It has been twenty years since a Predator has appeared on screen outside of an Aliens VS Predator movie, but now the series finally continues with Predators. The plural title used in the same manner of the Aliens sequel because there are multiple predators this time.
Right away the movie opens with a soldier played by Adrian Brody as he finds himself falling through the sky when a parachute is suddenly deployed saving him from the deadly fall. The movie moves at break neck speed as more characters begin to plummet from the sky, and our cast has been assembled within the first five minutes. This group of strangers realize they are all soldiers, killers, and gangsters from around the globe and they have been brought to this planet to be hunted. Who is hunting them? A pack of Predators of course. Now they must fight to survive on this alien world.
From the get go it is clear that Predators is an attempted throw back to the original film. The jungle setting, the group of soldiers, and of course the stealthy predators. It doesn't hold a candle to the original of course, but it wasn't expected to. Predators still holds it's own as an entertaining film, and we don't get great action sci-fi movies like this very often. Adrian Brody and entire cast all perform their roles well, each with their own unique persona's that help round the group out.
My biggest complaint about the film would be the pacing that starts rapidly, then slows almost to a dead stop, before kicking right back into overdrive. It also suffers from an overuse of reaction shots from the cast. Every time the team discovers something new on the alien planet we have to see everyone of their faces reacting, and this happens multiple times over the course of the movie.
Aside from those flaws it was great to see the Predators in action, and was generally an entertaining experience. If you are a fan of the original Predator then you should enjoy this new installment, so check it out.
Final Score: B+
But it doesn't have ARNOLD!!
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