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Rebel scum -> RE: Jungle Feever! (10/7/2010 2:14:03 AM)
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From the title down, Predators clearly has aspirations towards being the Aliens to the original Predator's Alien, and by and large it succeeds in its goals. This is not to say that its perfect, but it ups the ante and is more entertaining than most summer films thus far.
The main worry going into the film is, as with Aliens, will the presence of more than one Predator make them easier to dispatch? By and large, this is not the case; Predators are still just as badass as before and, crucially, just as difficult to kill. The issue is instead the addition of unnecessary extras which detract from their impact. The "dogs" are pointless and add nothing to the film aside from an average action sequence and some bad effects, while the Super Predator has a cool design, but is essentially exactly the same as a regular Predator. Refreshingly, however, the regular Predators remain essentially unchanged, and their impact has not lessened one bit.
The human element is equally strong. Adrien Brody is an effective lead, and Alice Braga is good as the token action girl. The other noteworthy mention is Laurence Fishburne, because he overplays and comes across as ridiculous, which is a shame. Sadly, most of the other characters do at times feel underdeveloped, but this was arguably an issue in the first film too. Here the group are all individual, at least, and there are some good character moments. Indeed, part of the film's strength is showing how they all come to grow together as a group before the inevitable carnage starts.
Said inevitable carnage does take a while to arrive though; no bad thing but may frustrate some who want to get to the action. The early scenes are well paced and decent, but unfortunately anyone who's seen any of the trailers will know most of what's going on long before the characters do. That's fine, and the film shouldn't be penalised for its marketing, but it is unfortunate so much is known already. When the action does start, its easily as frantic and bloody as expected-despite expectations given the 15 rating-and the fights are well done all round. Stand outs are a sword fight and a brief return of "Old Painless" (The film has multiple references to the first film-one character even recaps the plot for us!), but by and large the action is brief. This isn't necessarily a bad thing-the original was fairly low on action too-but an addition scene, perhaps with multiple Predators surrounding the group, would have made the film that bit better.
Overall, Predators is a great sequel to a great film. Better than the original? That's debatable, but much better than the sequel and *shudder* the AvP films. Anyone jaded by the current crop of summer fluff would be advised to check this out-any blockbuster made for adults should be relished these days. High 8/10
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