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Written by Stephen Bowron
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26 07 2010 |
.jpg "Image") Directed by: Nimród Anta
‘Predator' films have appeared through the last three decades now, each one declining in quality in every possible way since the 1987 original with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Following the success with his film ‘El Mariachi', director Robert Rodriguez was approached to write a third ‘Predators' film in 1995, which the studio deemed was too expensive. 15 years later that film was finally born, but not before the ‘Alien' and ‘Predator' franchises had been wrung dry. Luckily, Rodriguez is a sponge who soaks in awesome.
This latest instalment follows a large group of mercenaries, murderers,
drug lords (essentially a good number of creatively diverse
antagonists) accompanied by a seemingly naïve scientific doctor
abandoned on an alien planet to be hunted by none other than alien
predators, from whom they must kill or be killed.
The minimal plot leaves something to be desired, but it works
relatively well as your typical ‘slasher' film down to much needed
inspired choices. According to interviews, and as evidenced by watching
the recent ‘Alien' and ‘Predator' films, Rodriguez wanted to turn the
franchise around and immediately drop all films post-1987 ‘Predator'
because they had "cartoonized" the action and horror that made the
first film so incredible. Rodriguez (as producer) has held his word in
creating his own vision of the franchise by giving us a film that
follows from the plot of the first film and sticks to its intense
nature of a terrifying horror. In this latest instalment there are no
‘Scooby Doo' antics, just a raw film about prey being hunted. Get the
cushion ready.
That being said, the film doesn't avoid dozens of horror clichés, but
plays them out more seriously, thanks to excellent design and budget
and a somewhat solid script.
Bringing back in the reboot, the premise, we are subjected to another
strong 80's favourite: The Anti-Hero. Well, we're accompanied by an
entire cast of anti-heroes rather. The group of people brought to the
alien planet have all been brought for good reason. It wouldn't be
tough enough for our Predators to hunt our ‘protagonists' if they were
simple folk. No, they are all dangerously skilled with their selfish,
murderous and evil pasts (minus the seemingly naïve scientist). This
also brings about a theme that becomes blindingly obvious later in the
film around the idea of being human.
As the film progresses anyone who isn't a key character - as with any
slasher film - becomes fodder for gore and creative and entertaining
deaths. This then leaves the few characters that we are intended to
empathise with, lead by Royce (Adrian Brody) who plays the excellent
protective yet deadly alpha male of the group, Isabelle (Alice Braggs)
as the stale but strong necessary female character and then Edwin
(Topher Grace) as the, well, naïve guy.
The repeated lines "What are you?" being retorted with "Alive" scream
out the idea of humanity, or rather the loss of it, when characters are
brought to the world and face the lethal kill or be killed rules.
Several times a setup is made for our anti-heroes to either help their
fellow man out, or save themselves and as their numbers dwindle,
betrayals and brawls ensue, whilst they slowly develop the empathetic
nature for others that they never had before. This however, doesn't
stop every last one of them being a one-dimensional stereotype, but
through their developments, we come to see them as bearable and just
try to enjoy the experience.
On the whole, ‘Predators' is not too dissimilar from the first film,
which is a relatively fresh sight in the horror genre of recent. With
the extreme, raw nature of survival and humankind as a whole being
portrayed through the gritty, realism of guerrilla war with that
excellent twinge of the alien substance, director Nimród Antal and
producer Rodriguez have brought us a serious take on what was becoming
a horribly mangled franchise. So long as they make the human choice to
not follow it up with a sequel.
Rating: 7/10
UK Release Date: July 8 2010 |
