Released in 2010 and following closely after two generally derived Alien Vs Predator films, Predators is a remake-cum-sequel from the great director Nimrod Antal (who had previously made the masterful Hungarian film Kontroll). The Predator series of films as a whole is a weird one. Unlike its close compatriot Alien (which had at least two great movies), Predator had the original classic in 1987, then a totally flat follow up — and then nothing until the second-billing “VS” clash in the 2000s.
Since the original movie, Predator had felt like a series that was just trying to keep up in an attempt to stay relevant and even the titular Predator itself had become drastically weakened by declining returns, and no new angles. Predators exists to right that wrong. But how well does it succeed?
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Predators: A Worthy Sequel?
20th Century Fox
A nameless soldier (played by Adrien Brody) plunges from the sky. Scrambling, he fumbles at his parachute to get it free before he hits the ground. An unknown jungle awaits him, and a ragtag bunch follow. Begrudgingly sticking together for safety in numbers, they quickly understand as former hunters themselves that they have become the hunted…
Comparisons to the original film are only inevitable, with such a similar storyline flipped slightly to a different location (still a foreign jungle, still human warriors entirely ill-equipped against a superior alien; this is both Predators’ best and worst characteristic. Predator proved that the blueprint works, but Predators doesn’t deviate away from it nearly enough to feel like it’s breaking new ground. And, when held up against the original (a film which has only gotten stronger with age), the flaws show in the 2010 follow up.
To Catch a Predator
First off, the cast involved is incredible on paper. In 2010, some of the names had not made it to become the international stars we know now, but with established actors like Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, and Danny Trejo alongside Walton Goggins (The Hateful Eight) and Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali (both in their first notable film roles here), the weight of the ensemble cast really is there.
The presence of one Robert Rodriguez is also heavily felt here behind the scenes. Operating as producer (and with the plot based off an original draft of his from the 90s), the director of Sin City, Planet Terror, and Machete brings his trademark flair — coupled with his trademark tin-eared dialogue.
Whereas Dutch’s team in Predator were all meathead commandos, they had banter, with a real sense of comradery. They boasted and tried to make each other laugh, and each death felt important as it ticked down to the Schwarzenegger face off. Here, these people are essentially villains. The characters themselves are all criminals in Predators, working in organized crime or operating as hitmen. While equipped, knowledgeable, and most assuredly dangerous, it doesn’t make them very fun to be around as a viewer — and when they do open their mouths, it doesn’t make you want them to live on for a whole lot longer…
Led loosely by Adrien Brody’s character, they are all out for themselves and are very happy to sacrifice one another if it gives them a possible leg up in survival, resulting in zero chemistry between any of them. They’re just not given enough to do, and when they do express themselves they all come off as loathsome. To put that into context, in the few times that they are given the opportunity to talk, two of the eight-person team are revealed to be rapists or would-be rapists.
Considering that it’s a storyline so similar to its original, there’s a stark difference in squads, and not an entirely pleasant one to have to digest. The script flips that on itself, however, and makes these characters essentially expendable to the inevitable deaths that come with being hunted down by a massive warrior alien. But there’s a mean-spirited misanthropy that goes through the spinal cord of this film and it could have benefited from a few more lighthearted quieter moments in-between the gun fire.
Adrien Vs Predator
The elephant in the room also remains, and on this viewer’s now third full watch of the film, is only more noticeable: Brody just doesn’t work in the role. His character, entirely devoid of a name until the very end, is physically wiry, and his delivery is gruff and try-hard. Generally, he looks mismanaged for the role and by the point that his one-on-one showdown with the Predator arrives, and he repeats Schwarzenegger’s lines word for word, you wish that the film had embraced more of the weirder stuff it had brought in.
For example, Predators reveals that the hunters use a breed of gross alien dog to sniff out their prey first, immediately expanding on the Predator’s own methodology. The film also reveals that other aliens exist in this world, also to be hunted (excluding Alien’s Xenomorphs, of course), and that there are different tribes within the Predator species, warring amongst one another.
These are all really cool features that help build up and set Predators apart just enough from its similar roots. However, with such a clone of a basic story with several nods to the original, these intriguing quirks seem to be mooted by a fear of deviating from the tried and tested path set by the looming shadow of the previous Schwarzenegger outing. Predators needed more bravery to veer off in that direction and explore it in more depth to properly feel like it had taken a leap into distinct uniqueness. It’s likely that Nimrod Antal’s weirder vision butted heads with 20th Century Fox.
Predator$
Here and there, the film comes together very nicely. Alice Braga as Isabelle is constantly watchable as the sweat-soaked survivor, and a marooned Lawrence Fishburne is the best character in the whole movie as a loopy MIA soldier having previously escaped the Predator’s hunt. His ticks and conversations with his now deceased comrades are crazed and desperate and make a great alternative from his work in the super slick Matrix series.
Predators also gives a glimpse of what that fan-touted samurai-themed Prey sequel could look like in its stand-out best scene, where a shirtless and silent Yakuza takes on a Predator with a katana. A scene with no dialogue, bar any battle grunts, there is a stillness in these two warriors going at one another; the long grass blows from side to side as they charge and strike at their rival under the moonlight, and it’s glorious.
With only three feature outings in a 23-year gap, Predator fans foamed at the detractable mouth to see their monstrous hunter return to cinemas so cool and stripped back to basics. The film made $127 million, more than three times its $40 million budget, which was much better than Predator 2’s returns but less than each Alien vs. Predator mash-up.
How Does Predators Hold Up?
Predators reminded its fans what a brutal creation this hunter was. The 2010 film is a muscular, confident beast more than worthy of carrying the title of the series, which features some great kills. Predators looks beautiful and expands where it can on the lore of the world, but with an undeniable venom shooting through the spine of its story and its characters, led by a miscast leading man, it’s hard to gel 100% of the time.
By the time of an entirely misplaced Little Richard callback of the closing credits, and with the script’s own hints at a grander and weirder story, some fans may have felt that this was a missed opportunity for something just a little more. Following the release of this year’s fantastic Prey, Predators takes a very respectable bronze in the franchise.
