Predators (2010) Film Review: Three Predators Equal Great Movie?

 

Happy New Year, everyone! To kick off 2021, I'm going to be reviewing the last film I watched last year on New Year's Eve. "Predators" is the third film in the titular franchise after a 20-year gap between this and "Predator 2". Since its release, there's been a cult following and a debate amongst the community regarding which is the better sequel in the series or even if the film as a whole is actually good. Well, it's time that I take a look for myself. The story starts fairly strong as a group of various mercenaries, assassins, soldiers, and killers find themselves stranded in an unknown jungle. As they group together, they start to realize that where they are isn't even on Earth and they are in fact on a intergalactic game reserve where they are being hunted by a trio of Predators. The group now has to quickly learn to work together and find a way to get off the planet before being picked off by the deadly aliens. The premise actually works, despite the film going a bit far out in regards to having a games reserve for various people and species. I think the story works out fine because the characters, for the most part, work in regards that you want to see them work together and beat the aliens. The problems with the story though are all over the place. For one, this film starts the storyline that there's a struggle between two viewpoints of the Predator race and in regards to how they hunt. Not only was this an unnecessary addition to the franchise and one that's even brought back in the later film, but they don't go anywhere with this concept other than there's a rebel Predator that hates the alpha leader of the hunting group. The story in general is a template of the first film, with pointless call-backs and references in the hopes that it can somehow be on part with it. On top of this, the ending of the film is pretty bad, as it features the unlikeable characters surviving and saying that they will need to try to get off the planet despite a new hunting season has begun. Not only is it an ending that feels completely unanswered, but the characters just became complete scumbags in ditching the people being forced onto the planet. I feel that the story has a great premise, but has missed potential in regards to playing up the alliances of the prey versus the Predators. The tone is much more serious compared to previous films and it's a welcome change. It's kind of odd, especially considering the story and setting itself, but the tone allows the mystery and dread to really take effect and makes the first two acts engaging. There's not much laughs as a result, but the chemistry between the side characters manage to create some charm and chuckles.

The weakest link of the film are the main characters, which manage to reduce some of the enjoyment that can be had since the film makes it so obvious they will be the ones to survive the entire film. Adrien Brody as Royce is a boring and unlikeable protagonist. He's just a typical U.S mercenary who only cares for himself and the only woman in the group, Isabelle, an Israeli sniper unit who tries looking out for others, played by Alice Braga. The problem with these two characters are lengthy. For one, these actors feel miscast and don't act very badass in this action movie despite the film and performances trying so hard to make you believe them as these action heroes. Second, they have no enjoyable quirks and personality as they are just stick-in-the-muds with butting ideologies. Third, it's just so obvious that these two will be the survivors, especially when you realize that all of the "Predator" films need to have the male and female lead of the respective title survive. With the first two films, you at least enjoy those two leads, so you want them to survive. But Royce and Isabelle are just so bland and unlikeable that not only does any scene with the two of them drag, but the ending is just not satisfying as a result. What makes it so much worse is that the side characters outshine these main characters in every conceivable way. I love the variety of characters involved from Danny Trejo's Cuchillo, Topher Grace's Edwin, Walton Goggin's Stans, Mahershala Ali's Mombasa, Oleg Takatarov's Nikoli, Louis Ozawa Changchien's Hanzo, and Laurence Fishburne's Roland. All of these actors are so good in that you want them to survive so badly, despite revealing that they are actually bad people back home in regards to what they do for a living. It's really thanks to the chemistry and comradery of the actors on top of their enjoyable, albeit generic, personalities and backgrounds. I think what would have vastly improved the film would have been to remove the characters of Royce and Isabelle and let these characters take over for the story. Not only will it be more interesting to see who would have lived or died, but it will also help in making the ideologies of Royce and Isabelle blend in with the side characters as it will make them even more human and filled with moral depth. So, at the end of the day, the main characters are garbage, but the side characters are the real attractions.

While Robert Rodriguez's name is plastered all over the film, he only produced the film. The actual name sitting on the director's chair is Nimrod Antal. While Antal hasn't made anything nearly as notable to this project before or after its release, Antal shows that he's actually a very competent director. The game reserve was shot in both Hawaii and in Texas and the environment is brilliantly mixed together to be a beautiful yet unique world. The reserve itself is still shrouded in mystery by the end of the film in regards to the borders, the size, the various people and aliens that can inhabit it, and if the reserve itself has native elements to it. Antal knows how to have some visual suspense and mystery play out and that's all due to how it doesn't explain everything to the viewer and leave some aspects to the viewer's imagination. Antel also utilizes some nice uses of colour from the extreme blues, blacks, and reds. The cinematography by Gyula Pados is simply amazing. The abundance of wide, landscape and aerial shots are gorgeous to look upon and show a sense of scope and scale to the game reserve. There's also a neat one-track shot when we first see the Predators uncloak, which is one of the best moments of the film. The music by John Debney however is pretty weak as it heavily relies on the first film's score by Alan Silvestri. While using the iconic music from the first film isn't bad, Debney doesn't offer anything new that can stand up to Silvestri's offerings. Even Silvestri offered more original tracks for "Predator 2" and some of those musical moments are on their own level of identity. The practical effects, costumes and make-up are great to say the least. The Predators look the best they ever were and some of the gory kills such as the homage where Stans's spinal cord and skull is ripped out look so brutal and grotesque due to the amazing gore effects. What's not so great though is the CGI. While I don't mind the alien tracking dogs as they have a neat design and look fairly decent, everything else feels rather janky. The moment where the characters realize that they are on an alien planet by looking at the horizon looks really awkward. The ship Roland is hiding away on looks like a bad matte painting. And lastly, there's the thermal vision of the Predators. The thermal vision is almost unwatchable as it's all of this digital imagery that is never clear on what you're looking at. The blues are just way too sharp during these sequences and it looks much worse than the earlier films. The last thing to note would be the action, which is a bit of a mixed bag. Most of it is typical, over-the-top shootouts, and the climax is very underwhelming as Royce feels like he constantly dominates the Predator every time while Dutch from the original film had to avoid being up close to him to avoid being killed and only won by outsmarting him, whereas Royce won by dumb luck. The only action scene that's noteworthy is the fight between Hanzo and one of the Predators. From the homage to both samurai showdowns (as well as an offscreen sacrifice in the first film), to the beautiful shots and scenery, this is perhaps the best action sequence of the franchise in regards to intensity and emotional impact, despite it being a bit cliched. Antel may never return to work on an Hollywood project again, but his efforts on this film managed to capture some fans of the series.

"Predators" is a very conflicting film for me. On the one hand, it offers some of the best things in the franchise with a great premise, more serious tone, fantastic cast of side characters, amazing cinematography by Pados, top-notch practical effects, the best action sequence of the series with Hanzo's standoff with a Predator, and Antel's polished directing and world-building. However, it's a film that carries some terrible sins. The story never reaches its full potential, the film itself feels like it's copying from the first Predator painfully beat-to-beat, the ending is pretty awful in regards to being satisfying or earned, Royce and Isabelle as the leads are boring characters that are forcing the viewer to care for their obvious survival, Debney's score just recycles Sivestri's themes from the first film without adding much that's original, some of the CGI is pretty bad, and the majority of the action sequences are either generic or underwhelming compared to previous films. I clearly prefer the first two films more so than this one, but it's far from being near as bad as "The Predator". Overall, the third film in this franchise is one that feels conflicted on its identity and direction. If they just rewrote the script once more and removed Royce and Isabelle completely, I think this would be not only a better movie, but probably the best film of the series. As it is though, it's above average with issues that keep it from reaching greatness.

Verdict: 6.5/10. Solid entry, but not one I can rewatch with a smile on my face. At least it's not "The Predator"...