Empire's Predators Movie Review

Predators
Ban this sick sport!

Plot
Eight Earth people – mostly professional soldiers and criminals - are abducted and parachuted into a jungle on an alien world. As they try to co-operate to ensure their survival, an unseen enemy stalks them for sport.

Review

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John McTiernan’s muscular Predator, which pitted Arnold Schwarzenegger against an alien big game hunter, was a popular hit in 1987, but has struggled as a franchise. With Arnie replaced by Danny Glover in an underperforming Predator 2 and a pop culture profile maintained by comic book spin-offs (eg: Batman vs Predator), these also-ran ETs stayed on the star-map only by latching onto a more famous monster in game, comic and movie iterations of the Alien vs Predator concept. Predators can look down on Species, but only just.

This is essentially Predator 3, a dusted-off 1994 script by Robert Rodriguez (who produces) handed over to Nimrod Antal. It forgets anything post-Predator and spends a while on a different set-up which winds up delivering the same ingredients: sweaty macho grunts + jungle + alien huntsmen + killed-off one-by-one hardnuts + loner hero who seems to take this all personally. Alica Braga, playing an Israeli sniper, even looks like Predator heroine Elpidia Carrillo. Gawky Adrien Brody, cast effectively against type as a merc with malice, can’t fill Arnie’s fatigues – though when the shirt comes off, you can tell he’s logged serious gym time – and relies instead on a more Rodriguez-like simmering intensity with bursts of violence and tactical ruthlessness.

The supporting cast fall into the don’t-get-too-attached-because-they-won’t-be-here long category. The most interesting is the smart-suited, close-mouthed yakuza (Louis Ozawa Changchien), who slips off his shoes to wriggle his toes in offworld mud and performs the sword-moves in the best Earth vs Predatorworld duel scene. The rest are walking clichés: a Russian hulk (Oleg Taktarov), a chatty serial murderer (Walton Goggins), an African Death Squad killer (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) and a Danny Trejo-type cocaine cartel hatchet man (unsurprisingly, Danny Trejo). A guest star shows up mid-film, and delivers a funny monologue, but the biggest missed opportunity is that – again – the monsters are conceived solely in terms of how cool they’ll look as action figures. Whatever characterisation they once had, mostly in Predator 2 and AvP admittedly, is dropped: we still don’t know why a spacefaring civilisation is so obsessed with big game hunting -- much less why they believe that hairstyle and those vests look better when not invisible.

Verdict

Reviewed by Kim Newman

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Your Reviews

Average user rating for Predators

Re-make Masquerading As A Sequel
A clique of killers is stalked in an arboreal environment by 'something'... rings a bell... ... More


Posted by Litshttam at 19:32, 26 April 2013 \| Report This Post




“ The supposed true sequel to predator even though it came 25 years later. This movie takes the loved classic and literally takes it to another world. With a diverse set of characters spreading from a mercenary to a supposed doctor this movie gets your taste buds watering for blood and gore. Unfortunatly the predators aren't like the original and it does get silly at the end. I give this movie a 4. ... More


Posted by silence1 at 10:56, 15 June 2012 \| Report This Post




“ The supposed true sequel to predator even though it came 25 years later. This movie takes the loved classic and literally takes it to another world. With a diverse set of characters spreading from a mercenary to a supposed doctor this movie gets your taste buds watering for blood and gore. Unfortunatly the predators aren't like the original and it does get silly at the end. I give this movie a 4. ... More


Posted by silence1 at 10:56, 15 June 2012 \| Report This Post



RE: How difficult is it to make a Predator Movie??
Predators was pretty decent but there were a couple of stupid moments, one was when the smaller Predator was taking on the bigger one why didn't Brody help him out? Together they could have taken it down and then buggered off on the ship?? Secondly when Brody sets fire to the surroundings to confuse the sensors of the big predator why did he then decide to attack it physically when he just could have rolled up with that fuck-off powerful automatic shotgun and blasted him in the head! ... More

Posted by Fluke Skywalker at 13:39, 21 April 2012 \| Report This Post



RE: How difficult is it to make a Predator Movie??
From the off this film is very much in tone with the original Arnie vehicle, the entire musical score is the same as the first film just a little more upbeat and its great, brings the whole thing home and makes you feel comfortable. As the film goes along there are hints at the first film, quite a long speech about it actually, this obviously tells us this is set after 'Predator' but I'm unsure if its before 'Predator 2' (I think after), there is also alittle idea taken from 'AvP' with the Pred... More

Posted by Phubbs at 00:16, 05 April 2012 \| Report This Post



RE: How difficult is it to make a Predator Movie??
Listen here; AVPR was a carbon copy of all of the Alien and Predator films we've seen, so of course it's one star was well deserved. But here, we're finally, after twenty five years of pyramids, small towns, and even deserts in the comics, it was nice to finally go back to the jungle where even the fans felt like they belong. It was nice to see atleast an attempt for a new predator film for redemption of the much abliged AVP series, especially being the sequel that was 'fashionably late', and w... More


Posted by YouWillBeUnprepared at 23:54, 04 April 2012 \| Report This Post



PREDATORS
If you’re a fan of the comics, and have some dehydrated thirst and wish to retreat out of the cities and pyramids and back into the lush, green, cool jungle, alongside cold blooded predators stalking you in the mist, you’re definitely in for a treat. And whilst the film that succeeds in being ‘fashionably late’, we also have screen-writers Alex Litvak, responsible for the screenplay of ‘The Three Musketeers’ (funnily enough, directed by Paul W.S Anderson, who ... More


Posted by YouWillBeUnprepared at 23:42, 04 April 2012 \| Report This Post



Predators Review
After a string of subpar sequels, this bloody, action-packed reboot takes the Predator franchise back to its testosterone-fueled roots. ... More


Posted by the film man at 18:28, 02 February 2012 \| Report This Post



Predators
good ... More


Posted by nobody make a move 2 at 01:30, 09 April 2011 \| Report This Post



Nothing Great, Nothing Special
Preadtors is a pretty bad film, less action more talk, a ending that screams sequel, Aridan Brody trying to be action hero but fails and not very good special effects. It's slightly watchable but it's nothing great or special. ... More


Posted by joanna likes films at 15:04, 05 February 2011 \| Report This Post



Nothing Great, Nothing Special
Preadtors is a pretty bad film, less action more talk, a ending that screams sequel, Aridan Brody trying to be action hero but fails and not very good special effects. It's slightly watchable but it's nothing great or special. ... More


Posted by joanna likes films at 15:04, 05 February 2011 \| Report This Post



How depressingly predictable... pants
"A solidly okay Saturday night effort" Far too much praise considering the richness of the source material and budget / acting ability available. Commits the cardinal sin of having a group of characters that are neither memorable or empathy-inspiring, so when the cull inevitably begins no-one gives a toss. Very predictable as it was, but to make matters worse large swathes of plot seemed to have been hacked away to keep an explosions-per-minute ratio ticking along. Ver... More


Posted by topsturner at 21:24, 10 January 2011 \| Report This Post



Better than i expected
After seeing Aliens vs Predator Requiem and that other pile by the Brothers Strause who cant direct to save there lives! I expected a poor film but in my view it turned out to be better than the 2nd one...It was nice and original and we saw the predators where they belong.....not on a 4 day bender in the city killing mob bosses and disrupting train schedules. SPOILER. I thought the bit with the Chinese guy staying behind to sword fight a predator was a bit cheesy considering that other guy... More


Posted by AntGC at 12:13, 02 January 2011 \| Report This Post



So so, but fun too
Didn't really do much new, the new bits it did were good and welcome additions to the "least favourite uncle" of the action science fiction genre. Nice to see a very polished production once again from the epic Troublemaker studios. Very watchable, quite enjoyable especially if a fan of the original. ... More


Posted by danielthompson99 at 21:51, 05 November 2010 \| Report This Post




Excellent. ... More


Posted by reminn at 08:53, 03 November 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: The 'Sequel' We've Been Waiting For
L: robwillphill It was a pretty good film until the ending. Laurence Fishburne had the best performance, Toby Disgrace... sorry I mean Toby Grace marred the film for me with his wooden acting. It's a summer blockbuster which has the overdose of nostalgia and well-paced sequences. However, overall there is something not quite right and I can't put my finger on it... ] ler Maybe it's the writing. It's a combination of cheesy lines which always include the word "fuck", and terrib... More

Posted by Jasper_29 at 13:20, 18 August 2010 \| Report This Post



How difficult is it to make a Predator Movie??
One Star guys - One star. Thats how much you gave AVP-R - However the love affair with Mr Robert Rodriguez means that this earns 3 stars and a 'Good' rating. There is nothing here that is done any better than AVP-R. I struggle to understand how it is so difficult to make a Predator movie. Like the idea - game reserve. So how about huge energy fences keeping them in a 5 mile radius. Somebody gets fried! How about the classic predators chasing them - who needs the whole blood feud plot li... More


Posted by JayCbee at 14:47, 05 August 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: predictable
Right, just got back from seeing Predators. I enjoyed it, but there we're so many missed opportunities. SPOILER ALERT Firstly, the predator fight could have been so much more. All we got was some fast editing and the original predator getting a total ass kicking within a minute. It should have been the standout action moment, yet it wasn't. Next, the effects were not even on a par with the original in my opinion. The fireball moment was a disgrace to special effects as well as th... More

Posted by MuckyMuckMan at 00:30, 05 August 2010 \| Report This Post



predictable
predators hunt people.....we get it. Nothing new to see. Yawn yawn. ... More


Posted by ayelewis at 10:34, 03 August 2010 \| Report This Post



Arnold Cameo !
A sequel to the 1987 original with Arnold Schwarzenegger.A stand alone film with a small mention of the Arnold classic.shame no cameo from Dutch.A well rounded cast lead by Adrian Brody.a surprise cameo from a not often seen face who really is enjoying himself.plenty of action and humour although its sometimes unintentional but funny all the same.we get to find out that predators like to hunt there own kind aswell as have pets ! some great action and fight sequencies which dont hold back on the ... More


Posted by rtb2k6 at 12:23, 01 August 2010 \| Report This Post



predators
a wasted oppertunity; this film is not so much terrible as bland.. i left the cinema feeling short changed. It was worth watching but only just..... Enjoy....... ... More


Posted by HERMES_67 at 20:29, 28 July 2010 \| Report This Post




Robert Rodriguez’ „Predators” could very easily have been the blood curdling orgy of gore which everybody was hoping it would be. It could also have been that pensive allegory, brimming with the rich symbolism that used to be a staple of classic science fiction films. And when you think of its directors’(and cinematographer’s) European training ( both Antal and Pados studied directing in Budapest, Hungary), you even wish it had that tinge of visual kookiness, that o... More


Posted by Tom Ice at 17:12, 28 July 2010 \| Report This Post



Missed opportunity
Does nothing for the series and not even as good as Predator 2. The special effects were woeful at times and they seemed to be going to the same pieces of jungle over and over again. There were a couple of nice touches but overall quite disappointing. ... More


Posted by chris wootton at 12:14, 28 July 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: The 'Sequel' We've Been Waiting For
I liked this film better when it was called r This movie fails ultimately because it doesn’t add anything of worth to the mix. r 2 s a different kind of protagonist and had the action move to the heat of the city. This takes a step back and plonks us back in a jungle with another ragtag band of hard folk. Except these hard folk aren’t as likable as the last bunch. Instead of b] we get Adrien? Instead of Creed Fishburne? (That being said neither of these chaps do a bad job wi... More


Posted by JediBobster at 14:40, 26 July 2010 \| Report This Post



RE: The 'Sequel' We've Been Waiting For
Predators was about as good a sequel as I could have hoped for, I fear for the series as no one seems to bring anything really new to it and the sutdios don't really have the balls to take it in a new direction. I did enjoy the film though and although it went a bit down hill towards the end, I didn't like what was done with Topher Grace's character (as obvious as it was) I think there was a good idea that could have been mined if they had taken him in another direction, don't really wan... More


Posted by D-ToX at 10:43, 26 July 2010 \| Report This Post



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PredatorsBan this sick sport!

Predators
Ban this sick sport!