Predators: (July 9th, 2010): R
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #3 with $25,300,000
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $51,061,829
Gross Revenue: $112,188,000
Budget: $40 million
Director: Nimród Antal
From a marketing perspective, 20th Century Fox’s campaign for Predators was actually pretty weak when weighed against other summer offerings. Given that the original Predator was released 23 years ago, film trailers couldn’t guarantee that younger audience members would appreciate the iconic Predator warrior. Promotion seemed to rely on associating the film with producer Robert Rodriguez, whose work on action flicks such as Grindhouse, Sin City, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, has helped generate him a pretty significant fan-base. Apple’s App Store released a mobile game to promote the film, while Dark Horse Comics released a four issue tie-in in June, so even though promotion wasn’t shockingly strong, 20th Century Fox still seemed to have faith in this latest release. As a huge fan of the 1987 original (try and say “Get to the choppa” in Schwarzenegger’s voice without laughing), I decided to give Predators a chance.
The film starts with American mercenary Royce (Adrien Brody) being air-dropped into a mysterious jungle, and soon enough, he comes across other equally-dangerous individuals, such as an Israeli Defense Force sniper (Alice Braga), a Russian Spetsnaz commando, a Japanese Yakuza, and an American death-row inmate. Almost immediately, it becomes apparent that these dangerous individuals are being hunted by something far more lethal and that they are actually stranded on an alien jungle that serves as a game preserve and training-ground for Predator warriors. They must now work together and fight to survive against three vicious Predators who are armed with far-more advanced weaponry than their own, and all while trying to find a way home.
As a fan of the original, I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel. Adrien Brody is surprisingly convincing as the action-hero, and the rest of the supporting cast bring an engaging and diverse cast to life that adds some variety to the Predators’ prey; especially with Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3’s Venom) and Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus from The Matrix Trilogy) as twisted surprise additions. For any violence or suspense junkies, the Predators brutally dispatch the cast, one-by-one, and though the human targets are well-trained and fully-armed (delivering plenty of explosions and spent ammunition in the process), the Predators are simply better. There are also several scenes that are nearly identical to the original, and that actually brings a nice bit of nostalgia to the plot. Given the established Predator franchise, this sequel can hardly be considered ground-breaking or fully original, but given this summer movie season, it’s a pretty refreshing offering.
Putting aside my enjoyment of the film, there are a few criticisms that I have for Predators. First off, though watching the cast being hunted is pretty entertaining, this sequel isn’t quite able to capture the same level of suspense that was present in the original. When we first followed Schwarzenegger’s team through the jungle, we had no clue what was hunting them, all we knew is that it was invisible, had powerful weapons, and used thermal-vision. This time around, we are fully familiar with the Predator warriors, so rather than trying to identify the villain, we simply know that the cast is screwed and try to predict in what order they will be killed. Second, there are a few too many unanswered questions and plot holes within the script; for instance, I would love to have known how exactly the humans ended up on this alien planet or how Topher Grace’s character was able to identify any of the plant or animal-life present. Finally, though Adrien Brody was a strong protagonist, there were times where he came off a little too hokey…he identifies and explains away the predicament that he and the others are in a little too quickly, and it was difficult not to laugh when he showed up covered in mud to confront the final Predator in the film’s climax (just like Schwarzenegger did in the original). These criticisms are apparent, but they are not enough to outweigh the positive aspects of the film.
For an R-rated film, Predators is performing surprisingly well at the box-office, bringing in over $25 million its opening weekend and recovering more than half of its production budget. When you consider the audience limitations inherent in a rated-R film and the fact that Predators opened against family film Despicable Me and still had to contend with Twilight: Eclipse, it’s pretty impressive. For an old-fashioned action-thriller, Predators is sure to please audiences this summer, be sure to check it out.
Overall Recommendation: High
