"Predators" is Pathetic!!!!

“Oh my Gosh……. I just wasted 6 dollars”!

Wow, what a disappointment.  I’ve been a huge Predator fan ever since the first Predator movie which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by John McTieranan and written by Jim & John Thomas hit the big screen in 1987.  It was a good movie and had the coolest and most technologically advanced alien ever in the history of Hollywood.

All the Predator movies that followed the first film rather interesting including the Aliens vs. Predator movies (Alien vs. Predator & Alien vs. Predator: Requiem), but this last Predators production not only missed the mark by a mile but managed to give the entire franchise a black eye.

Of course a movie franchise as vast as this one is bound to have different teams of producers, writers, and directors for the various films. The goal for each franchise should be to continue the honored tradition while making worthy advancements, but this last group of franchisees; Robert Rodriguez( Producer), Nimrod Antal( Director), and Michael Finch & Alex Litvak(Writers), should have their franchisee license revoked.

“Predators” is so horrible that I don’t know where to start in analizing its various shortcomings.  First of all, the movie is surprisingly similar to the first movie and was meant to be a kind of prequel to that movie.  Like the first movie the main characters are in a jungle, heavily armed and from various backgrounds, but this is where the similarites end.  The plot for this Predators movie manages to go beyond silly by having a group of professional killers from around the globe dropped on some alien planet without any solid explination of how they got there. There were no flashbacks or minor scenes revealing how they were captured and transported.  Instead the movie just begins with the lead actor(Adrien Brody) unconscious in freefall trying to open a primitive looking parachute.

Interesting enough is the fact that Jim & John Thomas who were the character writers for the first film also this movie’s characters, but the difference is as clear as night and day.  The actors in the first film while limited a least made you believe in their characters but the actors is this film were so one-dimensional that it was like watching a boring stage play.  The plot, characters, and action never managed to sync up. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger, with his thick acsent and limited range, managed to out perform the miscast Adrien Brody.  Brody lacked the ability to project leadership as well as portray a strong physical presence, both of which his predecessor excelled. The only really strong performance was by Lawrence Fishburne  who played a mentally ill survivor.

The movie tried desperately to capture the essence of the original but lacked the excitement and quality of choregraphy .

In this movie the Predators seemed slower, smaller, and less stronger than any of the previous Predator aliens.  Their was one enhancement though in one of the Predator aliens that involved a exaggerated  facial structure and jaw line compared to previous Predators.  One of the characters briefly mentioned that there are apparently two types of Predator spiecies and they are in conflict with each other.  Perhaps this development is a clue to plot of a future Predator movie.  In fact, at the end of the movie the two lone survivors are still stuck on the alien planet with numerous parachutes of potiental hunting victims descending from the sky.

Suprisingly “Predators” was not shot as a 3D movie, which is shame because this format would be a great way to further show case the Predator alien’s technology like the inferred vision and projectile weapons.  I had expected to see more of the Predator’s spacecraft, and home planet, but neither was the case.

Unfortunatley I cannot recommend this movie even as a DVD rental and therefore did not include a movie clip.