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Thursday, July 8, 2010

Arts & Entertainment / Movie Review

Movie Review: Predators, starring Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne and Topher Grace

Posted by Kevin Hopp on Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 12:35 PM

click to enlarge Film Review Predators

When I was younger, and even now, for that matter, I loved the original Predator movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It had a great cat and mouse game, some good suspense and two larger-than-life foes. Sadly, the franchise hit a downturn with every installment since, but director Robert Rodriguez looks to revitalize it with a return to basics in Predators. More interestingly, he chose Adrien Brody (and his nose) for the lead role. So, as a fan of the original, I have some serious standards. In a summer of disappointments, Predators surely can’t live up to the hype, can it? It can, and I’ll stop calling you Shirley.

Predators gets off to a great start with our hero (Brody) free falling. As he wakes up and realizes the ground is coming up quick, he works to free his parachute. It’s a quick smack in the face to wake you up for what's to come, as Brody’s badass character meets up with seven others who make up some of Earth’s greatest predators. They are dropped on this alien planet to duel with all kinds of predators, and some of their new toys. Not long into the movie, a Predator is beaten and tied up, showing us that Brody's group is bigger and more terrifying than any previous visitors. Now, these loners have to work together to get off this game preserve before the predators hunt and kill them all.

The biggest change from the franchise's flops is that this movie is more than just a return to form: it takes everything that was great from the first Predator movie and amplifies it.

You have a few larger-than-life characters in the humans, and you have not one, but several predators hunting you. There are more traps and pitfalls -- there's even a guy dueling a predator with a Samurai sword. You also have the jungle landscape, which played such a big part in the first movie, making a dominating return on an alien world. And, best of all, the one-liners are back. There are a few similar to the classic “Get to the choppah,” like “Your ass is awesome!” or my favorite: “It’s 5 o’clock. It’s rape time,” (said by the meek Topher Grace, by the way).

click to enlarge Predators

If the landscape is impressive, the cast is even better -- Brody surprisingly so . I had some doubts going in, but was really blown away by his bad-assery (it’s a word). Although the movie had stereotypes -- the Asian guy, the black guy, the Mexican guy (Machete’s Danny Trejo), they were all good. But my favorite was Laurence Fishburne’s character. He stole the movie in the short time he was onscreen as the crazy survivor who somehow lived. The other jewel was Topher Grace. His character is dropped down, he's a total wimp (well c'mon, he's Topher Grace), but the good part is finding out why he was chosen to be hunted.

Overall, there's a lot to like. If you like the first one, you will love this one. The pacing is good, there's some nail-biting suspense, interesting characters (did I mention the bad-assery?), and amazing battles that make this one of the more fun summer popcorn flicks this year. It'll please anyone looking for a big, fun, slightly cheesy way to get out of the heat.

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