PREDATORS.

I've never considered myself an uber-Predator fan. I mean, I've seen the films (including both vs. Alien ones), and the Predators themselves are cool. They're enjoyable films (OK, so maybe not Requiem). But at the same time, I'm also not a big fan of Nimrod Antal's other films (such as Vacancy and Armored). I guess my point is that while this movie did interest me and looked like fun, I wasn't going to go out of my way to see it. Luckily, I didn't have to. Despite going to an afternoon show 5 minutes before it started, I didn't have to fight any lines or struggle to find seating. And after this long, pretty pointless diatribe, what am I getting at? Predators was freakin' awesome.

Technically a sequel to the first film (as it does make reference to it), this one picks up years later (I guess) where a bunch of people fall from the sky and land in a jungle. These people appear to be some of the most dangerous people on Earth, including Royce (Adrien Brody), Isabelle (Alice Braga), Stans (Walton Goggins), Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien), and Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali). In fact, the only one that doesn't seem to fit the mold as "most dangerous person on Earth" is a doctor named Edwin (Topher Grace). Royce leads the group through the jungle, trying to figure out what's going on. And then, slowly, they begin to discover they're being hunted by an alien race, and they'll do anything to stay alive and get off this strange planet. The movie also stars Laurence Fishburne, but he doesn't come in until later.

To me, the movie was like mixing LOST with Pitch Black, except where everybody is Riddick (though much less cool). The first third of the movie is basically them walking around the jungle, finding other survivors, scoping out the land, and trying to figure out what's going on. It doesn't sound interesting, but this part of the movie was so engaging and encapsulating that I completely forgot I was watching a Predator movie up until right before the aliens showed up. There was one point where I was literally like "Oh crap, and they still have to fight dangerous aliens!"

And then the action kicks in, and it grabs you even more. There's a variety of action, too. There's gun fighting, explosions, hand combat, traps... there's even a, I kid you not, samurai-style sword fight. There's human versus human, human versus alien dog thing, human versus Predator, and even Predator versus Predator. This movie really covers all your bases. There's literally something for everybody. The action is high, the suspense is good, and there are even some creepy moments. Oh, and a character gets his spine and skull ripped out. Hardcore.

The acting is nothing to shout about, but this is a Predator movie. What do you expect? Most people, before the movie came out, complained that Topher Grace seemed completely out of place. Well, that's because he's supposed to be. They actually casted the role well, because they needed an assuming person like Topher to pull off the role. And Adrien Brody, the other questionable casting, was pretty good. He pulled off the gruff bad-ass aspect really well. In fact, the only character that bugged me was Laurence Fishburne's. He was a necessary character, but there was just something about him that bothered me.

There's not all that much to say about this movie. If you want a good, unapologetic action flick, totally check this out. It's totally predictable, but for the most part you don't care. Or at least I didn't. I was too engrossed with the thrills that none of it really bothered me. There were parts that made it seem to drag slightly, near the end, but not for too long. Overall, I really recommend it. I had a really fun time with this one. And Alice Braga is hot (though totally giving off a "Michelle Rodriguez" vibe throughout).


A Keanu 'Whoa'