Predators

I only saw the original two Predators from afar, so this movie was basically a Predator premiere for me. I can't say I didn't like it, but on the other hand, I can't say I was impressed either. The creatures in the film are all very well done, the music was great to enhance the atmosphere, and the actors were mostly good (I didn't really care for Adrien Brody as the capo, but that's just my opinion). Most of the scares were pretty predictable, so the scare portion was not exceptionally filled. In short, an average American-produced action sci-fi flick that benefits mostly from its predecessors. (2010-12-26)

The weakest predators in the history of film were playing cat and mouse with the worst soldiers on the face of the Earth. Adrien Brody put on about 15 kilograms of muscle for this role, yet he still looks like a stick. Goggins, on the other hand, generally plays fags in most movies and here he is supposed to put in an absolute performance worthy of the SAS. Neither of them managed to clear that hurdle. It looks embarrassing, and what’s even worse is the Chinese guy, who swordfights one of the predators. I don’t know if the predators were just sick of what a bunch of amateurs those morons were, of they were the weakest predators ever. However, both those things made sure that even otherwise good ideas were buried with everything else in this film. (2016-10-03)

If I wanted to use a strong word, I’d probably use "disappointment" first, but "wasted potential" seems more appropriate with hindsight. Antal is talented, there’s no denying it because for two hours I felt like I was watching unadulterated 1980s carnage. It’s aided by good cinematography, and Debney’s brilliant soundtrack (those native drums just work even twenty-three years later). The present bunch is worse. True, I can't expect psychological miniatures, but... damn, couldn't it have been stretched for a few more minutes so we could learn a little more about them? There are all sorts of excuses for this, such as the fact that action movies were made this way when the first film was made. But what do you do with one random survivor and a nutcase with a scalpel? It’s also hard to love a film where I have to hit my head a lot to shake the memory of any significant action out of it. In that regard, I'll be eagerly awaiting the Director's Cut on DVD. Until then, it gets a hesitant 3 ½ stars. PS: The first half earns five stars. (2010-07-09)

Antal has an incredible sensitivity for getting that eighties feeling right, in the end Brody surprisingly doesn’t seem like Arnie’s androgynous embryo (in the ending sequence his muscle-bound body was particularly impressive... or else CGI technology is much more advanced that I thought) and so only the more expensive half away from the jungle is the only thing that spoils it; not that it’s outright bad, but it lags far behind the first half in terms of quality. In the better half, it’s so good that it is better than the original. (2010-07-09)

A tribute to the old films with all the trimmings. The slightly identical structure of the plot (a group of mercenaries, dying one by one, etc.) bothered me, but that’s probably the only flaw. The action starts right in the first seconds of the film, it has brilliant one-liners, solidly outlined characters, and the Adrien Brody is brutally cool, to the point where I didn't even want to believe it. The old good music, original sounds, and pleasantly “restored” effects, with their backbone still original, and even better. (2010-07-23)