Predators
Director: Nimród Antal
Writer: Alex Litvak, Michael Finch
Sequel to: Predator, Predator 2
Cast: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Louis Ozawa, Laurence Fishburne, Mahershala Ali
Seen on: 11.4.2023
[Here’s my first review.]

Plot:
A very armed guy (Adrien Brody) wakes up in the middle of a free fall. Fortunately, his parachute opens, before he hits the ground. Unfortunately, on the ground there are quite a few very armed, very dangerous people. But the again, this might not be a bad thing since they soon realise that a) they are not on earth anymore and b) they are not the titular predators – they are the prey.

When I watched Predators the first time, I had never really seen a Predator movie, and was not all that impressed with it. Given what I know now – namely, what else exists in the franchise – I can honestly say that I appreciated Predators a lot.

In my slow progress through the Predators series, I came to the point where I had to decide whether I actually wanted to rewatch the one Predator film I had already seen (over a decade ago) and that didn’t exactly blow me away then. But since I barely remembered it (and got the tip that it is one of the better ones), I decided to be a completionist and go for it. And I’m glad I did. Not only is it true, it is one of the better ones, but I’ve grown to learn its schlockiness more.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is not a great film. The script, especially the dialogues, are still mildly embarrassing, and the entire twist, that is absolutely no twist, makes so little sense that I wanted to scream a little. I mean, I do appreciate that the film acknowledges that proficient killers aren’t all military types and fighters, but if ever there was an inappropriate time to try to murder somebody, it is probably on an alien planet while being hunted.

But the film is still so far above Predator 2 (and the Alien v. Predator movies) that one can’t help but forgive it these faults. The action moves nicely and they have some good ideas with the fights. The film still looks pretty good. And the cast is really not bad at all, even if a couple of people get too much attention while others should be getting more.

While I’m bracing myself for the last stop before my destination, Prey, Predators is certainly a good point to take a break and remember that these movies are supposed to be fun.

Summarizing: decent entertainment.