Decided that my opinion maybe matters to some. I love movies, LOVE them, so why not tell you how I feel about a few. If anyone wants a review on one, just let me know and I'll do one.
Today I give you my review on PREDATORS.
***WARNING spoilers ahead!***
Even though I am a huge fan of the PREDATOR franchise, I will do my best not to give you a biased review. As a fan, of course I was excited when I heard a new PREDATOR film was in the works, however I also remembered the disgusting things sequels do to a franchise ('coughs' Alien vs. Predator). I'm always scared of these silly filmmakers getting his/her hands on rights to making a sequel and ruining something I care about, but when I heard Robert Rodriguez was the one sitting in the producer's chair for PREDATORS, I had faith. The opening shot of the movie brings you into the sky as the hero of the film, Adrien Brody, awakens as he is in freefall. He lands only to find himself in an unknown jungle and eventually begins meeting up with other 'fallen.' This is where we meet the players in the film and discover that they are all "heavy hitters," as Brody describes them; in other words they are all a bunch of tough guys (and girl) you would not want to be toe to toe with on a battle field or on the streets in some third world country. Even Danny Trejo made the film, but as far as I can tell it was Rodriguez's way of hyping up MACHETE a tiny bit. The first great thing about PREDATORS that I took notice of was the director's ability to pay homage to the first PREDATOR. He showed a scene that displayed the same type of traps Arnold has set in 1987, brought back the fact that mud hid your heat signature from the predators, used the same soundtrack (including a rendition of Little Richard's 'Long, Tall Sally' in the credits), some of the same dialogue (i.e. "Come on kill me I'm here! Do it! Kill me now!"), predator recordings of "over here!", a scene mocking the death of Billy from the first film (the Asian tough guy takes his shirt off and tells the others to leave and prepares to battle a predator single handed with a sword), and he even had the female lead tell the tale of the commandos from the first film.There is a lot of down time for the characters in this film and as an audience we start to get a little attached to them. Finally a film with good character development! When they all start getting killed you actually have feelings for them, rather than not giving a shit which is usually the case with these types of movies.
Another thing that fascinated me with the film, was the fact that Adrien Brody was a great hero. All I picture is Adrien Brody winning Oscars and sitting behind pianos in films, so I was super skeptical of him taking the lead as a 'no mercy mercenary.' To my surprise, Brody is an amazing hero and I found myself attached to him throughout the film and would get angry with the other characters when they wouldn't listen to him or take his advice. Being a mercenary, there are times in the film when Brody 'tells it like it is' to people. For instance, Topher Grace's character is snagged in a trap at one point and he pleads with the female character to forget about him because trying to rescue him would slow them down and give them more time to escape if the predators go to take Grace's skull as a trophy. Adrien Brody even refuses to reveal his name until the last scene of the film, and he only tells the female lead this, bad ass!
Another great thing about the film is that it constantly surprises you. Topher Grace for instance, is the lovable geek who is questioning why he was put there because "I am a doctor!" Then near the end, after the female lead stays back to protect him after getting snagged in a trap, the two get thrown into a pit by a predator. It is here when we find out Topher's true identity: a murderer, who has somehow found comfort being around the monsters that we know as predators because in fact, he too, is a monster. I love when we can see normally geeky, loving characters like Eric Foreman from 'That 70's Show" turn into evil, conniving douchebags. I only wish more films would do this (crosses fingers to see Michael Cera as a future villain).
Another thing that fascinated me with the film, was the fact that Adrien Brody was a great hero. All I picture is Adrien Brody winning Oscars and sitting behind pianos in films, so I was super skeptical of him taking the lead as a 'no mercy mercenary.' To my surprise, Brody is an amazing hero and I found myself attached to him throughout the film and would get angry with the other characters when they wouldn't listen to him or take his advice. Being a mercenary, there are times in the film when Brody 'tells it like it is' to people. For instance, Topher Grace's character is snagged in a trap at one point and he pleads with the female character to forget about him because trying to rescue him would slow them down and give them more time to escape if the predators go to take Grace's skull as a trophy. Adrien Brody even refuses to reveal his name until the last scene of the film, and he only tells the female lead this, bad ass!Another great thing about the film is that it constantly surprises you. Topher Grace for instance, is the lovable geek who is questioning why he was put there because "I am a doctor!" Then near the end, after the female lead stays back to protect him after getting snagged in a trap, the two get thrown into a pit by a predator. It is here when we find out Topher's true identity: a murderer, who has somehow found comfort being around the monsters that we know as predators because in fact, he too, is a monster. I love when we can see normally geeky, loving characters like Eric Foreman from 'That 70's Show" turn into evil, conniving douchebags. I only wish more films would do this (crosses fingers to see Michael Cera as a future villain).Adrien Brody comes back to the other two's aid to rescue them after his escape plan is foiled by a predator that has blown the escape ship to all hell. He realizes that Grace has poisoned the female character and puts a knife to Grace's throat. He then uses Grace's dying body as a lure for the final predator, however to the predator's surprise, Brody has rigged about 10 grenades to Topher Grace's body. BOOM! But somehow the predator is only shaken by this. Now comes the final showdown. As the female lead lays temporarily paralyzed by Grace's poisons, Brody, covered in mud, begins fist fighting the predator using fire as a means of blinding the beast's heat signature eye sight. Almost getting killed by the predator's shoulder cannon, Brody is taken down, but just in time for the slowly regaining strength female soldier to blast the predator with her huge sniper rifle in the chest. Here is where we see Brody unleash his inner bad ass. He beats the living hell out of the predator with an ax that is clearly made of bone and ends the battle by cutting off its head. The final scene of the film shows Brody and the female soldier seeing more people being dropped onto the planet, and they walk off still in hopes of finding a way off. A great bittersweet ending.
Now there are also things you should look out for in this film. These things I am referring to are flaws, but hey no movie is really perfect. For one, Laurence Fishburne's character is a soldier that has been surviving in an abandoned ship for '10 hunting seasons.' Totally unnecessary. He is clearly losing his mind: talking to imaginary friends and he tries to kill the characters in the film simply to steal their weapons. False. I was happy to see his body blown to smithereens by a predator, but at the same time I found his character to be a huge waste of time. Another problem I had was with some of the comic relief. One of the characters is was an inmate on death row back on Earth and all he does is crack jokes about the female character's ass, doing cocaine, and he even calls the main predator an "alien faggot." C'mon now. One thing I am still undecided on is whether or not I like the new predator 'dogs.' I like the fact that the predators are given the human quality of using dogs to aid in hunting, but they look very silly and are only seen in one scene. Where the hell did they all go after that?
Now there are also things you should look out for in this film. These things I am referring to are flaws, but hey no movie is really perfect. For one, Laurence Fishburne's character is a soldier that has been surviving in an abandoned ship for '10 hunting seasons.' Totally unnecessary. He is clearly losing his mind: talking to imaginary friends and he tries to kill the characters in the film simply to steal their weapons. False. I was happy to see his body blown to smithereens by a predator, but at the same time I found his character to be a huge waste of time. Another problem I had was with some of the comic relief. One of the characters is was an inmate on death row back on Earth and all he does is crack jokes about the female character's ass, doing cocaine, and he even calls the main predator an "alien faggot." C'mon now. One thing I am still undecided on is whether or not I like the new predator 'dogs.' I like the fact that the predators are given the human quality of using dogs to aid in hunting, but they look very silly and are only seen in one scene. Where the hell did they all go after that?To sum up, if you like the 1987 film, PREDATOR, you will love this. If you love action movies, you will love this. If you love blood and guts, you will love this. If you love great character development, you will love this. PREDATORS is a great action film filled with guts and gore galore, but still manages to keep you on the edge of your seat rather than just grossing you out the whole time. Thank you Robert Rodriguez for picking a great director and making sure this sequel was done right. Now if only we can erase Alien vs. Predator 1 and Predator 2 from our memories we might be able to move on.
**Note to Cory and Alison, go see this, it rules**
Attached to the beginning of the film was a trailer for Rodriguez's MACHETE which originally was only supposed to be a joke. I love these cheesy B-movies, so to Rodriguez IFUCKINGLOVEYOUDUDE.
