The fearsome warrior creatures in dreads have come a long way. From picking off Arnold Schwarzenegger's elite military team in a Central American jungle to fighting acid-spewing Aliens to fighting the Predalien hybrid thing. And now their lust for the hunt, so insatiable, forces them to assemble a team of the Earth's seven most dangerous humans...and Topher Grace. These people are literally dropped onto a game preserve planet from teh sky. There is no real explanation for that, but then-this isn't a movie for explanations.
While watching this movie, I thought back to previous Predator movies, remembering their only motivation is to hunt to become better at hunting. We never really learn much more than that of them. Is hunting a form of entertainment for them like human big game hunters? Or is hunting an instinctual necessity that has evolved with the species--like if house kitties evolved into higher intelligent beings? If we're going with the former, one would suspect that over time the Predators would make every new hunting game even more challenging than the last. You can't improve if you don't step up your game. Of course making the hunt more difficult for the hunter makes life easier for the onscreen heroes--and that just wouldn't make for good movies. In this film, the humans are put into an impossible situation. They may be tough on Earth, but they're not on Earth, they have no real way home, they know little about their enemy, and they only have so many bullets. Difficult for the humans, and relatively easy for the Predators. Seems like lazy hunting to me. Don't worry, any gaps in logic are covered up by guns and explosions.
Yes, I thought about these things during a mindless summer action flick. I need to find a lower setting for my brain. So, was this a good movie or not? It was a'ight. It wasn't boring, but it wasn't extraordinary in any way besides how predictable it was. Predators is the kind of movie that you can plot out within the first ten minutes. You can figure out the order in which characters will be picked off based on racial cliches alone. This was more annoying than anything else. However, there was just enough bits of genuine humor and bits of genuine thrills thrown in to keep me paying attention. Plus, I have this inexplicable love for insane movie characters and there was just enough crazy to keep me happy and munching on popcorn.
Maybe I'm being too easy on this movie. Adrien Brody humorously out-acted everyone on the screen, the "twist" is decidedly untwist-y, and there was a terrible lack of suspense. No, I'm afraid we may never get back to the genius of the original Predator, but Predators was a good try. What can I say? I have a weakness for Predator movies. I love those big, anatomically implausible guys. I'm not sure if it's the spine ripping they seem to enjoy so much or their strange ideas about nobility (they're really not that difficult to befriend). But I have to give a recommend for this movie to anyone looking for a thoughtless summer movie...but only if you've already seen Inception.
Oh before I forget--this may be another reason I enjoyed this movie:
You're welcome.