First Review: Predators (2010)

The Movie is "Predators", the latest update on John McTiernan's 1987 original film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Predators, directed by Nimród Antal and produced by Robert Rodriguez, stars the Oscar winning Adrien Brody and the aspiring Alice Braga in lead roles as former, highly trained soldiers accompanied by a collection of soldiers, killers, a doctor, and a convict that have awakened in mid air, free-falling to an alien planet. Upon arrival the group of diverse specialists come to the conclusion that they have been brought to this planet to survive amongst alien hunters. I admire the approach of naming the film "Predators" in comparison to James Cameron's "Aliens" (a sequel to Ridley Scott's original film, "Alien"). I perceive this as an approach to weed out any expectations of Predators being a follow up to anything but McTiernan's original film and to disregard the god-awful remakes of recent years. First of all I would like to acknowledge that I can understand one's disliking of the film if one is completely turned off by violence and non-stop action. For this viewer, Predators did not disappoint. Predators started with a free-fall and ended with victory, both on the screen and in the audience. One thing screen writers Alex Litvak and Michael Finch conquered was characterization that was on par with the original. Walking out of that theater, I was closer to the characters of "Predators" than I have been with characters of any film of the dry cinematic year of 2010. Beyond that was the screenwriters achievement of originality that has not been an element since the original. Not to mention Brody being a sigh of relief due to a display of heroism not seen since Sigourny Weavers role in "Alien" and top notch acting in his most diverse role yet. It didn't hurt that J.C. Cantu and Mary Vernieu of the casting department threw in a pleasant and slightly humorous role for the lovable Laurence Fishburne. Would I recommend Predators for a fun summer action flick? Absolutely; especially for fans of the franchise searching for a relief from the failed sequels of recent years. "Predators" had every element of a perfect sequel that "aliens" did: bigger, longer, more beasts, and more violent. and for that I give Predators a solid 31/2 stars!