Australian Penthouse

Predators

Director: Nimrod Antal
Stars: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo

Produced by Robert Rodriguez and directed by Nimrod Antal (Vacancy, 2007) Predators is, first and foremost, a sequel to the incomparable 1987 classic starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight) and directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard, Last Action Hero).  The film successfully integrates many of the key elements beloved of the classic without mimicry or crude imitation.

The film premise involves the Predators hunting game—an element introduced in Paul WS Anderson’s largely successful effort Aliens vs Predators (2004), written in conjunction with Alien writer Dan O’Bannon.  This time the planet is a dumping ground for the worst of our world’s serial predators (soldiers, killers), who are armed, dropped via parachute from the sky, and then tracked and killed by the Predators like game animals in order to hone their hunting skills.

The cast is exciting in its unexpectedness: Adrien Brody is Royce, a former black ops soldier turned mercenary; Walton Goggins (who many will remember as the brilliant Shane Vendrell in The Shield) is serial killer, Stans; Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, CSI) is the survivor of a previous game hunt, Nolans; Danny Trejo (Machete) is Mexican cartel killer, Cuchillo; Alice Braga (niece of Sonia) is South American revolutionary, Isabelle; Oleg Taktarov is Chechen death squad soldier, Nikolai; Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3) is scientist Edwin; and Louis Ozawa Changchien is Yakuza assassin, Hanzo.  An already exciting line-up when you consider the many and varied fighting techniques each character will bring to the movie.

The film succeeds because it works across two distinct yet important lines: it is both an homage to the original and an effective sequel. As the movie unfolds snippets of the classic (best not mentioned here to avoid spoiling surprises) are interwoven subtly throughout the script, generating in-the-know chuckles from hardcore fans without alienating those new to the franchise.

The violence is swift, brutal and woven effectively throughout the tense, cat-and-mouse tests of guts and military strategy so necessary to the Predator franchise.

As the group of killer misfits realise they are being hunted to extinction, the challenge to remain alive competes with the human instinct to save each other from (an always) grisly death.  When the group stumbles across a Predator tied to a tree and stripped of its armour, it is revealed that not only are the Predators hunting the humans dropped onto the planet but they also hunting each other. Can a truce between two killers work on the battlefield (also touched on briefly in Paul WS Anderson’s AVP) work? You bet.  But Robert Rodriguez doesn’t “do” predictable, so  prepare for an action-packed ride.

Predators is a well written, low-key and solid return for a franchise many thought was left for dead after the abysmal Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007). Welcome back.

Predators is releases in cinemas nationally on July 7.