Predators (2010)

★★★☆

Directed by: Nimród Antal

Written by: Alex Litvak & Michael Finch

Before I saw Predators I was expecting to like it, but not love it. I think this had something to do with me expecting them to ignore the sci-fi possibilities (which I am a huge fan of) of the story and just focus more on the survival/action angle of the film. But then it occurred to me that survival is the essence of the Predators and their films, so why shouldn't they focus on that? But as it turned out there was actually more sci-fi content than I was expecting anyway, so that wasn't really a problem any more.

The introduction of the Predator's 'hunting dogs' was a interesting insight into the Predator lore and worked well as something extra to add to this film and to set it apart from the previous films.

What I also liked, was how as well as the humans, the Predators also brought other alien species to their game planet. This gave me a sense of the entire universe as the film's setting, rather than just the planet it took place on. It implies that the Predators have traveled all over the universe to find different species to hunt. I loved this because it gave the film a very sci-fi feel, and for me that's always a good thing.

There were one or two minor things that got to me a little, but not nearly enough to effect my enjoyment of the film. I can't remember exactly when, but it was mentioned at some that the Predators have two different social classes, and that one is dominant over the other. This would have been very interesting, but they just never followed it up with any more explanation or an example, making it seem like a rather pointless piece of information to give us, if it isn't going to be made relevant. Another thing was that I found Edwin's (Topher Grace) true character reveal at the end of the film a little unbelievable, whether it was because they hadn't justified it enough with in the story or for some other reason, I found it surprising, but not in a good way. The last thing was Royce's voice. While half the time it wasn't really a problem, there were quite a few times, especially when he had to yell, that his put-on deep voice just sounded a bit silly. Some of his lines also struck me as a bit too melodramatic. But other than that, he did a good job with his character, as did the other actors.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Cuchillo's (Danny Trejo) death scene. Just after the Predator hunting dogs attack, and have all been killed, the group realises that one of their own is missing. They find Cuchillo in the middle of a clearing, slumped on the ground and facing away from them. Silence falls over them, and we hear Cochillo's voice groaning slowly; "help me", but he doesn't move. This was immensely eerie and creepy, and amazingly effective. Some of the group attempt to go over and help him, but Royce stops them, demonstrating with a rock that the area is booby trapped. All of them except for Isabelle (Alice Braga), decide that they have no choice but to leave him behind, and walk on ahead. After a moment Isabelle agrees, and out of sympathy shoots him in the back to stop him suffering. As Isabelle starts to walk away, we again hear Cuchillo's blood curdling; "help me". The camera then pans in front of Cuchillo's face and we see that he was already dead before they found him, and that the Predator's recorded his voice and were replaying it. That moment after Isabelle shoots him and we hear him speak again, was just sooo chilling and well done. I would have to say it was probably the best part of the film for me.