After watching Predator 2 (1990) again recently then chatting to some of you in the comments of my post about it, I had a strong urge last weekend to rewatch the next film in the series.
Predators (2010)
If you haven’t seen it, it’s a sequel to Predator 2 (although only the events of the first film are referenced) and it stars Adrien Brody (King Kong), Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3), Walton Goggins (Django Unchained), Danny Trejo (Machete) and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) among others.
This is what it’s about according to the internet:
Brought together on a mysterious planet, a mercenary (Brody) and a group of coldblooded killers now become the prey. A new breed of aliens pursues the ragtag humans through dense jungle. The group must work together to survive, or become the latest trophies of the fearsome intergalactic hunters.
I wasn’t overly keen on this film when I first watched it.
Predator (1987) is one of my favourite movies of all time so unsurprisingly I had high expectations for another sequel. As it happens though, it’s grown on me quite a bit over the years. It’s still not a patch on the original Arnie classic, but it does a good job of paying tribute to it in a lot of ways. Also, compared to the latest instalment, The Predator (2018), this is a masterpiece!
Predators takes the franchise back to its roots, ie. back to the jungle and its testosterone driven, muscle bulging beginnings, but with a twist. This time the jungle acts as a kind of game reserve on a distant alien planet and not everyone has bulging muscles…or testosterone for that matter.
The fact that it’s in a similar setting to the first film and doesn’t try to make things too complicated is what makes it so enjoyable (from this Predator fan’s point of view at least).
Something else I like about it is how you can tell the filmmakers - director Nimród Antal (Vacancy) and producer, Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn) are fans of the original film, taking it back to its origins and even using the same musical themes by composer, Alan Silvestri, as well as some sound effects. They’re small things but they make a big impact.
My biggest problem with this film has always been the casting of Adrien Brody in the lead role. He’s a great actor but I just don’t buy into his “hard man” persona. I’ve always thought someone else would’ve been more believable in the role. I have to say though, I don’t know if it’s because I’ve seen this movie a few times now but it didn’t really bother me too much this time around.
With a new Predator movie on the way and the first one since Disney have owned the rights to the franchise, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little concerned. I’ve read that it’ll be a PG13 rating (15 over here) and is set during the American Civil War, following a young native-American woman and member of the Comanche tribe "who goes against gender norms and traditions to become a warrior."
I don’t want to sound sexist or racist (or whatever-ist) but knowing what Disney are like, this has “woke” written all over it.
One thing that has got me interested though is that the producers have said that it bears more of a resemblance to The Revenant (2015) than to any of the previous Predator movies. I just hope the film has genuine intentions and isn’t just another attempt by Disney to put out another box-ticking movie. Who knows, if we’re lucky we might get another Ripley-like character out of it.
If you’re a fan of the Predator movies and for some reason haven’t seen Predators I recommend giving it a watch. It might be a little predictable but it’s fun, and an enjoyable addition to a franchise that as far as I’m concerned still has loads of potential.
It’s streaming on Disney+.
Seen it? Let me know what you think.