One of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action classics gets the reboot treatment in Predators, which goes on UK general release on July 8th.
In some ways it’s surprising that the Predator franchise has gone on for as long as it has. Predator was a cult 80’s classic that picked up an Oscar nomination and several major awards. Unfortunately, the series ran out of ideas almost as soon as it had begun and Hollywood was never able to develop the concept beyond its schlock pulp roots; relying instead on comic book fanboy appeal to sell movie tickets.
Based on a script written by Robert Rodriguez in the mid 1990s and produced by Rodriguez’ production company, Predators returns the series to the jungle environment of the original and a semblance of its visceral horror roots. Perhaps in an attempt to wash away bad memories of Predator 2 and the two Aliens Versus Predator films, Predators is a direct sequel to the Schwarzenegger film, right down to the music that resurrects Alan Silvestri’s original score.
The basic premise too remains unchanged, and similarly evokes the spirit of The Most Dangerous Game, the short story where hunters become the hunted. In Predators, a disparate group of seemingly unconnected people find themselves inexplicably transported to a mysterious jungle and must band together as they are stalked and hunted down by the titular alien hunters. Before long they find themselves looking up at an alien sky and realize that their problems are only just beginning.
If this sounds a little more outlandish than the original, it’s not the only thing. The characters in Predators are “colourful” to say the least. Unlike Schwarzenegger’s black ops team, which lent a shred of real-world authenticity to a story that required some suspension of disbelief, the characters in Predators are an eclectic bunch; ranging from an American mercenary (Adrien Brody), to a Mexican drug cartel enforcer (Danny Trejo), a Spetsnaz soldier (Oleg Taktarov), an Israeli sniper (Alice Braga), an African death squad soldier (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a death row inmate (Walton Goggins), a Yakuza hitman (Louis Ozawa Changchien) and a disgraced doctor (Topher Grace).
Unfortunately while the cast works well together for the most part (Brody, not usually known for physical roles, carries off the lead a lot better than I thought he could), none of the characters they play are developed beyond the level of caricature. It’s a clear weakness of a screenplay that is more concerned with action and with making the characters look cool rather than fleshing them out in any detail. It’s perhaps an unfair criticism of this type of film, especially as the Schwarzenegger film wasn’t exactly Shakespearean drama; but even though the audience knows that most of the characters are going to end up as dog food for the aliens, I think it is still possible to create compelling characters. After all, Jim Cameron did it in Aliens. Of course, director Nimrod Antal isn’t Cameron (neither is Robert Rodriguez for that matter) and Predators is a much less ambitious film than Aliens ever was.
In some ways it’s surprising that the Predator franchise has gone on for as long as it has. Predator was a cult 80’s classic that picked up an Oscar nomination and several major awards. Unfortunately, the series ran out of ideas almost as soon as it had begun and Hollywood was never able to develop the concept beyond its schlock pulp roots; relying instead on comic book fanboy appeal to sell movie tickets.
Based on a script written by Robert Rodriguez in the mid 1990s and produced by Rodriguez’ production company, Predators returns the series to the jungle environment of the original and a semblance of its visceral horror roots. Perhaps in an attempt to wash away bad memories of Predator 2 and the two Aliens Versus Predator films, Predators is a direct sequel to the Schwarzenegger film, right down to the music that resurrects Alan Silvestri’s original score.
The basic premise too remains unchanged, and similarly evokes the spirit of The Most Dangerous Game, the short story where hunters become the hunted. In Predators, a disparate group of seemingly unconnected people find themselves inexplicably transported to a mysterious jungle and must band together as they are stalked and hunted down by the titular alien hunters. Before long they find themselves looking up at an alien sky and realize that their problems are only just beginning.
If this sounds a little more outlandish than the original, it’s not the only thing. The characters in Predators are “colourful” to say the least. Unlike Schwarzenegger’s black ops team, which lent a shred of real-world authenticity to a story that required some suspension of disbelief, the characters in Predators are an eclectic bunch; ranging from an American mercenary (Adrien Brody), to a Mexican drug cartel enforcer (Danny Trejo), a Spetsnaz soldier (Oleg Taktarov), an Israeli sniper (Alice Braga), an African death squad soldier (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali), a death row inmate (Walton Goggins), a Yakuza hitman (Louis Ozawa Changchien) and a disgraced doctor (Topher Grace).
Unfortunately while the cast works well together for the most part (Brody, not usually known for physical roles, carries off the lead a lot better than I thought he could), none of the characters they play are developed beyond the level of caricature. It’s a clear weakness of a screenplay that is more concerned with action and with making the characters look cool rather than fleshing them out in any detail. It’s perhaps an unfair criticism of this type of film, especially as the Schwarzenegger film wasn’t exactly Shakespearean drama; but even though the audience knows that most of the characters are going to end up as dog food for the aliens, I think it is still possible to create compelling characters. After all, Jim Cameron did it in Aliens. Of course, director Nimrod Antal isn’t Cameron (neither is Robert Rodriguez for that matter) and Predators is a much less ambitious film than Aliens ever was.
The first third of the film does a fair job of building up tension, as the characters begin to explore and try to understand what is happening to them. In contrast, the second half is a bit of a letdown – most notably with the appearance of Lawrence Fishburne’s character and a cartoonishly overacted performance that robs the film of any dramatic credibility it might have had. Later, when the Predators begin their attack, the film lapses into a fairly predictable chase riddled with action clichés.
For me, the biggest disappointment is that Predators offers little that is actually new. Rodriguez throws a new type of Predator and some alien hunting dogs into the mix, but nothing that really provides a more in-depth understanding of the Predator aliens themselves, their society or their technology. Unlike Aliens which introduced the Alien Queen, there’s no additional material here that builds on what came before, in that sense it’s a wasted opportunity. Something quite special could have been done here if only the film-makers weren’t content merely to play with the formula. Even the action offers nothing in the way of innovation. After last summer’s excellent District 9, I had hoped for something a little more imaginative in terms of alien weaponry; yet here too Predators does little more than recycle content from the original film.
I wouldn’t say Predators is a bad film, its merely competent; and like so many other recent movies, it isn’t something that’s likely to have a great deal of replay value. It is however, far superior to the godawful AVP films and even Predator 2. If action and gore are all you're looking for, this will certainly hit all the right buttons. Anyone expecting something more out the franchise will probably be disappointed.
