Film critic Michael Phillips says “Predators” is a cinematic stab in the dark.
“Predators,” plural, starts well and ends poorly, and in the middle it’s in the middle. The original 1987 “Predator,” featuring future politicians Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura, was an entertaining hybrid of the commando genre and “Alien“-inspired science fiction. The new one, directed by Nimród Antal (“Kontroll“), lifts its building blocks from an unproduced 1990s script by Robert Rodriguez, who ended up producing the revised screenplay by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch.
For a while it’s a worthy successor, or remake, or whatever it is. Instead of the Central American jungle of the original, the action takes place somewhere “else,” let’s say (the reveal comes early, but who am I to spoil your day?). In the prologue a motley multinational crew of thugs drops from the sky, having free-fallen from places unknown. They do not know each other and hail from different countries — Japan, Russia, what have you. “What is this, a dream? Hell? “What if we’re dead?” asks one of the eight, clearly a fan of “Lost.”
Soon enough they determine their location and who’s trying to eviscerate them…
THERE’S MORE, READ THE REST
– Michael Phillips
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Comments
I saw "Predators" last night… it's definitely not the "train-wreck" that AVP-R was — but I must admit, I was a bit disappointed by it — it was just way too generic. Also, I thought the Predators themselves were a bit "dumbed-down" — and felt that, despite their additional numbers, the sole Predator in the original film came off as posing far greater of a threat than all of these combined. "Predators" is not horrible by any means — it's just ultimately a very disposable film going experience.
Predators was a good movie only because not only as a kid did I follow the movies I also followed comic books. So I understand it better but someone who really hasn't followed it well it would still be good movie but there would be some parts of it like wtf but still good movie
This movie captures all the excitement and suspense of original. It's definitely worth the price of admission.