Review of Predators (2010) by Halfwelshman — 20 Feb 2012

Predators, under the competent direction of Nimrod Antal and the watchful eye of producer Robert Rodriguez, is, for the most part, a decent sci-fi action film. You've got a classic set-up - a group of multi-national killers mysteriously wake up on an alien planet and are mercilessly tracked and hunted down one-by-one by the titular camouflaged, thermal-visioned intergalactic Predators .

Adrien Brody makes a solid primary protagonist as the lean, mean, and mysterious mercenary Royce, but the majority of the rest of the cast play boring and/or laughably stereotyped characters (i audibly groaned when Mahershalalhashbaz Ali's African soldier had a line of dialogue beginning with "in my culture" and when Louis Ozawa Changchien's Yakuza enforcer made a final stand, katana in hand, in an area resembling a rice field).

Only Topher Grace plays a truly interesting character, and you have to wait until the film's final reel for his payoff. Having Lawrence Fishburne play a lone survivor of a previous hunt who's been living off scraps for a long time (only plausible if "scraps" are code for burgers and fries) is also a complete casting misstep.

The film does have some pretty entertaining set-pieces, and keeps you watching throughout, predictable though the plot is. The Predators themselves are as cool as ever, and they have a few new tricks up their sleeves (do they have sleeves?) to spring on their prey this time around.

Predators may be cliched and lacking in character development and decent scripting, but at least it's distinct enough from John McTiernan's original 1987 film, and is pretty consistently diverting action fare, if rarely anything that approaches true entertainment.