It can be a real pain when you’ve had an early evening nap and find yourself wide awake far too late. Fortunately, my last sojourn into the early morning hours led to a re-watch of Predators.
The first film is an all-time classic, whilst the sequel approaches things suitably differently and remains decent. The Predator is complete and utter drivel, whilst I’ll be honest, AvP didn’t even come into my first draft of this paragraph despite the first one is alright.
In many ways it’s a hybrid of the first two films, sort of aking the setting of the first whilst further exploring Predator culture like the second. The soundtrack harks back nicely, with a special treat in the credits too, but otherwise Predators tries to move things on. There’s more world-building here, mainly due to it not being set on ours.
The cast is full of quality, all bringing nice character moments. Looking back some of these actors hadn’t yet found their appreciation/stardom yet either. Sure there are stereotypes aplenty, but how else are we going to give most of the time to Adrien Brody? For someone who I’d usually associate with more high brow material, Brody attacks the role. He’s not Arnie, but he’s not trying to be. His inspiration is modern special forces. Wiry strength and endurance is order of the day, and he carries both in spades. I’d love to see him back in the series.
The pace drops in the middle, though we do get to watch a somewhat native Fishburne chewing up the scenery. The ‘OG Predator’ looks fantastic, whilst this film makes far better use of a bigger Predator than it’s sequel. There are some fantastic shots too; one wide shot in long grass, both characters in moonlight, is particularly memorable.
The original is such a big film that it tends to overshadow the rest. But due to a cool cast and decent action Predators is the next best.
Be the first to comment