Predators

'Predators' is an attempt to resurrect the precise formula that made the 1987 Schwarzenegger original such a classic action hit. Neither the Governator nor his ultra-muscled compatriots is around for this latest installment, but that's Ok. Predators stands on its own two feet as a shining example of careful attention to detail and franchise continuity. Nimrod Antal (who names their kid Nimrod, seriously?) takes over the director's chair from John McTiernan along with the backing of action-vet Robert Rodriguez, and the pairing is perfect. Under the Troublemaker Studios banner, Antal and Rodriguez have independent financing and are free from executive interference. The result is a film that breathes easy and is a rollicking good time from start to finish.

The premise of the film is straightforward. Royce (played great by Adrien Brody) is a disillusioned mercenary who wakes up to find himself parachuting down into a jungle below. With no recollection of how he got there, Royce begins exploring the surrounding area, only to realize that he's not alone. Mexican drug enforcer Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), Spetsnaz killer Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov) and Israeli sniper Isabelle (Alice Braga) have all arrived in the same manner. They soon come into contact with a death row inmate named Stans (Walton Goggins), RUF officer Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a silent Yakuza named Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien), and the odd man out, a doctor named Edwin (Topher Grace). Putting aside their wild distrust and paranoia, they eventually form a team to investigate just what has happened. They soon realize that they're no longer on Earth, but in fact an alien jungle planet where a group of alien warriors steeped in hunter culture have assembled them for sport. The silent, invisible hunters begin to toy with the team before setting loose to pick them off, one by one. Realizing that they're outgunned by superior opponents, the team of human predators decides to go on the offensive against the alien predators that seek to take them out.

Looking at Predators, it's no stretch to see what's really going on here. Jungle. Soldiers. Big guns. Predators. We get it. It's a nod to the original, as well as an attempt to recapture the spirit of said film. Fortunately, it's done right. The decision to add in human "predators" from various parts of the world is a nice way to craft a unique team, instead of making them fully American uber-Hulks with bulging biceps and raging testosterone. Predators is more subtle in delivery, making its characters a bit more physically realistic in relation to their real life military counterparts. Yes, we see guys like Adrien Brody in the military. Yes, there are women in the Israeli special forces. It's not quite as immediately exciting as typical 1980s action movie clichés can be, but we're living in the 2010's. Time to get with the times.

As much as the humans have changed, so have the Predators. There are now two distinct strains of Predator creature, and this film focuses largely on the new strain with seemingly superior strength, cunning and technology. They're also a lot more feral and aggressive than their traditional counterparts. Nevertheless, the "hero" Predator is alive and well here, looking every bit as menacing as his 1987 counterpart. In fact, Troublemaker did a MUCH better job of crafting the Predator than Amalgamated Dynamics did with the ones in the recent 'Aliens Vs. Predator' series. I'm doubly impressed. For those who haven't seen the film, there are some interesting new additions to Predator lore here that are very welcome, including a direct dialog reference to the events of the first film, which is something I always like to see for the sake of continuity. Things tend to slide a bit in the third act, though. I was surprised to see someone like Laurence Fishburne in a Predator film, and although he's put into the shoes of a character who simply doesn't suit the actor, it was pretty cool nonetheless. There are still some missteps, though. For all it's effort in trying to emulate the first film so closely with musical, sonic and visual cues, there is no classic "Predator view" mode to be seen here. It was a glaring annoyance in the first Alien Vs Predator film, and something that, ironically, was rectified in Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem. Not so here. I guess technology has to evolve at some point, but there's no getting away from how eerie and absolutely riveting the original Predator's infra-red view truly was.

There are some issues with the plot, however. While I can certainly understand a Predator landing on Earth and stalking an elite commando team, I have a harder time swallowing the notion that they abducted these men for the purpose of dragging them to a backwater jungle planet to set up a hunt. In fact, one character is so completely unassuming that I had to wonder if there was a Predator on stakeout just gathering evidence as to whether he could actually be a cold-blooded killer or not. And if he was, certainly his physicality would prove no match for a Predator in a one-on-one battle. Similarly, I was a bit irritated to see Danny Trejo's character check out so early in the film, especially given how significant a presence he has in action films. These were absolute stumbles, but given how good the film is on the whole, I guess I can let 'em slide.

On Blu-Ray, Predators is as good as one can expect. I was hoping for a bit more color saturation for the jungle environments, but it's a well-done hi-def transfer with little to complain about. Sound is a bit of a miss, with a somewhat quiet voice channel flanked by ragingly loud sound effects during battle scenes. I tend to expect this sort of thing nowadays, unfortunately. Extras include some good commentary tracks by Rodriguez and Antal, as well as several backstory motion comics, deleted scenes, and a solid behind-the-scenes documentary.

Predators is the best on-screen representation of the terrifying alien killer since the 1987 original. It borrows a lot from that film in an attempt to lure fans back to the setting that they were so upset to see jettisoned for Predator 2, but it runs the risk of appearing a bit too much of a carbon-copy for some. Personally, I thought it was great despite the oversights.

Predators was exactly what it needed to be: A wicked homage to the original film. While Predator 2 certainly has its fans and detractors, and the AVP series were, well...anyway, suffice to say that Predators is the best movie in the franchise since the original. That doesn't mean it's as good, or even half as good, but I bloody well liked it. I had a great time with it. Adrian Brody was cool but underachieving. I liked a lot of the backing characters a lot more. There was a cool mix of characters from different origins, but the concept was, we're back to a group of people stuck in the jungle.

Blu ray special features are nice. There is a little profile on each of the characters, and a bunch of making-ofs. Cool stuff. I was very impressed with the locations. They really made it look like this jungle was no place on Earth, even though it was. Director Nimrod Antal guides you through the making of the film in an interesting way. Even my mother-in-law, who hates action movies, stopped and watched the making-ofs with me one afternoon because she thought they were interesting.

I doubt there will ever be a movie as good as Predator. I mean, you've got the magic cast there. You've got Arnold at his very peak right there, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, the whole bunch. There was a chemistry there that won't be repeated. Brody and his counterparts here have created characters with enough depth that you can get into the story and their plight. Some are, shall we say, inspired by characters from the original film. (Watch both, you'll see what I mean.) By the time the Predators show up, Robert Rodriguez and Nimrod Antal have thrown so many homages out to the original film that you will either be won over or peed off. But that's the direction they went into, and I imagine future sequels (all but guaranteed) will expand upon the storyline and planet a great deal.

4 stars. Can't complain, I enjoyed this one a lot.

When watching a horror or action movie which includes a monster or creature effects, I use a simple litmus test to gauge the movie's value. The test is easy, usually applied within the first thirty minutes of the film, and helps not only rate the movie itself but the skill of the filmmakers involved in its creation. Here it is: When watching a movie of the sort, pay attention to the point at which the monster or creature first appears. Was it less than thirty minutes into the movie? Might as well stop now. You're watching a bad movie. More than thirty minutes in? Okay, keep at it; you might be watching a good movie. Still haven't seen the monster in full and, as far as you know, there're only thirty minutes to go? Congratulations, you're probably watching something pretty darned solid.

So, how did Predators fare? Actually, pretty well. The filmmaker, Nimrod Antal, takes his time, patiently unveiling hint after hint and clue after clue, actually treating the members of the audience as thought they'd never seen any of the preceding Predator movies and, as such, had never seen a Predator before. Instead, he focuses on a premise that, on its own, is fairly intriguing. Eight individuals awaken in mid freefall, landing in an unfamiliar jungle. They are all strangers but, they soon discover, have one thing in common: they are all killers. It's like Con Air meets the first few episodes of Lost. We all know what will happen next, but Antal pretends that we are just as mystified as his motley crew, and just as anxious to find out what is going on.

Most filmmakers would have assumed that the viewers wanted only to see the monster, see the Predators. It's what they paid for, right? The Predator would have popped out from behind a tree within twenty minutes, the hunt would be on, the hunt would be over, and we would all go home, wondering what was on TV. Antal, however, has experience building tension, and he's especially adept at doing so using the interactions within a fairly large cast of characters who don't quite trust each other. He did it well in his previous film, Armored, and he does it well here.

Eventually, of course, the Predators do show up and the movie becomes what these movies have always been. But for fans of the original Predator and its first sequel, myself among them, the last few minutes of the film will be familiar but welcome--comfortable, even.

So, exactly how well did Predators do with my test? Well, this could constitute a spoiler so, be aware: The first monster, a dog-like thing that seemed uncommonly ineffective, doesn't appear until 27 minutes in. Not bad. We first see an actual Predator, sans armour, at the forty minute mark. Pretty good. And the first look we get at one of the hunters, fully armed and masked, is about forty-five minutes into the movie. Again, pretty good.

One last thing and, again, this is a bit of a spoiler: Twenty-five minutes in, we learn that the characters are actually wandering through a jungle on an alien planet. This planet, we learn, is a game preserve for use by the Predators. It occurred to me that the Predators must be an insanely advanced race. In fact, they are so efficient in their use of natural resources that they can afford to waste an entire planet-full of lush jungle on sport. Of course, the same can be said of the Empire in the Star Wars movies. They blow up a whole planet, one we can only presume they could have invaded, drained of all its resources. Apparently, they didn't need to. Same goes for Endor. The thing is a condensed ball of natural treasure, but they use it only to build a force-field generator and . . . that's it. Taking this into account, it leads me to believe that the Predators, as a civilization, might be as powerful and far-reaching as the Empire. If this in fact is the case, their using us as game once in awhile seems pretty decent, given their apparent capability to do far, far worse.