ALIEN HORROR SUMMER - NO. 19: PREDATORS (2010) MOVIE REVIEW
Our next entry is the third film in the “Predator” franchise and is a severely underrated action-horror thriller led by an imposing Adrien Brody.
by Nate Lemann
In what maybe the best opening on our list, we open in media-res as jaded mercenary Royce (Adrien Brody) is mid-free fall from a plane (?). As he panics as what to do in this absurd scenario, an automated parachute opens at the last moment that only softens his harsh landing: Cut to titles.
Once Royce gets his bearings, he comes to find he is not alone. He begins to roll-up a crew of other hardened mercenary types: an IDF sniper (Alice Braga), a Russian bruiser with a huge-ass gun (Oleg Taktarov), a cartel sicario (Danny Trejo), a yakuza hitman (Louis Ozawa), a Sierra Leone solider (a pre-fame Mahershala Ali), a convicted serial killer on death row (Walton Goggins), and, for some odd reason, a meek little doctor (Topher Grace). As they slowly start to trust each other, they try to piece together what happened to them and where they are. All have the same recollection of waking up mid-fall after coming from battlefields across the world. What they soon realize is that they aren’t on Earth anymore: they are some perverse game preserve…and they are the game. They soon come to meet their hunters, the famed Predators of lore (Braga’s character even discusses the reports that came out of the franchise’s first film)
This third entry in the famed horror-action franchise is very underrated. Director Nimród Antal may not be John McTiernan but he sure is far more competent of an action director than he gets credit for, staging some truly cinematic showdowns with the famed monsters, some of which have a poetic and balletic beauty to the violence. The concept of a game preserve is a also novel update on the format of the franchise, putting the humans on the backfoot once again against their formidable foe.
The cast is very solid in this. Brody gets to really stretch his muscles (pun intended), transforming his usually wiry and idiosyncratic performance style to a more masculine and bruising lead here. People complain that how can he be the one to take over from Arnold but I argue that his underdog quality adds extra dimension of suspense and tension to his performance. Brains becomes more important to take down those that are hunting them down. Brody also has much more grit and badassery than one would expect. I also really love the character arc they also establish for him, learning to transform from a lone wolf to a member (leader) of a pack.
The kill scenes in this are truly inventive, with some having a real haunted imagery to accompany them. Again, Antal doesn’t get enough credit as a director for the staging and visuals he and his team are able to conjure. This maybe a pulpy and more popcorn movie than most on our list but damn if it isn’t one of the funnest and most rewatchable on our countdown.
FINAL RATING: 4/5 Stars (Fun and exciting action-horror epic)
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