The predator franchise is a troubled one. The first film, "Predator", was an action/horror movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting the predator in the jungle. It was a great film with memorable moments and an awesome finale. The 2nd film...wasn't great...but it was ok. Ignore the "Alien vs. Predator" movies, they're not too great... So where does "Predators" fit into the franchise's lineage? Well it's an interesting film that has a few issues, but manages to be highly enjoyable.
The film follows a group consisting of soliders, convicts, and other people who might be prone to violence, who wake up in a mysterious jungle. It soon becomes very clear that they are part of a game where they are being hunted for sport. The group must put aside their differences and work together to beat the predators at their own game.
Most of the movie is the group just slowly moving through the jungle and coming to realizations about what is going on. It's a lot more action oriented than the first two Predator movies, this isn't bad, but the more tense atmosphere of the first one was pretty gripping.
Casting in the movie is pretty good. Adrien Brody plays Royce, the main character, while he may not be quite as muscle bound as Schwarzenegger's character he manages to be a believable tough guy. The rest of the cast is great with the likes of Alice Braga (I Am Legend) and Topher Grace (That 70's Show), the others are great but the characters aren't fleshed out as much. The one actor I could not get behind was Laurence Fishburne, his performance is just a little too hammy.
There are a couple of new Predator creatures revealed in this film. They main one is a larger more deadly version of the type of predator we've come to know. This kind seems to be less about the hunt and more about the murdering, so it lacks some subtlety the originals had. A predator "dog" is introduced, while they are only in the film for a short period of time, it kind of makes for speculation of what other types of vicious fauna inhabit the predator world.
It is very obvious the makers of this film sought to bring the franchise back to it's roots. There are a lot of similarities to the original film. This isn't bad, but it also makes it hard to not compare it to the original. The movie is all right, it is a little silly at times, but it's a strong enough piece to make it feel like a promising new beginning for this new iteration of Predator films.
The bottom line is that if you liked the Predator films, than this is a nice addition to the franchise. It feels like enough of a reboot that even if you haven't seen the other Predator films this would be entertaining. All in all it's not anything extraodanairy, but what it does do it does right.
3 outta 5!!!
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