Film and TV

Film review + trailer: Predators (15)

By Kim Francis
July 15, 2010

Stars Danny Trejo, Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne

From as far back as the early days of cinema, they have always re-made films. But in an industry that suffers increasingly from a dearth of fresh ideas, relying, as Hollywood does, on novels, comic books and movies-that-have-been-made-before for its source material, it’s becoming ever more wearying to see so many new releases that are unnecessary re-makes, re-boots or re-imaginings, sometimes of very recent films.

The latest to hit cinema screens is Predators. Produced by Robert Rodriguez (sporadic Quentin Tarantino collaborator and director of Desperado and Sin City). It’s a sequel to the original 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and promises to benefit from the involvement of the cult director.

The film opens with a ragtag bunch of misfits being dropped by parachute into a jungle environment. They have no idea how or why they came to be there but they soon realise that they must fight for their survival. When it becomes apparent that they are the prey in a massive game reserve on another planet, they work together in an attempt to stay alive long enough to figure out a way to outsmart and overpower their stronger and better-equipped alien foe.

Can they escape with their lives intact?

See more film trailers on getreading.co.uk

With sequels and re-makes, the remit is frequently to pack the product full of bigger bangs and more action but a slow build-up makes Predators a superior, commendably measured and restrained follow-up with a strong evocation of the era in which the original was released.

Indeed, director Nimrod Antal has made a film that is reverential to the Schwarzenegger forerunner. Ignoring Predator 2 and the iffy space creature showdown movie that was Alien vs. Predator, Predators even references the events of the first film.

Significant elements of Nicolas Cage actioner Con Air, innovative sci-fi horror The Cube and extraterrestrial frightener sequel Aliens are applied here in an effort to draw audiences into the film but the key element from the original is unavoidably lacking and this deadens the film’s impact: that is the element of shock.

The moment when the viewer first discovers that humans are prey for these blood-lusting aliens who kill for sport elicits no gasps here, since we already know what these creatures are about.

Star of films like The Pianist, The Jacket and Hollywoodland, Adrien Brody makes an unlikely action (anti-) hero. Despite his muscular torso he is difficult to empathise with throughout even when he is redeemed at the end. There is certainly potential for you to feel disappointment that the Predator doesn’t get him.

A slightly incongruous but not unenjoyable cameo from a puffy-faced Laurence Fishburne as a scavenging whack-job scraping an existence on the planet adds colour to a plot that otherwise simply pits a human mix of scum, villainy and tough guys (and gal) against the alien hunters.

And though this is a good enough follow up – 23 years on – to the cult Schwarzenegger predecessor, it is certainly not as tense and packs far less of a punch.

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