Jul 9 2010

Movie Review: ‘Predators’ remembers the thrill of the hunt

Nimrod Antal is the secret weapon in the deadly arsenal of Predators, even during scenes that are mostly conversation. The good news however, is that this guns-a-blazing, 90 plus minute chase scene is actually an enjoyable and nostalgic continuation of the original. Pretending like Predator 2 and both woeful Alien vs. Predator movies never happened, Predators devises an ingenious way to evoke the imagery and atmosphere of John McTiernan’s sci-fi action classic without completely ripping it off. What we get isn’t a great movie, but for fans of the first film, there’s more than enough to savor here.

Predators (R) Directed by: Nimrod Antal

Written by: Nathan Bartlebaugh

Ninja Rating:

The picture starts spectacularly with Adrien Brody’s Royce falling from the sky, and grabbing for a parachute he didn’t know he was wearing. When he lands, he isn’t alone; stranded in a jungle with other deadly killers from all across the spectrum—Yakuza, death row convicts, and mercenaries—with a random, inexplicable (until later) scientist thrown into the group. At first, they assume they are on Earth but a few extra moons in the sky tell them differently. The feral alien beasts that pursue them also raise questions. When the shadows themselves start coming to life and taking out the gang one by one, they discover that they are in a game perserve and are the choice prey.

Predators  moves along at a brisk pace in the early chapters, widning off into comic book silliness in the last third. Antal frames the small posse of heroes (or is it anti-heroes?) within the foreboding confines of the jungle, and instead of giving us a purely alien environ, which I would have preferred, he makes this planet echo the jungles of the first film, creating a cinematic bond to that entry that proves unbreakable. Later, when Brody is covering himself in mud for the big fight or we come across an older caste of Predator that looks strikingly familiar, the movie ends up directly channeling the good will and creativity of McTiernan’s picture.

 The special effects here are stronger, the acting a bit more nuanced and credible, and the action just as fast paced as anything we saw in 1987. What the whole thing lacks is the element of surprise or invention.

I was initially skeptical that this disparate cast would make believable and entertaining quarry for our predators, who are mostly hidden from us until late in the film. Adrien Brody, with his sharp, Ichabod Crane features, was at the very top of my concerns. As it turns out, the seeming unlikeliness of Brody following up Arnold Schwarzenegger is built directly into the story. Brody isn’t that physically imposing, but within his psyche he’s still fearsome, and his weak spot is that he doesn’t collaborate well. Brody, who left me cold in a more conventional role in Splice, stands up and commands attention here as a man adapting as surely and effectively as Arnie choosing brains over biceps in order to defeat his enemy.

 

The rest of the cast are also quite good in their roles, and Grace takes the odd-man out whose little more than a plot device and makes him compelling enough that he keeps pace with the rest. Most of the others are just there to serve their singular purposes as either gory deaths or violent showdowns, the best of which is the Japanese swordsman’s stand-off with one of the monsters. Fishburne, probably the most seasoned actor of the bunch, chooses a strange, over-the-top machismo that would have been at home next to Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura, but just feels silly amidst the more somber proceedings of Predators.

The first Predator was thematically a cross between two earlier literary staples; The Most Dangerous Game and Beowulf. That one was packed with more 80’s style testosterone than was healthy –early on there is a zoom-in on two biceps bulging—and before the midway point, almost all of the big dudes were slaughtered.

Audiences used to an invincible Arnold watched as he was undone and bested on nearly every level by something no one could clearly see. It worked as a salutation to the social brotherhood of the male warrior and as a deconstruction of it, turning the idea of game hunting on its head in a clever sci-fi commentary. The best trait of the original is the way it hides its true nature until well into the set-up and even those knowing going in that it was a monster movie were denied the creature’s identity until the final act.

Predators has none of that subtext or any of that surprise, mostly because we know these monsters too well and the movie’s purpose is to bring back something familiar, not show us something new and scary. So, the thrills have to come from the way Antal arranges them, and this works for awhile, but in the end we know the score; humans fight predators, most lose, a few might win. There are a couple of wrinkles in that concept, including a nifty exploration of the tribalism that exists amongst the predator warrior culture, with a specific hierarchical detail that Royce decides to exploit to his benefit.

 In the end, Predators turns out to be a movie that didn’t need to exist, but is enough fun that we don’t mind. There’s not much more that can be done with this guys, but the refreshing and surprising thing is that with the right handlers, these critters can still deliver a knock-out summer popcorn flick.

By Bartleby • Featured, Film • 7 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,