and their relationship is believable but I wonder if they should have gone with someone a little more butch than Brody to pull off the lead role. The jungle acts as a character in itself making this movie claustrophobic, tense and enjoyable.
Predators is a good watch. If you loved the original, you may find holes in this new version but if you’re new to the Predator world, then i think you’re going to like it. The ending leads nicely into a sequel which, if this does well we’ll no doubt see in a year or two.
Roll on ‘More Predators’!
Predators is released in UK cinemas this Thursday, 8th July.
