PREDATORS
(R)
MOVIE: ** (out of 5)
BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5)
BY KEVIN CARR
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
In a reboot of the “Predator” franchise, Adrian Brody stars as a mercenary who finds himself parachuted onto a strange planet with a group of other nefarious characters. After fighting among themselves and finding that they’re the target of a hunt, the group tries to figure out how to escape. Two groups of Predator creatures have them in their cross-hairs, and they start to be picked off one by one in their quest to escape the game preserve planet.
WHAT I LIKED
I like the “Predator” movies, including the much maligned “Alien vs. Predator” films. I was pretty excited to see it get a reboot, and while I wasn’t a huge fan of this incarnation, I am happy it did well enough to hopefully warrant a few more films.
I do like the return to the jungle and the concept of a prison planet. The creature works in this film are pretty well done, if not overly CGI’d at times. In particular, it was kinda cool to see a cameo from the original rejected Predator design from the 1987 movie.
As a standard action film, “Predators” works. There’s guns, and explosions, and Predators (though not as many as the trailers promise).
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Part of what made the original film work so well was even though the characters were hard-edged mercenaries, I still enjoyed them. But after mercenaries in “Predator” and foul-mouthed L.A. cops in “Predator 2,” this group of characters just didn’t grab me. Adrian Brody just seemed silly trying to be a badass, and the only decent character was Topher Grace.
And as much as I like Laurence Fishburn, when he finally shows up in the movie, the film comes to a screeching halt.
Finally, I wish that the term “Predators” meant dozens rather than six, especially after a key shot in the film was augmented in the trailers to make it appear different. Think about it… if “Aliens” featured just a handful of xenomorphs, wouldn’t you have been disappointed.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The Blu-ray includes a second disc with digital copy for portable viewing. More than an hour of special features are included on the main disc. There’s an audio commentary with Robert Rodriguez and director Nimrod Antal, deleted and extended scenes and a motion comic that gives the background of the different characters. Featurettes include “Evolution of the Species: Predators Reborn” and “The Chosen.” There’s also a Fox Movie Channel “Making a Scene” episode.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of Robert Rodriguez cut-rate filmmaking that doesn’t completely hold up against the originals.