Movie Review: Predators
No spoilers for anything but the usual stock cliches in sci-fi/horror movies of this type.
*
Eight human killers are dropped on an alien planet and hunted as prey. With no knowledge of where they are, why they're there, who's hunting them, or how to go home, the small band must learn to work together and survive long enough to find answers to their questions.
Starting from the obvious: Predators is nobody's masterpiece. The plot is a sci-fi/horror "monsters hunting down a group of people" standard, and violence and mayhem are the main point. To this end, every cliche in the book is used. An experienced viewer should be able to tell who would die first based on their ethnicity, as you usually can in movies of this type. We have several people who are Not What They Seem and you can tell right away how they're going to transform to not be how they seem in the beginning.
In order to break up the monotony, many plot twists and extra characters are thrown in. Each of these twists was well thought out and executed, and gave the movie life beyond the simple premise. However, throwing in several of these twists jumbled the plot and slowed the script down. A pity; the movie obviously had aspirations to be more than just an action film, by which I don't mean it wanted to be cerebral art-house. Instead, it seemed to want to be genuinely unpredictable and unique. There were moments where it succeeded, but the mess of characters and ulterior motives and surprise twists in the plot took away from the flow of the action and story.
Nevertheless, there was a lot to enjoy. Predators succeeded as an action movie, with great effects and battle scenes. The Predator aliens are menacing as hell, and in a different way than the killer humans. The jungle the main killers are dropped in is both effective as an action set--plenty of places to hide, weapons to use, and trees to scramble up--and as a visual set, giving great atmosphere.
The acting was perfect, start to finish. Adrien Brody won his Oscar for a reason, and was very excited to do this project judging by interviews. A lot of solid, non-action movie actors were brought to the field; Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne. Which isn't to say that the actors more traditionally associated with action films couldn't act; they could, and they were similarly great. Just that acting was obviously a heavy consideration in casting over muscle.
Predators is fun for sci-fi/action/horror fans. It's not going to break any boundaries or speak to fans outside the genres, but it's decent fun for an afternoon or evening that's well-shot and well-acted enough to make up for its other flaws.
*
Eight human killers are dropped on an alien planet and hunted as prey. With no knowledge of where they are, why they're there, who's hunting them, or how to go home, the small band must learn to work together and survive long enough to find answers to their questions.
Starting from the obvious: Predators is nobody's masterpiece. The plot is a sci-fi/horror "monsters hunting down a group of people" standard, and violence and mayhem are the main point. To this end, every cliche in the book is used. An experienced viewer should be able to tell who would die first based on their ethnicity, as you usually can in movies of this type. We have several people who are Not What They Seem and you can tell right away how they're going to transform to not be how they seem in the beginning.
In order to break up the monotony, many plot twists and extra characters are thrown in. Each of these twists was well thought out and executed, and gave the movie life beyond the simple premise. However, throwing in several of these twists jumbled the plot and slowed the script down. A pity; the movie obviously had aspirations to be more than just an action film, by which I don't mean it wanted to be cerebral art-house. Instead, it seemed to want to be genuinely unpredictable and unique. There were moments where it succeeded, but the mess of characters and ulterior motives and surprise twists in the plot took away from the flow of the action and story.
Nevertheless, there was a lot to enjoy. Predators succeeded as an action movie, with great effects and battle scenes. The Predator aliens are menacing as hell, and in a different way than the killer humans. The jungle the main killers are dropped in is both effective as an action set--plenty of places to hide, weapons to use, and trees to scramble up--and as a visual set, giving great atmosphere.
The acting was perfect, start to finish. Adrien Brody won his Oscar for a reason, and was very excited to do this project judging by interviews. A lot of solid, non-action movie actors were brought to the field; Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne. Which isn't to say that the actors more traditionally associated with action films couldn't act; they could, and they were similarly great. Just that acting was obviously a heavy consideration in casting over muscle.
Predators is fun for sci-fi/action/horror fans. It's not going to break any boundaries or speak to fans outside the genres, but it's decent fun for an afternoon or evening that's well-shot and well-acted enough to make up for its other flaws.