Genre: Sci-Fi Action
Director: Nimrod Antal
Starring: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne
Running Time: 107 minutes (plus trailers)
"This planet is a game preserve...and we're the game."
Released in 1987, a time when Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered to be the epitome of rugged masculinity, John McTiernan’s Predator told the story of a group of mercenaries sent into the jungles of Guatemala on a CIA rescue mission, only to be picked off one by one by a mysterious hunter, a “predator” if you will, from beyond the stars. A massive hit for 20th Century Fox, even a less successful, sans Schwarzenegger follow up (creatively titled Predator 2) didn’t deter studio-heads from exploring new ways to cash in on the series and its mandibled alien warrior. In 1995, Fox hired then up-and-coming filmmaker Robert Rodriguez to write a script for a new Predator film; a script that put a spin on the original premise by setting it not in the tropics but on a distant alien planet, where the heroes would be strangers to one another, and the adversaries far greater in number.
Unfortunately the film never went past the planning stages, and Rodriguez instead went on to direct such movies as Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn and Sin City (as well as three Spy Kids movies, but we don’t like to talk about those). But while Rodriguez's career flourished, the Predator series fell into disrepair, and after fifteen years and two god-awful Alien vs. Predator movies, the executives over at Fox decided to dust off Rodriguez’s script in one final attempt to breathe life into the failing franchise. Produced by Rodriguez and directed by relative unknown Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, Armored), the script has now finally reached the big screen, a part reboot, part sequel with a simple title that conveys the same message that James Cameron’s Aliens did: this time, there's lots of them.
At the risk of opening myself up to accusations of hyperbole, I think Predators might be one of the best straight-up action films of the past five years. To clarify, when I say “straight-up action film”, I mean that this is a movie that knows exactly what it wants to be. It is not thought-provoking or innovative, but instead hits every one of its genre tropes with the highest levels of precision, without ever falling into self-aware camera winking. It is a film where the characters are all menacing without being over-the top, the dialogue offers information and back-story without becoming extraneous, and the pacing is calculated to build the tension before paying it off in increasingly exciting scenes of action, all leading up to an appropriately epic final showdown.
It is difficult to say how much of the credit belongs to Rodriguez, as I don’t know how integrally involved he was in the production, nor do I how much of his original script made it into the final film (it is interesting to note that he did not receive a screen-writing credit). Regardless, enormous praise should be given to Antal, a man whose directorial choices contribute considerably to the film intense feelings of atmosphere and suspense. To see a director using practical effects, real locations and careful shot selection is almost a foreign notion in this day and age; increasingly, action films are becoming an indecipherable mess of schizophrenic camera movements and poorly utilized CGI - by comparison, Antal’s techniques can only be described as “old-school”.
Indeed, in many ways Predators seem like a throwback to another time. The pacing in the opening act is very deliberate – in both my viewing experiences, an audience member complained afterwards that it was too slow getting started. Personally however, I thought the films tempo was pitch perfect. The movie takes it’s time introducing us to the major players (led by Adrien Brody in an ingenious piece of reverse type-casting) and each member of the ensemble attacks their role with straight-faced gusto. Even John Debney’s fantastic score feels as though it is a relic from another cinematic era, more at home in a 1970s science fiction piece than in a movie made in 2010. Yet it feels right at home in Antal’s film, capturing perfectly the nature and tone of the story and its setting.
Before I conclude, I probably need to address something: I don’t actually like the original Predator. The action is nowhere near as good as people seem to remember it, and the glaring homoerotic subtext makes it somewhat difficult to take seriously when viewed today. But even as a non-believer, I can certainly recognize that this Predators is one follow-up is that gets things right. No prior viewing is required to understand what it going on, but fans of the original will be able to find and enjoy the numerous visual, verbal and musical callbacks that run throughout. While so many modern updates seem like soulless cash-grabs (see: every other film in the Predator universe), it is clear that Rodriguez and Natal have enormous respect for the material they are working with.
Predators is definitely not a transcendent film, and it does suffer from one big flaw that almost all movies of its ilk suffer from, namely: you can predict almost the exact order in which the ancillary characters will be killed off. There is also one scene that I think deserves to have attention drawn to it – I won’t spoil what happens, but I will just say that it involves a sword. If I was a classier film critic I’d probably nominate this scene as one that should have been edited out, as it totally throws off the pacing of the final act. The sheer bad-assery of scene itself however makes me less inclined to complain. Either way, it was probably the most beautifully shot sequence in the entire film, so it gets points for that.
I suspect that if I were a) a bigger fan of the first Predator, or b) if action films weren’t so poorly made these days, I wouldn’t love this movie so dearly. What’s more, given my less than enthusiastic feelings for the original film, me stating that Predators is one of the few sequels that is even better than the original probably doesn’t have that much of an impact. Therefore, my final word will simply be this: if you want to see an exciting, straight-up, no frills action movie, Predators is where you should spend your money.
Predators is in cinemas now
Director: Nimrod Antal
Starring: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne
Running Time: 107 minutes (plus trailers)
"This planet is a game preserve...and we're the game."
Released in 1987, a time when Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered to be the epitome of rugged masculinity, John McTiernan’s Predator told the story of a group of mercenaries sent into the jungles of Guatemala on a CIA rescue mission, only to be picked off one by one by a mysterious hunter, a “predator” if you will, from beyond the stars. A massive hit for 20th Century Fox, even a less successful, sans Schwarzenegger follow up (creatively titled Predator 2) didn’t deter studio-heads from exploring new ways to cash in on the series and its mandibled alien warrior. In 1995, Fox hired then up-and-coming filmmaker Robert Rodriguez to write a script for a new Predator film; a script that put a spin on the original premise by setting it not in the tropics but on a distant alien planet, where the heroes would be strangers to one another, and the adversaries far greater in number.Unfortunately the film never went past the planning stages, and Rodriguez instead went on to direct such movies as Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn and Sin City (as well as three Spy Kids movies, but we don’t like to talk about those). But while Rodriguez's career flourished, the Predator series fell into disrepair, and after fifteen years and two god-awful Alien vs. Predator movies, the executives over at Fox decided to dust off Rodriguez’s script in one final attempt to breathe life into the failing franchise. Produced by Rodriguez and directed by relative unknown Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, Armored), the script has now finally reached the big screen, a part reboot, part sequel with a simple title that conveys the same message that James Cameron’s Aliens did: this time, there's lots of them.
At the risk of opening myself up to accusations of hyperbole, I think Predators might be one of the best straight-up action films of the past five years. To clarify, when I say “straight-up action film”, I mean that this is a movie that knows exactly what it wants to be. It is not thought-provoking or innovative, but instead hits every one of its genre tropes with the highest levels of precision, without ever falling into self-aware camera winking. It is a film where the characters are all menacing without being over-the top, the dialogue offers information and back-story without becoming extraneous, and the pacing is calculated to build the tension before paying it off in increasingly exciting scenes of action, all leading up to an appropriately epic final showdown.It is difficult to say how much of the credit belongs to Rodriguez, as I don’t know how integrally involved he was in the production, nor do I how much of his original script made it into the final film (it is interesting to note that he did not receive a screen-writing credit). Regardless, enormous praise should be given to Antal, a man whose directorial choices contribute considerably to the film intense feelings of atmosphere and suspense. To see a director using practical effects, real locations and careful shot selection is almost a foreign notion in this day and age; increasingly, action films are becoming an indecipherable mess of schizophrenic camera movements and poorly utilized CGI - by comparison, Antal’s techniques can only be described as “old-school”.
Indeed, in many ways Predators seem like a throwback to another time. The pacing in the opening act is very deliberate – in both my viewing experiences, an audience member complained afterwards that it was too slow getting started. Personally however, I thought the films tempo was pitch perfect. The movie takes it’s time introducing us to the major players (led by Adrien Brody in an ingenious piece of reverse type-casting) and each member of the ensemble attacks their role with straight-faced gusto. Even John Debney’s fantastic score feels as though it is a relic from another cinematic era, more at home in a 1970s science fiction piece than in a movie made in 2010. Yet it feels right at home in Antal’s film, capturing perfectly the nature and tone of the story and its setting.Before I conclude, I probably need to address something: I don’t actually like the original Predator. The action is nowhere near as good as people seem to remember it, and the glaring homoerotic subtext makes it somewhat difficult to take seriously when viewed today. But even as a non-believer, I can certainly recognize that this Predators is one follow-up is that gets things right. No prior viewing is required to understand what it going on, but fans of the original will be able to find and enjoy the numerous visual, verbal and musical callbacks that run throughout. While so many modern updates seem like soulless cash-grabs (see: every other film in the Predator universe), it is clear that Rodriguez and Natal have enormous respect for the material they are working with.
Predators is definitely not a transcendent film, and it does suffer from one big flaw that almost all movies of its ilk suffer from, namely: you can predict almost the exact order in which the ancillary characters will be killed off. There is also one scene that I think deserves to have attention drawn to it – I won’t spoil what happens, but I will just say that it involves a sword. If I was a classier film critic I’d probably nominate this scene as one that should have been edited out, as it totally throws off the pacing of the final act. The sheer bad-assery of scene itself however makes me less inclined to complain. Either way, it was probably the most beautifully shot sequence in the entire film, so it gets points for that.I suspect that if I were a) a bigger fan of the first Predator, or b) if action films weren’t so poorly made these days, I wouldn’t love this movie so dearly. What’s more, given my less than enthusiastic feelings for the original film, me stating that Predators is one of the few sequels that is even better than the original probably doesn’t have that much of an impact. Therefore, my final word will simply be this: if you want to see an exciting, straight-up, no frills action movie, Predators is where you should spend your money.
Predators is in cinemas now
