If you remember the old amazing Predator movies from the 1980s except the really bad Predator 2 movie, Predators harkens back to the old says of just straight action and Predator action. This time around the victims of the Predators include actors Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, and Alice Braga. The continual homage’s to the original series while adding a few twists that really add to the experience. Find out how.


The movie begins abruptly with Adrien Brody’s character free falling onto a planet with his parachute opening just in time to save his life. On the ground he meets up with other people who have dropped to the planet like he did. They all share something in common: they all was a mercenary type character save for Edwin (Topher Grace) who is a doctor (which should be setting off warning lights at this point). They all have another thing in common: survive. Something is hunting them and it’s up to them to work together to survive while at the same time find a way to get off the planet.


If you watched the original Predator movies or any of the Alien movies then Predators is not new territory for you. This is the first time though that we see the Predator planet first hand seeing as how the original movies and even the crossover movies only took place on Earth. Surprisingly it all looks like a giant rainforest. Either way it’s got more than a few references to the original Schwarzenegger film ranging from the random shooting in the forest for an invisible enemy to the classic Predator heat vision cuts. The best part is that this movie ignores the incredibly terrible Predator 2 and even the weird AVP spinoffs that happened by just mentioning that in 1987 there was an incident with a CIA black ops operative (Schwarzenegger’s character) with the Predator. Down to the last bit where Royce (Adrien Brody) covers himself in mud like in the first movie. I thought that was completely drole.

At first I wasn’t really buying an action movie with Adrien Brody as an action role. His attempts at being a brooding cold mercenary came off as strong and uncharacteristic. He seemed very out of place seeing as how I’m used to seeing him in non-action roles (or a shaving commercial). Other notable actors include a crazy Laurence Fishburne and an apprehensive Topher Grace. I love how flustered Grace was when he was alone in a hallway with a cloaked Predator. Unlike some of his other roles (Spider-Man 3, That 70s Show), I think he was cast perfectly in this movie. Even till the end he was a great victim until the plot twist. Fishburne stole the movie for me though even though his crazy hijinks and invisible friend. Not only is Fisburne tough enough to play the badass, but he also pulls off crazy with no problem as he drops between the two dissimilar roles back and forth.


The one thing that sets this movie apart was the subtle differences and upgrades to the Predator franchise are the redesigns to the Predator armor. Even with the boring jungle environment, the entire cast managed to keep the movie interesting. I did find that some of the special effects to be over exaggerated. Some of the explosions shouldn’t have been as big as they were shown in the movie, for example the Claymore trap that one of the characters planted exploded the entire tunnel rather than just a small explosion.

Another problem that I had was with the guns. I don’t remember the last time any mercenary brought an automatic shotgun with him. Not to mention that Royce keeps his gun with him the whole movie even though he knows that he should be quiet with the Predators around. Brody’s performance levels out during the last bit of the movie but right off the bat it’s really weird. So if you really liked the first Predator movie (and who didn’t) but really had a nasty after taste of the second movie and the AvP movies then Predators is right up your alley. It’s fantastic costume design and classic storytelling harkening back to the classic Predator movie really make this movie that everyone should enjoy. Predators is definitely worth the $10 asking price on Amazon.