Here we are yet again with a franchise reboot. Instead of Ah-nold, Apollo Creed and "The Body," we get Adrien Brody, Topher Grace and Danny Trejo? Sounds like an interesting trade off right? Actually it does. This is by far one of the best reboots to hit the screen. It is action packed, well acted and well written. However, there were a few things that hold this one back a bit.
A group of mercenaries, soldiers and criminals are dropped into a strange place and quickly find that something is amiss. Royce (Brody) and Isabelle (Braga) take charge and lead the group through a series of attacks and tense moments. One by one the Predators pick the group off in their attempt to not only survive, but get off the island.
From the opening moments, the film is an action film in every sense of the word. It is a great homage to to the original 1987
Predator film, with a few subtle hints and tributes to that film. The movie moved a bit slow at times and found myself willing it to move faster...to no avail. Once it got into the action though, it was no hold barred. For an action film, it surprisingly well written and placed into capable hands in the actors that were selected. There were a few characters that were totally pointless and I'm not sure why they were included. My biggest issue with the film was actually the setting. Minor spoiler here: Why did they place them on a different planet? It pulled the realism out of the story to me and is one of the things that I enjoyed from the original. And since it was on a different planet, couldn't they at least made the area look different than a typical jungle? Maybe I'm being too picky...
I would never peg Adrien Brody to star in an action film, let alone a film like
Predators, but he pulls it off surprisingly well. I hope he opts to do more films like this because he was quite good. The others were decent as well. Topher Grace really stepped out of his Eric Foreman box and pulled out an interesting and unsuspecting character. I would like to have seen more of some of the others but it wasn't pertinent.
The action scenes, as I mentioned previously, were pretty good. They weren't so confusing that you didn't know what was going on, which is rare these days. I wanted to see more out of the sword fight involving the Yakuza member and one of the Predators. That sequence really could have been epic, but it fell short a tad. The CGI work was seamless and believable, as were the alien creatures that were involved.
With a film like this, one of the things that is very important is sound and
Predators doesn't disappoint. From the subtle noises of the jungles to the growls of the Predators, it was incredible to here. The other thing I noticed was the music. It was a bit of a throw-back to 80's actions films with the inclusion of synthesizers. Thought that was pretty cool.
All in all,
Predators is a fun action film and a great tribute to the original film. It kept most of the same elements that made
Predator such a memorable film. I was a bit let down in some parts of the story, but that can be overlooked as the rest of the elements really come together here.
Grade: B