Recently, there has been quite a nostalgic trend in movie theaters everywhere.  In the past few years, we’ve seen new looks at icons of the past such as Die Hard, Indiana Jones, and Rambo.  These movies are often met with a certain amount of anticipation as fans of the various series always have such fond memories related to them.  Well, the latest action hit of the 80s to get a new millennium makeover is 1987’s classic Predator, and although that film had a number of follow-ups, Predators is the movie that fans of the original have been waiting for.

Predators follows a group of some of the most ruthless and hard core killers the Earth has to offer.  The movie begins with these people waking up in free-fall, and as they parachute down to a dense and stunning jungle, they begin to realize that not everything is, as it seems.  As this group gets to know one another, they soon figure out that they all have been transported to another planet, where a species of hunters have begun to hunt them for sport.  So, this group, which consists of mercenaries, criminals, soldiers, and killers, soon find themselves relying on each other for their very survival.  For a series that features a number of duds, it seems that some new blood has revitalized the Predator franchise.

A group of human killers find themselves being hunted

First off, it’s almost impossible to talk about Predators and not mention the series of movies that has come before.  Now, the original film from 1987 is as good as action movies get.  In fact, that Schwarzenegger film may be the quintessential tough-guy action film.  After that, we were given Predator 2 in 1990.  The follow-up, which featured Danny Glover as a LAPD officer taking on a Predator in urban Los Angeles, was kind of fun but nowhere near as good as the original.  However, as disappointed as fans may have been at Predator 2, at least it was fun…this can’t really be said about the awful Alien Vs. Predator movies.  The one thing that worked about those ill-conceived movies was the tagline: “Whoever Wins, We Loose”…. audiences who paid to see those flicks certainly were the losers in that equation.  Well, apparently all it took was a fresh look from Robert Rodriguez (Desperado) and director Nimród Antal (Vacancy) to finally create a movie worthy of the 1987 original.

Brody and Braga show how badass they can be

The feel of Predators is very much a call back to the Columbian jungle of the original film.  The tone of the first half of the movie is a mixture of the pilot episode of Lost and the original Predator.  The characters featured here are so awesome, the majority of them could easily have headlined a movie alone.  Oscar winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist) was perhaps one of the stranger casting decisions, but he is absolutely perfect as former black ops soldier Royce.  Brody uses his immense talent and is very believable as this soldier for hire who finds it difficult to rely on these strangers to survive.  Also, former Village Maiden Alice Braga (Repo Men) continues the tradition of a hot Hispanic chick in the series, and she’s pretty cool as Isabelle.  The fact that Braga is the lone woman in a cast full of tough guys is quite a statement, but the fact that she could probably beat the hell out of the majority of the cast is something else.  We also get memorable turns from Walton Goggins (Justified) as a death row inmate, Mahershalalhashbaz Ai (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) as an African soldier, and Machete himself Danny Trejo as a killer from Mexico.  The casting here is mostly spot on, and the actors play off of one another very well.

However, one piece of casting that is being met with mixed results was the inclusion of Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3) as a seemingly misplaced doctor who is totally out of his element here.  I actually didn’t mind Topher, as he sort of represented the average person, and seeing this “normal” guy alongside this group of badass characters in this crazy environment actually worked in my opinion.

He's still one ugly motherfu*ker

Say what you will about the humans, but everyone wants to know about the Predators, right?  Well, this movie actually features two different types of creatures.  First off, we get the “Classic Predator,” which was featured in the first two movies in the series.  It was pretty awesome to see this character again, and I almost forgot just how creepy the design of this alien was.  We also get a look at different races of Predators, and these new ones make the classic ones look like the Gieco Gecko.

The fact that Rodriguez and Antal took so much care in acknowledging the original movie is the main reason that Predators works as well as it does.  In fact, there’s actually one scene where the group of humans discuss the events from the original movie, which was a great movie moment.

The one thing that didn’t quite work as well as it should have here was a sequence involving Laurence Fishburne as a crazed survivor of a previous hunt.  Now, the makers of Predators made it clear that this role was actually written for Danny Glover as a return for his character from Predator 2.  However, being that Glover wasn’t up for this movie, they probably should have trashed the scene, as it really doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the movie.

For such a disappointing year movie wise, Predators is a fun and violent reminder of just how awesome action movies were in the 80s.  This movie is such a fun reminder of how awesome the initial concept of Predator was that it deserves to find an audience.  Everything from the setting, to the original Predator Music were featured in such a way, you could totally see the respect that was paid to the original film.  This movie was made for action movie fans, and I was extremely impressed with the results.

Predators: 8.5/10

- Krycek