Predators

I have watched many movies since my last post. Trying to keep up with a blog - well for some, it may be easy. For me, I just need to cowboy up and make it happen. Well, this review is for the latest Predator movie named, simply, Predators. I was so excited to see this as there has not been much to see in the theaters lately. I did watch The A-Team last weekend and I actually enjoyed it. But, The Last Airbender, a movie I was anxiously awaiting to watch is getting crucified by the critics. It's not an even 50/50 split, like The A-Team, as the reviews massacred Airbender. To me, I could not justify spending the money.
Well, Predators opened this weekend. I remember seeing some ad for this movie a while back and saying to myself, "another Predator movie? Sweet!" Well, if you have watched the last, um, three Predator movies, you may ask yourself, "How good can this one actually be?" Well, much to my surprise, the critics are raving about this new one...raving!
The concept is simple - the main character, a mercenary played by Adrien Brody wakes up mid-freefall. He is able to pull the ripcord to a parachute and land safely, albeit quite hard, in a jungle. He is joined by seven other characters recognizing them for who they are, a hit man for a Mexican drug cartel, an Israeli sniper, a Yakuza hitman, a death squad killer from Sierra Leone, a serial killer, a Spetznaz soldier, and a doctor...a doctor??? The seven others arrive in the same way as Brody's character. They are in a jungle, a "game preserve" in which they are the game for a good, old-fashioned Predator hunt.
Some of the actors of the game are fairly recoginzable. Brody, an Oscar winner for The Pianist. He also plays Mickey Rourke's character's brother in one of my personal favorite movies, Bullet. Brody is joined by Topher Grace (Traffic, Spider-Man 3), Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Danny Trejo (Con-Air, Desperado), a cameo appearance by Lawrence Fishburne, and my fave actor in this movie, Walton Goggins as the serial killer.
What I enjoyed about this movie is the concept. Killers in a jungle being hunted by Predators. Multiple Predators. It's a throwback to the original in which one Predator is hunting Arnold's special forces outfit. The humans have the potential to give the Predators a run for their money...the potential. I did enjoy Goggins character, especially the scene in which he shows off a tattoo. And, a great, original scene, in which the Yakuza decides to go toe-to-toe with a Predator armed with a samarai sword. Great scene!
What didn't I enjoy about this movie? Well, let me preface this by saying I am a huge fan of the original Predator movie. A huge fan. Predator was a great movie in the sense that it took conventional movie wisdom and turned it on its head. You have a six-man special forces team played by a veritable who's who of actors t0 include two future state governors being hunted down one by one. Same set up here, only this time, you know what the Predators are all about. You have a eight man outfit in this movie made up of cold-blooded killers being led by a mercenary who is pretty damn skilled at what he does. I don't want to spoil the film, but these characters should have did a hell of a lot more damage. In the original, while Arnold does not know what he is up against, he does know he is up against a formidable hunter and uses his and his team's skills and resources to do what they do and not go down without a fight. These killers, well...they should have done some damage. Fishburne's cameo appearance did not add anything to the movie for me. Neither did Grace's character of the doctor. A doctor??? OK....
Overall, this is a Predator movie. I have to say that after actually see this movie, I am kind of surprised that it received the critical acclaim that it did. A vast majority of critics positively reviewed this flick. I have to say that I did enjoy The A-Team (with its 50/50 reviews) a lot more than I did this movie.