Predators arrives with a whole heap of baggage and a considerable amount of expectation weighing on its shoulders. Since its release in 1987, John McTiernan’s Predator has achieved cult status thanks to its mixture of macho one liners, ruthlessly efficient action and one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time. “GET TO THE CHOPPAH!” *ahem*
Predators is a movie that could have taken a little B-movie excess. In fact the set-up is positively begging for it. The character list reads like the kind of cast usually found in the latest console beat ‘em up (a death row hillbilly, a Chechen rebel, a Mexican cartel enforcer, a Yakuza assassin etc.) and the plot is essentially a repeated pattern of hunting and hiding as they attempt not to become the latest victims of the Predators’ game preserve.
It’s only a pity that Robert Rodriguez wasn’t available to take up directing duties; although Nimrod Antal delivers a perfectly serviceable action movie, there was so much promise left untapped and so many moments that were crying out for the Planet Terror B-movie insanity that Rodriguez specialises in.
Several sequences that should have been highlights fail to raise the pulse thanks to uninspired choreography, lack of imgination or sometimes just brevity. The face off between a sword wielding Yakuza hitman and a Predator for example, was a deliciously mad prospect but in practice was decidedly uninteresting. Then there is the fact that Danny Trejo is dispatched within fifteen minutes! What a waste.
There were some elements that made me sit up in my seat though. Antal’s decision to hold onto his trump card (the Predators themselves) until a good 30 minutes into the film is an effective one and the reveal of the three hunters from their cloaking devices shows that these monsters still have the capacity to raise goosebumps. Meanwhile, a third of the way into the film, Laurence Fishburne shows up and proceeds to steal the show as the lone human survivor of ten hunting seasons. Doing his best Col. Kurtz routine, Fishburne menaces, grins maniacally and argues with his imaginary friend.
Predators will not offend anyone but nor will it be an experience to be repeated. Much like Adrien Brody’s performance in the central role, the whole movie is competent but uninspired. Will anyone be quoting this dialogue in twenty years? I fear not.