GRADE: B

This review will be similar to my Nightmare on Elm Street critique in that I have seen the original, but don’t remember the 1987 Predator well enough for comparison. Even with that said, the 2010 Predators played homage to the original in many aspects. The music, some of the dialogue, and of course the gritty looking alien creatures that thrive for the hunt. The story in Predators is much different than the original, but I think that helps put this movie in a class of its own.

This film was produced by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and directed adequately by Nimród Antal. I used adequately to describe his work because some shots were really well constructed and other shots just didn’t work. The producers don’t try to mimic the original Predator story-wise, but they seem to have an idea of what made the original a success. Pitting both alien and human elite killers against one another seems like a can’t miss, but marketing to a new audience while also appeasing an established fan base is never an easy task. I think the producers found a decent mix between the two, and successfully created a fresh start to a possible new series of films.

This movie begins with Adrien Brody in free fall towards the ground. An advanced alien parachute opens just in time for him to land on the ground safely. He soon discovers he is not the only human trying to find his bearings in this unfamiliar territory. He crosses paths with other humans who seem to have one standout similarity like himself; they are hardened killers. Alice Braga plays the lone female among the group as a skilled shooter with her sniper rifle and Topher Grace plays his usual neurotic self. The movie picks up steam as the group realizes that the unknown terrain masks the presence of vicious hunters who see them as the prey.

The tension was established when the movie began. Brody dropping into an environment with no knowledge of what is going on or his location causes the audience to identify with his character off the bat and want to discover the answer to these questions with him. Knowing what is lurking in the jungle evokes anxiousness to viewers because the characters do not know what they are in for, but we do. As the movie progresses, the tension continues to rise as the group discovers why they are there and how much stronger and more advanced the Predators are.

All the characters in this movie seemed to bring something to the table, but some much less than others. Each character was given at least some screen time helping to create more tension when the audience senses danger for the group members they like or identify with. The humans discover defeating the enemy might be impossible making their effort to ward off these Predators that much more interesting.

That solid writing is partnered with some good action. The combat between the humans and Predators created a powerful sense of pride each of these sides had to defeat the other. I loved to see the “predator” mentality from each camp as the two tried to hunt each other down. The Predators put their malevolence on display as they gruesomely executed their victims.

One thing I did not particularly enjoy was the quick peaks into the point of view of the Predators. The story starts off from the human perspective and stays that way mostly throughout. Then deep into the movie the audience is thrust into the mind of the Predator. We are forced to try and interpret this perspective which seems little more than a peak into the Predators acute visionary tactics. What is the point here? We already know they are more advanced than humans, why change the point of view in the story? Though this element is used in the original, I thought it felt displaced here.

Overall, Predators had an old school feeling wrapped in a new package. The story, though very basic, had very strong characteristics of a well drawn out narrative. The tension especially was always being escalated by the actors, the situations, the setting, or most importantly the score. This movie was hurt drastically by two plot twists that came across as misses in my book. They hurt the simplicity of the narrative and personally I thought they were the worst parts of the movie.

What Should You Do? This movie is worth the price of admission if you were a fan of the other Predator films or enjoy a decent action flick. Predators fared decently at the theaters this weekend taking in $25 million, but if you want to see the best movie over the weekend that would be the box office champion Despicable Me.

We reported way back in April of 2009 that blood-spatter specialist Robert Rodriguez was getting set to reboot the Predator franchise with Predators. The series dates back to 1987, of course starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. “You are one ugly mother fu**er.” Remember that classic line? Then the much less successful sequel, Predator 2, came out three years later, followed by the two Alien vs. Predator cross-over films (AVP and AVP: Requiem) in 2004 and 2007 respectively.

With a stagnant franchise storyline, Rodriguez has hired director Nimrod Antal (Vacancy) to helm the fresh take on the vicious alien warrior (Rodriguez will act as executive producer). The film’s cast includes some actors that seem to be somewhat out of place, such as Adrien Brody and Topher Grace; Lawrence Fishburne and Rodriguez regular Danny Trejo also star.

Rodriguez premiered a behind-the-scenes featurette of Predators at the annual SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas; which is currently underway and goes on until March 21. It actually looks like it could be a fun action movie to check out this summer. Predators opens in the U.S. on July 7.

What Do You Think? Discuss.

● Talk about bringing back the Scream franchise has been going on for a while, but we now have some solid indications on exactly what Wes Craven and Co. are planning to do with this successful horror series.  Last week Entertainment Weekly reported that Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette have been approached by writer Kevin Williamson to return in Scream 4 as reporter Gail Weathers and deputy dumb-dumb Dewey respectively. Well apparently the ambitions of this return is is larger than originally thought. SlashFilm reported today that Kevin Williamson cleared the air via Twitter saying:

“It is not a remake. Scream 4. The first chapter of a new trilogy.”

Okay, well that does clear things up. A completely new trilogy, instead of just one additional sequel. However, we’ll see just how much horror-master Wes Craven has to do with this as he seemed very stand-offish during an interview with DigitalSpy, saying:

“…I’m not closed to it, I’m not open to it, I’ll be perfectly happy to read a script and tell him what I think.”

Well, it seems like they’ve got some work to do getting this thing together, but I love Scream…Scream 2 was okay and Scream 3 was meh. But if they can write a good story, incorporating some of the old characters and bring in some new blood, I’ll def check it out.

● Robert Rodriguez is an extremely busy bee these days. Check out the lineup of films he’s going to direct over the next couple years: Machete, then a sci-fi action film called Nerverackers, a reboot of the Predator franchise called Predators, Sin City 2 and finally, according to MTV…wait for it…a live-action adaptations of The Jetsons. Now this is a very interesting decision by Rodriguez. How is he going to adapt this iconic futuristic cartoon family? One would assume that he would make it family-friendly, as he’s shown with the Spy Kids series, but you never know. He could throw some Sin City in there and make it a teen/adult Sci-Fi adventure, because I doubt kids today even know what The Jetsons is. Those damn kids and their rap music.

● These were posted last week, but I had to comment on them. Check out the newly released logos above for Marvel’s upcoming superhero franchise flicks. Ain’t It Cool got these from a studio licensing show in Las Vegas and as you can see, features logos for Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers. I posted a small update last month on Marvel’s upcoming lineup, featuring the great casting news of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, with the film being directed by Kenneth Branagh. I get the whole “throw back” classic vibe that Marvel is trying to convey with these logos, but frankly, The Avengers and the Thor logos suck. As studios are trying to one-up each other in the superhero genre, trying to go bigger and better, especially after The Dark Knight, this comes off as a lazy attempt to make a first impression among fanboys. Check out the logos below:

Here’s a recap of the release dates for Marvels lineup:

Iron Man 2: May 7th, 2010
Spider-Man 4: May 6th, 2011
Thor: June 17th, 2011
The First Avenger – Captain America: July 22nd, 2011
The Avengers: May 4th, 2012

What Do You Think? Discuss.

If you’re a huge fan of Sc-iFi or just a fan of Schwarzenegger, you’ve probably seen a movie called Predator. This was what  a great action movie is all about; sitting down and watching it on a day when you don’t want to do any thinking. There were extremely ripped guys, like Arrrnold, huge guns, lots of explosions, and of course a man-hunting alien. This alien was no pushover mind you. He took out tons of highly trained U.S. operatives before finally being taken down by Arnold himself in the film’s climax.  Now, how can a film like this spawn a sequel you ask?…well it did…several. While Predator 2 got some things right,  they messed up a few essential parts. The action was not as fun and the guys didn’t eat steroids for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which is what I want to see. Then there were all those AVP shenanigans, which I’m not even going to get into.

So, why am I saying all this? Well, Sin City and Planet Terror director Robert Rodriguez, is preparing to give the Predator franchise a face lift. According to Comingsoon.net, he plans on shooting a “reboot” film titled Predators, after he finishes a few other projects;  hopefully before  Sin City 2, for the love of god! Though that might still be up in the air due to the  July 7, 2010 release date already annouced by 20th Century Fox. Either way I am really excited from this news. Rodriguez knows how to present over the top action, but not make it TITF (taking it too far). He has done excellent work with bloody, puss-oozing zombies and vampires, and should do wonders with this  franchise comprised of disgusting aliens. I can’t wait until more details have been leaked about this. Stay tuned to The Movie Mash for updates.

What Do You Think? Discuss.