Predators

In the trailers this looked far better than that AVP nonsense of a few years back, and just had to be watched. I will try my best to explain it as if you haven't seen the original Predator. Even though if that's the case you should be ashamed of yourself!

Basically Predators are super intelligent tribal style space hunter things that search the galaxies looking for a worthy opponent to hunt. In the first one this turned out to be a big fella called Dutch, played by the now Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was made iconic not only by the use of the Governator as the main character, the epitome of strength, but also in the final showdown between the Predator and Dutch. Using a combination of a homemade longbow and plenty of SAS style forest traps, they duke it out to the death in one of the best action movies ever made. So that's the original.

'Predators' stars Adrian Brody, (The Pianist, King Kong) and Alice Braga, (City of God, I Am Legend), with a fantastic cameo from Laurence Fishburne, (Mystic River, The Matrix). It begins with the characters lost in a jungle with no idea how they got there or why. As they try and remember what has happened to them it becomes clear that they have been chosen. As I have said before it borrows enough from the old film to make it a proper Predator movie, the jungle setting serving to immerse us entirely in the plight of the characters.

However it does then take us in a new direction with the realization that the jungle they have been taken to is on an alien planet inhabited by a tribal species, which is super adept at hunting. As they struggle to figure out a way of fighting the hunters, they come across a man who has killed a few of them before and has found a safe place to hide and survive. Noland, played by Laurence Fishburne, gives them food and a place to stay and explains to them what the deal is. The planet is something of a game reserve, and beings are brought from all over the universe by the hunters and hunted for sport. This again builds upon the notion of the first film that it was a right of passage for these predators, and foreshadows a much more organized and sinister occurrence.

This film is what it is, a sci-fi action romp with plenty of scope for sequels. What are the two different types of Predators all about? How will the survivors hope to get home? etc. But it is done with a lot more panache than the AVP films ever hoped for. It takes the best bits from the Arnie version and makes the best use of them, and adds its own bits and pieces to create something pretty special. Not a classic like Die Hard or Predator, but what is these days?

Well worth a look, even if its just for Adrian Brody's six pack. Woof!

Andrew Revill