Predators Review

Finally... A good movie this summer as well as a good Predator sequel!

Other than Toy Story 3 (which I forgot to review, but don't worry, much like the rest of the world, except Russia, I loved it) no movies this summer have really impressed me. We've had a few passable films, but for the most part its been pretty lackluster. But these last few weeks have seen the summer movies on an upswing, with Predators being the latest in this trend.

Now I'm a huge fan of the original, it stands as one of my favorite Scwarzenegger movies, action movies, and sci-fi movies. The sequel, starring Danny Glover, was decent but lacked the charm of the first film, and the less said about the AVP films the better. So I was hopeful when I heard a sequel was being developed with multiple Predators as the villains and one of my favorite directors, Robert Rodriguez, producing. Some of the casting choices had me scratching my head ( Adrien Brody and Topher Grace) but I was still hopeful.

And it paid off big time, as this film delivered exactly what I was expecting: pure badass monster fighting fun!

Adrien Brody, always a solid actor, does his best Christian Bale impersonation as the loner mercenary dumped on this planet with several other bad asses. I was really impressed with how bad ass and compelling Brody was, and how he beefed up for the role. The man is no Arnold, but Rodriguez and director Nimrod Antel wisely chose to go the opposite way and not cast some muscle bound actor. Brody definitely proves that he can carry a big budget action movie and is likable in what could have been a very unsympathetic role. And of course he does get his Arnold moment in a mud covered show down with the Predator at the end.

Topher Grace gave probably the second most surprising performance in the film, portraying the clueless doctor thrown into the middle of all this. The twist about Grace's character is kind of obvious, and I think it came too late in the film, but once again he gave a convincing performance when that moment came.

Lawrence Fishbourne gives a creepy performance as a crazy man who has been surviving on the Predator planet for ten years, but that man seriously needs to lay off the cheeseburgers or something, his multiple chins and gut almost didn't make me buy that he had been surviving on this planet for years.

For the most part this film hits the ground running and never lets up. Its close to an hour before the Predators make their first appearance but we are never bored during this time. Whether its booby traps, Predator dogs, or just getting to know all of the multiple characters, we are with this film the whole time.

Much like the original film, the main power in this film comes from the characters. All of them are interesting in their own right and likable, which is quite a feat because each and every one of these characters could have strayed into cliche territory. Fun twists are put on the cliche "what I'm going to do when I get home" and the showing of a picture of your kids to your other comrades.

So Predators definitely lived up to my expectations, it was two hours of pure bad ass! Finally, here is a film that is not afraid to be violent and doesn't pander to the tween crowd! The dialogue is on the same level as the original, cheesy but fun, and the action is well executed. It will be interesting to see how other audiences react to it but for the most part this movie pushed all of my fan boy buttons and finally restores respect to the once sullied Predator name.