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@michaels_movie_bay
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A random group of soldiers, mercenaries, convicts, and a doctor find themselves on an alien planet, hunted by an alien species, and trying to figure out what commonalities they share that led them to this harrowing fate.
This film attempts to inject some plot and nuance into the Predator franchise and creates a really thrilling atmospheric world around its fascinating concept. The film emphasizes solving the mystery of these characters and their sordid pasts as much as it gleefully picks them off one by one in true creature feature fashion. And while the reveals and developments never match its potential, this winds up being a really entertaining alien romp.
The humanoid cast is littered with some of the best character actors of the 2000’s with Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, Topher Grace, and Danny Trejo chewing scenery even as they themselves…are chewed upon. There’s also a great Mahershala Ali cameo in one of his first feature film appearances. And the creatures look pretty real with many of the action scenes unencumbered by obvious CGI.
Anchoring this cast of murderous misfits is the wonderful Adrien Brody who, along with Alice Braga, provide some emotional stakes. And unlike the classic 1987 original, character development plays a large role. Unfortunately, some of the creature action and plot twists are cheesy and silly which diminishes the overall experience, trivializing what could have been a much more interesting film.
Hollywood has recently led us to expect that action movies be devoid of clever plotting or writing. But looking back at some of the best action movies of all time, (Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Gladiator, Terminator 2), they often were hugely successful because the action was bolstered by strong writing, interesting characters, and mastery of cinematic technology. Predators doesn’t belong anywhere near this list, but it tries admirably; in a way that many other similar films do not.
Hot take: This is the best film in the Predator franchise.
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